𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝘆 (𝗯𝘅𝗯)

Twenty Five

"I didn't know."

Mia sits down next to Aaliyah, setting her coffee cup down. "That doesn't make it okay, Liyah."

"I've struggled with eating disorders too!"

"So joke about your own trauma! You can't expect everyone to laugh just because you went through it too. He's not you, you know that."

Aaliyah sigh and nods. "Okay...Okay. I'm sorry...I guess I didn't realize it."

Mia sighs as she sits back on the couch.

Aaliyah looks at her. "We can still be friends, right? I know I fucked up. You think he'd listen to my apology?"

**
Jaxon was sitting at the table, doing some work. The weekends weren't very eventful for most of them.

AJ and Kai were in the living room watching a true-crime documentary, and Gavin was out getting a tattoo.

Shawn walks into the kitchen, setting down a cup of coffee for Jaxon. He smiles, kissing him on the forehead. "What're you working on?"

Jaxon looks down at the coffee, smiling. "Thank you. Just an assignment. It's not due until next week but I like to work ahead."

"God, we are two different people."

Jaxon giggles and brings the coffee cup up to his lips, taking a small sip. Shawn hums to himself and sits down next to Jaxon. "When do you think you'll be done?"

"Why? Are you bored?"

"Yes. Gavin went to the tattoo shop without me." Shawn frowns and leans his head down on the table.

Jaxon smiles at him, kissing him on the cheek. "What do you wanna do? Go get some food?"

"No. Not hungry, just bored."

Jaxon tilts his head at Shawn. "Didn't you tell me you eat when you're bored?"

Shawn looks up and starts laughing. "Fuck you. Can we watch a movie together, please? I just wanna hang out with you."

Jaxon smiles and nods. "Sure. Let me finish this last section and we can watch a movie in the room, okay?"

**
Mia unlocks the front door, letting Aaliyah walk in. Kai looks over from the couch and rolls her eyes. She turns to AJ, "The hell is she doing here?"

AJ looks over and sets his hand down on Kai's thigh, shaking his head. "Let me handle this. You're too aggressive."

Kai furrows her brows. "Am not."

AJ ignores her and gets up off the couch. He walks into the kitchen where Aaliyah was sitting. He taps Mia on the shoulder. "Uhm, Mia? Can we talk?"

Mia turns his head to looks at him and nods. She grabs a water bottle from the fridge, handing it to Aaliyah. "We'll be right back."

The two walk to the living room here Aaliyah can't hear. AJ crosses his arms. "What is she doing here? You know what she did."

"I know. I talked to her. We talked...I've been gone literally all morning, okay? She wants to talk to him and apologize. Genuinely."

"You think Jaxon is ready for that? You saw how much of a mess he was last night. You can't just force an apology down his throat."

"That's...Not what I'm doing...Every single one of you told me to talk to her and I did. Now she wants to apologize. Stop being hypocritical."

Mia rolls her eyes and walks away. "Is he in his room?"

AJ watches her and nods. "Y-yeah...He is."

"Great." Mia walks up to the door, knocking on it. "Jaxon? Can we talk, please? Aaliyahs here and wants to apologize and...I need to talk to just you as well."

In the room, Jaxon sets his hand on Shawn's chest to stop his movements. Shawn looks up at him, trying to catch his breath.

Mia knocks on the door again. "Listen...I can hear the TV on so if you just don't wanna talk could you just say that?"

Jaxon looks down and Shawn, shrugging his shoulder. "What do I do?" He whispers to Shawn.

Shawn smiles, guiding his hands up Jaxon's waist. "Respond?"

Jaxon rolls his eyes, grabbing the blanket from the bed to cover himself up. Shawn bites his lip. "Mia? Jaxon is...Is the shower...Uhm, He'll be out in a minute."

"Okay. Will you please tell him I need to talk to him?"

"Yeah, I will. Give him like...thirty minutes."

Mia nods and walks away, going to talk to Aaliyah.

Jaxon looks down at Shawn, shaking his head. "I'm so embarrassed."

"Why? The door is locked."

"It's still embarrassing."

Shawn shrugs his shoulder, grabbing Jaxon's ass in his hands. "Do you wanna finish?"

Jaxon looks down at Shawn and smirks. "Yeah? Are you close?"

"Yes. And impatient, you?"

"Yeah."

**
Jaxon did end up actually needing to shower. He grabs one of Shawn's sweaters off the ground, quickly sniffing it before slipping it over his head.

He grabs some sweatpants as well. Shawn steps out the shower, wrapping a towel loosely around his waist. Jaxon looks at him and smiles. "Guess I'm going to talk to Mia."

Shawn looks down at him. "You don't have to."

"I-I know...I just...I don't know."

Shawn grabs the towel from here it's tied with one hand, using his other hand to grab Jaxon's face and kiss Jaxon once on the lips. "Okay...If you feel uncomfortable-."

"Come get you, I know. I will."

*
Jaxon sits down at the kitchen table, looking over at Aaliyah. He looks back down at his hands, not wanting to have eye contact.

Mia looks at Aaliyah, nudging her with her elbow. Aaliyah glances at Mia for a second before nodding.

"Uhm, Jaxon, Jm sorry. Uhm...I know I shouldn't have made that joke...Especially knowing what it's like to go through eating disorders-."

Jaxon looks up at her. "Then why'd you make the joke I'm the first place?"

"I joke about it all that time...But-...J realized I can't joke about others trauma...It was a dumb mistake and I'm sorry."

"But...," Jaxon shakes his head and looks back down at his hands.

Aaliyah sits up. "You can say what you want. I'm...I'm trying."

"Wh-...Why're you always being rude to me? A-and flirting with my boyfriend? Nothing seems like a mistake. We were so close in sophomore year."

"I don't know...I really don't. I guess I was just never taught to...I don't know, I'm just really sorry and I'm gonna try, okay? I swear it."

Jaxon nods. "Yeah...Okay."

**