JP

Amelia sat beside me on the wooden bench, pursing her soft lips together. Whatever Blake and Amelia were up to, we all seemed to be friends now and I would not allow them to take this on alone, though I was unsure what I was getting myself into.

"It's...I know you're new to Moonstone, and I just think if I told you it'd be a lot to take in," Amelia said, and I noted the way she picked at her cuticles nervously.

"Amelia, I don't think anything will ever be too much for me to take in," I breathed, shutting my hazel eyes for a brief second.

Amelia had no clue what I'd been through over the course of my life. Every day was something else. A new obstacle, a new challenge that begged to be faced. My story was something I shared with very few people, and those people were no longer in my life. The rest of the individuals that knew my story were the ones who were around at the time, and saw the hell I braved. I thought about it every day. Day and night I thought about it. I thought about her. She was my world, and then she wasn't.

"Jay-Parker," My Mother's sing song like voice called through my cracked open bedroom door. "Honey, you're gonna be late for school."

"Mom," I said groggily, just barely waking up. "Can I stay home with you today?"

"No, sweetie. I have some important things I need to get done today," My Mother replied, entering the room and seating herself on the edge of my bed. Her scent filled the space, smelling of fabric softener. It was the scent you got when you took fresh clothes out of the dryer, a clean one.

"Please," I begged, sitting up on the bed and snuggling up to her. She held me close to her warm body, kissing my cheek softly.

"Are you feeling under the weather?" She placed her hand on my forehead, feeling for a temperature.

"No," I admitted. "I just miss you. You didn't come out of your room that much yesterday, mommy. Are you sick?"

"I know, I know. I've been doing that a lot lately..." Mother placed a finger to her lips, thinking for a moment. "Alright. Just this once you can stay home, we can have a Mom and JP day."

Filled with excitement, I scooted even closer to her and allowed her to engulf me in an even tighter hug.

"Oh, baby. Sometimes I feel like you're all I have left."

Though she was wearing her bath robe and her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail that day, she still managed to smell nice, and it was a scent I would never forget. I would never forget her winsome hugs either, and how they always made me feel loved and cherished.

"JP?" Amelia called out, waving a hand in front of my face. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," I claimed, blinking back the tears that had somehow found their way to my eyes. Standing up from the bench, I could feel a crying spell coming on. "I better go."

"What, man? We just got here!" Blake said, speaking for the first time since before we sat down on the bench. He was listening to Amelia and I instead. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no. I just, my aunt is probably worried about me. I'm gonna go," I replied in a haste, brushing off Blake and Amelia. I scrambled away from them both, heading down the street towards my house.

That was why I had no friends for years.

Sitting alone in my room with my headphones plugged in, I noticed that many songs on my phone were no longer accessible to me. My mind began to ponder the possibilities as to why that was. Blinking weakly, my cheeks felt like they were on fire from how much I cried.

When I heard voices coming from downstairs, I figured my aunt invited over some new friends she made or something. What I was not expecting was to hear footsteps clomping up the stairs, which clearly mimicked my aunts work heels. That was not the only set of steps I heard, there was a second that was a lot quieter. I rushed to wipe my face off, unplugging my headphones and cursing as they fell to the floor.

"JP?" Aunt Katherine said from outside my door, knocking softly. "Can I come in?"

"Y-yeah," I called back to her, wiping underneath my eyes one last time to make sure there was no stray wetness that could give away the fact that I had been crying.

Aunt Katherine entered the room halfway, still keeping the door shut somewhat. She swallowed harshly, studying my face. Deep down, she knew that I was upset. She always did, and sometimes it infuriated me. I liked to keep my emotions private, and to have my face break out in red rashes across my cheeks when I cried did not make that any easier.

"There's someone here that wants to see you," Aunt Katherine said in a hushed voice. "If you're up for it, of course."

I wondered who could be there to see me, settling on the fact that it was probably Blake checking to see if I was alright after my little flare up back at the plaza. My eyes damn near popped out of my skull when my Aunt swung the door open, revealing Amelia standing there with her hands folded neatly in front of her.

"Oh god," I gasped, throwing my covers back and rising to my feet, only to step on my headphones. Letting out a sharp noise in pain, I reached down and picked them up, placing them on the nightstand. "I, uh-didn't expect you to be here."

Aunt Katherine watched the both of us for a moment before clearing her throat and retreating. "I'll, um, give you two some privacy."

I face palmed at my Aunt's word choice, shaking my head back and forth as I cradled it in my hands out of humiliation. Amelia was a beautiful, intelligent girl. It didn't take a genius to figure that out, and I knew that Blake was a good guy. I trusted his friend choices, though we just met.

She was selfless, speaking to me the way that she did at the plaza on the bench. She was concerned that what she had to say might be too much for me, nobody ever cared that much in the past. Nobody tried to protect my feelings in the way that she did, not even my old friends who I knew for many years. They always told me like it was, whether I liked it or not. Amelia thought carefully about what she said to people, which I found admirable. Or maybe I was thinking too much into it, and in actuality she too had a story she wanted to shield from me.

There was a third possibility, that she pitied me. She thought I was a big baby-especially after what happened, and the way I acted right before I left. I completely zoned out, and I prayed that if there really was a god, he'd made sure Amelia did not see the tears in my eyes. I looked down, hoping the extra redness in my cheeks was not noticeable to her.

"I'm sorry for just showing up. Blake showed me where you live," Amelia apologized, looking around my room at everything. Truthfully, there was not much to look at. A bed with some plain blue sheets on it, a dresser with a TV on top and a pair of shoes that I flung onto the floor when I arrived home.

