"I'm heading next door to babysit," I say as I peek into the living room before heading down the stairs.
"Wait a minute, my gosh." Mom shakes her head as she mutes the television.
"What?" I ask.
"What time are you babysitting until?"
"No clue." I catch my grandma using the kitchen scissors to cut something out of a flyer on the coffee table. "What are you doing?"
"Couponing." She doesn't look up from her work.
"Again?"
"Yes, Alex, again."
"You would sell your soul to save a dollar." Mom rolls her eyes.
"No, I wouldn't, I'd sell you." Grandma fires back.
I can't help but smirk at my mom. "Can I leave now?"
"Please. I don't need any witnesses to what I'm about to do."
"Oh, please." Grandma rolls her eyes. "Scissors or not, I can take you."
"Good luck." I walk down the stairs and out the front door. I walk along the edge of the cul-de-sac to Bryce's driveway. I take a deep breath as I start the walk up the driveway and the sidewalk until I reach the house. My knuckles tap on the front door a few times and Maggie lets me in almost immediately.
"Hey, Alex." She smiles.
"Hi." I walk up the stairs and stop in the kitchen where Maggie is fidgeting with some cash.
"Layla already had dinner and she's having a yogurt right now so she should be good for the night. She was up early today so she should be ready for bed a little earlier than usual. You can help yourself to anything in the kitchen, just please no alcohol until Layla is asleep. I know you and Bryce are dating so again, no sex until Layla is asleep. There's condoms in the top drawer of the vanity in the bathroom off my bedroom. It's locked but I'm sure Bryce knows where the key is. I should be home around midnight, is that too late?"
There's not a word of what she just said that didn't catch me off guard so the only part I acknowledge is the very end. "Not at all."
"Great. Here's this for tonight." She hands me some rolled up bills. "Thanks again." She grabs her keys and her purse. "Bye, Layla."
"Bye, Mommy." Layla waves from her seat at the dining room table and goes back to eating her yogurt.
Without another word, Maggie leaves the house.
Wow.
I quickly count the money and see that she gave me seventy dollars and I stick it in one of the pockets of my brown leather bag. I set my bag on the couch and join Layla at the table and see that there's an actual dining set now. A dark wooden table with matching chairs goes with the hutch placed against the wall.
"Hi, Alex." She smiles in between bites.
"Hi." I smile back. "How's your yogurt?"
"Yummy."
"What flavor is it?"
"Vanilla," she says through a mouthful of it, yogurt threatening to drip out the corners of her mouth.
"That is yummy." I take a look at her outfit, pink sweatpants with white polka dots and a matching short sleeve shirt, definitely pajamas. "You look like you're ready for bed."
"I am."
"You are?"
The front door opens and I wonder what Maggie forgot.
Probably those condoms from her bathroom.
"Bryce!" Layla runs over to her big brother who's still dirty from work.
"You're home early," I say as Bryce picks up Layla.
"It wasn't busy and since I'm still training on how to use the computers they let me out early." He throws her over his shoulder.
"They have you working on cars and using the computers?"
"They have me doing everything."
"How do you like it so far?" I ask.
"It's okay."
"Do you want to play a game with us?" Layla asks.
"I would love to play a game with two pretty girls. What are we playing?"
"Go Fish!"
"You better be careful, I'm amazing at that game." He smiles and tosses Layla onto the couch.
She gets up and scurries down the hall to her room.
"She has way too much energy for an hour before her bedtime." Bryce shakes his head and takes a seat on the couch.
I laugh and pick up Layla's empty yogurt cup and spoon. I walk into the kitchen and put her spoon in the dishwasher and toss the cup into the garbage. Tiny footsteps bounding down the hallway catch my attention and I exit the kitchen just in time to see Layla jump right into Bryce's lap.
"Oh my gosh," Bryce says with a groan.
"Why don't we sit in a chair at the dining room table and not on Bryce's legs?" I laugh.
Layla wordlessly gets up and brings the card game to the table before taking a seat. I sit across from her and Bryce sits in the chair at the end between us.
