You had gone to Midsummer with Rafe, mostly because JJ hadn’t made a move in time. The lights of the fair still clung to your memory, music echoing faintly in your ears when JJ finally brought it up.

“What?” you asked, narrowing your eyes. “What is that… what you think?”

“Yeah,” JJ said, his tone sharp but his eyes softening. “That’s what I think.”

You folded your arms, holding his gaze. “Well, you know the solution then, don’t you?”

“Go on,” JJ said, tilting his head, almost daring you.

“The next time there’s a Midsummer,” you said slowly, every word deliberate, “pack up the courage and ask me before somebody else does. Not as the last resort.”

For a moment, silence stretched between you, broken only by the sound of the waves rolling in nearby. JJ’s jaw clenched, but his voice came out quieter this time. “Well then… it’s just completely off point, isn’t it?”