A/N: songs to set the scene: 

It's Only Love, Nobody Dies by Sofia Carson

Photograph by Ed Sheeran (when Sofia & AJ slow dance)

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AJ's POV

My alarm going off stirs me awake. I feel next to me to find my phone to turn it off. I feel a weight on my chest and look down to see a peaceful Sofia. Her soft breathing confirms that my alarm did not wake her up. Thank God! That girl in the morning woken up unnecessarily is a terror I don't want to mess with. Shit! We fell asleep in the same bed! I look down and see that we slept above the covers. I don't even remember eating dinner last night. Did we fall asleep while I was holding her?

I gently grab my phone seeing the time: 6:00 AM. How do I get off the bed without waking up Sofia? I look back down at the beautiful girl in my arms. Snap out of Alexandra Jade! You have a girlfriend, even if y'all are on a break. If we're on a break that means I can explore whatever this is with Sofia, right? UGH! This inner monologue is not helping my current situation! Okay. Okay. I could do like Indiana Jones and use a pillow to replace my body in her clutches? That could work. I grab the pillow under my head and slowly take Sofia's arm across my stomach and put the pillow in-between. She stirs a little lifting her head and lays on her back, leaving the pillow on my stomach. I'M FREE! I quietly grab my clothes for my run and my toothbrush to tiptoe into Sofia's bathroom. I don't want to accidentally wake her with any bathroom noises. I gently close the door behind me and see that everyone else is still asleep.

After shutting the front door, I make my way down the driveway quickly warming up to get this run over with. Running has always seemed to clear my head, and if there's a time I needed a clearer head it was now. Sofia's parents' house was close to the main part of town, that I remember when we were in high school how I'd run from my house into town grab us bagels and run to her house before we'd need to leave for school. Lucky for me, our school required uniforms, so I'd usually leave a few of my things at Sofia's house for those mornings I successfully got up to go on my run. I make it to one of the local parks nearby and see a few other people running enjoying the cool morning we were having. I take a quick picture of the sunrise and start on my second mile.

After a nice five-mile run, I'm strolling up to the front doors of the house. The house is still rather quiet and look down at my watch to see how long I had been gone. I had left the house a little after 6:40 AM, and it was now almost 8 o'clock. I quietly take my running shoes off at the door and add them to shoe rack Laura had next to the staircase. I tiptoe my way up the stairs and put my ear against the guest door to see if I can hear Sofia at all. I gently open the door trying to avoid the possible squeak from the hinges. I peak in and see Sofia laying on her back still asleep. I lean against the doorframe admiring the girl in my bed and can't help but smile at the scrunched face she has. She must be dreaming about something concerning. I shake myself back to reality and grab some clean clothes from my open bag. We have Jose's work gala party thing tonight, so I know I don't need anything too put together until later. I grab a blue shirt and a pair of jeans from my suitcase before making my way into the guest bathroom. It's 8 o'clock, if I wake Sofia now it just means she's supposed to get up now.

I step out of the bathroom and see an empty bed. Did I hallucinate Sofia being there? No because I had to Indiana Jones her so I could get up. I drop my dirty clothes in the pile near my bag to wash tomorrow since we'd be leaving early Sunday morning for Canada. I open my door and still don't hear anyone. Guess that's how they all look so flawless. They get twelve hours of beauty sleep. I walk up to Sofia's bedroom door and go to open it when the handle jiggles and the door opens. Sofia stops inches from my face before looking up. "Oh! Good morning," she whisper yells. "Morning, did I wake you?" I whisper back to her noticing that she had changed out of her clothes she had slept in. "The shower turning on woke me a little bit, but it's okay. How long have you been awake?" She's avoiding eye contact with me and fiddling with her nails. Why is she being so shy, right now? "Umm, since 6 o'clock. I went for a run. You know, to clear my head. It was nice out this morning though. I ran by the old café I used to get bagels from back in the day," I lean against the doorframe and softly chuckling. "Oh wow! You were busy this morning," she finally meets my eyes, and we stand in silence for a few minutes just getting lost in each other's eyes. I clear my throat breaking us out of our trance, "I was going to go make some breakfast, wanna join me?" I ask putting my arm out for her. "Sure," she takes my arm giggling at my early morning silliness.

