Between Two

Chapter 12

Before Jonah could get another word out of his mouth, I stood up suddenly remembering the food Chris had gotten me. Jonah followed after me, quietly singing a song. I grabbed my food, holding back my laughter as I recognized it.

"Oh my gosh, Jonah, are you singing Ariana Grande?" I turned towards him, raising my eyebrows at him.

His face flushed, "No..." He murmured, looking down at the floor.

I only smirked, walking up to him, "You were." I teasingly poked him in the stomach and he laughed, so I did it again.

"Aviana, stop..." He grabbed my hand, narrowing his eyes at me in a playful manner.

I pulled my hand away from his and walked away to the small, quaint table that was situated in the middle of the kitchen. I set my food down and sat down, motioning towards Jonah.

"You want some?" He shook his head, moving to sit in front of me.

I reached for my burger, suddenly self conscious. I hated eating in front of people, it always felt like someone was staring at me which made me uncomfortable. Plus, Jonah was literally staring right at me.

"Chris is taller than you." I blurted, silently cursing myself out. I took a quick bite of the burger while he smiled, looking away from me.

"I'm two inches shorter, what do you mean?" He chuckled, stretching his legs out in front of him, brushing against mine. I moved my legs, careful enough so they wouldn't touch his. This is only made him smirk.

"So, rich boy, tell me about yourself." He reached for one of my fries, a goofy grin displaying on his face.

"Well, I'm a momma's boy." I nudged his foot under the table with mine.

"Aww, that's so cute." He scrunched his nose up adorably, a tint of pink on his cheeks.

"Yeah, yeah... I like Disney movies, uh... Ariana Grande. Oh, I love food." I rolled my eyes, thinking of a question.

"Favorite memory of you and Chris?" He didn't hesitate, his eyes lighting up.

"When we were little, my parents took us up to Big Bear and it was the first we had ever seen snow. It was this huge thing because we were best friends even then and we got into a snowball fight, but we ended up hitting this other little girl in the face with one." He laughed, embarrassment dawning on his features.

"We felt bad because she started crying, I mean, it was an accident. We didn't apologize, instead we just had my mom buy her a hot chocolate and some unicorn cupcake. Chris and I felt really proud of ourselves in that moment so, you know, that's my favorite moment." I covered my face, this time getting embarrassed.

"You can't be serious, Jonah." He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion while I kept from blushing.

"I was that little girl!" His mouth widened into an 'o' and I couldn't keep from blushing.

"Oh, shit, seriously?" I nodded, covering my cheeks with my hands.

"Damn... sorry... did you at least like the cupcake?" I laughed, reaching for a fry.

"Okay, having an older woman come up to me when I'm like, five years old, and handing me a cupcake and a cup of hot chocolate with a smile on her face was the creepiest thing I had to go through." He scoffed, sitting up a bit.

"My mom is a nice lady." I sat up too, pointing towards myself.

"I was taught stranger-danger! Don't take stuff from strangers!" We both stared at each other before laughing.

"I was horrified and your mom just stood there watching me, waiting for me to eat the cupcake." Jonah continued laughing, holding onto his stomach.

"Well, did you eat it?" I let out a breath, grabbing my burger.

"Yeah, I thought I was going to die or something, but then I saw two little boys from across the café, staring at me with expressive eyes. You two caused problems for me back then too." He laughed again, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm glad that I'm actually talking to you now and I'm sorry for hitting your adorable face with a snowball." Heat rushed to my cheeks as he grabbed my hand, gently squeezing it.

"Am I interrupting something?" I jumped, looking up to see Chris and quickly pulled my hand away from Jonah's.

"Nothing, we were just talking. Did you know she was the little girl we hit in the face with a snowball?" I groaned, covering my face, but smiled when I felt Gracie lean her head against my shoulder.

"Really? Damn, Avi, I sincerely apologize for Jonah's dick behavior." I heard the deep sarcasm in his voice causing me to laugh.

"What are you talking about? I was five years old." Chris moved so he was in front of me, smiling brightly.

"He liked you when we were little." Jonah shoved him in the back and Chris grunted, accidentally pushing into me.

"Shit!" Gracie moved away as Chris lost his footing, sending him and I both to the floor.

I winced when I hit the floor and winced again when Chris landed on top of me. He was not light.

"I am so sorry." Chris muttered it, his face centimeters away from mine. He was so close that our lips were almost touching.

I turned my head to the side, heat rushing to my cheeks as I felt his lips brush against my cheek.

"You're... like... suffocating me right now." I said, pushing at his shoulders.

"Oh, right, sorry." He stood up and I took in a deep breath while he grabbed my hand, yanking me up.

"Are you okay?" Jonah looked at me in concern, putting his hand against my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I should probably go now. It's getting late." I awkwardly laughed, smiling at Gracie while she stared at me with a smile.

"You were going to kiss." I shook my head, but couldn't hold back my smile as I heard her lisp.

"We weren't, Gracie, I just nearly killed her. I'll take you home." Jonah stepped up, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"I got it, Chris, I'll take her home. See you later." Chris scoffed, eyeing him weirdly before clenching his jaw.

"Bye, Gracie." He ruffled her hair, an adorable giggle leaving her lips.

I waved towards them both, following Jonah out, "So, you had a crush on me when we were little?" We walked out the front door and then towards his car parked in the driveway.

"Um... no, Chris has it wrong. He... he was the one with the crush." I stared at him oddly, my lips parting some.

I didn't bother to question his hesitation. Instead, I got into his car and buckled up then started to ask him questions about himself. I wanted to know more about him and I was doing just that right now.