The College JJ Series

boxes and broken hearts

Summary: Aaron finds out the boys visited you in DC over the summer, and your months-long tension comes to a head.

~

You'd carefully planned the boys visit to DC from the Outer Banks. Aaron had gone somewhere in the Caribbean for a family vacation, so he conveniently didn't have cell service on the day the Twinkie rolled up in front of your house ready for a tour of the nation's capital. He only talked to you late at night when he was back at his hotel and connected to WiFi, and the boys were gone by then. Your FaceTime session the night after they left was nothing short of absolutely ordinary.

You knew lying to him was bad, but you also knew how upset he would be to find out they'd driven five and a half hours to see you. You still hadn't been able to make him understand the connection you had with these boys, and by this point, you were done trying.

The lie was easily upheld all summer, until you were back at school in August. Aaron had moved back to town the week before, and he was helping you and your dad move your stuff into the one bedroom apartment you had signed a lease on.

Not thinking anything of it, you left your phone on the kitchen counter when you left the apartment to make another trip to your car. Your dad and Aaron had just made the last trip up with stuff from his car, and they needed a break. You wanted to get the move over with, so you went back out alone.

When you come back into the apartment laden down with two boxes and a bag you can barely see around, the look on Aaron's face stops you in your tracks. "What's wrong?" you ask, setting your things down gently on the floor by the door.

"You want to tell me what the hell this is?" he says, shoving your phone in your face. You have a text notification from JJ. Your text previews are on, so you can read what it says, which is 'lol look what I just found in the Twinkie from last month'. There's an image attached, but you can't make out what it is.

You snatch the phone and open the text to see the picture better. It's an innocent picture, just a scrunchy you had complained about losing. You thought it came off your wrist when you took them to the National Mall, but it turns out you'd just forgotten to put it back on after JJ and Pope were slingshotting it back and forth at each other in the back of the van.

"Um, I'm gonna step outside for a moment," your dad says awkwardly, sensing the two of you need a moment alone. He heads out the door, and you hear his footsteps on the stairs.

"What the fuck is the Twinkie and why is something of yours in it from last month?" Aaron demands to know.

There's no use in trying to lie more now, so you come out with it. "The Twinkie is John B's old Volkswagen van. They came up to DC last month and I gave them a tour of the city," you explain.

Aaron's eyes nearly pop out of his head. "What? When?"

"When you were on vacation," you answer. "They just came up for the day."

He runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "So while I was away on vacation without phone service, you were hanging out with those guys? What the fuck?"

"It was one day," you say. "They got there in the morning and then they left before you even called me that night."

"Oh, so that makes it okay?" he asks. "You never mentioned that you hung out with them over the summer. Not once. Now I'm finding out you spent an entire day with them? Did you let them take turns with you in the back of the van?"

"Aaron! Come on!" you exclaim. "They are my friends, I wouldn't cheat on you!"

"Y/n, I have tried to be okay with your friendship with these guys, but every time I turn around, you give me a reason not to be. Do you even want this?" he asks, motioning between you.