A/N: songs to set the scene

- Cool Again by Kane Brown (featuring Nelly)

- Thinking 'Bout You by Dustin Lynch, MacKenzie Porter

- Also, the dog pictured above is AJ's dog, Axel

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AJ's POV

While I finished editing 'Queen of Mean,' everyone sat around figuring out where we were going to go hang out. I went to stand up to start collecting my things when I heard China ask the group, "Is everyone okay with what their wearing no matter where we go?" We give a collective yes and start gathering up our belongings. Sarah grabs my laptop and phone chargers from the wall and brings them over to me. I give her a quick peck on the lips as a 'thank you.'

As we all make our way out to the parking lot, I stop on the sidewalk making a few heads turn. "Umm, where exactly are we going and how do we plan on getting there?" I ask and start looking between China and Sarah for an answer. "Well, first who drove?" China asks everyone. Me, Sarah, and Booboo all raise our hands. "Okay, cool. I'll ride with Booboo," Dove volunteers moving over towards Booboo. You could see me, China, and Sarah's shoulders all relax knowing we won't have to have her in either of our cars. "I'll ride with Sarah," China chimes making me look at her giving her a fake pout. "That hurts McClain," I continue acting hurt. "Sometimes your music sucks," Cameron chimes in walking over towards China and Sarah. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad. And really, you're leaving me for her too?" I look at him a little hurt that my friends were choosing my girlfriend because of my music taste. "They're both not wrong. Sometimes your playlist choices aren't great," I hear my girlfriend's opinion. "Really babe? You're supposed to be on my side," I pout making her smile. "Guess that means you're stuck with me," I hear Sofia say suddenly realizing she's standing very close to me. "Well then, means you get to control the music," I shrug then turn to see Cameron's jaw drop. "Not fair!" I laugh at Cameron's reaction. "Should've thought about that before you insulted my music taste," I say smirking at him.

"So where are we going?" Dove asks leaning against Booboo's car, which we happened to be standing next to. "Umm, how about Downtown Disney? We might be able to get into Disneyland and ride a few rides," Cameron poses the idea to the group, and we all look at each other agreeing the idea is perfect. "We should probably change into something more comfortable then. Don't know about you guys, but jeans aren't my first choice for walking around a theme park," Booboo suggests. "I agree. Let's meet at the front gates of Disneyland in," I look at my watch, "like forty-five minutes? That work?" I look at everyone and see them all nodding and a few saying 'okay'. Sarah and I start walking towards our cars with the other three trailing us. We stop at her car first since I'm parked a little bit further away. "When you get to your house, will you grab that pill bottle I left on your bedside table? It has the pink pills in it," I ask as I open Sarah's driver side door for her. She stops as I lean my arm against the door frame, "Yeah, of course babe. I'll see you there. Drive safe please." She pulls me in by my jacket and gives my lips a sweet kiss. If we weren't surrounded by our friends, I definitely would have deepened kiss up a bit, but we had a mouse to see. "Pay attention to the road, Jeffery," I say against her lips before pulling away.

I make my way over to my car seeing Sofia leaning against the passenger side door. Other than the fact my car was the only one over here, the fact she knew it was mine made me smile a bit. I had been able to get my dream car after I was with CW for two years. Guess Sofia remembers the many daydreams we shared of the Audi I wanted. Seeing her leaning against my black Audi RS7 gave me butterflies and I don't know why but I didn't shake that feeling away like I usually do. "Ready?' I grab my keys from my pocket and unlock the car. We pull our seat belts on, and I go to get my phone set up when Sofia's next words catch me off guard, "Your place or mine?" I pause my movements and I try to stifle the laugh. I break as soon as I see her waiting for my answer. She sees my reaction and covers her face in embarrassment groaning, "Ugh." "It's okay," I say still chuckling at her embarrassment. "My place is only about fifteen minutes from here, so we can go there first." I look over making sure she's cool with the plan, "Yeah, that's perfect! My place is about thirty, so it only makes sense to go to the closet place first." I finish with my phone and hand it to Sofia to pick the music. "Your music taste isn't all bad. A little depressing but you've got some good ones in here," Sofia says smiling down at my phone scrolling through the many playlists. "It's not depressing, it just has meaning," I shrug as I turn out of the parking lot. The rest of the journey was quiet except for sounds of the music playing softly.

