meant to be | j. parker¹

SEVEN

"So...you kind of just walked straight past me last night when you came home. Are you and JJ okay?" Liv asked entering her sister's room. Aaliyah looked up from her phone shrugging her shoulders. "He said he needed time to think. I don't blame him, I mean, Asher's his best friend, and I had feelings for him."

"Had, or have? Because I heard you the night of the booster party when you said is it possible to be in love with more than one person. I didn't know you were talking about Asher at the time but..." Liv trailed off looking at her sister with a raised eyebrow. "Look, maybe there was a time where I thought I could possibly...be in love with him. But, no. I'm really into JJ and I don't want to mess that up," Aaliyah responded.

"Whatever you say," Liv said whistling lowly. "Did Jordan ever come home? I covered for him with dad but, I don't think he was in his room."

"Nope," she said ears perking up at the sound of the door closing. "But, that must be him now. Let's go before dad sees him and kills him." The two sisters ran down the steps watching Asher's dad bump into Jordan who had just strolled through the door with chips in his hand. "Huh. What was that about?" Jordan asked them.

"I'll tell you later," Liv whisper-yelled at him. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Out," he responded munching on his chips while the two girls stared at his red glassy eyes. "Dude, you're high!" Aaliyah whispered looking at him. "What? No," he denied.

"In case you're forgetting, I know what high as a kite looks like. Are you nuts? You have a game today," Liv lectured. "Olivia relax," Jordan said nonchalantly.

"Relax? She covered for you!" Aaliyah butted in. "I told mom and dad that you were in your room all night. Now get your chip-guzzling walk of shame butt upstairs before—"

"Ah. What's going on here?" Billy said walking over to the entryway and spotting his kids. "Hey, dad," Jordan said turning around. "Hey...why are you still in your suit? And where are your shoes? Hey, please don't tell me you are just getting in from last night."

"You know-you know what? I had a great night. I finally let loose for once," Jordan said while his sisters facepalmed at his words. "You let loose," Billy said taking his hands out of his pockets. "Dude. Stop talking," Liyah whispered.

"No, no, no. I'm-I'm not gonna stop, okay?" Jordan said turning around to look at her. "I'm always trying to do what's right. I'm always trying to please you. And for once, I did what I wanted."

"What, with this little Malibu cheerleader?" their dad asked. After the excruciatingly awkward lecture their dad gave Jordan, he finally left. Leaving Liv and Aaliyah standing there on the staircase staring at Jordan who standing in silence thinking about the lecture he just got.

"I'm going to the cafe. Wanna come?" Liv asked breaking the awkward tension. "I could eat," she shrugged picking her keys out of her pocket and swinging them around her finger.

"Do you plan on apologizing to Layla?" Liv asked watching her sister nibble on some french fries. She picked her drink up as a way to ignore the question, taking long, slow sips out of it. "I know, you heard me, Aaliyah Baker!"

"Okay, Olivia Baker," she scoffed putting her drink down. "I want to apologize. But, what I did was kind of unforgivable...I mean, is there really any point in apologizing if she's not gonna forgive me?" she asked looking up from the table and noticing Layla walking into the cafe. "Oh, my God! She's right there. I'm going to the bathroom!" After spending about 20 minutes pacing the floor of the bathroom, she finally got a text from Liv telling her that Layla walked away. "Where is she?" Liyah whispered looking around the room.

"Outside. She totally saw you run away," Liv said turning around and pointing at Layla who was sitting by herself outside the cafe. "I didn't run...I had to pee," she mumbled standing up straight and walking out the doors, approaching Layla.

"Oh, you didn't run away this time," Layla sarcastically said looking up at the girl.

"Can I sit?" she asked pointing. Layla moved her bag out of the way nodding her head reluctantly. "Fine. You can sit. But, don't expect me to forgive you."

"Totally understandable. Just let me explain," Aaliyah said fiddling with her fingers nervously. "Asher asked me to meet up one day after you two had some argument, and so I invited him to place. One thing led to another and—"

"I don't need all the details," Layla rudely stated giving her a glare. "Sorry. Okay, we hooked up. After that, we hooked up a few more times, and then the sex turned into meaningful conversations, and secret dates...Well, not dates, just us sitting in my car and eating. We sort of developed feelings for each other and we didn't stop until about a month ago. I'm extremely sorry, you're supposed to be my best friend, and I...completely messed that up. I understand if you never want to speak to me ever again. But...just know that I'm really, really, sorry," Aaliyah said giving the girl a sad smile.

Layla took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm not saying that I forgive you. But, I'm also not saying that I don't want us to stop being friends. I just can't be best friends, anymore. At least for now."

"Of course. I totally understand."

✯✯✯

The homecoming game had shortly approached after the conversation the two girls had. Aaliyah was still uncertain about her future with JJ but, for now, she had to focus on cheering the football team on during the big game against Malibu. The first half of the game started out as a complete mess every time Beverly tried to make a play, Malibu managed to outsmart them each time. Aaliyah wasn't sure how great of a team Malibu was but something just didn't seem right. During the halftime break, the cheer team had to go out on the field and perform their halftime performance but with the way the team was playing there wasn't much cheerful energy going on. Once the halftime break was finally over Beverly seemed to be playing much better this time around and with an assist from Spencer's former teammate, Chris, the team won advancing to the playoffs. After Jordan made the winning touchdown people from the crowd stormed the field to congratulate them while Aaliyah hung around in the back staring intently at the ground.

"Hey," JJ said approaching the girl.

"Hey. Congrats on your big win," she said waving her pom-poms around.

"So, I took some time to think..."

"And?" she asked urging for him to continue.

"And. I like you," JJ responded resting his hands on her hips and pulling her closer into his body. "I really like you, and I'm willing to push past and forget about this whole Asher situation if you are."

"Already forgotten!" she excitedly said jumping into his arms. "So...are you, my boyfriend, now?"

"Not exactly how I wanted to ask you," the blonde said holding her up by her butt while her legs wrapped around his body. "But, yes. I am your boyfriend now," he said pressing a kiss against her lips. "By the way, I really like you, too," Liyah mumbled pulling away from the kiss.

"Should I kick Asher's ass now, or later?" he asked placing her back down onto the ground. "Because I don't think I appreciate him airing out my girlfriend and her sister's mistakes like that."

"Maybe, don't kick his ass at all?" she suggested. "Be the bigger person...since you're kind of like, twice his size."

"Sure," he scoffed.

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