"Don't be sorry," I reassured her. "You can sit down if you want, or stand. Whatever makes you feel most comfortable."

"I'll stand, since you are," Amelia said, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"What if I decide to sit?" I pestered, the corner of my mouth upturning slightly.

"I guess I'll just have to copy you, then," she said back playfully.

With that said, I sat down on the edge of my bed while leaving enough room for Amelia to sit comfortably. I patted the soft space beside me, and she cautiously came over to join me. She turned to look at my face, studying my cheeks.

Fuck.

"I came here to talk about earlier...Look, I know we haven't known each other very long, but I want you to know that I'm here if you ever need to talk. We're friends now, and friends don't need to hide things from each other. We need to be there for one another."

Did I just get friend zoned? In my own house? In my own bedroom?

I coughed slightly, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We do."

"So, is there anything you need to get off your chest?" Amelia tried, still focused on my raw cheeks.

"Yeah, do you actually think I'm nothing but a distraction, Amelia?"

The truth was I asked that question just to shift the attention from me, onto her. It was a tactic I used when I did not want to answer somebody, and Amelia took the bait.

"No, JP, no. I-" Amelia paused mid sentence, examining my facial features with care. She swallowed harshly, trying again. "I was just...talking."

"I still want to help you," I reiterated to her, sliding my hand closer to hers on the bed smoothly and stopping just before our fingers met. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I was just thinking about...about...ah-" I shrugged, peering over at Amelia to try and read her expression.

"You don't have to tell me, JP," Amelia assured, glancing down at our hands. "Everyone has a story. Everyone has skeletons in the closet. Something. You'll tell me when you're ready, and you're clearly not ready yet. That's okay too."

"Sometimes it's hard to be ready."

"There's never really a right time to tell someone your story, is there?" Amelia asked, a faraway gaze settling in her eyes.

"I guess not," I admitted, shifting my eyes towards the window and staring out at the grey overcast sky.

Amelia shifted on my bed, causing it to creak slightly. She looked like she was unsure of what to say next, so she stood up. "Maybe I should head out. I don't wanna intrude anymore than I already have."

"You're not intruding, trust me. You don't know how much I've longed for someone who had the courage to check up on me."

"How come nobody has before?" Amelia questioned curiously, though she did not look like she felt sorry for me. That's what lured me into her.

"I mean, they have. It's not that they haven't, they just...always said the wrong shit. Not by their own fault, they don't mean to...its just, it's nice to have someone check up on me that knows nothing about my past, or who I am," I rambled on, my voice fading out when I realized I probably was not making much sense to Amelia.

It was nice to live in a place where nobody got that sorrowful look on their face when they heard my last name, Beckett. The previous town I lived in was small, and everyone knew each other's business. It was great to start over, though I knew I'd always be haunted by the demons from my past. Those demons were mine to take on though, and nobody else's.

"I feel the same way," Amelia said, catching me off guard. "It's nice to talk to you, and have you know nothing about me. I mean, unless Blake told you stuff..."

"He told me nothing," I interrupted her, watching as she relaxed at my words. "Blake's a good guy. He invited me to your birthday party on Friday."

"I wouldn't exactly call it a party. It's just gonna be me, Blake, you, his parents and my family. Oh, and the dust bunnies."

Chuckling deeply at her humor, I spoke out of the blue. "Let me see your phone." I held my breath for a moment, wondering if I said the wrong thing.

"For what?" Amelia asked, fishing it out of her back pocket and pressing the home button, unlocking it with her thumbprint.

"I can give you my number, so next time you wanna talk shit about me on the phone you can do it right to me," I replied smugly as her face turned four different shades of red.

"I really am sorry," Amelia whispered sincerely, handing me her phone.

"It's all good, I'm just messing with you."

When I stared into her emerald eyes, I nearly forgot my own phone number for a moment. Clearing my throat, I slowly typed it in, searching my brain for the right numbers to press. Amelia waited patiently, snatching her phone back from me once my number was in.

"I hate texting first," she confessed, touching the message icon and sending a single smiley face so I could save her as a contact.

"Well, no wonder. A smiley face? That's the best thing you could come up with?" I retorted sarcastically, watching as she bit back a grin.

"You know what?"

"No I don't know. What?"

"Fuck you," Amelia cursed, throwing up the middle finger at me and standing up from the bed. I clutched my heart, pretending to be offended by her word choice. She shoved her phone back into her jeans pocket. "I really should get home, though."

"Okay," I said, understanding. Unsure of what my next move should be, I stood up and opened the door for us both to pass through. "I'll walk you out."

Amelia nodded, and as the two of us walked down the stairs I could see her breathing intensify. Her chest expanded slightly, as if she needed to allow more air than usual to pass through. When we reached the door, I opened it for her and watched her figure walk through.

"Amelia?"

"Yeah?" she turned over her shoulder, walking backwards slowly.

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me," Amelia said, turning her back to me and continuing down my driveway all the way to the sidewalk.

I didn't take my eyes off her for a single second.

-

authors note: I seriously love Amelia and JP with my whole heart already. This chapter was so fun to write, and we definitely got to see a lot more interaction between the two of them.

On top of that, there was a flashback to when JP was younger. What do you think of it? Any predictions yet? So far, there's only been hints of JP's past, but soon all questions will be answered. I promise, you just have to be patient.

Thank you so much for reading as usual! We're over halfway to 1k reads already, which is crazy to me.

Don't forget to vote and leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the chapter/the story as a whole so far.

until next time...