𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 ━ 𝐣𝐣 𝐨𝐛𝐱

part sixteen

riley had just flipped over the open sign to read closed on the window of the wreck. she worked the closing shift that night and was left by herself to tidy things up before she could leave.

the girl walked into the back deciding on what she wanted to make herself for dinner before having to clean up.

just as she had put pasta into a boiling pot of water, she heard the door of the restaurant open.

"we're closed!" riley called out. once she heard chattering voices she walked out to see who was there. low and behold her twin was accompanied by her three pogue friends.

"give me a minute," kiara mumbled to the boys once she saw the angry expression that adorned her sister's face. "have any leftovers?" she smiled softly at her sister, giving the girl puppy dog eyes.

"absolutely fucking not," riley snapped. "first you make me play doctor on your stupid friend last night and now you want me to feed them?"

"stupid friend," kiara scoffed at her sister's lack to mention jj's name.

"don't even go there," riley warned. "and didn't you like just have them here less then a week ago? i remember hearing dad complain about it."

"okay but do you see dad here now?" kiara motioned around the empty restaurant.

"i hate you," riley said, "you know that right?"

"ah but you love to hate me," the other twin smirked. "so is that a yes?"

"just to be clear, i'm not serving you, i'm not cleaning up after you, and i'm absolutely not making you any food," riley stated.

"yeah yeah," kiara rolled her eyes.

riley huffed as she gave her sister one last look before turning on her heal.

she busied herself by making fettuccine alfredo while kiara made multiple trips to the back, grabbing leftovers that had been in the kitchen. riley tried to drown out the friend group's laughter and the loud music that her twin decided to blast through the speakers.

every once in a while as riley ate her pasta she would take a step towards the door that separated the restaurant from the back, and she would glance at the friends as they all joked around with each other.

she couldn't help but to smile as they all threw fries at one another. she even laughed when she saw them all trying to dance.

riley began to work on doing the dishes once she was finished eating. she got stuck doing them often during closing shifts, and honestly didn't mind them at this point, coming to the conclusion that they helped her relax.

"hey."

riley heard a voice from behind her and she turned around with a soapy bowl in hand to see jj leaning up against the door frame.

"hey," riley said in return.

"whatcha doing?"

"the dishes," riley let out a small laugh. as if it wasn't obvious what she was doing.

"cool," jj said, remaining in his position by the door.

"did you need something?" riley asked after a few moments of silence.

"oh uh no i just.." jj paused, clearly trying to find an excuse for why he had walked back there. "i saw you staring at us."

"i was not staring," riley retorted.

"sure you weren't," jj said, walking over to stand closer to the girl. he leaned on the counter that was next to the sink and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"did you just come back to make fun of me for staring?" riley asked.

"no actually i came back to see if you wanted to dance," jj said.

"if i wanted to what?" riley almost choked on air at his words, having to put her bowl down to look at him to see if what he said had been a joke.

"to dance," jj repeated. "you know, to the music you're pretending to hate."

"i was not pretending to hate it," riley scoffed.

"you pretend to hate a lot of things it seems," jj said, making the girl just shake her head and look down to hide the smile on her face.

riley ran her tongue along her bottom lip as she stared at the plate in her hand. "and why would i want to dance with you?"

"well you do owe me," jj said.

"owe you? for what?"

"first of all you're the one who told kiara," jj began, referring to their secret that wasn't such a secret anymore. "second of all, i picked you up when you were drunk off your ass at topper's party."

riley scoffed, "okay well i fixed your busted up face last night."

"okay that's your payment for one thing, i mentioned two," jj smirked.

"i have dishes to do," riley shrugged, returning her attention to the sink and hoping the boy would walk away.

however, instead of doing what she had hoped he grabbed a bowl and wash cloth himself and began to scrub away. riley stopped what she was doing looking over at the boy with her eye brows raised.

"what?" jj asked the girl as if it was completely normal for him to be helping her. "the sooner you get the dishes done the sooner you can dance with me."

riley shook her head, letting out a soft laugh, and the two did the dishes together, as if it wasn't the most unusual thing in the world.

"alright there's that," jj brushed his hands against one another. "now you like triple owe me." the boy grabbed the girls hand and dragged her over to the open area in the kitchen. he raised her arm up along with his and spun her around.

once he let go riley crossed her arms in front of her chest, raising her eyebrows as she stared at him.

"oh come on," jj pleaded.

he then took riley's hands and placed them onto his shoulders before putting his own on her waist. "is this okay?"

riley just laughed, "you are so strange."

"cause i like to dance?" jj asked, a goofy grin on his face. "come on now. you can't make fun of me for that!"

"what do your friends think you're doing right now?" riley asked.

"told them i was smoking a blunt," jj smiled proudly.

the two continued to sway back and forth to the music. riley giggled as jj tried to show off his moves that could hardly be considered dancing. jj even let out a soft laugh as riley shyly spun about before him.

the girl sighed in contempt as she rested her head lightly against the blonde's shoulder at one point after they had calmed down.

"jj!" the pair suddenly heard john b call and they pulled apart from each other.

"well that's my cue," jj said with a smile. "goodnight."

he walked out the door that led outside so he could come back into the restaurant from there, making his lie more believable to his friends.

"goodnight," riley whispered, although she was alone now.

the girl bit her lip to try and suppress her smile. she would've never thought she'd end up dancing with jj maybank in the back of the wreck during her closing shift. but there she was, not even able to get it out of her mind.