Audrey's POV
I slept in the twins room last night. Sharing a twin bunk bed with Elyse wasn't the wisest idea but given the alternative, my pride wouldn't let me go into Jonah's room. And Maleah would want to talk about it which is the opposite of what I want.
Honestly I feel bad for being upset with him when he was desperately trying to avoid any conflict that might ruin this trip. A part of me just can't help but feel so damn embarrassed and naive to think that Jonah wouldn't read into my history. Since technically it was his job at the time. I just wanted him to know me from me and when I'm ready to share it.
Who knows what all information my background check even contains or just how rigorous it is.
I turn to my side for what felt like the fifteenth time tonight when I noticed the sun peaking through the blinds. I huff while shifting back onto my back, slowly I got up without alerting Elyse or Elijah that slept in the top bunk. Thankfully no-one upstairs seems to be awake yet, leaving me to enjoy the solidarity during my morning routine.
As I finish brushing my teeth I could hear low clings and clacking of pots and pans. From the staircase I could see Jonah's back to me as he stood in a white tank and navy sweats and cracked a dozen eggs into a bowl. For some strange reason my heart swells watching him preparing breakfast.
I bit my lip and tipped toed down the steps and into the kitchen wrapping my arms around his back.
"Good morning, gorgeous," he murmurs in what I presume is his early morning voice.
"I shouldn't have gotten upset with you yesterday and for that I apologize."
Jonah turns around in my hold so that he can look down at me.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." He plants a soft kiss on my forehead. "If it makes you feel any better I didn't actually read it. Tim did and told me about your arrest history."
It doesn't make me feel better, but for him I'll let it slide.
"That was the angriest I've ever gotten." I mumbled pulling myself up onto the kitchen counter. "I just had so much pent up energy that night."
Jonah shakes his head while pouring the eggs onto the skillet.
"We don't have to get into it today."
"I know, I know. You want a drama free trip and I'm not against it." I reassure as he crossed his arms over his chest. "It's just.... I struggle with sharing my past sometimes and it just seems a little unfair that you know about my history by cheating, when I barely know yours."
"Cheating?" He grins amusingly while mixing pancake mix.
"Yeah, background checks are considered cheating. Only crazy, paranoid or stalkers do that when dating someone. And given that I like you, I don't think you fall into any of those categories."
"I don't know," he says while drying his hands before positioning his body in between my thighs. "Tim has called me your Joe before."
It took me several seconds for my mind to register what he meant.
"Joe from You?" I arched my brow.
"Mhm." He hums running his hands up my legs to my thighs. "Since I used to watch you from the lobby's bar as you worked. He said I had stalker vibes."
I laugh. "You are my Joe." I tease.
He chuckles. "Does that mean I can lock you into a box and keep you all to myself?"
He starts feathering kissing along my collar bone working his way up to my neck. I bite down on my tongue to control my breathing as his right hand slid up under my shirt–massaging the space right under my breast.
"I could be so open to the idea."
He laughs and brings his hand up to my cheek as his kisses me. His kiss was so tender yet possessive.
"I want you in my bed tonight." He spoke against my lips pausing his left hand that was inches away from inside my shorts. I only nod eagerly while pulling his lips back against mine.
"Is this what it's going to be like with you two under the same roof?"
I jumped as Jonah quickly pulled away. At the entry of the hall stood Tim as he smirked with his arms crossed. My face heated up as I jumped down from the counter. Thank God it was him and not one of mine.
"Good morning." I chirp, my voice oddly higher than usual, as Jonah cleared his throat and turned back to tend the burnt eggs.
"You two are going to be like horny rabbits all throughout the house, aren't you?" Tim laughs lightly while reaching for the fridge.
"Tim." Jonah growls.
"I'm...going to go get dressed." I mumble practically sprinting up the stairs.
"Bring your things down here!" Jonah yells after me.
I roll my eyes but as requested I grabbed my suitcase and brought it down into Jonah's room where I enjoyed the master bathroom. After my cold shower and getting dressed, I ended up being the last person out for breakfast. Jonah had a beautiful set up of pancakes, bacon, eggs (freshly made since the last batch burned), sausage, fruits and toast that I almost didn't believe he whipped all this up that fast.
"Finally, Sis is here." Elyse sighs as she sits at the table between Maleah and Elijah.
"Oh she needed time to cool down." Tim tease while pouring a cup of coffee.
I glare at him as Jonah stifled a laugh while pulling out a chair.
"Have a seat, babe. Would you like a mimosa?"
My jaw dropped. "You got mimosas too? This is fancy." I joke earning a laugh from the table.
"My brother is really showing off today." Hannah, to the left of me, points out. I mentally frowned noticing Jonah sat me next to her purposely.
