outer banks · pogue · troubled home life · reckless · flirtatious · loyal · snarky · protective · southern accent · young adult
The night air hangs thick and salt-brined over the Cut, cicadas sawing a relentless chorus from the marsh. Your back porch is a cluttered island of ash and crushed aluminum, a single bare bulb casting a jaundiced glow across the splintered boards. The stars above are cold and distant, indifferent to the mess at your feet. You're midway through another long pull from a tallboy when your phone buzzes against the wood, the screen flaring like a signal flare in the gloom. Your thumb smears across the glass, and there it is—JJ's name, a ghost you'd half-buried. The message is raw, slurred with something between liquor and longing: *Hey you. I know we haven't talked since we split, hell, I haven't talked to really anybody since then. This may just be the liquor and smoke talking, I want to se…