Cali

3

J C

Kian looked at me as soon as Liz left the room. "Dude, how could you not know that a girl like that loves you?" "Don't worry about it." "I'm going to worry about it. You're my friend but she is now too. She's clearly hurt by whatever happened with you guys. Maybe trying to talk to her wouldn't be the worst thing?" "Me coming here was me trying to talk to her." "Try harder. Trying once isn't going to work with her." "So now you know her better than I do?" "I'm pretty sure I do. You haven't know her for 3 years, Jc. What happened with that anyways?" "I thought she would be fine if I left and I just got to a point where I felt trapped sitting there so I left." "So you told her she wasn't enough for you to stay?" "I don't know. Can we just not talk about this anymore?" "I'm going to check on her." Kian said and walked down the hall way, knocking on a door. I walked out of her house and slammed the door behind me, walking home and ignoring the guys questions. I went into my room and laid on my bed. What could she have gone through after I left? I got out my phone and went to Instagram. I found her pretty quickly and saw her pictures. So her hair being that color isn't all that recent, she lived by herself. Wait... she's talking to her dad again? Has been for 2 years. I went to Facebook and found her page. She just got out of a relationship. Wait, shit I know this guy. How did she end up dating him? He's an asshole. That's probably why she acts like this now. Her grandfather passed away. Shit. I wasn't there for that. I kept scrolling and saw everything that I'd missed. Everything I could find anyways. By the time I got off my phone I decided to go back to her house. I'm not giving up on her this time. She used to come to me when she was ready but I have the feeling she won't do that now. I realized it was a few hours later now and when I walked down stairs all the guys, except Kian, were around the pool table. He must be in the bathroom. I walked to Liz's house and knocked on the door. No one answered to I tried it to see if it was locked. It opened and I walked in to see Liz and Kian curled up on the couch together. "What the hell?" I yelled and they both jumped. They turned to look at me and Liz looked confused. "What?" "Why are you guys like cuddling and shit?" "I was asleep thank you. And it's none of your damn business. You lost the right to question me." Liz said, snapping at me for about the hundredth time today. "I was coming to talk to you but you seem busy so I'll go." I said and started towards the door. I heard footsteps and felt a hand grab my arm. "Jc, what did you need to talk about?" I heard Liz ask and she sounded so soft and quiet. She sounded like the Liz I knew in Texas. "I just wanted to talk about everything." I said and saw Kian walking towards us. "I'm gonna go." "Thanks for coming, Kian." She said and he waved before walking out the door. "So where do you want to start?" "I'm sorry about everything I missed. I know you went through some things that you needed me for." I said and her hand dropped from my arm. "I went through a lot. I needed you there to help me and you left me." "Talk to me. Tell me anything you want to." I said and she looked up at me through her eyelashes.

