never thought it'd be you

Chapter 3: Unknown Feelings

"So you'll sleep here" l lead JJ into our guest bedroom on the second floor. 

"Woah. Neat" he sets his bag next to the bed and turns around to face me. "So can l finally see your room or is it still a no?" 

l roll my eyes "l don't know why it matters so much but fine come on" my room is just on the right of the guest bedroom. 

"Oh, sweet we're neighbors". 

l open my door and walk in and stretch my arm out motioning for him to enter and l say "well this is my room". 

He walks in but doesn't say anything, he looks around and heads for my dresser. "Aw you have a picture of me here" he picks up the picture and shows me, l walk over and try to snatch it back but he moves it out of my hands reach. 

"Yeah and everyone else is in it too" 

"Just admit it you wish it were just us" 

l snort "Keep trying" 

"I will" he smirks at me, he's smirked at me a million times but this one just feels different, this one makes my heart skip a beat. "Well I'm out, I'm gonna go sleep in my new kook style room"

 l laugh "Hilarious... night JJ." 

He turns back and winks at me "night Kie". 

l lay in bed, once again unable to fall asleep however this time it's not John B or Sarah occupying my thoughts... it's JJ? l can't seem to get his face out of my head, his smile, his smirk, or the way he winked at me. JJ's always been a flirt but it never made me feel like this. l can't seem to forget how l feel when he laughs or how happy it makes me seeing him happy. He's gotten under my skin and l can't shake him. My head is occupied with these thoughts until l finally drift off to sleep. 

---

I slowly open my eyes and yawn. It's already morning. l sit up and rub my eyes. 

"Morning princess" 

l jump and turn my head to see JJ laying in my bed, shirtless and looking at me. "JJ? What are you doing in my room?!" l can't help but stare at his abs, they're so- 

"I'm here to wake you up!" He laughs and he sits up and jumps off my bed, "Come on let's go" 

"oh my gosh JJ give me a second and get out" l throw a pillow at him but it ends up hitting the door because JJ laughs and dodges it and closes the door behind him. I take a moment to collect myself. How long was JJ there? Whatever, it's JJ, does it matter? It shouldn't matter but some nagging feeling makes me wonder why it does. 

---

"Finally" JJ exclaims as l walk out of my house. 

"You need to learn patience, alright what's the rush where are we going?" 

"Nowhere, in particular, Pope's busy so it's just us" 

"So you were in a rush for nothing?" 

"Um yeah." l roll my eyes. 

His face suddenly lights up "l know a place we can go" 

"Ok, we can take my dad's car, but ill drive" 

"You don't know where we're going so IM gonna have to drive" he smirks "hand over the keys princess" 

My heart does a loop when he calls me princess, "JJ be careful okay?" 

"Relax don't be so tense" 

"I'm not tense it's my dad's car". He throws his hands up as if he's surrendering "ill be careful reeelaxxx". He gets in and l get into the passenger seat beside him. 

"So where are we going?" 

He looks at me for a second and then back on the road "it's a surprise, now you can be patient" 

"You're so annoying you know that"

"Yet you still love me" 

l fall quiet after that, l don't know why but l just felt different around him for some reason, he made me feel things l wasn't used to. l liked it. l look over and look at his face as he's driving, he looks.. he looks perfect" he looks over and l quickly turn away. l can feel my cheeks go red. l try not to look at him for the rest of the drive.

---

"And here we are" the car comes to a stop and JJ jumps out with a smile on his face. 

l get out of the car and close the door, I'm confused. "Um, where are we?" l look around but it's just an abandoned trash dump that still smells terrible. 

"Follow me" he starts walking around the dump into this weird ally. l just follow him. We stop at this abandoned house and he starts climbing.

 "What are you doing JJ?" 

He looks down at me, he's already halfway there "do you trust me?" 

"Mm depends" 

"Come on Kie" 

l sigh and climb up and follow him to the edge of the roof and sit down next to him. I stop looking at him and follow his eyes to what he's looking at and turn to see the most breathtaking view I've ever seen. 

"Wow," l softly breathe. We sit there in silence for a few minutes, taking in the view. 

"l used to come here as a kid, whenever my dad was in a mood or after he drank too much and l would just sit here for hours on end just looking at the ocean, watching it, it calmed me down" 

l turn to look at him, he's still looking at the water in the distance. "JJ.." 

"I've never brought anyone here before" suddenly he's looking at me and my heart is doing it again. l can feel it beating faster and louder, I'm surprised he can't hear it by now. 

l smile at him "you know I've never told you this but if you tell anyone I said this ill deny it but you're the strongest person l know" 

His eyes light up and he smiles at me. 

We stay like that for a while. Just gazing into each other's eyes until my phone rings. 

"It's just my dad, he just wanted to check in about his car" 

"Is he as tense as you?" 

"l am NOT tense" 

"Whatever you say" he laughs. 

l love it when he laughs, l would listen to him laugh all day if l could. We don't have another moment like the one that my dad interrupted, instead it's our usual conversation, full of light-hearted jokes and teasing. Eventually, we head back home. Now today was a genuinely good day and it was all thanks to JJ. 

---

JJ's standing outside my room waiting for me to give him some toothpaste. 

"Alright here you go" l hand it to him and he takes it from my hands, his fingers slightly brush up against my palm and a shiver goes up and down my body. 

"Thank you" 

"Actually thank you JJ... for today, l really needed a day like today" 

He smiles "me too". He turns around and walks back to his room. And for some reason l wanted him to hug me because whenever he occasionally hugs me or casually hive fives me, my body feels warm, it feels good, it feels safe. 

Yeah, that's it. JJ makes me feel safe.