"You do it." Layla hands the cards to Bryce.
"Okay." Bryce shuffles the cards a bit and gives us each seven of them. "You go first, Lay."
"Bryce, got any sevens?" she asks.
"Dang it, I do." He hands her two cards and she puts down all four sevens.
"Alex, got any twos?" Bryce asks me.
"Go Fish!" I smile and Layla laughs, indicating that she has some twos.
He takes a card and shakes his head.
"Layla, got any fives?" I ask.
"No fair!" she whines and hands me a five.
I set down my now three fives and leave Bryce the only one without any cards down.
We play a few more rounds and Bryce wasn't lying when he said he was amazing at this game. He made a comeback and beat Layla by just one group.
"I'm impressed," I say.
"You should be." Bryce brags. "I win every time."
"He cheated!" Layla accuses.
"He cheated?" I ask.
"Liar!" Bryce shakes his head.
"No! You always cheat!"
"I'm just good at Go Fish!"
"Well, on that note, I think it's time for you to go to bed, Layla."
She nods and gets up, still pouting about her loss.
"Don't forget to brush your teeth," I say.
"I know."
"How was your day?" Bryce asks.
"Pretty good."
"Good." He leans in and kisses me. "Did you eat dinner yet?"
"Yeah." I nod.
"Good."
"So you like the job?"
"It's a job."
"Felt that."
"The guys seem cool, I'm just hoping I'll never have to deal with your piece of shit ex."
"Johnny never goes in there."
"Good."
I take a look at his red short sleeve shirt with little patches of grease scattered around the front. "You look like you got a little dirty."
"Just a bit."
"I'm gonna go check on Layla."
"I'm gonna go take a shower." He pats my leg and we get up from the table.
Bryce goes downstairs and I go down the hall to the bathroom.
"All done?" I ask as Layla sets down her toothbrush.
"Done." She hops down off her step stool and I put it away for her as she runs down the hall to her room.
I follow her and see her sitting on her bed.
"Blanket on and fan on?" I ask, remembering from last time.
"Yes."
"Okay. Lay down."
She does as I say and I lay the blanket over her.
"And your light stays on?" I double check.
"Yes."
"Okay. Goodnight, Layla."
"Goodnight, Alex."
I turn on her fan before I leave her room and walk down the hallway. Bryce's phone is on the railing buzzing like crazy. He must've left it there when Layla jumped into his arms when he came home. I pick up his phone and walk downstairs where the shower is on but he's still gathering clothes to change into.
"Hey," he says when he sees me.
"Hey. This was going off." I hold his phone out for him.
"That's where that was." He takes it and starts looking through the notifications.
"Anything important?"
"Just more nudes."
I assume he must be joking so I laugh.
"I'm serious."
"What? From who?"
"Jessica Myers and her friends."
"She must've seen us together at the party."
"My blocked list is getting to be almost a mile long."
"Why do they think you'd be okay with getting nudes from them in the first place?" I can't help but get defensive.
"Your guess is as good as mine. But it doesn't matter. I block them the second I get the pictures."
"Can you show me?"
"What? You want to see other girls naked? I don't even want to see that."
"Not the pictures." I roll my eyes. "Show me that they're blocked."
"Alex."
"Show me."
He lets out a sigh and pulls up his blocked lists on his social media accounts. I see Jessica Myers and her closest friends on all of them.
"Happy now?"
"Bryce."
"I'm not Johnny," he says. "You can trust that I'm giving you the truth when I tell you something."
I look down at the floor to avoid making eye contact with him. "I know."
"Clearly you don't or you wouldn't have needed proof."
I don't say anything as I keep staring down at the floor.
He's right. I overstepped by doubting him and demanding proof. If this were reversed, yeah, he'd be mad about it. But he'd trust that they were blocked.
"I need to shower."
"Bryce."
He ignores me and walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
I hope he'll come back out and kiss me but he doesn't. I wait for another minute when I hear the hooks of the shower curtain slide on the metal curtain rod. I go into his room and sit down on his bed. His shower only takes about five minutes and after another three, he's walking into his room.
