meant to be | j. parker¹

TWENTY-THREE

"Hey, do you want to hang out today?" Aaliyah asked skipping into her sister's room. "Aaliyah! I am not wearing pants. Close my door!" Liv yelled making the girl scurry towards the door and close it. "Back to me. Do you want to hang out? Yes or no?" she asked plopping down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm visiting Layla, feel free to come with me. I kind of have plans after that, I'd invite you but, it's sort of a date with Asher," Liv admitted looking sheepishly at her sister. "Oh. Totally wouldn't want to crash your date or anything. But, I'll come with you to visit Layla," she responded as the two made their way out of her room.

"What's JJ doing? Why don't you hang out with him?" Liv suggested. "He's doing me," Jordan replied walking out of his room and joining the two girls.

"Please...think about what the hell you just said about you and my boyfriend," Aaliyah mumbled scrunching her face up at him. "Dude..." Liv giggled watching Jordan's face change in realization. "Oh! So not what I meant! I mean we're hanging out!" Jordan yelled shaking his head.

"Hey, there they are!" Billy exclaimed excitedly clapping his hands together once he spotted the three kids walking down the steps together.

"Wow. He seems chipper," Liv whispered to them. "Like, more than we just won a game chipper," Jordan said. "Yeah, should we be concerned?" Aaliyah added furrowing her eyebrows.

"You three do know that I can hear you, right? Get over here. Come on. Sit down. Come on," Billy said patting the stools beside him. "I'll sit here," Liyah mumbled hopping onto the counter and swinging her legs.

"Now, if there's one thing that I learned from family therapy, it's that we need to create some new memories, so since I have you guys to myself this weekend. I thought we'd start today. How about a movie afterward? What do you say?" he suggested. "Um, yeah. Sorry, dad. We already made plans and then after I'm hanging out with Asher," Liv said sympathetically.

"I'll only be with Liv for like, two hours max. But, after that, you get your favorite triplet all to yourself," Aaliyah said hopping off of the counter and running after Liv to the front door. "I don't have favorites!" he yelled after the two.

"This is kind of...nice? I mean, if I was on the verge of going out of my mind. I definitely wouldn't mind coming here," Aaliyah sighed looking around the treatment facility that Layla was staying at. "Maybe...don't say that in front of Layla. Speaking of...she's right there. So, shh," Liv said clamping a hand over her sister's mouth.

"Um...what's going on here?" Layla asked approaching the two sisters. Aaliyah quickly shook off the hand that was covering her mouth. "Nothing. Just Liv being an annoying sister," she responded before reaching over to the girl and engulfing her in a hug. "I've missed you."

"I missed both of you, too. So, what's been going on guys?" Layla said reciprocating the hug before the three walked outside and roamed the halls of the facility. "Well, I don't want to bore you with all the updates on everyone's lives on the outside," Liv hesitantly told her.

"No, guys, I want to hear, I promise. Um, how's—How's Spencer?" Layla asked looking over at the two. "Uh, I'm a little concerned," Liv sighed.

"Uh-oh. Detective Liv on the loose. You gonna shave your head and pretend to be him, too? I'm kidding," Layla playfully said to her. "That was a good one. Glad you haven't lost your sense of humor," Aaliyah chuckled.

Liv let out a breathy laugh. "I—No. Spencer's just been working overtime like crazy. I'm worried he's burying his feelings about quitting football."

"Well, you know, maybe work is his way of finding himself," Layla responded furrowing her eyebrows in the process. "Yeah, I can see that. But, anyway, um, yeah, everything else is good. Everyone's just really missing you on the outside," Liv said.

"She's not in prison, Olivia. You can stop calling it the outside," Liyah sighed throwing her arm around her sister. "Yeah, sorry! When are you coming home?" Liv asked.

"Um, we'll see," Layla hesitantly told her. "Layla I thought you said they cleared you for off-campus visits, but this is the second time you had me come here instead. Is everything okay?" Liv asked her.

"Yeah. Totally. Um, it's just easier. Uh, anyway, I got to get going, but I'll see you two soon?" she replied hugging the two sisters before swiftly walking away.

"Was she acting strange? Or was it just me?" Liv questioned her sister. "She was definitely acting strange but, maybe, she just feels better seeing us here. Instead of somewhere that reminds her of the way she's been acting, lately? Anyway, you go have fun on your date with Asher. I guess I'll take one for the team and hang out with dad," Liyah responded patting her sister on the back and walking off to her car.

✯✯✯

"So, how was your visit with Layla?" Jordan asked sitting inside Spencer's house while he, Liv, Kia, Spencer, Aaliyah, and JJ sat around stuffing envelopes with tickets. "Good. Fine," Liv hastily stated.

"Don't forget I was there," Aaliyah piped up sitting down on the floor in between her boyfriend's legs. "That bad, huh?" Kia asked looking at her. "She flip out when she found about you and Asher or what?" Jordan added into the conversation.

"She didn't tell her," JJ said, ignoring the raised eyebrows that were thrown his way. "My girlfriend tells me everything," he proudly stated, leaning to press a kiss against her cheek.

"I had my reasons," Liv said defensively raising her hands up. "She's doing great but still seems hesitant about her recovery, and I don't want to say anything that might make things worse," she explained.

"Well, isn't transparency part of recovery? I mean, you should just be honest with her and tell her the truth, Liv," Jordan told her. After Dillon's mini outbursts towards his older brother, Asher had shortly arrived at the house and the groups dispersed outside to sell their share of tickets.

The couple slowly trailed behind Asher, Spencer, and Coop, trying their best to focus on selling tickets but, instead too focused on each other. "You're so pretty," JJ hummed, leaning down to her face and kissing her making her blush in response. "So, are you," she cooed pinching his cheeks. "Wow, remember when all Asher wanted was for Spencer to leave Beverly. And now, look, they're all buddy-buddy," she pointed out watching him and Spencer shake hands.

"We can hear you!" Asher yelled turning around to glare at the girl. "But, is she wrong?" Dillon asked running up to them. "It's called growth little homies," Asher said looking at the two.

"I'm like, an inch shorter than him," she scoffed looking up at JJ. "You're not 5'7!" he cackled clutching his stomach. "You're the shortest triplet. Standing at a solid 5'5," he finished looking down at her.

"We're getting frozen yogurt? Are y'all joining us or just gonna stand there?" Spencer asked watching the two stand in the middle of the street face to face. "We're good," JJ responded shooing them away.

"What if I wanted fro-yo?" she asked, letting out a small groan of frustration and elbowing him in the stomach. "But, you always say fro-yo makes you po—"

"You know too much about me," she mumbled placing her hand over his mouth and turning in the opposite direction.

2x09