Westside || Jonah Marais

• NINE •

❝ L I F E ❞

Amity sits next to Jonah in the living room of the boys' rented hut, her eyes trained on Bey's hands as they sign 'pact' in American sign language across the room. Shaking her head no, she purposefully turns to face Jonah so she can't see what Bey's silent reply is. Jonah, on the other hand, stares confusedly between the two girls.

"On another note," Bey speaks up, taking the attention off of her and Amity's conversation. "We're just chilling today, yes?"

Jack and Corbyn glace at each other before simultaneously scrambling for the bowl of fruit sitting on the coffee table. Amity leans forward and pushes it out of their reach, giggling as they nearly face plant on the hard surface.

"I'll take that as a yes," Bey laughs, gingerly sitting in a plush armchair. Amity doesn't miss the way she winces at the contact, but decides against saying anything while everyone else is around. "Should we just go to mine and Amity's hut? It does have a hot tub and straight access to the lagoon."

"Or we could take the boat? I have tours to do so I'll be on it all day anyways," Jonah offers. In one Swift movement, he surprises everyone by turning to Amity and kissing her hand, saying, "I would be honored if you came along for the ride."

Amity glancest at Bey for the briefest moment, earning a shrug in reply.

"Of course," she answers, squeezing his hand with both of hers.

Bey pretends to gag, sticking her tongue out at Amity's and Jonah's antics. Amity throws a piece of fruit at her friend, childishly sticking her tongue out as well.

"Have fun today," Amity jokes, pushing herself to her feet and hurrying to the door. "Because while you're being lazy, I'm going to be on a yacht meeting celebrities!"

Jonah chuckles, following close behind the energetic. Truth be told, someone even remotely famous rarely ever went on one of his tours, but he wasn't about to ruin her excitement.

<<>>

Amity sits on the top level of Jonah's yacht, her legs dangling over the side as she rests her head and arms on the gold-plated rails. With the boat anchored to the sea floor and Jonah downstairs talking to the people on one of his infamous boat tours, it left little to distract her from her own thoughts.

The days are flying by alarmingly fast, leaving a mere eight until her and Bey's time in Bora Bora comes to an end. The thought, when left to dwindle on it, makes her incredibly upset, having already fallen in love with the oasis and her experiences in it.

She sighs dramatically, flopping backwards just as Jonah comes up the steps. He hesitates, giving the young woman a questioning look before moving to the steering wheel and beginning to maneuver his boat to another location.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, ya know," Amity groans in reply, not bothering to move. "Life."

Jonah furrows his eyebrows together, trying to piece something together.

"That's so weird," he comments, mostly to himself. "Some guy downstairs was saying the exact same thing to his wife. But the weirder thing is that some people actually cheered after he said it."

Amity bolts upright, nearly hitting her head against the rails as she clambers to her feet. Her phone begins to vibrate, signalling a phone call and distracting her from bombarding him with questions.

She glances down, audibly gasping at the familiar name. Jonah turns around, his curiosity getting the better of him, and watches as she denies the call and seems to cave in on herself, getting lost in her own thoughts.

"Hey," he murmurs gently, leaving the steering unmanned as he moves towards her. Gently taking her phone out of her hands and putting it in his own pocket, he wraps the upset girl in a hug. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Making a decision, Amity shakes her head and looks up at the man with a small smile. "Can we talk about something else instead?"

"Of course," he agrees, kissing her forehead. "What do you want to talk about?"

"What did that guy everyone clapped for look like?"

Jonah laughs, bending down to properly kiss Amity before turning back to steer.

"I should've known," he mutters, mostly to himself. "Well, he's taller than me, has dark hair, honestly looks like he could be a 1950's show host-"

"HOLY SHIT!" Amity shrieks, causing Jonah to wince and dashing to the stairs. "IthinkI'llgohangwiththeguests. Loveyoubye!"

She disappears down the stairs before he can say anything, leaving him to merely shake his head amusedly - that is, until he realizes exactly what she said.

Before he can ponder on it for too long, her phone in his back pocket begins to vibrate. He furrows his eyebrows together as he fishes it out, ending the call coming from someone named Xavier. He moves to put it back, but the screen lights up again and catches his attention, revealing fifteen unopened messages from the same person.

I know you're busy on whatever vacation you and Bey went on this year, but we need to talk.

Please stop ignoring my calls. I miss you.

Cassandra is gone.

Call me when you can.

I love you.

Amity spots the man Jonah had described, pushing her nerves aside and nearly bursting with excitement as she carefully squeezes through the crowd. Standing at the front of the boat with his wife is none other than one of Amity's idols; the man, the myth, the anxiety ridden legend, John Mulaney himself.

She gets halfway to him before realizing she left her phone with Jonah, which meant she wouldn't be able to get a picture. Sighing resignedly, she stops and turns around, nudging through the same people she had already passed.

A few feet ahead, another girl moves out of the crowd and up the stairs, causing Amity to grow confused. According to what Jonah mentioned earlier, the second floor of the boat is strictly out of bounds to all guests on a tour.

Shrugging it off, Amity follows after her, the bigger problem at hand being the fact she needs a picture with John Mulaney. Skipping every other step, she bounds up the staircase - only to come to a complete halt before she even reaches the top step.

Jonah is no longer steering the boat, instead pulling the other girl she just saw into a tight hug and kissing the top of her head.

Amity frowns, her excitement disappearing as she takes in the scene. Quietly retreating back down the steps, she decides a conversation with John would actually be so much better than only a picture.