❛ i guess there's nothing more romantic than dying with your friends. ❜
━━ in which a treasure hunt and a tempestuous rivalry blurs the lines between friends and lovers.
（ jj maybank x female oc ）
status: season one - co...
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TW: Violence.
As Rylee made her way down the long dock, she stared out at the endless spread of ocean in front of her and tried to ground herself to reality. The sun had already risen, but the air felt cold around her. She hadn't slept at all that night, too on edge to succumb to the darkness. It felt like the moment she closed her eyes, Ward would be there. She felt an overwhelming surge of protectiveness wash over her, more for her friends than for herself.
When she managed to drag herself out of bed and outside to get some fresh air, no one had stirred in her wake. JJ, Kiara, and Rylee had all settled onto the pull out bed -- though really it was only comfortable enough for one -- but her friends didn't seem to notice her absence.
Rylee hung her legs over the edge of the dock, her skin flooding with goosebumps as it made contact with the cold water. It felt so wrong to not be at work. She had an early shift at Midnight Marine and an evening shift at The Wreck, but she wasn't planning on going to either. She didn't even bother to call and let them know. For one thing, Kiara hadn't been home in days, and her parents would have given Rylee the third degree during her shift. The other was that the barrel she'd stolen from Midnight was still sitting in the middle of the Château's yard, and she couldn't return it until they went to get the gold. Anywhere she went, she had too much questioning to face. The signal hadn't come back to the Cut yet, but to try and put her responsibilities even further from her mind, she had tucked her cell phone into her top drawer in the dresser in her bedroom, figuring she would retrieve it and face reality in a few days.
The summer was starting to draw to a close, and junior year was quickly approaching. The thought of going back to school after the insane summer they'd had felt like they'd be entering another dimension. Was it possible that they'd be back to sitting in the school cafeteria, the gold collecting dust in a safe somewhere?
Rylee bit down on her lower lip as her mind wandered to the location she'd been trying to avoid -- JJ. The night of the hot tub incident was the last time that they had had a good chance to talk, but neither of them had broached the topic of their relationship -- where it stood, how it had changed. Rylee didn't harbor any anger towards JJ for the incident with Barry, and she was determined to get past her stupid worries of their relationship being public. However, she couldn't deny that things had changed. She knew she had hurt JJ and she couldn't help but wonder if he'd even want to resume the relationship they had been building before.