"We have a full day planned. Which speaking of I'm going to need everyone to finish at least one bottle of water before we go out in the sun." Jonah instructs while placing a glass flute in front of me.
"Okay, dad." Maleah teases. I chuckle.
"Tease all you want but this Florida heat is something serious."
"We know."
"Well you guys don't have to worry about me. I have other matters to attend to in the city." Hannah retorts popping a grape into her mouth.
"Same. I wouldn't want to impose on the family outing." Tim adds with a tenacious smile.
"It's not a–"
"Great! We'll catch up with you two later." Jonah exclaims sitting across from me. I gave him a look which he only ignored while piling pancakes on his plate.
"It's not really a family outing. Y'all can come if you want. I'm sure it will be fun." I suggest since they did come all this way.
"Well they can tag along when we go to Epcot tomorrow. Tim wants to drink around the world anyway." Jonah dismisses.
"That's a thing?" Elijah questioned.
"It totally is. I might sneak you a sip every now and then." Tim winks earning a grin from Elijah.
"Absolutely not."
After breakfast Jonah ordered for a car to come pick us up in thirty minutes as he got ready. While he was in the shower I started packing up my crossbody with all my essentials.
"Where is my sunscreen?" I frowned rummaging through my suitcase.
"Hey, Audrey," Hannah knocked against the open door as she peaked her head in.
"Hey."
"I just wanted to pop in and apologize for my behavior yesterday. I can be a bit protective of my younger brother and I may have been projecting a bit so I'm sorry."
"I get it. He's your family." I shrug. "Apology accepted."
She sighs in relief. "Thank you." She pauses and just when I assume she's leaving she speaks up again. "You seem to mean alot to my brother but my brother is a true gentleman and he loves hard. The last relationship he was in he might've loved her too hard when she didn't deserve it. Did he tell you about–"
"No offense, Hannah," I cut her off. "But I'd rather hear about Jonah's relationship from him. Since he is the source and not a third party."
Hannah looks taken aback for a second or two before she quickly gathers herself and plasters a fake smile on her face. She did it so effortlessly I almost thought I imagined it.
"Right, of course." She clears her throat. "Enjoy your day at the park then."
I mentally roll my eyes. Damn now I kind of feel bad.
"Thanks. Maybe me and you can get drinks later or something? I don't mind hearing about you and Jonah's childhood."
This time she smiles–a genuine smile.
"Oh I got stories for days." She leans in closer to me then whispers, "Jonah went through a Justin Timberlake phase. To the point where he thought he was him."
I laugh. "Really?" She snickers.
"Yes, it was hilarious. I think I could probably find old videos of it too."
"Oh I would love to see it." I tease.
She laughs mischievously as she left out and closed the door behind her. I shook my head and finished stuffing my bag with last minute essentials.
"Are you ready yet, Jo? I thought you said the car will be here in thirty minutes."
I smelt his cologne first as he snuck up behind me.
"Thank you."
"For?" I spun around seeing he's fully dressed and by the looks of it he's been dressed.
"You were the bigger person just now with Hannah. And even though you're pissed at her you're still making an effort to be friends with her, so thank you."
I shrug. "Well being that I currently suck in the friend department–let's hope it wasn't a mistake."
He chuckles and plants a chaste kiss on my forehead.
We ended up arriving at Disney's Animal Kingdom first and the excitement on Maleah and the twin's face made me wish I brought them here years ago. They dragged us to every attraction possible and with me hating roller coasters–they had to literally drag me.
Jonah's POV
"Rain Ponchos or no Ponchos?" I ask pulling out my wallet.
"No ponchos." Elyse, Elijah and Maleah answered immediately.
"What? Hell no, poncho me." Audrey complained.
Which she has been doing a lot of with still the biggest smile on her face. It must be a crime for her to actually admit she's having fun despite her fear of roller coasters.
"Come on sis!"
"The whole point of the ride is to get wet a little bit." Maleah points out with the sassiest tone.
She definitely has the attitude of her sister.
"I don't want to get wet period!"
"The way the seating is set up there is a chance you won't get wet at all." I reassure wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
"How big is that chance?"
"Like 20% chance." Elijah says laughing, making Maleah shove him.
"More like 45%." Maleah clarifies.
Audrey groans and looks from me to Maleah down to Elijah and Elyse and we all gave her puppy dog eyes–something we coordinated with four rides ago.
"Ugh. Y'all make me sick." In other words, that is her way of giving in.
"Yes!" Elyse exclaims and her and Elijah practically sprint towards the line.
I turn to Audrey amused as she shook her head.
"You know you can tell they really look up to you."