~~

We get to the kitchen, and I start the coffee pot. I look over at Sofia, who's taking a seat at the kitchen counter. I clear my throat again, "So, umm..." I trail off before turning away from the cereal bowl I pulled out of the cupboard. "Should we talk about falling asleep together last night?" I ask leaning my back against the counter. "Nothing happened, right? I don't even remember falling asleep. I guess yesterday was just a lot on our minds," Sofia's back to fiddling with her nails. I walk around the counter and sit facing Sofia. She turns to look at me, and I take her hands to make her focus on me. "Sof, what's wrong? You've been avoiding my gaze since you woke up and you're practically trying to pick your nails off. What's in that beautiful mind of yours?" I ask pointing to her forehead. "I guess I was worried that things would be weird after I told you I loved you yesterday. I expected to wake up this morning and you'd be gone," I look into her eyes and see nothing but worry and truth behind her words. "I'm not going anywhere, Carson. Those words don't scare me nearly as much as you might think," I pull her into a hug. Her hands stayed on my chest at first, but she slowly wraps her arms around my waist, and we melt into each other. I pull away taking her face into my hands, "Now Ms. Carson, would you like sugary cereal or cinnamon oatmeal?" I ask earning me a smile. She looks up and pulls a hand away from my body to stroke her imaginary beard. "I'll take sugary cereal," I give a small nod and kiss her forehead.

We ate in silence just enjoying each other's company before Paulina or her parents made their way downstairs to disturb the peace. It was pushing 9:30 AM, and I decided I'd break this comfortable silence for a little game. "Alright madam, want to play a game?" I ask gaining a raised eyebrow from Sofia as she puts our bowls in the sink. "And what kind of game would that be, Ms. Collins?" She answers my question with another question. "I bet that the first person to come downstairs is Paulina, and she will make herself a cup of coffee before acknowledging either of us," I say my bet and Sofia laughs. "Okay, if I choose to accept this bet and place my own, what does the winner gain?" She asks curiously. "Winner gets one free favor from the loser. No strings attached," I state. Sofia comes back to her seat next to me eyeing me. "Alright," she puts her hand out, "I accept your bet. I think my dad will be the first one downstairs and he'll kiss my head before grabbing a bowl of cereal for breakfast." "Alright, Ms. Carson. You're on," I take her hand and shake.

We patiently wait to see who will come down those stairs first, but while we wait, we talk about a few small things to pass the time. Then we hear the one stair at the top of the staircase that creaks. The time has come, who will be coming downstairs first? We both watch anticipating who could be rounding the corner, and when I see her dad, I know that the world is just against me. I've lost twice to this girl. First, the race back to the car, which she rigged that. Now, her dad had to be down the stairs first this morning. Sofia turns to face me with a big grin on her face, "Well well, looks like it's Sofia 2 AJ 0." "Whenever you'd like to cash in that favor, just let me know," I say accepting defeat.

~~

The rest of the morning flew by and now it was time for all of us to get ready for Jose's work party. I had no clue what to wear, but, luckily, I have two very fashionable women in this house who aren't afraid to pick out my outfit. And I'm not afraid to admit that either. I hear a knock on my door that pulls me from the game I was playing on my phone. "Hey, you have an outfit picked out?" Sofia comes in grabbing the dress clothes from my suitcase and hanging them in front of the closet. "Obviously not, if you just pulled all of those out of my suitcase," I throw sarcastically earning a slap on the leg. "Ouch, Sofia! No need for violence," I yelp.

I hop off the bed and linger closely behind Sofia as she's figuring out what I'll be wearing tonight. My hands mindlessly reach for her waist, and I pull her flush with my front. "So, what are you thinking, mi amor?" I whisper resting my chin on her head looking at the clothes hanging in front us. Sofia puts her hands over mine and turns around to face me. "What I'm thinking is that you need to start getting ready, and I need to go start on my hair and makeup," her face is inches from mine, and she can see the affect she's having on me. She moves her hands to my chest and pushes me back gently. I watch as she walks out of the room and closes the door. My God, what just happened?

