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Stars looked like huge skyscrapers, the letters on her phone melted together and created a giant mess of colors and lines on the screen. The headlights of passing cars reminded her of bolts of lightning and the wind blew a melody in her ears. With her head heavy and her arms feeling light enough for her to start levitating, Annabelle biked through figure eight on a bike that she had taken from a garage by a huge mansion a few blocks back.

The bike swayed unsteadily as she rode up the fancy roads, surrounded by fancy houses filled with fancy people. She hated them. She hated Figure Eight. She hated the kooks. She hated Rafe for giving her the drugs. She hated herself for following him inside the party and for showing up late to her friends.
She was unsure how late she was as she couldn't read the time on her phone without the numbers flowing together.

After several attempts to sober up, she concluded that the drugs weren't going to wear off for about another hour. Her phone vibrated like crazy in her back pocket but she ignored it. Instead, she paddled faster, speeding down the last hill that led to Kiara's parent's restaurant.

Annabelle jumped off the bike and hurried inside. The restaurant was empty except for her four friends at the far end of the room. Kiara and John B danced around to the music from the speakers and JJ and Pope chuckled as they attempted to throw fries into each other's mouths.

Once the door slammed shut behind Annabelle, they all stopped and turned to face the brunette girl by the entrance.

One second of silence. Two. Three. It felt like an eternity passed by while they stared at each other before JJ stood up so hastily that his chair fell backward. The boy marched through the restaurant with Kiara right behind him and Annabelle attempted a quick smile.

"Where have you been? You were supposed to be here an hour ago." JJ said.

"Why haven't you been answering your phone? We've been like really really worried." Kiara pushed passed JJ and threw her arms around Annabelle who prayed that Kiara didn't notice the way she swayed when they hugged.

But Kiara seemed to notice something else. The girl slowly unraveled from the hug, her brows furrowed and her eyes scanning Annabelle.

"Why do you smell like that?" She asked. Her eyes moved frantically up and down Annabelle's figure, observing her every detail.

Annabelle could hear her heart drop into her stomach. "Like what?"

"Annabelle, you smell like weed," Kiara said. Annabelle froze. Unsure what to do or say, the girl simply just stood there. Pope went to turn down the music before joining up behind JJ and Kiara as well as John B. All four friends stared at her in disbelief. They might as well have pushed her against the wall with a knife at her throat.

"Annabelle-" JJ huffed.

One word laced with betrayal and disappointment.

Kiaras placed her hands on Annabelle's head, titling it up to reveal the redness in her eyes illuminated by the spotlight lamps.

"You're totally high." Kiara's words weren't a statement but an accusation. Annabelle's head felt like it lifted off her neck and spun around for minutes before being reattached to her body. All four pairs of eyes stared back at her. Disappointed. Shocked. Confused. Disappointed. Disappointed. Disappointed.

"Annabelle, I need you to tell me where you've been, right now," JJ said. The girl attempted to decipher his expression. Frowned brows worried eyes and lines of anger on his face.

Annabelle blinked multiple times as if it would help her out of the situation. The disco music had been turned down but Annabelle could hear it clearly in the silence of anticipation. Everyone waited for an answer that Annabelle knew wouldn't do them any good.

"Home." Annabelle lied.

"Annabelle you quit all that-" Pope said.

Kiara's arms wrapped around her so unexpectedly that Annabelle lost foot grip for a moment. Kiara pressed her face against Annabelle's shoulder as the warmth of her body embraced her.

Several beats passed, where the girl squeezed her best friend for dear life. Kiara knew that Annabelle hated drugs and everything around it since the death of her mother and something as stubbing her toe wouldn't make her go back to all of that.

Kiara pulled away, still squeezing her friend's hand tightly.

"Get in the car," JJ commanded. He grabbed Annabelle's arm making her shift her gaze up at him. The boy looked at John B for the keys. John B shuffled through his pockets before tossing the keys to his best friend.

Annabelle stumbled as JJ nudged her arm back, telling her to follow him outside. The nudge was a little too rough. A little too harsh. Just a bit. Just enough for Annabelle to notice and just enough for Annabelle's heart to twist.

JJ led the girl out the door, not giving Annabelle a chance to say goodbye to her friends. He marched over to the Twinkie, jumping into the driver's seat leaving Annabelle to stare at him with an ache of regret to drown in. The girl remained outside the car staring mindlessly at the boy, hugging herself from the cold. But it wasn't cold that night. Not at all. What caused the goosebumps was something entirely different.

