Billion Reasons Why

Chapter 18

There were a lot of things that I loved about Blaine—too many. Despite my sarcasm, which was like second nature to me, it was easy for me to feel insecure. Blaine—even through his commitment issues, even though he hadn’t said ‘I love you’ back—he was good at reassuring me.

I sighed. The way his eyes were staring deeply into mine, making my face warm up, I couldn’t help it when I nodded.

“Okay,” I quietly said, feeling shy all of a sudden.

“You look in pain,” Blaine commented, chuckling huskily.

“I am nervous, is all,” I admitted, snuggling against chest.

I felt his breathing when he nestled his head over my neck, and it made me press closer against him. Blaine placed a few gentle kisses on my shirt covered shoulder, before pulling away.

“Come on, we’ve already made him wait long enough,” he said, interlacing his hand with mine, and making his way to the door.

Alexander Hale was standing right there. He was looking away from us, his phone pressed to his ear. Blaine and I had silently entered the living room with our hands intertwined, and he hadn’t noticed us yet.

Once Blaine cleared his throat, we had Alexander’s attention.

Although he turned to face both of us, his eyes only took seconds to drift off towards me. He gazed at me for a long while—to a point where I started feeling uncomfortable—before taking his phone from his ear and disconnecting the call. He didn’t even say goodbye, or acknowledge the other person. Thanks to Blaine, Justine, and now Alexander, I was sure that ‘rude’ ran in the family.

I pressed myself closer to Blaine’s side. To be honest, I was feeling scrutinized.

“Alexander,” Blaine said, making his brother snap out of it. When I turned to look at Blaine, who had sounded upset, I found that he was, indeed, looking pissed off.

“You took your time,” Alexander told Blaine, finally turning away from me.

Alexander and Blaine were about the same height, a little over six feet tall. They both had an intimidating, confident air to them that was borderline cocky. Both of the brothers were attractive as sin. But in appearances, that was where the similarities ended.

While Blaine’s hair was dark, Alexander’s was light brown, and had a softer look to it. Blaine’s skin was pale, while Alexander’s had a light tan to it that complemented his hair. Unlike Blaine’s icy, grayish blue eyes, Alexander’s orbs were between hazel and green. They were beautiful.

I had already seen plenty of pictures of Alexander all over the place, along with all the ones I’d seen of Blaine. I had always just thought that they resembled each other. But seeing them in person—seeing Alexander for the first time—I realized that he and Blaine looked nothing alike.

When I snapped out of staring at Blaine’s brother, I realized that they were both looking at me—Blaine was mad, and Alexander seemed amused. I didn’t know him at all, so it was only a guess.

“This is my brother, Alex. Alex, this is my girlfriend, Madeline,” Blaine said, while wrapping his arm around my waist. I didn’t miss that his grip on me was tight. I placed my hand over his, and I could feel how tense he was beside me.

“You are all Blaine talks about these days,” Alexander said to me, his voice smooth. He was giving me a friendly smile, and I still had Blaine looking not too happy.

“Madeline and I were going out. Did you need anything?” Blaine asked. He sounded rude. Alexander didn’t even look moved by Blaine’s tone. He kept looking between Blaine and me. He seemed… curious. I wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t as serious as I expected him to be. There was something soft, almost kind about his eyes.