boom, slap, the sound of my heart.

Kie sat on Otto's bed, she invited herself over, just showing up at the door. She did it a lot.

Usually when she was having trouble with Maria.

And she was never not having trouble with Maria.

"It's obvious you don't want to go." Kie said from the bed, fiddling with one of the throw pillows, her mother had changed them due to the recent change in season.

"I do want to go." She lied. "I just am so fucking tired at the moment." She complained.

Every cell of Ottilie Moreau's body was exhausted. No matter how much sleep she got she was beyond tired. It's probably why she felt sick so often at the moment.

Wes was not impressed with those facts, he was always a little annoyed when she wasn't in the mood. Each day that passed there was another red flag that popped up about him. The issue was that none of them were that big, they were always small enough to fly under the radar with just a roll of the eyes. But if only she took a step back and saw the bigger picture that was littered with a sea of them.

The pair chatted while Otto got ready, she wanted to make a good impression that night. She was meeting Wes' parents. Even with all the time she spent over at his house she hadn't ever met them.

With a house that big it wasn't exactly shocking.

His mother sounded lovely, the type of mother to bring you fruit when you're in a bad mood. Although his father sounded intimidating, he seemed like a hardarse, the type that nothing's ever good enough for.

They were going to a restaurant, the fanciest one on the island.

"The food's alright." Kie shrugs when Otto asks what it's like, "I've only been a few times, it's all just obscenely overpriced and the sizes wouldn't be enough to fill a full-grown adults stomach even if they had a gastric sleeve."

"Honestly at the moment I feel sick most of the time so tiny portions are the least on my worries." Otto grumbles.

Having procrastinated enough she grabs the dress she chose off the back of the door to her wardrobe. She hung it there after trying it on that morning.

It was pretty, a dusty purple, it dropped to the space between her ankle and knee and made up from the covered skin with a V-shaped neckline. Although all-in-all it was fairly conservative. She wore her wavy hair out, pulling a few strands from the front to the back, securing them with a few decorative bobby pins. She left her makeup natural, mostly because she couldn't really be bothered to do it, and she was always too lazy to learn how to do those intricate eye makeup looks.

"If only you were gay." Kie smirks as her eyes scan Otto.

Otto flopped down on the bed beside her, "Who said I wasn't gay."

"You're bi?" She asks, curiosity clear in her tone.

Otto shrugged and rolled onto her back, looking up at the pristine white painted ceiling. "I'm just me."

She didn't really ever feel the need to fuss over what category she fit into, she didn't need a label. Labels always seemed like they were more for other people than for herself, and she couldn't be bothered to find a box to put herself in for the sake of someone else's need for clear cut answers.

"Is there something going on between you and JJ?" Kie asks like it had been weighing on her mind recently. Well, it always had been weighing on her mind.

Ever since she "introduced" the pair she sensed that there was history.

"You do realise I've been coming to this island for years, just because I only recently moved here doesn't negate that. I've met him a few times before, we had a few brief conversations. That's all." Otto lied flawlessly. Kie didn't need to know, nor did either of the involved pair really want the group to know.

Although despite all their efforts it wasn't going to stay hidden that much longer.

Kie nodded, it was a perfectly reasonable explanation. She really only had a vibe to go off, the pair had never made anything obvious. They just seemed comfortable around each other.

Well, as comfortable as Otto ever seemed, which to most people wasn't overly comfortable.

Everyone that met Otto would very quickly put together that she was guarded, she had walls she wouldn't let down for anyone.

An hour later Kie had left and Wes was driving Otto to the restaurant.

They had been a couple for a few weeks and it wasn't the pinnacle of a healthy relationship.

The sad thing was Otto didn't have a clue what being in a healthy relationship felt like. Sure, she'd seen a relationship that was as close to perfect as you could get, her parents had been married for decades and were still as madly in love with each other as the day they got married.

There was always these ever so subtle digs that Wes would make toward Otto and how she spent her time. More specifically how she didn't spend ever waking second with him. He didn't like how much time she spent with her family and he especially didn't like how much time she spent with her friends. More specifically JJ.

Arriving at the restaurant the pair walked in, hand in hand.

The waiter that stood at the door escorted them to the reserved table, he didn't even need to ask for their name. Everyone knew the Harrington's.

When she saw the table she stomach clenched, if she was being honest she wanted to run straight back out the front door.

"Mother, Father, this is Ottilie." He introduced her, using her full first name which she found strange. She didn't go by her first name, it wasn't that she didn't like it, she always thought it was pretty. It just didn't feel like her.

But, nevertheless she smiled.

Both the parents stood up, "It's lovely to finally meet you, Ottilie. I'm Horace, and this is my wife Marjorie." He said, reaching out his hand. She politely extended hers, dropping Wes' in the process. The older man took ahold of it gently and brought it up to his face and pressed a feather light kiss against the back of it. Otto did not like that, but she gave him a smile.

After that he gestured for the her and Wes to take a seat, the men sat across from one another as did Marjorie and Otto.

Otto looked at the two parents.

Marjorie was gorgeous, she was obviously from Latin America, with a gorgeous warmth to her skin, and a face similar to Sofia Vergara's.

Horace on the other hand was neither attractive nor unattractive, his was in that awkward middle ground. His face had the wrinkles that didn't come with old age and instead appeared due to a constant grimace.

Horace and Wes immediately struck up a conversation about the family business, it was almost like the two woman weren't there. Horace made no effort to get to know his son's girlfriend. Marjorie however began asking the teenager questions about herself. They were light and not intrusive, it didn't feel like she was being interrogated.

