The Citygirl And the Cowboy

Chapter 33

"Alex you in here? My aunt said you went away like 15 minutes ago." I hear Luke say. "Yeah I'm fine. Just had to fix my makeup. It looked terrible." I say from the bathroom and look in the mirror. I touch my cheek, so it looks like I'm fixing something. He opens the door and looks at me.

"I'm almost done. I'll get down in a sec." He gets closer and then looks me in the eyes. "Hey, hey have you been crying?" He turns me around and makes me look at him. "No, It's just because of this mascara." I lie to him and close my purse. "Lex." He says and takes my chin. "Why were you crying?" "It's nothing. I'm fine. Let's go downstairs." I say and walk past him.

"Okay not so fast." He says and takes my arm. "You clearly have been crying. What's up? Did something happen? Did grandma say anything?" I look at him with a little bit of disbelief. "You really didn't notice?" I say and scoff with a little smile. I go to his room and put the purse on his bed. "Notice what?" "You have been ignoring me all day Lu." He looks at me a bit startled. "What do y-"

"I asked you not to leave my side, because I was nervous enough. Then Ilana walks in, and you don't even see me anymore. Have you even noticed I have been sitting alone all afternoon? The only time someone talked to me, was Ilana asking if I wanted to switch places, because clearly she felt bad for me, I was sitting alone, and a little later your aunt joined me for a conversation."

"I was just talking to everyone." He defends himself. "Yeah no I noticed. But the thing is I had no one to talk to. I looked at you multiple times, hoping you would notice how bad I was feeling in there, but you just didn't see it." "Then why didn't you switch places with Ilana?" He gets a little irritated. "Because I wanted you to have some time with you childhood friend, damnit!" I almost shout and I silences me. "So do you not like her or anything, is that it?"

"No I do. She's lovely, and she's so pretty. But you just made it look like you didn't give a fuck about me in there. God when you said you were taking Thor on a walk, literally EVERYONE thought you would ask me, and then you simply asked Ilana." "Well I asked you if you were okay with it, and you said yes, so I really don't understand what you're trying to point out here." "I was in the middle of a room filled with people you love. I don't want to sound jealous in front of all of them. Imagine I said no I'm not okay with that. What kind of impression would that have made do you think?" He looks at me a bit flustered.

"Your grandma clearly doesn't like me, and she loves Ilana. I don't want to make an even worse impression on her by denying you having fun with your bestfriend, and I don't want to deny you, because you haven't seen her in so long." "Then what do you want?" He shouts and I feel the tears come up.

"You know, let's just forget about this. I'm fine. Let's go have diner." I then just say and take my purse. "Lex." He holds his arm out but I block it. I go to the door and open it. "I just wanted a little bit of love Luke. That's it. Even if it was just an assuring look." I say before I walk down.

"There you are. We were waiting for you guys." His mom says, and I see everyone sitting at the table. "Sorry, something went wrong with my make up. He should be here shortly." I say with a smile and sit down. A little after that, Luke comes down and sits down next to me. I look the other way and the diner starts.

Most of the diner, Luke and I don't speak. Only if we need something from the table. It's not like I really want to talk to him right now anyways. I feel the looks of some people at us sometimes but I just ignore them. I eat the diner and listen to the others talking and sharing stories.

"Who wants desert?" His mom asks and everyone wants some, obviously. "Alex, could you please help me in the kitchen?" I nod and get up. I walk with her and she takes an ice cake out of the freezer. "Just so you know, we could hear you guys yell from upstairs. We couldn't hear what it was about though, but I just want to make sure you're alright." "I'm fine. We just had a bit of an argument." I say and she looks at me.

"Really I'm fine. But I probably won't be going home too late." I say and she nods. "It's that bad then?" I look away and get the cake plates. "Do you mind if I ask him about it tonight? After everyone has left?" "Go ahead. You probably won't get anything useful out of him anyways." I say and hold the cake plates. She takes the ice cake and we walk back. I put the cake plates on the table and sit down. "I'm sorry." Luke whispers in my ear and he puts his hand on my knee. I look at him and then nod once.