My phone chiming next to me pulls my attention away from the door. I have a text from Melonie. She's been keeping me updated about Axel and sending all the cute videos of him playing at the dog park and their selfies. That dog is beyond spoiled by her that I'd be surprised if he wants to come home once I'm back in LA. I open the text to see it's a screenshot from Instagram. I open the photo, and to my surprise it's a screenshot of a post from Nick's Instagram. It's a picture of him and Sarah holding hands and lying-in bed together. What the fuck? Is this why she wanted a break? Has she been with Nick all week? Alright, AJ calm down! I take a deep breath and lock my phone. I'm not going to show any reaction since Melonie has no clue what's been going on here in Florida and has no clue what's been happening between Sarah and I either.

~~

After letting the hot shower calm me down, I walk out to an outfit laid out on my bed for me. Sofia must have come back in and put the outfit together. I grab the suit and hang it on the back of the bathroom door and start getting ready. Once I have a majority of the suit on, I hear someone opening the bedroom door. "Hello?" Based off the voice I can tell it's Paulina probably checking that I'm not procrastinating. "I'm in the bathroom!" I yell through the door. "May I open the door?" She asks and starts opening the door before I answer. "Now what if I would've been naked? What would you have down, Pau?" I ask irritated that she didn't wait for my response. "That suit looks really good, AJ! Your taste in fashion has definitely gotten better with time," she laughs taking the tie from my hands and starts doing it for me. "Still can't tie a tie properly though," I scoff looking in the mirror adjusting the now tied tie. "Well, we can't all be perfect," she rolls her eyes in the mirror fixing her lipstick. I grab my jacket off the hanger and hand it to Paulina to help me put it on. "Ooo, this outfit definitely looks good now. Here," she hands me the pocket square that she had originally come here to give me.

A/N: Suit & Hairstyle AJ is repping for the work gala/party this evening

I look myself over in the mirror one more time making sure my hair was presentable and put two small diamond earrings in. I follow Paulina out the bedroom door and head downstairs. "You two clean up very nice. I love the suit by the way, AJ. You look very nice," Laura coos kissing both of my cheeks. Clicking heels make me spin around towards the kitchen to see Sofia and her dad making their way towards us. Time slows down, and suddenly I couldn't breathe. She looks stunning, and I soon realize we both have red on. Ah very sneaky, Sofia! "Alright, mi familia! As much as I want to keep admiring ourselves, we need to leave or we'll be late," Jose chimes making his way towards the front door ushering us out. Sofia walks up to me, "Too much?" Her question baffles me since she could never look overdressed. I was speechless. I open and close my mouth forgetting what words are and how to speak. Paulina reaches over to close my mouth, "You're gonna catch flies, AJ." She whispers to me before turning back to her sister. "I got that whole thing recorded," she laughs pulling her sister out the door with her. I help Paulina into the backseat first before I turn to Sofia giving her my hand. I kiss the back of it maintaining eye contact as she steps inside the car. I help Laura in before I get into the backseat sitting incredibly close to Sofia. "Do you have enough room?" I whisper into her ear, and she shakes her head. I shift my body so I'm closer to the door to make us not feel so cramped.

~~

We pull up to the valet, and I step out of the car quickly turning around to help Sofia and Paulina out of the car. "You two," Jose points between Paulina and myself, "Please be on your best behavior. No arguing, playing around, yelling. Just be nice to each other." Paulina and I look at each other placing hands over our chests. "We would never, and why didn't you saying anything to Sofia?" I ask as both ladies were now snickering at my hurt behavior. "Because every time you and Paulina are together and start to get bored, you two tend to find ways to entertain yourselves leading to trouble. Sofia, on the other hand, is usually the one that encourages or discourages the antics depending on what it is. Just, all three of you, best behavior," the man does the best he can to scold us before any madness could ensue. "We'll be on our best behavior, papi," Paulina puts a reassuring hand on her father's arm before he and their mother walk inside.

I straighten my suit jacket and vest putting both my arms up for the ladies to take, "Ladies, shall we?" The two hook onto my arms before we make our way inside, not too far behind Jose and Laura. "Oh wow, seems like these things get bigger every year," Paulina whispers and I nod in silent agreement. I look around and hear a man yell, "Jose!" I immediately try to tune out of the conversation taking in the large room. "This is going to be a long night, isn't it?" I ask the ladies on other side of me earning a hum. "These are my daughters: Sofia, AJ, and Paulina," Jose introduces us. We drop our linked arms to reach out and shake the man's hand. "It's so nice meeting you ladies. Jose speaks very highly of each of you."