~~

"Welcome to my humble abode," I say unlocking the door and preparing to grab Axel since I knew he'd sense the new person. I allow Sofia to come in before locking the door. I hear the clicking of nails against the floor and turn to see Axel barreling towards us to greet us. I drop down onto my knee to greet the happy pup, "Are you okay with dogs? If you don't want him near you, I can take him upstairs with me while I change." I look up to Sofia smiling at the pup knocking me backwards to lick me. "No, he's okay. I've actually been thinking of getting a dog, so he doesn't bother me at all. I do have to ask when you got him and what is his name?" Sofia asks. Snapping out of my daze thinking about Sofia with her own dog and getting back up on my feet, I command Axel to sit, and he listens. "Well, Sofia this is Axel. Axel this is Sofia," I gesture between the two, "if you put your hand out and say 'shake' he'll give his proper greeting." Sofia laughs but does as I say, "It's very nice to meet you, Axel. You are very cute." She coos and squats down scratching behind his ears. "And as for when I got him, I got him about four years ago when he was a puppy. I got him right after I moved back," I say as I take my jacket off and put it on rails of the staircase. I look at Axel and Sofia and decide now is a good time to go upstairs and change. I close my bedroom door, and head to my closet to grab some shorts and a different shirt to change into.

After changing I head back downstairs, and notice Sofia and Axel aren't where I left them. I wonder further into my house and find Sofia looking at photos around at my bookshelf. I clear my throat and catch her attention. She turns her attention to me and follows me to the kitchen, "How long have you and Sarah been together?" I grab a bone for Axel, but notice he was nowhere near me. Usually, the sound of the bag alone makes him come running. I look around the island and see Axel laying at Sofia's feet near the stool she was sitting on. What the heck? He never does that for anyone but me. I hand Axel the bone and he trots off to his bed nearby, "Umm, we've been together for about a year and," I trail off counting the months in my head, "seven months." I grab my baseball cap and sunglasses on the counter and see that Sofia had wandered back to the bookshelf. I come up behind her and see the picture she keeps looking at. It was a picture Sarah and I took on a trip to visit her family in Canada. We had gone hiking that day, just the two of us since Sarah's family didn't like hanging out with me much. "You look happy," she says catching my attention. "Took a long time to get there, but I am," I smile agreeing with her that I am happy.

We make our way back out to my car after I locked the door behind me. "So where is your apartment?" I ask as I unlock the car and get inside. She holds out her hand for my phone to put the address in. We pull out of my driveway and make our way across town to Sofia's place.

~~

I keep glancing over to Sofia and notice she's been staring out the window the entire ride. I can tell she's in deep thought and sad about something. We stop at a red light, and I grab my phone and scroll to one of the few soundtracks I have saved on my Spotify. I tap the screen and the song starts playing. I turn the volume up and look over seeing a hint of a smile starting to spread on Sofia's face.

Once I was a selfish fool

Who never understood

Never looked inside myself

Though on the outside, I looked good

As I sing the lyrics to 'Without Love' from Hairspray, I roll the windows down and turn the volume up a bit more. The light turns green, and I continue singing. I glance over and notice Sofia shaking her head laughing at my antics.

