Waves

s e v e n t e e n

~PRESENT~

Amelia sat at the small wooden table with a plate of fries in front of her, Connor seated straight across from her. She swirled one of her french fries around in the ketchup on her plate, visions from the previous night replaying over and over again through her head. She had to admit that it was really hard sitting here having lunch with Connor, knowing what she had done with JJ the night before.

"I can't believe that Midsummers is already tomorrow." Connor said. "I can't wait for you to see the dress that I picked for you." Visions of last summer's Midsummers played through her mind, and she had to fight back the smile that was fighting its way onto her face. This year was going to be a bit different, considering that Connor had asked her to be his date. "You'll love it, Amelia. I think I did a pretty good job picking." He eyed her, giving her a small smile.

Amelia's eyes were quickly broken away from Connor's as her phone buzzing on the table caught her attention. She flipped her phone over to look at the screen, feeling her heart start beating a little harder as she read JJ's name on the screen. 'Where are you? Really want to talk.' She let out a sigh before flipping her phone back over, chewing on her lower lip. She knew exactly what he wanted to talk about.

"I'm sure you picked out an amazing dress. I can't wait to see it." She took a deep breath as her phone buzzed again, quickly looking to the screen again. She couldn't resist the urge. 'Mel, please. I love you.'

Amelia's heart started pounding as her jaw dropped at the message, laying her phone down and fighting to catch her breath that was now rapid. "Are you okay?"

Amelia sighed, pushing her chair back from the table as she laid her napkin down on top of her plate of food. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I just got really hot all of a sudden. I'm just gonna step outside and get a little bit of fresh air."

"I'll come with you." Connor stood, watching Amelia intently. She raised her hand up to his chest, stopping him from following her out the door. "No, no. It's okay. I promise. I'll just be a minute." She smiled briefly to him as he leaned down to plant a small kiss against her lips, before she turned and exited out the door, still trying to catch her breath. As she turned around the corner, she felt her body slam right into someone else's, and instantly felt like throwing up as she looked up to meet those familiar blue eyes.

"Hey. Are you avoiding me? I've been looking everywhere for you."

Amelia cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to figure out what to say. "I, um... no, I just, um..." She swallowed. "How did you even find me?"

JJ raised his eyebrows at her in suspicion. "What's going on? You slept with me last night and now today you're ignoring me. I can't figure out where your head is at, Amelia, and it's driving me insane."

Amelia pushed her hands into his chest, pushing him away from The Wreck and around the corner where she knew they couldn't be seen. "Shh. Don't say that out loud, JJ."

JJ's face fell, looking at her suspiciously. "Are you afraid for people to know that we had sex?"

Amelia sighed. "J, c'mon. No. You know that's not the case." She looked up to meet his eyes, which softened as they met hers. "It's just that... you know I've been kind of seeing Connor. And you've been seeing Kiara. And we said before that no one could know." She sighed, chewing on her lower lip. "Last night was a mistake. We shouldn't have done that."

JJ stepped closer to Amelia, pushing her body back against the wall of the restaurant, his face only an inch from hers as he looked down on her. "I haven't been with Kiara since you got back. And I love you, Mel. And I know you love me. Tell me how anything that happened last night was a mistake."

For a second, Amelia caught herself stuck on JJ's eyes, quickly shaking her head, causing herself to snap out of it. She pushed herself out of his cage, trying to escape back to her lunch date, her eyes not once leaving JJ's.

"I can't do this, JJ. I'm sorry."

~ONE YEAR AGO~

Amelia's eyes fluttered open, feeling a heaviness in her chest, a slight pounding radiating throughout her head. She looked in the bed next to her, looking for JJ, but all that Amelia saw was an indentation of his body in the sheet next to her.

She let out a groan.

She sat up in bed, reaching over to grab the bottle of water sitting on the nightstand, chugging it down. The coast seemed clear that no one knew that JJ had stayed the night. She knew it was late enough that her father and brother would already be in bed, meaning that she knew that she would be able to get away with JJ sneaking in with her. As long as the bedroom door was locked, it would be fine. And it was.

Sleeping in JJ's arms all night was the best feeling ever.

She wondered where JJ had ended up now, as he clearly snuck back out of the balcony while she was still asleep.

She laid back, closing her eyes, trying to force herself back to sleep but before she could snooze off, she heard a knock at the balcony door. Her eyes instantly popped open, and she spotted JJ, John B, and Pope standing out along the balcony. Her eyes widened before quickly jumping out of bed, rushing over to the door to pull it open.

"Nice shirt." JJ smirked at her, noticing that she was still wearing his shirt from last night. Amelia crossed her arms over her chest, remembering that the tank top had the sides cut out, not wanting Pope or John B to see any of her side boob.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked, stepping to the side to allow the boys to come into her bedroom. "J, when did you even leave?"

"John B texted me and asked me to meet him and Pope. I didn't want to wake you." JJ said. "I texted you to tell you I was leaving and would be back with the boys, but I guess you were still too busy, off dreaming about me."

Amelia rolled her eyes, lying back in bed and covering herself back up, reaching over for her phone off of the nightstand. She saw the text from JJ along with a text from her dad, letting her know that he was going to Ward's.

"Do you mind if I stay?" JJ asked her. "John B and Pope are just leaving."

Pope shrugged. "Okay, guess we're leaving." Amelia giggled.

"Why did you even bring us if you were just going to kick us out?"

"Please?" JJ shot Amelia a pouty lip, batting his eyes at her.

Amelia rolled her eyes before lifting the blanket she was covered with, inviting JJ back to bed with her as Pope and John B escaped back out through the sliding glass door.

"Get comfy." JJ said, before escaping out of Amelia's bedroom.

She crawled out of bed, quickly stripping off JJ's clothes, throwing them into the laundry basket by the door. She changed into fresh clothes, walking over to the full length mirror on the wall, staring back at her reflection. She tied her hair up into a messy bun with the hair tie on her wrist, staring back at her bare face.

She crawled back into her bed, sitting back, her head instantly hitting the pillow. JJ reappeared back into the bedroom, with two mugs of hot tea along with a bag of popcorn popped in a bowl. He closed the door behind him and locked it, pulling the curtains shut across her windows, causing darkness to wash over the room.

He climbed into the bed with her, pulling the blanket over top of them. He pushed play on the TV, and the first Harry Potter movie began to play. He pulled her over into him so that she was laying across his chest.

They laid there together, watching the movie, enjoying every second of it and laughing at the funny parts. They finished the bowl of popcorn before they were only halfway through the movie.

JJ smiled as she nuzzled closer into his chest, planting a kiss onto her forehead.