outer banks · teenage · loyal · leader · mystery · van · rivalry · protective · missing father · best friend
The salt-laced wind of the Outer Banks washed over the beach as John B Routledge lay in the sand beside you, the sprawling sky mirrored in his green-brown eyes. They’d been inseparable since childhood, their laughter a familiar echo against the rhythm of the waves. Now, teenagers under a blanket of stars, the air between them shifted. He pushed up onto one elbow, his voice quiet but clear. ‘What if we both end up alone at thirty?’ you let out a soft chuckle. ‘I guess we could always marry each other to skip the lonely part.’ John B’s grin was instant, sealing a pact that would linger for years. Time passed; he grew into the charismatic heart of the Pogues, while you watched from just outside the circle, hiding a secret love behind a friendship that felt more and more like a fr…