" Ava, we're sorry that we didn't tell you anything before but we discussed it and realized that you deserve to know" Jordan spoke while the rest of the guys nodded their heads agreeing with him. Ava remained silent for a moment before beginning to speak. "I'm glad and grateful that you guys trusted me enough to tell me" she admitted earning heartfelt smiles from all of them. "I want you guys all to know that this isn't going to change anything, I'm not the type to use you guys for-' she began to ramble and Joey cut her off. "Save it, Ava, we know you're not going to do anything to hurt us or exploit us, you seem like a great and smart girl. I knew it the moment we met. Besides, we all found it surprising that you had no idea who we were, we were sure that you must've recognized us and you just didn't say anything". Ava looked down and somewhat felt flustered. "That's because I haven't caught up with the media or anything, I've been too focused on school and work" she admitted. "You go to school?" Danny asked. "College, I'm actually waiting for acceptances here in Boston" she said and Danny high fived her. A huge grin appeared on Jordan's face as the thought of Ava living here in Boston so close to him made his heart burst with joy. "College huh? that's so cool" Joey said and she smiled. " Well it's a path I have to take since I can sing or dance or act you know" she joked and they all chuckled. "College is just as cool Ava" Jonathan added. "Thank you Jon" she responded and smiled.
"Well c'mon guys, the campfire has been going for god knows how long," Donnie said as he gestured over to the small fire burning from the group a distance away from them. They all walked over and took a seat on the blankets that Joey and Ava had set up earlier. Joey and Danny sat on one, Jon and Donnie sat on the other and lastly, Jordan and Ava shared the remaining one. The air was windy and quite chilly, as it was almost 10 pm now! But Ava felt as ease with these 5 guys who made her feel at home. She was thankful to have met Joey even though she almost had a heart attack from nearly losing that paper.
The guys all had slight smirks on their faces, like middle school boys watching their friend with his crush, it was adorable. "Time to roast marshmallows" Joey interrupted as a bag of long bamboo sticks were passed around and a bag of big fluffy marshmallows. Once everybody got that, a big full sized bar of chocolate and Graham crackers were passed around. It was so nice to roast marshmallows at night in front of a raging campfire as if they were all adolescents. Once Ava knew her marshmallow was roasted to perfection, she quickly placed it on the honey flavored cracker and then placed a small piece of chocolate. Meanwhile, Joey and Jordan were struggling as they kept getting too distracted by their surroundings that they have burnt almost 2 marshmallows each. "You guys need help?" Ava asked with an amused expression on her face. "I mean if it's not too much to ask," Joey said trying to sound casual and she chuckled. She gestured for Joey to come over to where she and Jordan were sitting, and pulled out 2 fresh marshmallows from the bag. Ava sat in between the two guys instructing them. "Rotate it is slowly and don't put it too close to the fire". Jordan almost nearly burned another one due to being distracted by her sweet voice and amber eyes that seemed to burn only brighter with the raging campfire in front of them. "Jordan don't you get distracted or you're gonna burn it again" Joey teased obviously noticing his friend's fondness of Ava and Jordan only shot him a death glare making Joey chuckle.
After roasting marshmallows and talking for a bit everybody decided to pack up early so that they can just jump into the car and leave in an hour later or so. "Do you want to take a walk along the shore?" Jordan asked Ava, his Bostonian accent made it hard for her to decline. She smiled and agreed. Meanwhile, the rest of the guys remained around the fire and talked amongst themselves.
"So how do you feel?" Jordan questioned as they slowly walked side by side, the sound of the waves crashing making it that much more relaxing for the both of them. "What do you mean?" Ava responded. "Finding out that we're you know, New kids?" he clarified. "Oh, nothing nothing, I'm very fine with it, but I care more about who you guys are as individuals, I don't think that money or a platform define who you truly are if that's what you wanted to hear" she spoke. "You really think that?" he said with a small smile. "Of course I do, I mean yeah I was surprised when you guys revealed yourselves to me but I'm always gonna see you all as Joey, Donnie, Danny Jon, and Jordan". He grinned and looked at her adoringly, Ava was pulling at his heartstrings and she had no clue.