L I Z

I looked up at Jc and saw all the worry and emotion in his eyes that I was looking for. There are somethings that I'm just not ready to talk about with anyone so I'll start with what's easier. "Well, I started talking to my dad again. It was just something I felt I needed to do. My grandfather passed away. Lung cancer. That was something that I really wanted you there to help me through." I said and paused for a second. The way he was looking at me is how he used to look at me when I was upset. Like he could protect me from anything in the world. This is the Jc I loved. Love. Who knows which one. "I was in a relationship with James. He treated me like crap pretty much all the time so that was awful. There's more to that but I'm not quite ready to talk about it." I said and he looked confused and concerned. "Did he hurt you?" "Not exactly. I'll tell you at some point, I just can't talk about it right now. But it's part of why I left. I just haven't told anyone that." "So why did you guys break up?" "He was cheating on me. Accused me of cheating on him. It wasn't pretty." I said and he pulled me in for a hug. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and his grip on my waist tightened. "I've missed you so much." He said and I nodded into his shoulder. "I missed you too, Jc." I said and we stood there like that for a while. My stomach growled and he pulled back enough to look at me. "Wanna get something to eat?" "Since you already know that I'm hungry." I said and he smiled. I've missed his smile so much. "What do you want to eat?" "I could go for anything." "You used to love Taco Bell. I haven't been in a while but we could go?" "Sure." I said and slipped on a pair of black toms. We walked to his house and got in his car. We rode to Taco Bell and he pulled into the drive thru. "Why aren't we going in?" "Because I'm paying." "Why did I expect anything different?" I asked and he just laughed at me. He ordered and payed and I slipped a $5 in his center console when he wasn't looking. "So your house or mine?" He asked and I shrugged. "Mine long enough to eat and so I can get a swim suit and then yours?" I suggested and he nodded. It was a really pretty day and summer just started so why not take advantage of it? "Sounds good." He said and we made the short drive to my house. We sat on the couch and ate pretty much silently. I finished before he did so I walked in my room to pick out a bathing suit. "Jc! Pink or blue?" "Pink?" "Okay!" I yelled and closed my door to change into it. I pulled a pair of shorts and a hoodie over it and put clothes in a bag to change into after. I walked out and slid my toms back on. Jc had finished eating and cleaned up so we went to his house to swim and hang out. Once we walked inside Trevor ran and pretty much tackled me. "Hi, Trevor." I said laughing and trying not to fall over. "Did you and Jc work whatever out?" "I think so." I said and looked over at him. He smiled at me and I walked towards their back door. "We're going swimming if you guys wanna come out and join us." I said and dropped my bag on a couch. I walked outside with Jc following me. He grabbed towels on the way out for both of us, which was great cause i didn't think about a towel. I slid off my hoodie and shorts and Jc was staring. "Earth to Jc." I said and waved my hand in front of his face. "Sorry, zoned out I guess." He said and I rolled my eyes. I dove into the pool and he sat on a chair. "Are you going to get in?" I asked when I came back to the surface. "I need to change first." "Then go change." I said and Kian and Sam came walking out. "Hey!" They said together and I waved. They both took off shirts and jumped in. Jc went to go change, saying something to Romeo as he walked out with Trevor. He laughed and came to join us in the pool. We were all talking when Jc came out and I got a little lost in the conversation. Jc has done some type of working out. I could tell earlier but I couldn't tell this much. Jc got really hot. Kian threw me after Jc jumped into the pool and when I came back up I tried to get him under the water but he's a human giraffe so that didn't work out too well. Sam was laughing at me when I gave up and I pouted. Trevor looped an arm around my shoulder and poked my cheek. "Kian's just a big meanie." "No, Kian is a giraffe." I said back and Jc laughed. We stayed out in the pool for a while, goofing off and joking. Once the sun started to go down we all got out of the pool. I could feel eyes on me as I wrapped a towel around myself. "JC! STOP STARING!" Trevor yelled, being dramatic like normal and I heard someone hit the water. I turned around and saw Jc coming up. Kian and Trevor were standing by the pool, laughing. "Where can I change?" I asked and Jc pulled himself over the side of the pool. "You can use my room." He said and grabbed a towel. I grabbed my shorts and hoodie before following him into the house, the rest of the guys drying off still. I grabbed my bag off the couch and followed him into his room. I saw a bathroom hooked to it. "You can change in here or in the bathroom, whichever you'd prefer." "Doesn't matter to me." "Okay, well I'm gonna change in the bathroom then." "Okay." I said and he grabbed his clothes before walking in the bathroom. Once he closed the door I tried to untie my top and it wouldn't come undone. Shit. I do not want to ask Jc to untie it. I tried again and still couldn't get it. I tried one last time and walked over to the bathroom door. I knocked and Jc opened it in sweatpants and no shirt. "I can't get my top untied." I said and he laughed but moved to untie it. "How the hell did you tie this thing?" "Different than normal apparently." I said and he fought with it for a minute. Once he got it untied the strings fell by my side and my hand went to the front of my top to hold it in place. "Thanks," I said. And he nodded. "I'm gonna go out with the guys." He said trying to look anywhere but me. "Jc, you've seen me in a swim suit before. It's no different now than it was then." I said and he looked from my feet to my eyes. "It's a little different." He said and made his way to the door. "So you were checking me out earlier?" I asked and he smiled and blushed before walking out of his room, closing the door. I changed into my shorts and the black crop top I was wearing earlier with my hoodie pulled on but unzipped. I'm just going to test a theory really quick. I put my bathing suit in his bathroom on the shower rod and walked out of his room. I went to find where the boys were and heard them talking. "She caught me checking her out. She also couldn't get her top untied. She was standing right in front of me with her top untied. That is torture." Jc and I smirked a little. "Hey, guys." I said and walked into the room with the pool table. Jc jumped, blushing again and looked me up and down. My stomach was exposed since my shorts weren't high waisted. I sat on a stool in the room and we were all talking. "Liz, do you want to play a round?" "Don't know how." I said and Jc held the stick towards me. "I'll teach you. It's easy." Romeos phone started ringing and he walked out of the room. "Sam! We need to go." He yelled and Sam walked out. Kian left to take Trevor home and I looked at Jc. "Then there were two." I said and he smiled. "Okay, so how do you do this?" I asked and he told me how to stand and where to put my hands. I hit the ball in the wrong place and it spiraled to the side. "Not like that." Jc said and walked over, leaning over me to show me how to do it. Cliché, I know. He did everything and I was looking at him. He moved the pool stick to hit the ball and then stepped back, looking at me. "Got it?" "Maybe?" I said and he raised an eyebrow at me. "Were you paying attention?" "Not really but I'll figure it out." I said and he went, talking me through what he was doing. I tried and the stick got caught on my jacket. "One second." I said, leaning the stick against the table and sliding the jacket off. I tried again and actually got one in a pocket. We finished the round and Jc won, which I was not surprised by. "I'm not any good at this." I said and he smiled at me. "I guess you'll have to come over for more lessons then." "Maybe." I said and sat myself on the table. Jc walked over and stood next to me, leaning his hip against the table. "So is this how you dress now?" "Why do you ask?" "It's distracting." "How?" "It just is." He said and I rolled my eyes. "I can change if you want?" I said and started to push myself off the table. He moved in front of me and put his hands on my hips. "Nah. I like it." He said and we were almost eye level. I was up a little high and our faces were really close. "Guys! I'm back!" Kian yelled and Jc backed up and I slid off the table. Kian walked in and looked confused. "Did I interrupt something?" "No. What would you have interrupted?" I asked and Jc shrugged.