A/N: Hope you enjoy! Shall I skip to the beach house week now?
Summer break was upon them, and JJ couldn't be happier about it. No homework, no assignments, and no worries meant they were free to plan their upcoming beach house trip, which they had decided would take place on the weekend leading into the Fourth of July.
"Make sure Mark brings condoms," JJ was saying cheekily as Emily returned to the table with a glass of water. "Because a baby or an STI is so not the souvenir you want from summer"
"I'll keep that in mind smartass," Emily jibed, prompting laughter.
"We can't forget the beer, if you forget the beer, I'll drown myself the minute we get there," Derek said insistently as Dave hastily scribbled down items they would need on a scrap piece of paper.
"Hey, what if we don't like beer?" JJ cut in, a cheeky grin crossing her face.
"Don't worry sweet cheeks, we'll get you some girly shit," Derek teased, getting a rude gesture from JJ as the others started to laugh. "We all remember what happened the last time you had beer anyway"
"I seem to remember walking in on you with your hands down Jackson Hawke's pants and his tongue halfway down your throat," Emily said with a mischievous grin, making JJ narrow her eyes as the laughter grew. On JJ's other side, Will shifted in his seat, his laughter fading as the conversation progressed.
"Excuse me, it wasn't Jackson, it was his older brother, I have higher standards than that thanks," JJ replied defiantly, causing Derek to howl with laughter as Dave gave her an 'atta girl' look from the end of the table.
"Can we get back to the task at hand?" Aaron cut in, sounding annoyed, but looking equally as amused.
"How about we go to the mall and get something to eat, then we'll finish this off later?" Dave suggested; they'd been growing increasingly more rowdy and restless as the day wore on.
No-one argued, and within minutes, they were filing out the door to head to the local mall.
Twenty minutes later, they were walking through the busy mall towards the food court, talking animatedly between each other as they strolled along.
Walking at the back of the group with Will, JJ was hanging off of every word between Emily, Penelope, and Tara. Tara had been a somewhat last minute addition to the group's summer plans, as had Derek's friend from the football team, Luke Alvez, but the two got along so well with everyone else, it was considered that the more, the merrier. It was shaping up to be a good summer, and everyone seemed to be really excited about it.
"He bought me flowers to apologise, which was really sweet," Emily was saying as Penelope rolled her eyes.
"Em, he shouldn't have to apologise, he's just a dick in general," she replied without hesitation, making Tara laugh.
"He's not that bad," Emily chuckled. "You just hate his Britishness"
"Well, you're not wrong," Penelope agreed.
JJ opened her mouth to butt in, but was suddenly pulled back by Will, who'd stopped walking and was now pulling her back towards him. The others kept walking, oblivious to the fact that two of their number had stopped.
"What's wrong?" JJ asked, confused.
"I just wanted to ask you something, on your own," Will replied, leading her out of the middle of the corridor and into a little alcove that led to the emergency exit hallway.
"Ok?" JJ said, leaning against the wall, still just as confused.
"What was Emily talking about earlier? With you and Tyler Hawke?" Will asked quietly.
"Oh," JJ said, frowning slightly. "It was nothing... we just got a little hands on at his New Year's Eve party, that's all"
"I was at that party," Will said slowly.
JJ shrugged, not quite following his train of thought.
"Why didn't you say anything about it?" he continued.
Laughing slightly, JJ shook her head. "Because I didn't think it was important? It wasn't such a big thing that I was going to tell everyone... Emily only knows because she walked in by accident"
Seeing that Will was looking a little put out, she reached out, patting his arm gently. "Look, Will... you're my best friend, but I don't have to report back to you on everything I do"
Will opened his mouth to reply, but JJ cut him off.
"They're going to be wondering where we are," she said softly, before turning and walking back out into the corridor, leaving Will to think over what she had just said.
By the end of the day, they had a comprehensive list of what they would need for the beach house. Will and JJ had pushed aside their conversation and were back to being their usual goofy selves. Mark had shown up around mid afternoon, prompting JJ and Penelope to engage in a lot of sly eye rolling and feigning gagging behind his back.
All in all, it was shaping up to be a good weekend. All they had to do now was wait until the Fourth of July.
