𝐉𝐚𝐱 𝐏𝐎𝐕

It's only been four days now since I last saw Allie, and I can't understand why I feel so... hollow. How much I crave being near her already. It's odd with how little we know about each other and we only just met, but I feel as though I know her. It could just be an overdramatic attraction festering, but I wouldn't know anything about that. I've only ever truly been with Lorelei and not a single person since our divorce last year.

While sitting at the breakfast bar, I nurse my coffee and scroll mindlessly through my phone. The endless notifications stare back at me with emails about the studio and our social media that's recently taken off, but my thumb hovers over the text message conversation with Allie. The incredible need I feel to text her good morning and ask her what her plans are today is hard to ignore, but that wasn't the reason she gave me her phone number. That was only for that one day, and I need to respect that.

"Hey, man. Are you ready to go?" James asks while clapping me on the back. His sudden presence startles me, making me spill droplets of coffee all over the white countertop.

"Jesus, warn someone next time," I chuckle while frantically wiping the mess with a napkin. "Where are we going today?"

He pulls his phone from his jacket pocket and hands it to me with a smirk. "Today we're going to the aquarium. Tomorrow is Stone Zoo. Didn't you get the emails?"

I probably got the emails, but with my mind being so preoccupied I haven't checked them in days. I can't tell him that though—or any of the guys, for that matter. They wouldn't understand it.

"Oh, yeah I did. Sorry man."

James takes a seat beside me and folds his hands on the counter, his lips forming a thin line. "Are you okay? You've been... quiet lately," he asks.

My eyebrows pinch together, hoping to look confused by his question, although I'm not. I have been more quiet than normal, but not on purpose.

I give him a small smile before nodding. "Yeah, just tired is all."

"Alright, bud," he says before standing to pat my shoulder again. "When you're not busy being the king of denial, come find me."

My eyes widen while my head whips around to watch him walk further away, his shoulder shaking with laughter. Okay, I guess it's obvious. I have to work on hiding shit better.

I stand slowly from the bar and quickly clean up my area. Maybe if I at least wait until the end of the day, I'll try to text Allie. If I don't attempt it, I'm going to drive myself crazy with the thought of it. Maybe that's the wrong idea... God, today already feels like it's been too long and it's not even 9 o'clock yet.

When we arrive at the aquarium, it's busier than we expected. We knew Boston was a busy area, but we figured for it being a Saturday in the beginning of July, that people would prefer to be outside in the sun. Not cooped up inside a small area to gawk at fish. I'm already coming to the conclusions that Americans are hard to figure out and we've only been here for a few weeks.

After checking in, they had us take a group photo in front of a green screen and gave us a keychain with our photo displayed on it. James immediately put it on his keys and said nobody was allowed to touch it. He knows well enough that Gareth would probably toss it in one of the touch tanks. Smart move on James' part.

When we walk inside, the size of the place instantly blows us away. We have an aquarium in Cardiff, but this one is a lot bigger. There's an open area smack dab in the middle of the room filled with penguins relaxing upon rock sculptures and a spiral staircase leading to high levels.

"Holy shit, this place has penguins!" James shouts.

A mother with three children beside us gives us a warning side-eye. "Real nice," she states before dragging them in the opposite direction.

Gareth chuckles under his breath before leaning over the railing to get a better look at everything. "This place is incredible," he says.

I pull out the map we received when we entered to get an idea of what's inside. There's so much stuff I don't know how people see it all in one day, let alone doing this with kids. This place has four stories filled with endless tanks, touch tanks, shows and they have a gift shop.

"Alright, what do we want to do first? Do we want to look around, or head to the touch tanks?" Casey asks while his eyes scan around us.

"Maybe we could start at the touch tanks. Might be less busy now than it will be later," I suggest with a shrug.

The guys all nod while Gareth leads the way through the double doors and into a smaller, well lit room. It's lined with rows of shallow water tanks where the stingrays kiss the edges enough for you to reach in and feed them smaller fish.

Walking deeper into the room, it's a lot quieter than it had been in the main entrance. Everyone was eager to see the penguins and the sea turtles, I guess. I dip my hand into the warm water and allow one of the stingrays to graze against the tip of my finger. I was sure they'd feel slimy, but when its smooth velvety back caresses my finger, I can't help but smile.

"Hey little guy," I say quietly when another stingray glides under my touch.

I turn my head to see where the guys had run off to find James and Gareth trying to convince Casey to stick his hand in. Walking over slowly, I grab his arm from behind while the others grab his shoulders.

"No! No, no, no—" Casey shouts before we pull him closer to the tank.

"Oh, come on, man. It's really not so bad," I say while I release his arm and stick mine in the shallow waters. "Just try it."

Casey's face looks like he wants to hurl just from watching us touch the stingrays. I can't imagine what he'd do if he actually stuck his hand in. I chuckle to myself and nod to the guys to leave him alone. He's missing out, but forcing him won't be as satisfying as him doing it himself.

We stand huddled to the edge of the room to look at the schedule for the day. Sometimes the shows include the turtles, seals, and penguins. That would be amazing to watch since they don't have those back home.

"Are you kidding me? They don't have any planned today. On a Saturday of all days," James complains.

I lean in to inspect further when the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stand. My hand instinctively goes to scratch it away. I can't understand why this feeling keeps happening.

"Hey, Jax?" Gareth asks.

"What's up?" I respond without peeling my eyes from the paper.

"Your lady just walked in," he says with a mischievous grin

My eyes flick toward the doors to see Nora, Ana, then Allie come strolling in. They all have smiles on their faces while Allie just looks... beautiful. Her loose auburn curls cascade down her shoulders, perfectly framing her face. A yellow floral sundress hugs her chest and fans out just above her knee, making mine grow weaker.

