chapter five
"this has to end"

      "YOU'RE A PIECE OF SHIT, JJ Maybank!"

      Lynn swung on her heels to glare angrily in JJ's direction, she rose her palms with ease to slam into the boys chest — where he backed up a foot or so. His wild blonde hair grew even more crazy as the wind from the ocean made the air crisp on the dock.

The two bickering teenagers were in town, outside the most busiest stores in the Outer Banks. Mostly just grocery shops, tourist magnets, and then the infamous ice cream shop that Rafe visited quite often — at least that's what Kie said, she couldn't recall how many times she and the Cameron's went on walks there her Kook year.

Fresh tears had stained under Lynn's eyes, and there was growing puffiness and redness underneath them already showing through. Her blonde hair was a mess, scattered in multiple directions. JJ was very similar to Lynn in the looking the part of the broken up couple.

"Oh, I'm the piece of shit?" JJ echoed out, aimlessly flying his arms in the air as the irritation could be heard easily in his voice. "You're the one with the fucking crush on the Kook!"

      "So, we go into town and just...go to town with the fighting and shit?"

      Lynn awkwardly squeezed together her brunette eyebrows in thought, certainly not liking the idea that Kiara had suggested in the first place.

      Kie had explained that if the main topic of Lynn and JJ's "break up" would be her liking a Kook — that Rafe would instantly, in his obsessively trained head, think that she had a crush on him. It would spark him to come to her, or at least begin the process of him trusting Lynn.

      She had to admit, not the worst plan they've ever had, to be honest. But when she started to overlook the sentences that Kie and Pope had scribbled out for her to add to the argument, she didn't like it one bit. Lynn never wanted to say these vile words out loud, let alone actually shout them into the beautiful face of JJ Maybank.

Flashes of the previous times Rafe had gotten too close to her for own comfort, mixed with the fact he had drugged her with possible ill intentions all those months ago made her shiver with the slightest amount of fear.

To say the least, she was nervous — felt out of her comfort zone. She considered herself a good actress, as she's demonstrated multiple times in the past, but fake breaking up with the love of her life?

Unbearable.

The only thing keeping her going right now was the thought of being able to happily flick John B's ear when he irritated her in the slightest bit, being able to jump on Sarah's back and run down the beach, to have unlimited surf competitions, and the girliest of all annoying girl talks...to just have her best friends back.

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault I'm tired of being a stupid Pogue!" Lynn shouted back towards the blonde boy, and even though he one hundred percent knew she didn't mean a second of that sentence, it still seemed to slice right through his heart with ease. "We're never gonna change, J, it's never..."

"...Gonna work?" The boy muttered softly under his breath, narrowly escaping Lynn's fierce glare. "It was doomed from the beginning, wasn't it?"

"Are we sure this is gonna work?"

Lynn mumbled a few choice words under her breath as she finally asked the question they were all thinking — more so JJ than others. The blonde boy had looked distracted the entire time they begin sketching out the plan, not making eye contact with anyone and being uncharacteristically quiet.

In reality, his mind was quite the opposite. Fuck, he never wanted Rafe to be able to land a single finger on Lynn, he didn't want him within ten fucking feet of his girl. He was scrambling his brain, for some other plan or idea that wouldn't require Lynn having to be the double agent.

He had put on his best face in front of his friends, in front of Lynn, when the idea was first suggested. He didn't want to be the overprotective boyfriend, it wasn't in his bones, at least he didn't think so. But now his fists were squeezing so tightly and his jaw was so clenched that slowly everyone was starting to notice his odd behavior.

"Look, we all know I could've won an Oscar by now," Lynn spoke up through the silence, her palms landing on the left and right shoulders of Pope and Kie, a little smirk had taken over her lips. Fake confidence projected as strongly as she could, she continued. "If this doesn't work, we figure out something else. But we have to give this a go, for JB. And Sarah."

"I can go get some makeup from my bag, all y'all need is to look at the part at this point," Kie pointed out, and she awkwardly bumped into Pope's shoulder to gain his attention. "Pope, could you help me?"

"Help you? How could I—" Pope was interrupted as Kie glared daggers in his direction, her eyes switching over to the two blondes, and then Pope's face twisted once he understood. "—Right, the makeup, of course I'd help you, Kiara."

The two teenagers then, as nonchalantly as they could project, left in the direction of Kie's emergency bag — that contained a backup (cute as hell) outfit, extra pair of running shoes, the usual phone charger, and then plenty of makeup. So that just left JJ and Lynn to be by themselves.

      They were currently residing at the Chateau, sitting on the old wooden deck that was in desperate need of a new coat of paint. Lynn had shed her shoes and socks, swinging her dangling feet in the cool water. The sun was disappearing within the clouds, almost preparing for the gloom that was about to spread like a wildfire among the crew.

      Lynn was going to have to pretend to like a Kook, isn't that hell enough?

      Neither said a word for a few minutes, not sure whether it was because they didn't have the ability to form any on their tongues, or because they didn't want their time to end. After this, JJ had decided he would be staying in John B's room just in case Rafe had decided to come around — then he would already be hidden in that little room that could be disguised as a closet.

      "Can I...can I ask one thing before this whole thing goes down?"

Lynn shifted in JJ's direction from hearing his soft, yet quite sad, voice — it was lowered and staggered, almost like he didn't have the strength to have it much higher.

She bobbed her head up and down gently, her eyes falling to the way JJ was clutching onto the wooden panels of the dock, and she gently traced her fingers over to his skin. "Of course, J."

"I want to go on one last date, y'know, before we have to pretend to hate each other," JJ stated, his eyes still hovering over the splashing waves of the tide rolling out.

Lynn pressed the front of her forehead into the side of JJ's, closing her eyes while just enjoying the warmth of him. She was going to miss him, his nightly cuddles and infinite back scratches when she couldn't sleep. All for John B and Sarah, was it going to be worth it in the end?

"Whatever you want, baby," Lynn whispered, and she hooked her fingers to hold JJ's jaw, forcing the boy to make eye contact with her. "I love you."

"I hate you."

      Lynn had never thought she had cried so perfectly — and the tears that had been previously staining just below her eyes had now changed into dripping wet channels down her cheeks.

      "We're just on...two different paths, aren't we?" JJ questioned, his voice hoarse, husky. Typically, Lynn loved that little whisp of sexiness tugging in his voice, but only sadness remained. "We don't work."

       "I know," Lynn's eyes hovered for a moment, allowing them to meet those wet, yet still bright, blue eyes of JJ's.

      Silence.

      "Then we agree," JJ popped his jaw off to the side, and this was when he finally whipped his eyes away from Lynn's, feeling as if he lingered there — he wouldn't be able to let the next words out of his mouth. "This has to end."

      "It just did."

a/n: hopefully there isn't some random liquid seeping out of everyone's eyes ,,, maybe. OK BUT DONT FORGET, it isn't real they are still happily together in love and mwah <3 also don't apologize for using the famous delena breakup line woop