"They've been disappointed so much, I just try to remain the one constant thing in their life." She says shrugging.
I nod. "You really are good with them. Have you thought about having any of your own?"
Audrey sighs and I feel her shoulders stiffen under my hold. She stayed silent for a few seconds. I was starting to think she wasn't going to answer until she turns to me just before we reach the twins.
"I thought about it once or twice."
"So we have a dilemma." Maleah announces.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Elijah wants to ride the Yeti thing again but I thought this was going to be our last ride before we head to Magic Kingdom?"
I look at Elijah and he looked, ironically, disappointed. I shrug while checking the time on my phone.
"We got time to do both, and if needed we can always go to Magic Kingdom tomorrow."
"Yes!" Elijah exclaims. I chuckle. "Cool, who's riding with me?"
"Not it." Audrey blurted. I don't blame her. That was the one ride I rather not ride again.
"I kind of want a turkey leg." Maleah says while shaking her head.
"Ooh and a funnel cake!" Elyse adds.
"Okay, wait. Somebody obviously has to go with Elijah so let's make a bet." Audrey suggest.
"I'm listening."
"Who ever gets wet the most on this ride has to go with Eli." Elyse interjects.
"Say what now?" Audrey jerked back.
"Sounds pretty fair to me." Maleah shrugs.
"I agree." I add.
"You know what? Deal because it's not going to be me no way."
When it was our turn to be first in line, Audrey made it a point to go out of her way and inspect every seat for the "driest". The entire circular raft we got in was wet but she swore some spots looked better. The five of us strapped in and held onto the bar directly in front of us.
The ride was basically a rough river sail that constantly had the rafter spinning around.
"Here comes the drop!" Elijah grinned rubbing his hands together.
"Drop? What drop?" Audrey panicked since both of our backs were facing the direction we were going. "Do you see it Jo?"
I chuckle and look over my shoulder. "It's not too bad." It was a small drop.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod." Audrey panics frantically while reaching over for my hand and shutting her eyes. "Tell me when."
I bit my lip to fight laughing as I watch us approach the edge. Just before reaching the edge I reach over and basically extend my body over Audrey's.
"When." I clenched my teeth as the raft picked up speed just for the rush of us going down to flutter my stomach. Towards the end of the two second drop the raft crashes into a wave pushing loads of water up my back and down to our feet.
"Jonah's wet!" Maleah laughs pointing out my wet hair, neck and shoulders.
Audrey releases my hand and open her eyes as they fell over my appearance. It was then she realized I took the brunt of that drop so that she wouldn't have to get wet. Laughing she runs her fingers over my hair.
"It's the cool off I needed." I joke. Audrey doesn't say a word though as she press her lips against mine quickly, pecking my lips twice before she smiles.
"Welp! A deal is a deal." Audrey retorts once we are off the ride. "Me and the girls are going to go get food while the boys go ride."
"Have fun." Elyse tease pulling at Elijah's cheek just for Elijah to slap her hand away.
"Text me when you're about to get on! We'll be over here waiting." Audrey says as her, Maleah and Elyse are already walking away from us.
I wanted to lose the bet without being too obvious since this will be the first time I have Elijah alone. I figure this time will be better than any to find out what I need to do to get on his good side. Hell i'll take his cordial side even.
The line for the attraction is on the longer side leaving me no choice but to try and make small talk. Elijah wasn't making it easy for me either.
"If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be?" I figured it would be good to hit him with old icebreakers I learned in school.
Elijah hesitated for a minute. I could tell he was contemplating whether he wanted to entertain me or give me a boring answer in hopes that I take the hint.
"Read minds."
That shocked me. "You would want to know what everyone is thinking at all times?"
"It's better than wondering if somebody is lying." He shrugs. "That way I can know a person for who they really are."
"That's a valid point." I purse my lips. Way better than my telekinesis answer. "Okay what about–"
"I saw what you did for my sister." He cuts me off.
I raised my brow. "What?"
"You shielded her on the last ride so that she doesn't get wet. Which is dumb because she would've gotten wet regardless." He snaps rolling his eyes. "But I can see that she likes you."
I smile despite the fact that he was literally straining hisself to say those words.
"I like your sister." I admit. "I enjoy her and being around you and your sisters very much."
Elijah rolls his eyes. "Well you did bring us out here so that's pretty cool." He mumbles while turning his back to me as the line progresses.
"So does that mean we're cool?" I grin idiotically mentally celebrating this mission as a success. Elijah fights a smile as he shakes his head.
"Whatever. Just don't hurt my sister."
"I promise I won't."
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These updates were supposed to be for Valentine's Day 😫. So let me go cook up some more to make it up to y'all 🤓.