"What are you waiting for?" James asks quietly beside me. "Go say something."

Without taking my eyes off her, I shake my head in disbelief. "No, she's here to enjoy vacation, man."

"Hey, Allie!" Gareth says loudly from behind me. I turn around to see him wearing a shit-eating grin while waving frantically.

My neck burns with blush while it creeps to my cheeks. I really didn't want to disrupt her, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't take everything in me not to approach her. When her gaze meets mine, I notice there's blush rising to her cheeks as well, maybe a little deeper than my own. A smile tugs at the corners of my lips while I watch her expression turn from disbelief to something resembling relief.

I slowly walk toward Allie with my eyes planted on hers. She looks down for a moment while moving a piece of fallen hair behind her ear before looking back at me and I swear my heart stutters.

"Hey, funny seeing you here," I say with a smile.

"Yeah, it's weird how we keep running into each other," she chuckles.

I still cannot move my eyes away from her. The way her small freckles morph together when she laughs from her nose scrunching up. I wish I could make her laugh forever just to see that light shine in her crystal blue eyes.

"It is weird, but I can't say I mind it."

"Hi Jax!" Ana says while walking toward me. She throws her arm around my shoulder while looking between Allie and I. "Same place, same time again, huh?"

"Oh, you guys should join us!" Nora says with her eyes widening with excitement.

"We'd love that!" James exclaims from behind us.

My blush deepens when Allie and I both stammer.

"Oh.... I... I wouldn't want to impose," she stutters. God damn it, she's adorable.

"It wouldn't bother us any," Gareth chimes in with a shrug. He walks toward Nora and whispers something in her ear that makes her giggle instantly.

"It's entirely up to you, love," I murmur to Allie. She looks at me, her eyes searching mine as if weighing the pros and cons. I only hope that there are no cons on her mental list and that she says yes.

She takes her bottom lip between her teeth, attempting to bite back a smile before she subtly nods. "Okay. Yeah, that sounds fun."

My smile stretches from ear to ear before I try to conceal it as best I can with a fake cough. "Alright, lead the way."

By the time we make it back to the main open area, Nora is already bouncing on her heels with excitement. She has about as much energy as a small child, and I can't help but steal glances at Allie while we watch her. If you didn't know Allie through a hole in the wall, you'd still be able to tell how much she cares for others. The way she absorbs in her friend's happiness is truly amazing. I can only imagine how she is when something negative happens and she has to stick up for her friends while they're in need. I can imagine her wedging herself in between whatever or whoever tries to mess with them.

While we walk around the aquarium, I try my hardest to wrack my brain with things to say. Something to start a conversation, yet nothing comes to mind. I guess I'll have to just start small.

"So," I say before clearing my throat. "How have you been since we last saw each other?"

She turns to look at me and tucks another strand of hair behind her ear. "We took the first few days while here to just relax, so it was definitely nice. This is only the second thing on our itinerary, so it'll be a pretty busy week. How about you guys?"

The second thing on their itinerary? It's weird we both had today as the aquarium planned. My eyebrows pinch together before I stop in my tracks.

She notices quickly as she stops and turns to me. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. What was the first thing on your itinerary?" I ask curiously.

"Oh," she chuckles. "It was the beach. We almost didn't go, but I didn't want to mess with the plan since the guy planned it thoroughly for us and it worked."

Goosebumps prickle my arms while I stand there, confused. Her first plan was the beach, too? There's no way we both used the same plan.

"Yeah, our first day was the beach too," I say with a chuckle, my hand finding the back of my neck to calm the hairs that are still standing.

A thin line appears between her eyebrows while they pull together. "Are... Are you guys going to the zoo tomorrow?" she asks with her head tilted slightly.

No shit. We did use the same plan. Here I thought it was some sort of fate bringing us together, but that's impossible. This actually makes a lot more sense now.

"We are. Stone Zoo, to be exact," I say with a smile.

Her eyes widen while she shakes her head. "That's insane! I thought they were custom made," she says with a chuckle.

Now would be the time to actually ask her if she'd have an interest in going together rather than bumping into each other. I just can't seem to pull the words into a complete sentence. Just before I get the courage to even start to ask, we see our friends heading toward us.

"Hey," Ana says before throwing her arm over Allie's shoulder. "We were wondering where you guys went."

Allie chuckles nervously while looking between Ana and I. "Sorry, we were just talking. You know we used the same itinerary?"

"You don't say," Ana says with a smirk. She definitely knows. One of the guys must have told her while we weren't in earshot.

I suck in a breath and find Allie's eyes, locking them with mine. It's either I ask her now and be a man about it, or let Ana offer the idea. She's honestly been the best wingman in all of this, and I already feel like I'm going to owe her big time for everything.

"Speaking of which, would you maybe want to meet up? At the zoo, that is," I suggest nervously, my throat suddenly turning dry.

Allie's lips curl up, her eyes sparkling like I just asked the most important question there is. "I would love that."

"Awesome! Can we finish looking at the fish first, though?" Ana asks with a wink before she walks off.

Allie waits for me to take the first step before we walk in the direction of our group. While we walk side by side, I try to swallow the lump that's lodged in my throat. I realize this isn't necessarily a date, but I can't help but feel like tomorrow is going to be the start of something important. I know nothing could ever come from this besides friendship, but I'm willing to accept that.

Her girls mean the absolute world to her, and I couldn't ever imagine asking her to uproot her life for someone like me. Not with not knowing what the future holds with this record deal, and us going on tour again in the next year, it's just not plausible for us. But either way, no matter how this ends, I'm still glad I have met Allison Windsor.