Shortly after, we split from Jose and Laura making our way towards the bar set up across the room. "How long do we have to be here?" I ask flagging down the bartender so I can order something stronger than champagne. "Unfortunately, we just got here so we're going to be here for a while," Paulina reaches over to grab one of the premade champagne glasses next to her. The bartender finally walks up, and I order a Negroni. Keep it classy, but also get me as buzzed without making me feel bad later. I lean my back against the bar and notice Paulina and Sofia making conversation with a couple of ladies a few feet away. I didn't want to lose them in the large crowd, so I pay for my drink and start making my way back over towards the pair.

"AJ? AJ Collins?" I spin around confused as to who could possibly be calling me here. "Oh dear, it is so nice to see you again! It's me, Claire Adams," I smile politely at the older woman who was pulling me into a hug. Claire Adams. She was the woman everyone despised. She was a major gossip and looked for all the possible tea to spill. "It's so nice to see you, Ms. Adams," I pull away from our hug and take a sip of my drink. Come on alcohol, make this more bearable. "Who are you here with, sweetheart?" She asks and I point towards Sofia with my glass. "The Daccarett family," she glances over at Sofia and brings her attention back to me. "Of course! Silly me, last time I saw you two, you were engaged. How was the wedding?" The older woman tilts her head as she questions me. She was looking for me to slip a secret for her to spread like wildfire, but I wasn't going to indulge the woman. "It was really beautiful. A bit stressful, but it was worth it in the end," I lie straight through my teeth. Maybe I should be an actress with this believable performance. "That's fantastic dear! I apologize for not sending a wedding gift," I wave her off. "It's fine. It was great seeing you again Ms. Adams, but I should really be getting back to my wife," I give her a tight lip smile as I slowly back away from her before turning around and making my way towards Sofia.

I finally reach where Sofia and Paulina are, and I place my hand on her exposed lower back catching her attention. Sofia leans back into me, "We have a slight problem." Sofia says smiling as people walk by us and I lift my glass towards them smiling. "Great because we have more than one," I quietly say for only Sofia's ears. Paulina was still talking to the women across from us, who were oblivious of me and Sofia currently talking. "People think we're married," Sofia's words cause me to nod. "Well then we have the same problem," I say directing Sofia's attention towards Claire, who's across the ballroom. "She just asked me about our wedding," Sofia turns to look up at me and plays with the buttons on my blazer. "What did you say?"

"I told her it was beautiful," I take a drink from my glass and peak down to see Sofia smiling. "These people are too snobby and stuck up for us to be anything less than perfect," I whisper pulling her attention away from my blazer buttons. "Then let's give them the best performance of our lives," she says mischievously running her hand over my vest straightening it. "After you, beautiful," I gesture my hand and place my now empty glass on a nearby waiter's tray. Sofia grabs my hand gently pulling me back towards Paulina, who was still talking to the same women. "Lilith and Evelyn, this is my wife AJ," Sofia speaks up diverting their attention from Paulina. "Hello," I put my hand out shaking their hands with a smile. "It's nice to finally meet you, and congratulations!" The blonde says with a large grin, and I smile softly, "Thank you." "So, how's the married life?" The other women asks. Sofia smiles looking up at me before answering, and I notice Paulina's smile only grows knowing the truth. "It's absolutely wonderful. The distance sucks sometimes when we're both traveling and working, but just a pebble in the road you know?"

And with those words it set off a chain reaction for the rest of the night. After the first couple of people, Sofia had perfected everything. She even had me believing that we were happily married. I didn't know if this made her a great liar or just really showed how wonderful an actress she is, but I can say I was definitely impressed. When asked about the wedding, Sofia made it sound so magical and fantastic like it came straight out of a Christmas Hallmark movie. We had a beautiful Christmas wedding. Our colors were, of course, red and green with grey winter centerpieces. We got married in Aspen, Colorado. It was a private wedding because we didn't want our wedding all over the internet, and our first dance was 'Thinking Out Loud' performed by Ed Sheeran himself as a wedding gift.

