meant to be | j. parker¹

THIRTEEN

"What exactly do you buy a child who you don't really know anything about?" Aaliyah wondered out loud walking through Target and turning her head to see JJ occupying himself with an action figure. "JJ? You freaking man-child. A little help here!"

"I don't know, babe. But, if I was a child I'd want this," JJ said happily picking up a nerf gun from the aisle. "Aww, do you want me to buy you that?" she asked pinching his cheeks in between her fingers. "Put it in the cart," she giggled looking at his adorably pouting face.

"Just get Dillon a video game or something," he said placing the nerf gun into the shopping cart. "I feel like that's not a good gift," she whined. "Um, a gift card?" he suggested.

"Fine," she sighed. "Foot Locker? I feel like he would probably like shoes," she said picking through the rack of gift cards. JJ nodded his head in agreement and grabbed the gift card from her hands. "Put like, $300 on there or something."

"$300? He's not my kid!" she shrieked turning her head to look up at him. "I'll pay for it. No big deal. As long as you pay for my nerf gun," he said taking  it out of the cart and placing the obnoxiously big toy gun in her hands. "Okay, now, we need a card to put that in, and maybe more plants for my room," she said looking up at him with a sheepish smile.

"Nope. No more plants. Your parents literally looked at me sideways when you called me at like, 10 pm asking me to bring you over a ton of plants to decorate your room with," JJ complained pushing her away from the gardening section and nudging her towards self-checkout. "You're annoying, and we're gonna be late if we don't hurry up," Aaliyah mumbled paying for JJ's stupid toy while he paid for Dillon's gift. The couple shortly arrived in Crenshaw at the park for Dillon's birthday after buying the gift and walked over to Spencer and Dillon.

"Hey, glad you two could make it," Spencer said giving Aaliyah a hug and JJ a handshake. "Um, we haven't been formally introduced but I'm—"

"Aaliyah Baker," Dillon stated with a cheeky smile. "The other pretty girl that Spencer lives with. Is he your boyfriend?" he asked looking at JJ. "I sure am," JJ beamed throwing his arm around the girl. "Not for long...Thanks for the card," Dillon said plucking the card and running off throwing the couple a wink.

"Not only do I have to worry about the guys at our school but, now I've gotta worry about your little brother," JJ sighed looking over at Spencer. "Dillon's always been a lady's man. Get y'all some food, and have fun," Spencer chuckled patting the blonde on his shoulder and walking about him.

"Cotton candy," Aaliyah exclaimed pulling him over to the cotton candy area and grabbing some. "And you called me a child?" JJ scoffed wiping the sticky floss from her face and pulling her down onto his lap. "Where's your brother? Wasn't he supposed to come?" he continued.

"Mhm," she nodded. "He's probably spending time with our grandfather. They're like, super close or something. I don't know."

"Your grandfather? What's he like?" JJ asked making the girl shrug. "I wouldn't know. I haven't talked to him...he's not the nicest person in the world so, whatever," Aaliyah hummed leaning her head against his.

✯✯✯

"Hey, pack your bag," Liv said knocking on the doorway of her sister's room. "Um, why? I'm kind of comfy here," Aaliyah responded not moving from her comfortable position on her bed. "Wait, is this about Layla? I heard about the break-in at her house," she continued this time sitting up to look at her sister.

"Yeah, so...chop-chop. We have a friend to try and cheer up," Liv said snapping her fingers. "I'm going," she mumbled getting up from her bed and walking over to her closet to pack an overnight bag. "Alright, let's go," she sighed grabbing a pillow from her bed and tucking it safely under her arm.

Walking up Layla's driveway the two Baker sister's knocked on the door with their bags in hand and a pillow tucked under their arm. Layla opened the door and smiled softly seeing the two sisters. "We know how we'd feel if this happened to us. So I figured you might need a little company," Liv said speaking for her and her sister.

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