"What?" He rolls his eyes.
"Can we talk?"
"So you can accuse me of lying again?" he asks as he tosses his dirty clothes and towel into his hamper.
"Bryce."
"Come on, Alex. If you can't trust me, you shouldn't be dating me."
"Can you just try to see this from my side? Multiple girls are sending you naked pictures of themselves after you were at a party and were extremely close to hooking up with someone."
"Against my will."
"If things were switched and guys were sending me pictures, you'd be pissed."
"Yeah, Alex, I would. But I'd be pissed at them, not at you. That's what you're not getting here."
"I'm not getting why they're sending pictures to a guy they've never met just because they're friends with Jessica Myers."
He doesn't say anything.
"Bryce."
He's still silent.
"What are you not telling me?"
"We hung out."
"You hung out with who?"
"Jess and her friends. At the party."
I think I'm gonna be sick.
"It was only for half an hour, if that."
"I'm going back upstairs."
"Alex."
"I want to trust you, Bryce. But shit like this makes it really fucking hard."
"I know."
"Did you hook up with them?"
"No, you saw Bethany try."
"I don't mean at the party."
"No. The closest I came was with Jess, here, when you were babysitting."
"If you call her Jess and not Jessica one more time, I'm gonna vomit."
"It's a name, what's the big deal?"
"Her name is Jessica. Everyone calls her Jessica, her friends call her Jess. Don't call her Jess."
"I didn't think it was an issue."
"Well, it is." I cross my arms over my chest.
"I'm sorry. Can we stop having this argument now?"
I take a deep breath.
"You really want to keep fighting?"
"I don't want to keep fighting." I shake my head. "I just want other girls to stop sending my boyfriend their boobs."
"Hey," he says softly. "I didn't ask for the pictures, you know that, right?" He pulls me in for a hug.
"Yes, I know that." I roll my eyes.
"So you're not mad at me, you're mad at the situation."
I let out a sigh.
He kisses my forehead and hugs me tighter.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. You just got out of a relationship where you couldn't trust the guy you were with. I can be patient until you can trust me."
I smile up at him and kiss him.
Johnny was never this patient with me.
"Want to hang out down here for a bit?" he asks.
"I can't."
"You'll have more fun down here."
"You're not wrong, but I'm here to babysit. I have to get back upstairs."
"Lay is asleep, relax."
"I'll relax when I'm upstairs in case she wakes up."
"Fine." He gives me one last kiss and tucks a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. "I'll be up in a sec and we can watch a movie."
I head back upstairs and go check on Layla. When I see that she's fast asleep, I go into the living room and take a seat on the couch. Within a minute, Bryce is making his way up the stairs.
"Did you finish being a good babysitter?" he asks.
"Yes, I did."
"Good. I'm gonna make some popcorn." He tosses his phone onto the couch cushion next to me.
I hear the microwave door shut as Bryce's phone starts buzzing again.
"Your phone is going off!" I call.
"Can you check to see who it is?"
I turn his phone over and see a text message from a girl named Olivia.
Hey babe
"So who's Olivia and why is she calling you babe?" I ask.
"She's just a friend."
"Does she know that?"
"Yes, Alex, she does."
"Then why is she calling you babe?"
"That's just how our friendship is."
"No friends that I know call each other babe unless they're both girls and probably sorority sisters." I walk into the kitchen.
"Alex, you're making a big deal out of nothing."
"How do you know her?"
"She's from back home."
Hearing him talking about Maryland and another girl as home sends a dagger through my heart.
"That still doesn't explain why she's calling you babe."
"I already told you, that's just how our friendship is."
"That's a bullshit excuse."
"Alex, I'm not Johnny. Give me my phone and I'll tell her it needs to stop."
I hand him his phone and he types something and sets his phone down on the counter.
"Better?" he asks.
I nod.
"Okay."
"Thank you."
"I want you, Alex. Regardless of who else is around."
•I hope this chapter was worth the wait!
~SS💘