"Get in."

Annabelle didn't move.

"Annabelle. Get in." The boy said through gritted teeth. He didn't look at her. Not once.

"Annabelle get inside the car right now."

The girl let out a shaky breath as she walked up to the Twinkie jumping in beside JJ. He started the car and began to drive off without sending her the slightest glance.

Everything was quiet. Inside the car. Outside. It was all perfectly still. It would've been a peaceful night if it weren't for the heavy and painful silence inside the car that sped down the roads of Outer Banks.

With his foot pressing down on the peddle and his knuckles whitening around the steering wheel, JJ still refused to meet Annabelle's pleading gaze.

"JJ, say something," Annabelle said.

"There's nothing to say."

"Say something. Anything. At least look at me." Annabelle pleaded but JJ simply just sighed and shook his head. "Say something. Tell me what you're thinking right now in this moment."

"You wanna know what I'm thinking about?" The boy finally looked at her. "I'm thinking about the thousand different ways I'm gonna murder the guy that gave you these drugs." A shaky and enraged breath escaped his lips. "I can't believe you did this. This is not you, Annabelle."

His words cut through the air like shards of glass, leaving Annabelle to bleed in her own regret and self-betrayal.

"I'm sorry." She whispered under her breath.

"Why? Why'd you do that?" JJ asked.

"I-I don't kn.."

"Who gave it to you?" JJ asked, his question lingering in the air while Annabelle pondered on what to say.  She couldn't tell him the truth. She couldn't tell anyone the truth. Not even Kiara could know. Not only had Annabelle done drugs after months of being clean but she had done it with the one and only Kook prince.

"Barry sold them to me." She lied. Barry the dealer of Outerbanks and the first name that Annabelle could think of.

"You went to see that crackhead?" JJ exhaled in frustration.

"You're high all the time but I do it once and it's this whole thing?" Annabelle raised her voice.

"Don't start." JJ huffed as he parked the car flying out the door the second he did. Annabelle whipped her head around noticing her surroundings. She had been too busy focusing on JJ to notice that he hadn't brought her to her house but his own.

"Get out," JJ demanded as he opened the car door.

Annabelle's regret and despair had transformed into anger. She avoided JJ's outstretched arm as she jumped out of the car. "I can walk by myself."

She quickly choked on her own words as she lost foot grip, her body crashing into the Twinkie.

"Yeah, that was elegant." JJ scoffed as he grabbed her arm. The girl attempted to get out of his grip but she fought in vain against his strong grasp. "Let me help you, Annabelle."

JJ escorted the girl inside the house and into his room. A musky and earthy smell filled Annabelle's nostrils as stepped inside the boy's room.

"What am I doing here, JJ?" Annabelle asked.

"Sleeping. Get on the bed, I'll drive the Twinkie back to John B and then I'll be right back." JJ said as he collected a few scattered shirts from the floor, lazily throwing them into his wardrobe.

"No, why am I here?" Annabelle stopped him.

"Well, I couldn't exactly drive you home. You reek of weed." JJ said without shifting his attention from his swift cleaning. "I'll be right back. Go to sleep while I'm gone. I'll be on the couch later if you need me." The boy shut the bedroom door leaving Annabelle to stand alone in the middle of the room.

The moment she heard the front door close, a wave of tears flooded her waterline. Her heart bleeds after the events of the night. The time she spent with Rafe, their kiss, the drugs and the foggy memories of what happened after, the looks on her friend's faces, the car ride to JJ's house. It was all crashing over her.

She curled up in JJ's bed while cuts of regret and hopelessness covered her heart. The girl didn't sleep much that night. She remained in JJ's bed, damping the pillow under her with her tears until she couldn't cry anymore. She heard JJ come back after a while. She lay with her head away from him as he quietly stepped inside the door whispering a quiet sorry before draping a blanket over her. But the blanket brought no warmth or security.

She felt empty. She couldn't believe that she had done drugs again after seeing what happened to her mother. But what scared her the most was how good it had felt.

𝟏𝟕𝟎𝟖 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
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Annabelle's downfall loading.....

for some context Annabelle's really broken bcs she betrayed herself and did drugs again.  And JJ's not mad, just disappointed