I look at his mom and feel his eyes burning on my skin. I feel his hand slide off my leg and somehow it leaves a hole in my body. I eat the cake, like everyone else, and afterwards his dad hands out glasses of champagne. He makes a toast and then we all drink.

After the drinks, we all get off the table and I help removing everything, with Ilana and Luke. "Can I talk to you please?" Luke asks me as we walk to the kitchen for the last time. I nod and we put the stuff down in the kitchen. He takes me upstairs and we go into his room. "I really don't get you right now. I said I was sorry at the desert, and you just acted like you don't care. I assume you want an apology for 'my behavior'." He says while making brackets with his fingers. "So why are you still acting this way?"

"Because it didn't feel like you meant it." I say on a normal tone. "Didn't feel...." He turns a little to his left and then turns back to me. "Why are you acting like this? It's not like I did anything wrong." He says very calmly. "No you didn't, and yet you very much so did. Look I'm sure you're sorry about something Lu, but now it just feels like you want me to act all happy again, so you can have a fun party with your family."

"Well kinda. It's Christmas Eve. And our first Christmas together." "Yeah you think I didn't realize that?" I say pretty sarcastically. I feel he's getting frustrated. "Maybe it's best if I just go home now." I say and he sighs. "No you don't have to, just because we're having an argument. I still want you here." He says and looks at me. "Well, it's not like we're going to fix this within 5 minutes, and I don't want to be sitting here the rest of the night feeling bad about this, while we have to act all happy, because it's Christmas." I say and feel the tears come up. I push them down and look at the ground. "It's your decision." He then says.

I nod and chuckle. "What's funny?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "I really didn't think our first Christmas would go like this." I say and walk past him. I quickly go downstairs and go to the livingroom. "Sorry everyone, but I have to say goodbye." "Are you leaving already?" His mom asks and gets up. "Yeah I remembered I have something to do with my baby brothers. But have a great evening." I say and wave at everyone. "Ofcourse she leaves." His grandma says a bit softer and she rolls her eyes.

"Excuse me?" I say and everyone looks at the two of us. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She says with her chin up high. "You have been picking on me all day. Why? You clearly like Ilana. Why can't you like me?" I ask her and look her straight in the eyes. "You're just not right for my grandson, and you're showing that by leaving so early." "Right, cause only you know what's best for you grandson?" I chuckle and shake my head.

"I just want you to know, that I was really nervous today to meet you again, because I wanted to make a good impression on the woman he loves so very much. You wanna know why? Because I love him. And I wanted that special woman in his life to like me too, because it's important to him, and the only thing you've done today is judge me. Well I'm done trying. I'm sorry if you heard me shout tonight everyone, I really hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas."

I walk away and I see Luke standing in the hallway. I walk past him and grab my coat. I open the door and walk out. "Alex wait." He says and I turn around. "At least let my drive you home. It's really dark outside." "I'll be fine. Besides otherwise you have to walk back, or my car stands here until tomorrow. I'll text when I get home." I put a kiss on his cheek and go to the car. I hear him sigh and I get in. I take a deep breath to not start crying and then start the car.

He runs up to the car and I look at him. "What about tomorrow? And the hotel?" He asks. I shrug. "I don't know." I say. "We'll talk in the morning when we're both cooled down and got some rest." I say and he nods. "Goodnight Lex." "Goodnight Lu." I close the window and drive away.

I go into the house and mom comes up to me. "You're home early? What happened?" "We just had our first official fight I think. I don't really want to talk about it. I'm gonna go straight to bed." I say and go up. "Okay then. I'll talk to you in the morning." She says and I put my thumb in the air. I go to my room and get undressed. I take a quick shower and then put some pajamas on. I get into bed and go to sleep.