Hallelujah

chapter twenty-six

I was peacefully sleeping but of course someone had to shake me awake.

"Brendon what the fuck," I whispered, "I'm tired as hell."

"Come on," he said grabbing me and pulling me off the couch careful not to wake Hannah.

We walked out to the backyard and then he looked at me.

"What?" I asked. He looked at me like I knew what was going on. "Brendon it's like 3 in the morning, if you think I'm processing any information right now you are wrong."

He rolled his eyes at me and pointed to the pool, "let's get it." He slipped his shirt off and I couldn't help but watch him. He was a fine looking fella. He jumped into the pool still with his skinny jeans on and I looked at him like he was crazy.

"Brendon, I don't have a swim suit!" I said. Plus I didn't want to swim, I wasn't the biggest fan of water and I didn't want to be soaked right now.

"You're wearing a sports bra, just take off the top and you can leave your shorts on I'll throw them in the dryer when we're done!" he said.

"And what will I wear while my clothes are drying?" I said crossing my arms.

"I'll give you a sweater, you don't need pants," he said swimming towards the edge of the pool. I slipped off my shoes and removed my top leaving me in just my shorts and sports bra.

I sat down on the ledge and dangled my feet in the water, it was cold to the initial touch but after a few minutes it wasn't feeling too bad. Brendon came over to me and stood between my legs.

"Please Alex, it's nice in here!" he said giving me a puppy dog look.

"Brendon I don't really like water," I said nervously.

"I'll hold you the entire time," he said resting his head on my thigh. I rolled my eyes and Brendon looked at me smiling. "You're so gorgeous."

"What?" I asked laughing. He grabbed my hands and pulled me off the ledge and into the water. My entire body went under and I popped my head up at the surface and glared at Brendon. "Brendon."

"You're so cute when you're mad," he said pulling me close.

"Brendon I'm soaking wet."

"That's what all the girls say to me," he laughed. I looked at him with a look that said 'are you serious right now' and he just smiled proudly.

"You're a narcissistic idiot," I said grabbing his hand under water.

He cupped my face with his hands and pulled me into a kiss. He took his hand out of mine and grabbed my legs wrapping them around his torso. His hands rested on my butt and mine were wrapped tightly around his neck.

We stood there in the water kissing, enjoying life together and just each other's presence. His lips moved from my lips to my neck and he left a small trail of kisses from my ear to my collar bone lightly sucking on it.

"Brendon," I whispered but he ignored me. I ran my hands through his fluffy brown hair and tugged slightly at it. He stopped and looked back up at me, just staring into my eyes and I did the same to him.

That stupid strand of hair fell over his forehead and I laughed as I moved it out of the way and looked back into his eyes. He had those eyes that once you see them you'll never un-see them, you just can't. It's a memory that even when you think you've forgotten about it, it comes back and you compare every set of eyes to them. They reminded me so much of chocolate, when you see it you love it but once you have it you love it even more. I could see the lights from the pool reflecting in them and they just looked so full of life. They were different four weeks ago when I first saw them; they used to look so plain. I didn't know if it was because I brought out the glimmer in them or if I was just never looking for it but I saw it now.

I glanced up at his eyebrow scar that was just a piece of him. I hardly noticed it but it was always there, it matched him so well. He probably got it from a crazy adventure once. His lips were pink, like a pale pink, they looked like similar to cotton candy and they were as soft as it too. His kiss always tasted like mint gum and I didn't mind because I'll never forget the taste of them. It's just an iconic thing.

"You're so special," he whispered, snapping me out of my thoughts. "What were you thinking about?" He sat me back onto the edge of the pool and placed himself between my legs again.

"I was just looking at you," I said not even caring if he thought I was creepy. "I love looking at you," I said quieter.

"Why?"

"You're just so intriguing. You have this look, your eyes start to sparkle and your lips curl into the smallest smile. Your freckles around your nose are extremely visible and you just look so full of life," I said as I ran my fingers through his hair, "and you have this stupid strand of hair that falls over your forehead." He laughed and looked at me.

"Alex, have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and seen that?" he asked kind of serious.

"No," I said. I always looked the same. I never thought of myself as special. There was nothing that stood out on my face.

"Well let me tell you about it a bit," he said pulling me closer to him. "You've got this hair; it shines literally during the day and the night. It makes your face look so soft. It's the perfect mix of blonde and brown, you can go from looking like the purest person to a badass in seconds. Your eyes shine so bright when you do something you know you never would have done before if you didn't meet me, and I love that I bring that out. You wear this Chap Stick that tastes like cherries and you seem to never take it off and I never want you to." I blushed at his comments but he continued, "There you go again, when you blush, it's so, it's so like cute. You just get brushed with this wave of color and you smile that smile, the one where you don't want to smile but you can't help it. Alex I could go on for hours but there's just so much about you. I fell in love with everything about you so quickly," he said getting quiet.

I grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss.

"You taste like cherries," he said grinning into our kiss.

"You're quite the sweet talker aren't you?" I asked giving him a small love bite on his neck.

"Don't get sassy with me Alex, you'll regret it." I placed my hands on his bare chest and moved them down till I reached him tummy.

"You're so pretty," I whispered to him. He pulled away and looked at me.

"Pretty?" he laughed. I nodded and stood up leaving him in the pool alone. I wrapped myself in one of the towels lying around and Brendon followed close behind me.

"My make-up is running thanks to your little pool trick," I said wiping away the mascara on my cheeks.

"I like it like that," he said laughing. I rolled my eyes at him and he pulled me into a hug. My head rested against his bare chest and I could hear is heartbeat. It wasn't racing, it was normal either. It was slightly unsteady though. He always did that.

"Can we go dry my clothes?" I said motioning to my soaked pants.

"Let's go," he said pulling me inside. We quickly walked past everyone who was still sound asleep in the basement and headed onto the main floor. Brendon put my pants and bra in the dryer; he tossed his pants in there too. I wore on of his sweaters which fell past my knees a bit and he wore his boxers and a tee. We went into the kitchen and I sat on the counter while Brendon roamed around.

"Are you hungry?" he asked looking through the fridge. I didn't realize it until he said something but I was starving.

"Yeah," I said watching him.

"Want some pizza?" he asked pulling out a frozen pizza.

"I always want pizza," I said laughing.

We spent the rest of the night laughing, talking and eating pizza.