𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑻𝑳𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺, jmrf

6 • needy

third person

"okay rule number one; no dating bandmates."

aubrey's eyes shot up at the brown haired boy in front of her for a second. he found her alone in the basement on the couch, starting her first summer assignment from the demands of her dad.

"you're delusional." aubrey told him, keeping her eyes on her laptop as she typed away on her essay. "i barely know them." jonah nearly squirmed on the couch next to her, watching her work. he was never the one to lay down "rules", but he felt this was needed.

"yeah but eventually you'll know them as well as i do," jonah reasoned, "and then what?"

aubrey looked up at him and couldn't help but laugh, "you're crazy. you're not my dad." she finished up her last sentence as she raised an eyebrow at him, "why do we have rules again? we've never had them before."

"ok not really rules, just lines that can't be crossed."

"so rules." the girl teased while putting away her school laptop back in her backpack, where it wouldn't be taken out again 'til september. "didn't take you as the overprotective kind marais." she continued to joke.

jonah rolled his eyes, "flores please?" he held out his hand for a pinky promise just like how they did when they were younger.

aubrey sighed as she kept the amused smile on her face, "yeah yeah," she interlocked her pinky with his. "you're such a nincompoop." she laughed before grabbing her bag and going back upstairs. jonah let out a sigh of relief as she was out of sight, walking upstairs after her.

jonah got to the main level to see everyone out in the backyard. kyle, esther, aubrey, and the boys were starting a game of capture the flag - making their teams. jonah walked onto the back porch and down the steps to meet all of them on the grass, standing next to corbyn and jack.

"what's happening?" he whispered to corbyn as he saw everyone watch kyle and daniel face each other in the middle of the circle.

"kyle and daniel are team captains, they're doing rock paper scissors best out of 3 for who gets first pick on teams." the blonde explained. the group watched as the two prepared to do rock paper scissors way too competitively.

as soon as they were supposed to show their hand, daniel asks, "wait rock paper scissors shoot, or rock paper scissors and shoot." leaving everyone in suspense.

"just get it on with!" esther told them, everyone agreeing with her. the boys finally finished and it resulted in kyle getting first pick.

"jonah." he chose first. jonah walked over to his side, satisfied with being on his best friend's team. daniel chose carefully for his first pick.

"corbyn." the blue eyed boy said confidently. corbyn walked onto daniel's side while kyle and jonah decided on the next teammate.

"jack." kyle picked. the noodle haired boy joined the mannix boys' side, leaving esther, aubrey, and zach as the final three.

after a small conversation, daniel called over their next teammate. "zach." he said, resulting a proud smile on the young boy's face. jonah looked at kyle and hoped he'd make a smart decision. obviously he knew who he wanted to be on their team, but unfortunately for jonah, it wasn't his decision.