Without love
Now you've captured me
Without love
I surrender happily
Without love
Seaweed never set me free
No no no
I ain't lying
Never set me free
No no no
No I don't wanna live
Without love
Darlin you have best believed me,
Never leave me
Without love

Sofia finishes the song with me dancing a little in her seat acting out some of the scene. We pulled up to another red light as the song was finishing, and I look over at her laughing. I turn down the volume as I put my 'Liked' songs playlist back on. "I knew you'd remember that song," I say looking over at her. "Of course, that was one of my favorite songs from that soundtrack," Sofia says with a twinkle in her. "It's one of the few soundtracks I have saved," I laugh noticing her grabbing my phone to look through what soundtracks I have saved. I smile when I hear Zac Efron's voice singing 'Ladies Choice' come through the car speakers. I couldn't help but smile and laugh as we yelled the lyrics at the tops of our lungs. We had the same music taste growing up, and it's nice to know some things don't change. Don't get me wrong, Sarah and I shared similar music taste, but some songs would never be the same with her like they are with Sofia. I saw my first three concerts with Sofia, and those bands would never mean the same to Sarah. Sad, happy, or mad, if Sofia was involved no would know me the way she did.

"I cannot believe you have the whole Mamma Mia! Soundtrack in your liked songs," Sofia says laughing. I cock an eyebrow and put my hand on my chest acting offended, "Really?" She looks over at me pushing her lips out like she's thinking, "Never mind, I can totally see that." "Hey, that was one of your favorite musicals and when it came out, and I knew we'd have to see it." "I remember raking leaves for my parents' neighbors for two weeks so I could afford the movie tickets and snacks so you could see it in theaters," I throw back trying to remind her that musicals were originally her favorite.

I couldn't help but get lost staring at her as she thought back to that moment that feels so long ago. The more time we spend together, the more these feelings I've suppressed for five years come creeping back up. My eyes wander over every feature I had memorized and had watched change over time. She looked older but I always knew she'd age beautifully. I couldn't help but try and memorize ever new freckle I came across. I get brought back to reality by a car behind us honking to go. I look up and see the light did in fact turn green. I chuckle to myself before continuing down the street. "What?" I hear her ask as I glance over and see her tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "Nothing. I guess I got lost for a moment," I say turning back to the road. "Well, did you find your way back?" I heard her question and didn't know if she meant what she was saying. "I think I'm getting there. Still trying to navigate my way back," I answer and hear her hum at my response.

"Do you remember this song?" She asks making me turn my attention back to the music. After a moment I notice Ashley Tisdale's voice singing 'He Said She Said' playing through my car speakers. I couldn't help but let a laugh escape. "I remember we had gone to that preppy girl Brittany's graduation party, and we were dancing to this song. She said something homophobic cause of how we were dancing, and you had to put her in her place," I smirk thinking back to our eighteen-year-old selves. Sofia wasn't one to lose her temper easily. I was the hot head, not her. When she did get pissed off or something really got under her skin, she would blow up. "I think that was the first time I had ever seen you lose your cool with someone that wasn't me or Paulina," I say noticing her shrug at the memory. "She was a stuck-up bitch who was homophobic and was probably going to ruin her future," I laugh at her statement as I pull up to Sofia's home.

~~

I follow Sofia up to the front door as she opens it. "I'm not sure if Paulina is here or not," she says catching me off-guard. "You two live together?" I ask, not surprised cause they weren't just sisters but best friends, but more so not knowing how Paulina would react to seeing me. I see Sofia nod to my question and hear footsteps approaching us from the kitchen. "I'm home, who are you talk-AJ?" Paulina asks surprised to see me standing behind Sofia. I put my hands in my pockets and rock on my heels. I didn't know what exactly Sofia told her family after we broke our engagement, and I went MIA for five years. "Hey," I greet Paulina as I go to take off my baseball cap and put it in my back pocket. I run my hand over my head to try fixing the hat hair. "What's going on? Are y'all getting back together?" Paulina's questions had me looking to Sofia a bit confused. Sofia was fiddling with her nails avoiding my and her sister's eye contact, "You didn't tell her we are working together?" I ask Sofia pulling her attention away from her nails. "It was on my to-do list," she responds biting on lip nervously. I roll my eyes knowing she was avoiding this talk with her sister as long as she could. "Since when did you two start working together?" Paulina asks as I lean my back against the door. "I'm working on Descendants 3 in the music department," I answer Paulina's question looking back at Sofia who keeps looking between me and her sister waiting for some sort of reaction. "Why don't you go get changed so we don't keep everyone else waiting too long?" my question grabs Sofia's attention and she nods walking away. "Where are you guys going?" Paulina asks as she crosses her arms and leans against the back of their couch. I push off the door and walk towards her shoving my hands into my pockets, "We're meeting the rest of the cast at Disneyland." She hums and turns her attention towards her phone. I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket and pull it out to see Sarah's name on my screen, "Excuse me." I walked out the front door and answer my phone.

