Sweet Like Honey

14.

Jonas had followed Lennen home, so he could drive the two of them to the movies then the bowling alley, where their friends had all decided to meet up. Lennen parked her car and she followed Oliver out of the car into the house, telling Jonas to follow them. 

"Nice house," Jonas tells the two when he steps inside. He wasn't all that surprised to find out that the Kepner's had such a nice home. With the amount of time they spend traveling, he figured that they had to have some money. It was a decent size house, quite modest actually, the exact opposite of what his family would go for. It was very homey, exactly what you expect the Kepner home to be like. He had been inside the house once before, but never really taking it in since he was desperately wanting to see Lennen.

"Thanks," Lennen says and quickly heads up the stairs to her room, grabbing her purse, then heads back down. "Oliver, I'll be back later tonight, so tell the parents that I won't be home for dinner. Bye." 

She grabs Jonas by the hand and runs to his car, avoiding the rain as much as possible, despite her clothes were already soaked. The movie theater was about a ten minute drive from Lennen's house, and on the car ride over they decided to see La La Land. Jonas parked in the garage and the two walk hand-in-hand inside. Lennen had insisted that she pay for her own ticket, but Jonas whipped out his wallet paying for both of them before Lennen could even reach into her purse. 

"Popcorn?" Jonas asks as they pass by the concessions. Lennen shook her head, not that hungry and wanted to wait until the bowling alley, so they could eat with their friends. They continued past the concession stand and handed their tickets to the guy, an older man who was looked like he was in early 60s, who was sitting in front of all the theaters. He ripped the tickets and pointed in the direction of their theather. Lennen thanked the guy, who looked at her like she was the first person who has ever thanked him. 

"I think that has been the best movie I've seen all year," Lennen says as they walk out of the theater. To be fair, it was the only movie she had seen this year, but that didn't make it any less amazing. 

"It was good. I enjoyed it," Jonas agrees, and wraps his arm around Lennen's shoulder, pulling her in close. The bowling alley was only a two minute walk from the theater, so they headed out and turned the corner, making their way to their next location. They walk into the alley, immediately spotting their large group of friends. 

"There you guys are! We were about to start without you," Dorian jokes, though attempting to be serious, which he never is. 

"You'd probably need the head start anways, seeing as I am the bowling champion," Jonas shoots right back. Jonas was good at a lot of things, bowling being one of them. The group laughs as Dorian jokingly steps back and pretends to sulk. "So, what do we say we get this game going?" 

The group walks up to the counter, getting their shoe sizes and two lanes. They split into two groups, the first group consisting of Lennen, Jonas, Holden, Sawyer, and Adley. The second group was Cruz, Ellis, Dorian, Margo, and Miles. 

"Ready to lose, Ace?" Jonas asks, leaning down to Lennen, since she was sitting on the bench, putting her shoes on. 

"Ace?" Lennen asks, curious about the sudden new nickname. She liked it though, much better than all the old, overused nicknames boys use. 

"Because you're the most important girl in my life." It was a line, Jonas wasn't going to lie, but it was the truth. Watching Lennen's face light up with a bright smile and a little blush form on her cheeks made Jonas smile right back at her. Not only was that line a true statement, but it was also used as a nickname in her favorite show, Gilmore Girls, by her favorite couple, Rory and Logan. 

"Hey loverbirds! We wanna bowl," Holden calls out from the machine, where he just finished putting everyone's name in. They tore their eyes apart and looked at Holden who had started walking toward Sawyer. Lennen and Cruz were the first persons to go for each group, so they walked up to get a bowl and stood in their proper lanes. Lennen watched Cruz roll the ball down the alley, leaving three pins left standing. She looked back at her own lane and released the ball, watching it roll and hit nine pins, leaving one standing right in the middle. They rolled again, each getting a spare. 

As Lennen was walking back to the bench, Jonas was passing her since he was going second. "You're pretty good at this, Ace."

"Better watch your back because I'm going to take that champion title of yours," Lennen smirks, then watches Jonas bowl, also getting a spare. Throughout the game, it was clear that Lennen and Jonas were the best bowlers in their group, the other three falling way behind in points. 

At the end of the night, when everyone was tired of bowling, Lennen and Dorian ended up being the two winners, allowing everyone to laugh at Jonas for no longer being the best person in the group at bowling. 

Lennen and Jonas said goobye to their friends, and headed back to the garage so Jonas could drive Lennen home. "Y'know Ace, I'm impressed by your bowling skills and I will happily hand over my title to you... only if you beat me for a second time," Jonas laughs at Lennen's reaction change between him mentioning handing over his title and the pause. 

"You're a cruel person, Jonas Costello." Lennen shakes her head at Jonas, thinking about how incredibly happy she was. Jonas made her feel like she was on top of the world, always on Cloud 9. He knew all the right things to say to make her laugh if she was feeling down or just in the mood for a joke. 

"Yet, you like me anyway," Jonas responds. During the drive back to Lennen's, Jonas tried his hardest to keep his eyes on the road, but he found himself constantly glancing at Lennen in the passenger seat. She was beautiful, even in the moonlight. He wonders what he did to get so lucky. 

It was a few minutes past nine when Jonas pulled into Lennen's driveway, and Jonas found himself wanting to tell her not to go inside, to stay out with him longer. "Thank you, Jonas. I had a really great time tonight." Lennen smiled at him, still not moving from the passenger seat. She too didn't want to leave, not ready for their night to be over. 

"I don't want you to go inside," Jonas found himself saying. It was still early for a Friday night, Lennen shouldn't be saying goodbye yet. He wanted to spend more time with her, knowing that he wasn't going to see her during the weekend because of all the make up work she had to do. 

"I don't want to go inside, either. I'm not ready for the night to be over," Lennen admits. She was having too good of time for it to end so quickly. This whole night was everything she wanted it to be, an incredible second date. 

"Do you wanna go to the beach? The rain has lightened up and we're less than ten minutes away." It may have only been their second date, but the beach already held much significance to them.

"Can't think of another place I would want to be." Jonas pulls out of her driveway and heads straight toward Newport Beach. It had stopped raining, and the beach was peaceful, hearing nothing but the waves crashing. They sat on the pier, looking out at the ocean and for once, sitting in silence, but a comfortable silence.  

Jonas had stopped looking at the ocean and looked at Lennen, watching her watch the ocean. She was so happy, watching the waves with a smile on her face. "Why are you staring at me, Jonas?" Lennen asks, not having to take her eyes off the ocean to know that he was staring at her. 

"Because you're beautiful," Jonas breathes out. He was full of cheesy, cliche phrases tonight, but he had never been happier. Lennen finally took her eyes off the ocean and looked at Jonas, trying to hide how wide her smile was. Jonas looked into her eyes and then down at her lips, it was the perfect moment. He leaned down, and their lips met.