She inquired about her family, if she had any siblings, where she grew up and how she was finding the Outer Banks.

After some chatter they all began looking over the menus.

A waiter came over while Otto was still skimming over the options, if she was being honest half of it she didn't understand, whether that was because it was in another language or it because it was some fancy cooking term she was oblivious to was unknown.

When the waiter spoke and she looked up quickly.

"Can I take your order?" He asked.

JJ mother-fucking Maybank.

Of course.

It seemed like they couldn't escape one another.

Otto never would've picked JJ Maybank, quite possibly the scruffiest boy in all of the Outer Banks to work at the most upscale restaurant.

He cleaned up nicely, his usually messy hair was pushed off his face, he looked uncharacteristically clean. Not in a physical dirty sense and more in an aura sense. Dressed in a mostly pressed shirt and some slacks that didn't have any obvious holes it was beyond strange.

He barely looked like JJ.

She barely registered everyone else ordering thier food, she was shocked. Of course the guy she had a one night stand with and is now friends with is waiting the table that she is meeting her boyfriend's parents out. Murphy's law and all that shit.

Wes moved his hand that sat on the table down to grip Otto's thigh, this broke her from her trance.

She didn't like being touched in that way, when a boy grabbed her thigh right above the knee. Kieran would do that all the time, and when she did something her didn't like he'd give her a warning squeeze - not hard enough to do any damage, but hard enough that it made her wince.

Clearing her throat and adjusting the way she sat so his hand would slip off she realised everyone was waiting for her to order.

"She'll have the bolognese." Wes order for her.

JJ couldn't ignore how uncomfortable Otto looked, he noticed Wes' hand drop down from the table and in Otto's direction. He also saw her brush him off. Otto truly looked like she'd rather be anywhere but at that table, surrounded by those people.

When Wes ordered for Otto, JJ couldn't help but clench his jaw and tighten his grip on the pen he was writing down the order with.

Not only did JJ hate when men spoke for women, he also hated that Wes knew so little about Otto that he didn't know she was vegetarian.

He shouldn't have said the words that came out of his mouth, they just sort of tumbled out without thought.

"She doesn't eat meat, surely her boyfriend she know that."

Otto shut her eyes for a second, it was only brief but she was hoping when she opened them again that she would be in bed and this nightmare would've all be a fucked up dream.

But it wasn't, she was right there.

"I'll have the fideo and pumpkin soup, please."

The air was tense after that, and that tension didn't clear at all during the remainder of the dinner from hell.

Wes was fuming beside his girlfriend, as was Horace. He was a traditional man which meant he believed a wife - or girlfriend in this case - should follow the husband's lead. Doing what he says, when he says it.

Plus, he found vegetarians supremely annoying with all their holier-than-thou shit.

Marjorie on the other hand felt no ill will toward Otto, after all, it wasn't her fault her son didn't listen to a word that came out of her mouth. She knew her son, she wasn't blind to his misogynistic tendencies and his ample ego. She had tried to put him on the right course but she couldn't do much with Horace showing a young Wes how he believed a woman should be treated.

When the foursome parted ways, after all the goodbyes Wes gave Otto the cold shoulder.

Although it was short lived because as soon as those doors closed he snapped.

"What the fuck was that?" He seethed.

Otto stayed silent, clicking her seatbelt into place she hid behind the walls in her head.

"You think embarrassing me in front of my parents is funny?"

Otto laughed, she had no patience anymore. "When did I say it was funny?"

She could see Wes gritting his teeth together, the muscle in the side of his jaw flexed, the pressure on his molars mounted.

"Can you not see who you are making me become? This is not me, this is who you are pushing me to be." He shifted the blame onto the teenager.

The teenager couldn't hide the scoff, "Fuck you." She spart, undoing her seatbelt she went to grab the door handle, but hefore she could pull it open Wes pushed the button that locked all the doors.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Wes said ever so calmly.

Otto turned around, she didn't even fully get to face her boyfriend before she heard the sound of a slap bounce around the luxurious car. She felt the heat next, her cheek stung greatly, immediately her hand came up to touch the reddened skin.

"No. Fuck, baby I didn't mean to." Otto could hear the panic in Wes' voice.

He hit her.

He fucking hit her.

She was in absolute shock, with her hand pressed against her throbbing skin she stared straight throw the wind screen. Her head and tilted that much from the force that she faced the window.

"Otto, look at me. I-- I didn't mean to, it just happened. It wasn't me, I didn't want to hit you." Wes panicked.

He hadn't meant to hit her, he wasn't thinking. It just happened. Regret burned in his stomach - he wasn't that guy, he didn't hit women. That was too far even for his traditional father.

When the teenager didn't move Wes gently shifted her head over, "It's okay, you're okay. I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to soothe her, the ironic thing was he was trying to soothe her from an action he made.

He was the cause of it, therefore he couldn't really be the one to fix it.

"You hit me." She whispered so quietly she wondered if he could even hear her. Not that her words were aimed at him, they weren't aimed at anyone, she was purely stating a fact.

He. Hit. Her.

That was the fact of the matter.

"No." Wes denied, he himself was also in shock, "I didn't! It-- I just moved your head, it was an accident, I pushed it too hard."

It was at that moment, Otto realised she was out of her depth.

She thought she was in control of the situation, after her previous relationships went, where she was so out of control she thought this time she had control.

She didn't.

She was more helpless than ever before.

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