"That was sucker number twenty-three and crier number seven," Paulina was keeping count. "She's scarily good at this," I mumble into my third drink of the night. At this point I was drinking straight scotch to help keep my anxiety from all the wedding questions at bay. Paulina and I lean against the bar watching Sofia talk to someone a few feet in front of us. "I know right! What did y'all do about rings?" Paulina motions to my left hand, which now had a ring on it. "I simply moved my anxiety ring over to this hand, and I have no clue what Sofia did. Nobody has really asked to see the rings," I hold my left hand up shrugging showing Paulina the ring's new home.

"What are the numbers?" Sofia joins us at the bar, and I turn around flagging the bartender down to order another round. "Twenty-three and seven," I hand the now empty glass to the bartender, "How are you so good at this?" She shrugs and takes the new drink from my hand downing it before I can. "I did two things. First, I used our favorite Christmas Hallmark movie-" "I told you," Paulina cuts Sofia off and I reach for my wallet handing the younger woman a twenty-dollar bill. "What?" Sofia watches the interaction confused. "Nothing, what was the second tactic?" I wave off her question. "Second, I just thought about how our wedding might've been and used that," Sofia gives me a sad smile. "Maybe we should talk about it," I take the new drink from the bartender since Sofia stole my other. Sofia shakes her head, "No, it's fine." I go to grab the glass and take a sip of my new drink when it is rudely grabbed by Sofia who downs it. "I don't want either of us to be hurt by the end of the night, Sofia," I say knowing she's trying to avoid this by how fast she's drinking my drinks. "Everything is going to be fine, AJ," Sofia states harshly placing the empty glass on the bar top. "Why don't you two go dance?" Paulina cuts in and we both turn our attention to her. "Go dance," she nods towards the dance floor. I move in front of Sofia putting my hand out for her to take and guide us to the dance floor. I turn us to face each other placing my free hand on Sofia's waist. She places her hand on my shoulder close to my neck.

"So, which parts did you actually see happening at our wedding?" I ask as we sway slowly to the music. "What?" Sofia asks and I pull her closer lowering my head to whisper in her ear. "Which parts did you plan on happening at our wedding?" I repeat my question. Sofia moves her hand to slowly start rubbing small circles on my exposed neck. "A winter wedding in Aspen, Colorado," she mumbles making me smile. "Why Colorado?" I ask at the random location. "Because the snow in the wintertime is beautiful. They have beautiful landscaping with a perfect spot for wedding pictures," Sofia says softly. "What else?" I ask wanting to hear more of this picturesque wedding we could've had. "A private wedding, with close family and friends. I want our colors to be grey, green, and red to go along with the winter theme," I feel Sofia pull us closer, if that were even possible. "What else?" I ask painting everything in my mind. "Our wedding song would actually be 'Photograph' by Ed Sheeran," I don't hear or focus on anything except Sofia, the words spilling from her mouth. We were now in our own little world, and I don't think either of us noticed. "Why?" I ask already knowing her answer. "Because that's our song," Sofia gasps a little. When our relationship had started to drift, and Sofia and I were on the verge of breaking up that was the song that played the day we came to say our goodbyes. We sat and listened to it from start to finish, and just held each other and cried. In the end, we stayed together and even got engaged a couple months later. That was the song that we listened to whenever we were away from one another. When the distance just seemed to become unbearable, that song would help.

"I never put as much thought into our wedding. I was just happy that you were going to be my wife," I say as Sofia rests her head against my chest squeezing her eyes shut. "It didn't matter if we got married in front of ten family members or ten thousand strangers. I didn't care what season it was because year around with you was the greatest season of them all. I didn't care about wedding colors because you are the one that made any room beautiful and bright even in the dark. Any wedding was the perfect wedding as long as you were the one that walked down that aisle to me," I whisper softly, and just like that time froze. Sofia lifts her head allowing my eyes to connect with her beautiful brown ones that had tears swelling threatening to fall any second. "You were it for me," I choke out leaning my forehead against Sofia's allowing a tear to escape her eye. "I-," time unfroze when the sound of clapping pulled us back to reality. "I should go," I pull away, but Sofia shakes her head lightly. "Please. Please don't leave me. Not again," it was barely above a whisper, but I heard it. I know I should've left anyway. I could leave and avoid all the pain that was bound to come in the future, but I didn't. Instead, I hold her tighter against me and make a promise that I didn't know would affect us the way it did. "I promise. I won't make that mistake twice."

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Song mentioned: 

'Thinking Out Loud' by Ed Sheeran