HOPELESSLY DEVOTED

an outer banks story

by -spacecadet

CHAPTER NINE: LUNCH BREAK

Kiara Carrera's parents owned a seafood restaurant on the marsh, called The Wreck. They had the best seafood on the island, period, and everyone knew that — pogues and kooks alike.

Ruth knew it, so that was where she and Campbell headed for a late lunch after a few hours of surfing. Campbell was glad to be free of Figure Eight. Even if the Carreras did live there, the restaurant wasn't there.

"I went to school with Mike," Ruth said as they walked up to the door. "Everyone was so shocked when he married a kook. But Anna seems nice enough."

As soon as they walked in the door, Campbell regretted suggesting the place for lunch. She instantly recognized the back of a red ball cap sat at the counter, and the tufts of blond hair sticking out from under it. She further recognized the two other boys sitting next to the blondie: John B, Pope, and JJ.

Kiara was behind the counter, chatting to the other pogues as she scrubbed the surface. Her eyes met Campbell's as the latter walked to the door, and she raised her soapy hand to wave.

"Hey, Campbell!"

"Well, don't you just know everyone today," Ruth teased.

"Those are my friends," Campbell muttered before waving back to Kiara, her cheeks blushing as the boys turned around.

"C!" John B hollered loudly, patting the empty spot next to him. "About time you show up. Ditch your aunt yet?"

Campbell grimaced as Ruth stepped out from behind her.

"She hasn't managed to get rid of me quite yet," Ruth replied coolly, without a hint of any irritation, to Campbell's surprise.

John B stammered for an apology as JJ hopped off his stool. "It's nice to see you again, Miss Ruth."

Ruth waved off the formality. "Just Ruth is fine, JJ. I'm not my mother." She turned to her niece with a smirk. "Well? Are you going to introduce me to the rest of your friends?"

Campbell's cheeks flushed as Ruth stared her down with an amused grin, thinking back to their conversation about JJ in the car. "Yeah. Umm, guys, this is my Aunt Ruth. Aunt Ruth, this is John B Routledge, Pope Heyward, Kiara Carrera — her parents own the restaurant — and then JJ. You know JJ."

"Pleasure to meet you all," Ruth replied before sliding into one of the empty seats on John B's left. Campbell took the second.

Kiara handed them menus and while Ruth studied hers intently, Campbell could barely focus on the words.

"I think I'll get the fried shrimp, with fries. And the largest Coke you've got," Ruth said, smiling politely at Kiara as she handed the girl back the menu.

Kiara looked expectantly to Campbell, whose eyes were glazing over on the stained piece of paper that served as the menu.

"Campbell? What do you want?" Kiara asked, nudging the girl's arm.

"Oh. Uhh... fish sandwich? Please?"

"Do you want fries?"

"Sure?"

Kiara arched an eyebrow, watching her friend curiously. "And to drink?"

"Oh right. Lemonade."

"Mmmkay," Kiara said after a moment, exchanging a silent look with Pope, before disappearing into the kitchen.

"C, you alright?" Pope asked, leaning over John B to prod the girl's shoulder with his finger.

"Oh, I'm good. Just tired from surfing, and hungry. Too much sun maybe," she rambled, fearing that the longer she went on, the more incoherent she was sounding.

"How were the waves today?" John B asked, looking down the counter at the two Sheridan women. "We were thinking about going out this afternoon."

When Campbell didn't answer, Ruth cleared her throat and leaned forward, smiling at John B. "They were good by my standards, but it's also been a while since I've been up on a board."

Her conversation with Ruth about JJ echoed loudly in her ears.

Please don't say anything. Please don't say anything. Please don't say anything, she silently begged to Ruth.

"Where did you go?" Pope asked.

Ruth again waited for her niece to answer, but when she didn't, Ruth replied, "Over in Figure Eight."

JJ let out a low whistle. "You paid to use the beach?"

Ruth shrugged. "I grew up on this island, and never got the chance to surf there. Now that I can afford it, I wanted to try it out."

"And how was it?" JJ asked, clearly skeptical. "Cam, what did you think?"

JJ's voice brought Campbell out of her stupor, and she turned to look at the boy, her face suddenly growing warm. She was such a fool. She hated herself.

"I mean, it was fine. Nothing special. Less garbage, I guess. It was fun though."

Kiara, who had returned from the kitchen after placing their orders, let out a snort. "Not that the kooks are littering any less. They just pay people to pick up after them."

"I'll have to agree with my niece," Ruth said, fixing her niece with a knowing look. "Overrated."

"Do you do a lot of surfing, Ruth?" John B asked.

Ruth let out a chuckle. "Not a lot of opportunities for surfing in Manhattan, I'm afraid. But I did, when I was younger. With my brother, James." Ruth's eyes drifted to her niece. "Campbell's father."

The pogues froze at the mention of Campbell's father. Besides JJ, Campbell didn't really talk about her parents with her friends. It was too hard, even after all these years. They all glanced her way, waiting for her reaction.

Campbell plastered a smile on her face. "Yeah, Dad loved to surf."

"D-Did your mom surf too, C?" Pope asked, watching his friend nervously.

Campbell chuckled, and Ruth let out a snort. "Not so much."

"Nora on a surfboard?" Ruth laughed. "James tried like hell to get her to like surfing, but she was terrified of the water."

"She grew up in a very inland part of Georgia, there wasn't exactly a big surf culture there,' Campbell said with a bittersweet smile. "Besides, she was terrified of the ocean."

Campbell made eye contact with JJ down the counter, and he gave her a wide grin. He knew how hard it was for her to talk about her parents, but it seemed like Ruth was helping her open up a little bit. He was proud of her, even if she didn't realize it.

"Well, you're already a better surfer than he was at your age, Campbell," Ruth said, a rare, genuine, and bittersweet smile filling her typically solemn face.

"What else did you guys do around here in the summer, Aunt Ruth?"

Ruth shrugged, a smirk filling her face. "Same as you, I'm sure. When we weren't working, we wasted away on the beach, drank a lot of beer, and smoked .... cigarettes."

"Sounds a lot like what we do," JJ said with a chuckle. Upon receiving a questioning glance from Ruth, he cleared his throat and added, "Minus the, uhh, beer and smoking, of course."

"Of course," Ruth mocked sarcastically.

Mr. Carrera arrived with Ruth and Campbell's food, stopping to exchange pleasantries with his old high school classmate before returning to work. After they finished eating, Ruth announced that she had some work to finish up on remotely.

"You can stay here with your friends if you want, Campbell," she said, glancing at her watch. "I have a conference call with a firm in LA at one."

"Oh, okay," Campbell said, feeling weirdly sad that the day with Ruth was ending. She'd surprisingly enjoyed it. When Ruth wasn't busy being scary and condescending, she was actually kind of fun to be around. "Thank you for today. I had fun."

A smile twitched on Ruth's botox-perfect face. "I did too. I'll see you later."

Campbell had grown up hearing stories about Ruth in her youth, about what a headstrong, carefree, fun-loving young woman she'd been. She had fun without letting the fun derail her goals, which she accomplished aplenty. She'd been Campbell's father's best friend, and the siblings had been thick as thieves until James went off to college at Clemson, where he then met Nora, Campbell's mother.

Ruth then went north to New York, quickly acclimating to a big city life. Campbell never met the Ruth her father knew, but maybe she was catching glimpses of her now. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ author's note ✫・゜・。.

new chapter :) not many people read this book, but it's the only one i've had any inspiration for lately. i also have so many chapters written and backlogged, i really need to get publishing.

for those of you that do read it, thank you, i appreciate you.

xx,

madi