"Wait a minute" she said and gasped as she slightly frowned and then looked at him questionably. "What?" he asked as he could feel his heart start to beat fast from nervousness. "Is that why there were some girls slut-shaming me and calling me names when we left the party?". "What who called you a slut? Did they try to hurt you?" Jordan asked with concern and slightly irritability in his voice. "I don't know, they seemed older with pounds of makeup on their faces, maybe they were drunk ughh, I don't know, forget about it" she said defeatedly and looked away. "Don't listen to them, they were probably just jealous or somethin' " he assured her. "Jealous? Of what ? of who?". "You" he answered bluntly. Ava suddenly stopped walking after he answered this. "Why me? Do they think I'm some kind of girl that sleeps around with anybody, Why would they think that Jordan, is that who-" She rambles once more but he cuts her off with a kiss. He tasted so delightful and sweet thanks to the s'mores that they had earlier. When he pulled away, she placed her hand over her lips and looked at him. " I'm sorry" he spoke but then a small smirk formed on his face "no really I'm not" he said and chuckled. Ava wanted to smack him but she found the sound completely adorable, she found him so adoring. "You can't just answer everything with a kiss" she argued as her hand remained. He laughed and Ava felt so weak, Jordan was slowly becoming her weakness. "I can and I will" he teased her. She then started laughing but not a genuine laugh that indicated she found his last response to be funny or charming. She laughed as if she had just realized something else and was going to confront him about it. Thus it was the kind of laugh that told Jordan that Ava had something else up her sleeve. " At the party, Joey told me that you were with some girl for god knows how long". A narcissistic-like grin appeared on his face." Oh, You asked about me?" he said and she was quick wipe it off." No your brother Jon was wondering where you were". Jordan nodded in understanding. " Jordan I-" she began and he cut her off. " my god I love the way you say my name" he gushed and she couldn't help but looked away and roll her eyes. " You didn't answer my question at all". You didn't ask me anything " he pointed out amused. " never mind" Ava said and looked over at the ocean on her right side, the moonlight was illuminated the water just right and Jordan seemed that much more handsome under it. " if you're asking if there's somebody else on my mind, other than you, no" he answered and her gaze returned to his eyes who held an amorous gleam. " Oh okay," she responded shyly and nodded. "C'mere" he instructed sweetly as he extended his hand out to her. Without questioning him, she slowly placed her hand into his awaited one which sent shivers and at the same time butterflies when he grasped her own and tugged her close to him. " Feel here" Jordan whispered before guiding her hand to his chest, Ava slightly shuddered at how hard and firm it was. But she gasped when she felt the hard pounding of his heart under her small hand, Jordan slightly encouraged it pressing it harder against his chest so Ava could really feel what she causes to his body when they're together. Ava was astonished at the way it felt, she slowly looked up, Jordan's gaze was very intense and she was starting to feel something so strong that it was almost overwhelming. " Now either I just ran a marathon, went to the gym or somebody is too blame for this" he joked and she smiled. Ava didn't know what to say but only turned her face and rested her cheek over the sweet sound of his heartbeat.
Everybody decided to get back into the car and make their way home about an hour later. Jon had somehow twisted his leg in a bad way in which Joey had no choice but to sit on the seat. " Ava, would you mind sitting on Jordan's lap?"Joey asked but teased slightly. She shook her head and they smiled. " uhh but I don't want to squish-" Ava protested but Jordan was quick to pull her onto his lap. She slightly fidgeted trying to hold herself up, avoiding putting her whole weight on him. Ava, in a way, felt safe with Jordan's strong arms around her torso, she didn't know where to rest her hands therefore, she rested them over his own on her tummy. Donnie and Jon were already sleeping, Joey was paying attention to the world outside the window and Danny was driving. Ava could feel Jordan's heart beating through his chest on her back, it seemed like sleep was also taking over and she found herself slightly tilting to the side. Are you sleepy?" Jordan asked from behind. "Yeah, a little" she admitted as she raised one of her hands and rubbed her eyes. Without a word, Jordan adjusted them so that her head was now resting on his shoulder and her hand rested on his chest. One of his arms supported her from under her back and the other rested over her torso so she wouldn't fall. Ava was lulled to sleep by the feeling of Jordan's heart under her hand.
When they got to her house, Jordan offered to walk Ava to her front door and she gladly accepted. But before that, she said goodnight to Danny as the rest were asleep and Danny smiled while telling her to take care. Ava's parents were not home yet but she knew that they would be here at any moment as they would never leave her home alone for a significant amount of time. " I'm glad you came with us," Jordan said and she smiled. " I'm glad I did too" she admitted and he bit his lower lip and nodded. " Do you want to hang out later on this week or somethin' but just the two of us" he said as he placed his hands in his pocket. " Just the two of us?" she recalled and he nodded. " like a, a date?" She asked and he nodded. " like a date" he confirmed. " I can call you if that's ok, so this can be further discussed if you're too tired to talk " he added. "I'm uhh free whenever" she assured him. "How does Saturday sound?" He suggested. "We can do that" she answered.
" so it's a date?" Jordan asked for reassurance.
"It's a date".
WHO'S EXCITED ABOUT JORDAN AND AVA'S 1ST OFFICIAL DATE?!!?♡