meant to be | j. parker¹

FORTY-SEVEN

After the very exciting trip to Atlanta, it was back to reality and back to Beverly Hills. Despite how much fun Aaliyah had at Bringston, she knew there was no future for her there. But, disregarding her indecisiveness about her future and about college, right now she was focused on Jordan and his upcoming wedding.

"Dude, I can't believe I'm not your best man," JJ complained to Jordan, as they stood in Liv's room crowded around her mirror while Aaliyah was simultaneously trying to help the three boys get ready.

"Get over it. If I'm not upset, you shouldn't be either," Asher told him.

"Yeah, get over it," Aaliyah said, fixing the collar on her brother's button-up. "Jordan has two sisters and he literally picked Liv to be his best woman over me!"

"Simone wanted you to be her maid of honor," Jordan grumbled. "Something about you and her being besties or some BS like that. So shut up. You know, I would've had both you and Liv up there with me," he said, as the four chatted amongst them not noticing Layla walking into the room.

"Uh, so not who I was expecting to find in here," Layla said rushing into the room. "Got any more football players hiding in there?" she asked pointing at the closet.

"Funny," Jordan laughed.

"I've got to fix my makeup," Aaliyah spoke up dragging her boyfriend out of the room.

JJ awkwardly cleared his throat as he passed by Layla. "Yeah, I've got to help her."

"And I'm going downstairs," Asher added.

"You're still avoiding Layla...I thought you and Liv talked to her the night of the game," JJ said.

"We tried," she shrugged. "But, that Carrie girl answered the door and told us that Layla had a headache or something. I don't know, whatever, things are still weird so..."

"Not that this is any of my business," Asher piped as the three walked down the stairs. "But, Layla's your best friend. And with how much you practically pushed JJ to keep being my friend after everything. I'd think that you'd be doing the same for yourself."

She waved him off. "Yeah, yeah. I hate when you're right."

"My daughter's boyfriend is a stripper," Billy chuckled as Asher showed him a picture off of his phone of JJ on a poster for what seemed to be a male strip club in Vegas.

"Technically, Mr. B, I'm not stripping. Just getting shirtless and shaking my goods," JJ corrected. "Also, we prefer the term exotic dancer."

"Your goods?" Aaliyah scoffed, squinting her eyes suspiciously.

Jordan laughed shaking his head. "Apparently, JJ here has the magic touch when it comes to dancing."

"And magic airbrush. Ha!" Billy chuckled. "Those abs can't be real, right? Are your abs real?"

"Trust me, dad," Aaliyah giggled pressing a hand against her boyfriend's stomach. "They're real. Anyway, I have some maid of honor duties to fulfill. Catch you, boys, later," she said, giving them a wave before walking off to Simone who was in the kitchen by herself. "I feel like as your maid of honor I can't have you pouting in the kitchen by yourself. What's going on?"

"If JJ was willing to give up his dreams of playing football with his bros in California to follow you to another state. Would you let him?" Simone curiously asked.

"Hmm, I'm assuming this has to do with Bringston. But, to answer your question, no, I wouldn't. As much as I would love to have my boyfriend with me wherever I go, I wouldn't be able to do that to him," she explained, staring across the room at the blonde. "What's this all about?"