meant to be | j. parker¹

THREE

"Hey, so are we like, okay? Because you haven't answered any of my texts," JJ said approaching Aaliyah at her locker.

"We are great," Aaliyah said angrily slamming her locker shut before grinning at him. "Why wouldn't we be okay?"

He quickly took a step back due to her mood swings. "Maybe, because you haven't texted me back. And because you kind of just took your anger out on your locker, like a psycho!"

"We're fine," she shrugged looking around at the laughter-filled hallways. "Why is everyone laughing?"

"You haven't seen it?" JJ asked pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I think it's obvious who made it."

"Stupid, Asher," she scoffed looking down at the meme of Spencer fumbling the ball.

"What about me?" Asher questioned walking up to the two.

Stopping herself from punching him in the face she simply said. "You suck."

Asher sent her a soft smirk before pulling a paper out of his backpack. "Would you believe that Ms. Bench put the three of us in a group together for that English assignment?" JJ nodded his head in excitement completely oblivious to the anger radiating off of Aaliyah. "Oh, yeah! My two best friends!"

"Kill me, now!" Aaliyah groaned. "Look, I'm smarter than the both of you combined. I can do everything and then turn it into Ms. Bench with all of our names on it. That way we won't have to waste any time together."

Asher swung his arm around the girl pulling her closer to his body. "Nope. Actually, I'm thinking we go to the cafe and work on it after school. What do you think, JJ?"

"Sounds good to me," JJ hummed. "Come on, Li. I'll drive us."

"JJ," she giggled walking away from Asher who kept a harsh glare on his face. "It's 11 am, we still have like, 4 more hours of school."

✯ ✯ ✯

"Why did Ms. Bench put us together? I thought we were only allowed to be in groups of two?" Aaliyah asked walking in between Asher and JJ.

"Because me and Asher need you," JJ said. "Like, your brains. Obviously!"

Walking into the cafe Aaliyah spotted her sister and Layla sitting together and Asher approached the two. "What's up, ladies?"

"Hey, babe," Layla greeted with a smile on her face.

"Uh, what are you guys doing here?" Liv asked looking at the three.

"Yeah, Ash," Aaliyah said pinching him on his bicep. "What the hell are we doing here?"

"The three of us are working on that English project. So I figured 5 brains are better than three," Asher responded.

"Uh, make that 4 brains," JJ corrected. "This Shakespeare dude's not really my thing. But, hey, food's on me."

"Fun," Aaliyah mumbled plopping down extremely close to JJ and placing her notes on his lap getting a small blush in return from the blonde who just brushed the hair out of her face while he watched her work.

"Alright, I'm ready to clean out the system and then hit round two. Who wants more food?" JJ announced closing his laptop.

Liv looked over at him with an annoyed expression on her face. "You know, you don't need to announce every time you need to drop a deuce."

"Why don't I get the food and you go take care of that?" Layla offered. Not wanting to be left alone with her sister, Asher, and Layla, Aaliyah stood up and announced that she'd also be using the bathroom.

"Together?" Asher asked looking up from his tablet.

"Yes, Asher. Together. I'm gonna stand right next to him and watch as he pees," she sarcastically said, turning around and following JJ to the bathroom.

"I have a shy bladder," JJ admitted walking to the bathroom together. The girl threw him a look before entering the women's bathroom. "Oh, you waited," she mumbled looking at him directly outside of the bathroom and leaning against the wall.

"Well, yeah," he said matter of factly. "Everyone left and I didn't want to just leave you here. Especially, since I'm kind of the one who drove you here."

"Well, I guess we should leave, too, huh?" Liyah said holding her hand out for him to grab. The two got into JJ's car and the ride to their designated viewpoint that they constantly hung out at was rode in silence. "So..."

"So..." JJ mocked turning his head to look at the girl. Following his lead and moving her head to look at him the two slowly leaned in and their lips almost touched before his phone went off making the boy throw his head back in annoyance. "It's your brother. He needs me for some sort of game in Crenshaw. I can take you home or you can come wi—"

"I'll come with you," she quickly answered, cheeks burning after their almost kiss. "I might need to steal one of your sweaters it's kind of getting cold outside," she said slightly shivering after they arrived in Crenshaw and the two got out of the car together.

"And maybe a pair of pants? Your ass is like hanging out of those," JJ said checking her out not very subtly as he took his hoodie off and threw it at her to wear.

"Okay, dad," she scoffed walking off towards the field and immediately spotting her brother and Spencer, giving the two a small wave.

"Aaliyah, this is Coop," Jordan said, introducing her to a short-haired black girl. "Coop, this is my sister."

"Oh, hey now!" Coop grinned slightly checking the girl out. "I guess the girls in Beverly Hills ain't that skinny!"

"Um, nice to meet you, too. I think?" she said shaking the girl's hand.

JJ ran over to Aaliyah feeling a sudden burst of confidence after their almost kiss and placed his phone in her back pocket, pressing a kiss against her cheek. "Wish me luck!"

"No, she will not. Gross," Jordan said pushing the blonde away from his sister.

"I don't know anyone here," Aaliyah said looking over at Coop. "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Come on," Coop chuckled nudging her head in the direction of the benches on the sideline and sitting down next to a light-skinned girl with braids. "Patience, Aaliyah. Aaliyah, Patience."

"Nice to meet you," Aaliyah said shaking her hand.

"You too. I'm guessing you're from Beverly?" Patience asked making the girl nod in confirmation. The three girls sat on the edge of their seats watching as the boys tackle each other down and visibly cringed seeing Spencer spit blood out. The visitors were far behind the home team and before they could even try to catch up guards came running onto the track making them disperse quickly.

JJ came running over to Aaliyah grabbing her hand and pulling her over to the parking lot. "Do you want to sleepover?"

"Sure." The two made their way back to Beverly Hills after the football game and arrived at JJ's house. As they made their way up to his room, JJ quickly stripped himself of his clothes making the girl widen her eyes in surprise. "Why are you half-naked?!"

"This is how I sleep!" he yelled putting his hands up defensively. "You've slept over a bunch of times. Why are you being weird?"

"I'm not being weird," she mumbled grabbing a t-shirt from his drawer to change into. "I'm gonna change in the bathroom."

"You wanna tell me why you're being so strange?" JJ asked her once she walked back out of the bathroom. "I mean, since the whole banquet thing, and then earlier when we almost...when we almost kissed," he said blinking his eyes in realization once he noticed her uncomfort. "You like me!" he yelled pointing his finger in an accusatory way.

"No," she quickly denied looking at his burning red cheeks and mimicking him. "Maybe, you're the one who likes me?!"

"Yeah, I do," the blonde admitted planting a finger underneath her chin so that she'd look at him. "What are you gonna do about it, Aaliyah?"

"I'm gonna kiss you," she breathed out grabbing him by the back of his neck and pulling him in for a kiss.

01x03