LAVENDER HAZE | j. champion

twentynine

january 28, 2023

Caleigh sipped her smoothie as we walked down the beach. Somehow, she'd convinced me to venture to the beach today for a walk. I'm surprised she hadn't made me take her to Disneyland.

Sure, it was chilly, but a sweatshirt was enough.

"So, i've got a proposition for you."

I furrowed my eyebrows, glancing over at the girl as we walked. "And what would that be, Cai?"

"Well," she smiled, obviously up to something. "Jamie is coming back to LA next weekend for a visit and is gonna stay with me."

"Where do I fit into this?" I questioned, hooking my arm with one of hers.

"I say you invite Jack for the weekend, we tell no one they're coming, and we all have a big double date at my apartment all weekend!"

I stopped walking, pulling the girl to a stop with me. She gave me a concerned look.

Caleigh knew about mine and Jack's relationship, but no one else did. And, for some reason, this weekend trip made me nervous. What if word got out?

"And before you say anything, you know Jamie won't tell a soul. Your relationship will be yours to publicize." She was right.

Jamie was great at keeping secrets.

And it would be nice not having to keep our relationship a secret from everyone. At least with this weekend trip we'd be able to spend time together and not have to worry about sneaking around. We'd be free to show as much PDA as we wanted in this little weekend getaway.

"Just tell your parents you're staying the weekend with me, they won't question it." Caleigh added, clearly wanting to convince me even more.

An excited smile showed on my face, "I'll facetime Jack later and ask."

Caleigh squealed in excitement, leaping into my arms. She almost made us both trip our smoothies but thankfully we held tight. Maybe this weekend would be exactly what I needed?

"You won't regret it." She smiled, hopping back down to her feet. "It'll be the best weekend ever! We can just be lazy with our boyfriends without a care in the world."

"Boyfriends."

Caleigh poked my cheek, "Nice to be able to say that, right?"

•

"There's no way you're still in bed."

Jack laughed, running his fingers through his messy curls. "Got up early to take Willa to the airport, so I took a nap."

Sometimes I forgot about Willa, but she was one of the sweetest souls ever. I'll probably never be as close to her as Jack is, but growing up she was like an older sister to me.

"Right! You did mention her coming to visit." I smiled at him, his eyes still tired from his nap.

He nodded, "Not sure why she had to choose a 5am flight, that was brutal." We were both laughing now.

I suddenly got really focused on his eyes, the chocolate brown ones i've stared into for the past 6ish years. I remember when I was younger, when I first started crushing on the boy, I used to love staring at his eyes.

For the most part, I could get away with it. Our characters communicated a lot with their eyes, so I almost always had to be looking at them during filming. I think Jamie caught me once or twice and would nudge me to get me to stop before Brit caught on.

Jamie always knew Britain would flip if he thought I had feelings for Jack. I'm not sure how he'd respond now if he knew I was dating the boy he made me swear not to fall for.

"Holland." Jack's use of my actual first name caught my attention.

I attempted to hide my blush, not wanting Jack to tease me. He should already know that it was him who had me blushing anyway. "Sorry."

"Don't be." he shook his head. "I mean, i'm not complaining that you facetimed... but did you have something you wanted to talk about?"

My eyes widened.

I'd been so caught up with how cute Jack looked so soon after waking up that I forgot the whole reason I facetimed him in the first place. "Yes! There was."

"Ok, i'm listening." he sassily smirked and oh how I wanted to kiss the attitude off his lips.

"Not sure if you know, but Jamie and Caleigh are dating now." Now Jack's eyes were wide. "And she said he's coming back to LA next weekend and thought that, maybe, you'd also want to come to LA and we could have a double date weekend in her apartment."

"Like stay in all weekend?"

"Yeah, since we're not public yet... if you don't want to fly across the country for just a couple of days I totally understand. We just thought it would be fu-"

"I'll be there, H." Jack cut me off, the most adorable smile now on his face. "The things i'd do so I could spend time with you."

I let out a sigh of relief.

I was really hoping he was going to say yes. Because even though it's only been a week or so since I saw him last, there's nothing like falling asleep in Jack's arms. Yeah, we talk on the phone all the time, facetime even, it's still not the same as being able to reach out and touch him.

"It means Jamie will know about us..."

Jack nodded, "I know and it's fine, he won't tell anyone."

"That's what Caleigh said."

He chuckled, pointing at the screen. "Great minds think alike." I'm glad the two of them warmed up to each other. Not sure what i'd do if Caleigh still hated the boy.

I mean, who can hate Jack Champion? He's literally like a puppy he's so sweet.

Ok, well I hated him for a while... but that doesn't matter anymore. I'd do anything for this weirdo.

"Make sure you book your flight soon!"

"I'm gonna ask Jamie when he's supposed to get in so we can coordinate." Jack seemed to be typing on his phone, probably already texting our British friend. "That way neither one of our girls has to be without a boyfriend."

Our girls.

Gah, hearing that makes my stomach go crazy. It doesn't feel real, even though I know it very much is.

•

for those of you reading this may-july
of 2023, i'm working a summer
camp SO there will most likely be some
slower updates (hopefully at least once
or twice a week)!! but i have a couple
pre-written chapters so that's good
just bare with me

i'm oddly excited to have
a couple of chapters with the
4 of them all together ??