Westside || Jonah Marais

• TWELVE •

❝ P E R F E C T ❞

"You can't avoid me forever."

"I'm not. I'm avoiding you for six more days."

The sun is setting on another day in Bora Bora and Amity, barefoot and in pyjamas, finds herself walking along the deserted beach with the one person she doesn't want to see - at least not until she's sober and has had time to process her many thoughts and mixed emotions. A salty breeze blows in from the ocean, causing goosebumps to form along her exposed skin

When someone had knocked on her door only minutes prior, Amity and Bey nearly fought each other to open it, expecting it to be the pizza delivery person. Amity was thrown off, to say the least, but Bey managed to react quickly by pushing her friend outside and locking the door behind her, refusing to open it until Amity and Jonah resolve their "love-fest tension". It gave the suddenly sober girl no choice but to begrudgingly accept Jonah's offer to walk along the beach.

"Will you at least tell me why?" Jonah questions, genuinely perplexed by her attitude. "This mood shift came out of nowhere, Amity. What did I do?"

"Can't this conversation wait until the morning?" She protests, her gaze fixated on the sand instead of on him. "I haven't even been able to take in everything and if we talk about it now, I could say something mean I don't mean and I don't want that to happen."

"I'd rather hear something mean than nothing at all," he argues pleadingly. "I don't-"

"I thought I was being cheated on again," Amity blurts out, willing the tears in the corner of her eyes to disappear as they threaten to fall.

"You thought- but I- wait, again?" Jonah struggles to form a proper question, unable to wrap his mind around the simple sentence.

"I saw you kissing some girl's forehead before I met John Mulaney, and it fucked with me a lot more than it probably should have," she continues, her voice cracking as other memories come back. "I've been through it before during one of my vacations, and just the thought that it could be happening again was too much for me to handle."

"But that's my sister," he points out. "I introduced you to her at the party, so you know I am not and would never cheat on you."

"And I would've been perfectly happy to put that behind me and move on," she presses on, her tone becoming more agitated than hurt. "But before we met, I got my phone back, only to discover that all of my texts from Xavier were opened! And when I was in one of the hot springs, I was talking to Chris - you remember Zac Ackles from the bar, right? It's the guy you punched - and he says he didn't drug my drink. But forgive me for needing time to process all of this."

"Going through your phone was uncalled for, and for that I am sorry," Jonah admits, glancing over to see Amity finally looking up from the sand and in his direction. "But your drink was fizzing and changing colors. That's the first sign of a contaminated drink!"

"It's also the first sign that you ordered the Caribbean Cocktail. I should know, because I had three!"

A tense silence falls between the duo as they continue their trek along the beach. Amity stops occasionally to pick up a seashell she finds pretty, adding to the growing collection in her hand. Jonah can't help but to smile each time she does so.

The sun gradually disappears completely, leaving only the exceptionally bright stars and moon to guide them. Jonah stoops down to grab a perfectly pink seashell and offers it to Amity, bringing a soft smile to her lips for the first time since they began their walk.

"I'll apologize to Zac Ackles," he offers, willing to do anything to keep her smile from disappearing and to end this tense atmosphere between them.

"Thank you. He'll appreciate that," Amity agrees. "I called Xavier last night, and I made it clear that he has no part in my life anymore and needs to stop contacting me. He's out of my picture for good now, but I should have told you about him, and I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Jonah says. "As long as you pinky promise to stop avoiding me."

The two lock pinkies, causing Amity to giggle at the silly promising system.

"You can't laugh during such a serious matter!" He gasps dramatically. "This is an Unbreakable Vow!"

Amity fights the urge to laugh harder, putting on the most serious facial expression she can muster. "I solemnly pinky promise I will stop avoiding you."

Their locked pinkies turns into Jonah clasping her hand in his tightly as they carefully step over a large pile of rocks some kids must have gathered earlier in the day. Amity gasps as she looks back up, her seashell collection falling from her hand in the midst of her shock. She couldn't believe she hadn't caught sight of it sooner.

"Do you like it?"

Rose petals litter the ground directly beyond the rocks, creating a decoratively soft pathway to a large blanket. As Jonah leads her closer, she's able to see an assortment of foods she's mentioned as being her favorite and a bouquet of delicate white flowers she's never seen before.

"How am I supposed to break an Unbreakable Vow when you go and do the cutest, most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me?" She asks incredulously, placing a kiss on his cheek and tugging on his arm so they can sit down in the middle of the blanket. "Is this why Bey locked me out? Was she in on this?"

"No," Jonah admits with a chuckle. "But it certainly did help."

"You're unbelievable," Amity huffs, nevertheless allowing him to guide her face closer to his.

"But that's what you love about me," Jonah jokes. "Other than my rugged good lucks."

Jonah pulls her into a long-awaited kiss, having missed being able to have her in his arms despite only being apart for a day. Amity pulls away before it can go any further, sneezing four times in a row.

"Bless you," Jonah chuckles. "Has anyone ever told you that you sound like Minnie Mouse when you sneeze?"

"Thanks, I think?" Amity mutters, only to sneeze three more times. "I guess I forgot to tell you that I'm allergic to roses."