Westside || Jonah Marais

• TEN •

❝ P I Ñ A  M A R G A R I T A S ❞

Amity finds herself standing outside the boys' hut in the extremely early morning hours, waiting for someone to answer. Despite it not even being four a.m., the kitchen and living room lights are already on, signaling at least one of them are awake.

The door swings open, revealing Daniel in a cooking apron and covered in flour. Somewhere behind him, Jack drops a bowl, causing ingredients to explode around the kitchen.

"I'm this close to banning you from the kitchen," Zach threatens.

"Says the one who suggested we harness the power of the fucking sun to bake the cookies at 4,000,000 degrees."

"It's a good idea!"

"It would burn the house down!"

"Bey isn't home and I don't want to be alone," Amity greets while laughing at the other boys, but still managing to pull off the most pitying expression Daniel had ever seen. "I would've called first but Jonah has my phone. Can I come in?"

"Yeah, of course." Daniel steps back, allowing her inside. "We're making chocolate chip cookies! Or, trying to, anyways."

"It looks more like you're making a bomb," Amity chuckles dryly, gesturing to the cloud of flour covering nearly every surface.

"Amity!" Jack calls out happily. "Please tell me you're here to help."

"Actually, I think you guys have it under control," she jokes, wandering over to the kitchen counter. "But I can make drinks. Have you ever tried a virgin piña marg?"

"Piña marg?" The front door bursts open, revealing Corbyn loaded down with shopping bags and a drunk Bey follows through moments later. "I don't know what that is but I want it."

"Ooh!" Bey exclaims, grabbing the lanky man's arm and rushing him into the kitchen, causing him to drop his bags in the middle of the floor. A coy smile spreads across her face as she recounts the story for the boys' benefit. " So, Amity got drunk at this bar and she was flirting with the bartender and, ooh, he was indulging her in love - sorry, liquor - and making the mashups of drinks she requested. The virgin piña margarita was one of the greatest things to ever come out of it."

"Instead of using pineapple juice for a virgin piña colada, you use sparkling limeade," Amity chimes in, pulsing the blender containing her new drink. "But you can't blend it in, you have to stir it in."

"Sounds interesting." Corbyn slides into a barstool right in front of Amity. "Piña marg me up, my dear."

Amity snickers before pouring him a margarita glass of her drink. She taps a bit of the blender mixture into six glasses, pops open a Sprite and stirs in a few tablespoons into each, finishing off with a wedge of lime.

"OH MY GOD!" She shrieks, nearly dropping the blender and thoroughly startling everyone. "I CAN"T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO TELL YOU ALL THE MOST AMAZING NEWS EVER!"

"WHAT IS IT?" Zach yells back.

"I MET JOHN MULANEY!" Amity screams, bouncing up and down in excitement as she recalls the best afternoon of her life. "And he was the cutest, most awkward bean in the world. I had this super long conversation with him. And his wife followed me on Instagram and they asked for my number and PROMISED THEY WOULD CALL ME WHEN THEY GO TO ENGLAND IN DECEMBER AND LET ME SHOW THEM AROUND!"

"Wait," Zach interrupts, visibly confused. "You're excited to be alone with Princess Diana's killer in a different country? What if you end up as his next victim?"

"If it's my time to go, it's my time to go," she answers nonchalantly. "And I'll end up in one of his comedy specials. It's a win-win situation."

Amity casually changes the subject by handing everyone her one-of-a-kind drink. They unanimously lift their glasses and clink them against each other's before trying it.

"Oh, Jonah is going to have a field day with this one," Bey mutters.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Amity challenges.

"I spiked the punch. My punch, exactly. I meant nothing, my dearest Amity, but this lovefest has gone too far. I'm leaving."

With that, Bey stands with the appearance of a Grey Goose bottle in her hands and leaves in the direction of one of the bedrooms.

Everyone is left in puzzlement except for Jack and Amity. Jack quickly downs three of Amity's drinks before remembering that there wasn't alcohol in them. He quickly reaches for the nearest bottle and takes a gulp, the liquid searing the back of his throat. Amity merely sighs and, spotting the three empty glasses, refills them.

"She's acting like Klaus again."

"I'm sorry?" Zack questions, taking a sip of the drink before spitting it out dramatically. "Okay, but this is an abomination."

"I'm going to slushee you," Amity threatens, albeit emptily. "Klaus Hargreeves from the Umbrella Academy. It was one of her multiple obsessions in our ten-to-seventeen years."

"Is she okay?" Daniel asks, nearly standing up to follow her.

"Yeah, she's-" Her façade cracks for a second and worry flashes across her features before she manage to cover it up with a more neutral expression. "Actually, I've never seen her like that before. Whenever I came over-"

Amity hesitates, her eyes widening before she grabs the blender and turns away from the boys to put I away, struggling to connect the past to what's happening to Bey now. "I- well, her mom would tell me she's already gone somewhere. But I never found out where."

"Bey never told you?" Daniel asks. He glances down to Amity's hands, which are visibly less certain than moments prior.

"I- oops." Amity laughs nervously as she nearly knocks over a bottle of gin. "I really don't- oh, sorry, Corbs - I really don't know and I'll advise you to not find out. She'll come around when she's sober. I trust her."

An uncomfortable silence falls among the group, broken only by the timer a few minutes later alerting them to remove the cookies from the oven. Daniel stands up to get them and conversation starts again.

"Hey, Jack," Amity begins, snapping the man out of his own thoughts. "Do you care if I borrow your phone?"

"Of course not." Jack unlocks his phone and hands it over without protest, a mischievous smirk lighting up his features. "Missing Jonah?"

"You're hilarious," she retorts, moving to the front door so she can have a little bit of privacy. "You better save me some cookies."

Closing the door before he can retort, Amity takes a deep breath of the refreshing night air before dialing a number she should have forgotten a long time ago.