Didn't Know It Before( An EJ Caswell/HSMTMTS Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Prove You Wrong

As I walked into the living room, EJ came in the front door.

"Hey, where have you been?" I asked, the streamers still in my hands.

"I was taking out the trash and posting to my Instagram story." He said. I nodded.

"You and your social media following. What'd you have for your loyal followers today?" I asked.

"I'm kind of...um...well, I'm kind of telling everyone every bad thing I've ever done." My eyes widened.

"That seems...like a terrible idea."

"Well, I...when I told Nini all of that stuff, I just kind of felt free, not having those secrets on my conscience anymore, so I wanted to keep a good thing going." 

"Well, yeah, I get that, but telling the world on social media everything you've ever done wrong? That seems to beg for a #EJCaswellisCancelledParty, don't you think?" His eyes widened.

"Crap, I didn't even think about that."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." I said, rubbing his arm. "But in the future, if you want to get stuff of your chest, maybe just...come to me."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." He said. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"What? No, I didn't-It doesn't mean anything, I just...I don't know if you're the right person for me to tell all of my darkest secrets to." I nodded.

"So one minute you're Thankful that you can be yourself around me and the next you can't trust me?"

"No! No, Megan, that's not what I meant, at all!"

"Is this because of your parents?" I asked. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, what do my parents have to do with anything?"

"Well, they didn't exactly seem like my biggest fans." I said. "And Ashlyn said they really liked Nini, so they automatically don't like me very much, and now all of a sudden you don't trust me with your secrets, and I just wonder if maybe they...said something about me."

"No, no, no, no, no, Megan, that's not it." He said. He sighed.  "Yeah, my parents did like Nini, a lot, but they just have to get used to you!"

"Great! That's great, so they do hate me!"

"No, they don't hate, you they just..." I raised my eyebrows. "They just don't know you like I do."

"You know me so well that you know I'm not someone you can trust with your secrets."

"No! That's not-Ugh, this is all spun out of control so fast." He sighed, walking forward and putting his hands on my face. "What I meant was, I don't want to tell you all of that stuff because you...you don't think I'm a bad person, and I...I just don't want to probe you wrong."I furrowed my eyebrows. "I'm just a little worried that once you hear about everything I've done you'll decide that I'm not good enough for you and...maybe I'm not, who knows."

"EJ...that's ridiculous." He said, taking his hands off of my face and holding them between both of mine.  "We all have things that we've done that we aren't exactly proud of. That doesn't make you a bad person, and I see how hard you're trying to correct your past mistakes, so obviously I would never judge you for a past you're trying to make up for." He sighed.

"I just want to be the type of guy that deserves you." He whispered. I sighed before standing on my toes, grabbing his face and kissing him briefly before pulling away, skimming my thumb across his face.

"You do, EJ. You don't have to prove anything to me, and you're not gonna 'prove me wrong'. You're not a bad person EJ. I promise." He sighed again, before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me into a hug. I hugged him back, and we stood there for a minute before pulling away from each other. "Now, let's have some fun, shall we?"

~~~

Everyone started showing up, and we were sat around Ashlyn's coffee table, eating snacks and talking.

"We're going old school," Ashlyn said, waving around a Polaroid camera. "Make some memories, people."

She walked into the kitchen, and I followed after her, going to get another soda. Nini was already in there when I walked in.

"Your house has the best energy, I love it." She said.

"Aw, thank you! And thank you for coming. You know, I know things got a little dicey with everyone after the 'forest of boys' incident and you've been kind of a beacon."

"Oh, are you kidding? You were the first person that had my back that day, and I've totally moved on. And what do you mean, Beacon? The whole 'Save Miss Jenn' thing was Megan's idea, we couldn't have done it without her."

"I don't think that's true." I said uncomfortably.

"You're just being modest." Nini stated.

"You've gotta teach me how you do that," Ashlyn told Nini, "I'm not so good at forgiving and forgetting."

"Well, you got an amazing song out of it, so..." Ashlyn and I exchanged uncomfortable glances. "Oh come on! Wondering is literally the best ballad in the show and I'm low-key jealous Gabriella doesn't get to sing it."

"Stop." Ashlyn said.

"I wish I could right like that." 

"Don't even give me that, Nini Salazar-Roberts!" I exclaimed.

"Did you not write that truly adorkable song about how you don't not love someone?" Nini sighed. "Yeah."

"Yeah, that was a one-time thing and it totally backfired. I highly recommend not telling someone you love them for the first time on Instagram."

"Well, maybe you should write something for yourself." I suggested. "EJ and I were talking about it the other day, and the best original songs are the ones that you write for yourself."

"How's that going, by the way?" She asked. I looked down at my hands on the counter.

"We don't have to..."

"I told you, I'm perfectly ok with you and EJ!" She said. "If I'm being honest I think you guys are probably a much better match than we were." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Even I can see that he acts completely different around you." She said. "You bring out the parts of him that he hides from everybody else. He's been different ever since you two got together."

"No. That side of EJ was always inside of him, he's just only discovering it now."

"Yeah, and I wonder who led him there." She said. I shrugged.

"Well, I'm gonna head back in there now. I'm glad you're here too, by the way."

"Thanks. Me too." I grabbed my soda, turning and walking back into the living room.