"Hey babe, everything okay?" I ask Sarah a bit worried that something was wrong. I lean on the hood of my car and listen to my girlfriend's voice, "Hey baby, yeah everything's great. We're here at the front gates. Where are you guys?" "We're at Sofia's place. She lives a bit further away, so it took us a bit to get here. You guys go ahead inside, and we'll catch up with you guys," I assure her before hearing her sigh. "Okay, just hurry up and get here. I miss you and need a distraction from Dove's snide comments," Sarah says making me frown a little that Dove is bothering her. "Of course, I'll get there as fast as I can. I love you," I try to reassure her. "I love you too AJ." Then the line went dead. Why did that hurt a little bit? I understand why Sarah is always on edge. I was working with my ex-fiancée who I was with for ten years. Someone I had planned a whole future with. Someone who knew me better than anyone else, sometimes better than I knew myself. Someone I loved more than myself, so I could see the problem. Sarah and I's relationship had come along way, and I've noticed it's only gotten stronger since I joined the Descendants team.

~~

Sofia's POV

I make my way to my room hearing Paulina say something to AJ. I close my door and sit on the edge of my bed. I huff and fall back onto the bed. What just happened in AJ's car? Why was she staring at me like she used to? And why did I want her to keep looking at me that way? I know that my love for AJ never went away, no matter how hard I might have tried to get over her. She has Sarah and as hard as it is to see her happy with someone else, I have to be happy for her. I'm not going to intentionally ruin a relationship just to have AJ back. As long as she's back in my life and doesn't run away again, I'll be happy. I'm not losing any more time away from my best friend.

I get off my bed and grab a pair of leggings and my designated "Disneyland" shirt. After I change, I make my way back into the living room seeing Paulina but no sign of AJ. "Did you scare her away?" I ask my sister laughing because it wouldn't surprise me if she did. "No," she rolls her eyes, "she got a phone call and went outside to take it." I wonder who was calling her. Probably Sarah making sure I didn't kidnap her. "Well, I better get going since I probably already made everyone wait on us," I say grabbing my phone and house keys from the table. I grab a hat out of the coat closet before making my way out the door. "Have you guys talked at all?" Paulina follows behind me out the door. "No. I would've walked into the house with mascara running down my face if we had, don't you think?" I state. "Very true. Well have fun with the cast, and I'll see you when you get home tonight," Paulina says still following me out to AJ's car.

~~

AJ's POV

My attention was grabbed hearing the sound of a door closing. I look up and see Sofia and Paulina walking towards my car. I hop off the hood and make my way over to the passenger side door to open it for Sofia. "It was nice seeing you AJ," Paulina says as her and Sofia get closer to the car. "You too! Have a good rest of your night Paulina," I say as I open the door for Sofia to get in the car. Sofia thanks me as she gets in. I close the door and start making my way to the driver side when I hear Paulina, "Take care of her, yeah?" I look at her with a smile on my face, "Always."

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Songs mentioned: Without Love by Zac Efron, Elijah Kelly, Amanda Bynes & Nikki Blonsky

Ladies Choice by Zac Efron

He Said She Said by Ashley Tisdale