ALEXIS MAXWELL
I wake up to Andrew softly shaking me awake. I yawn and then roll over and close my eyes again. I'm not exactly a morning person.
"Nope, that's not happening," Andrew says putting a hand on my back and his other hand on my hip and rolling me back over to where I originally was.
"I know you don't want to get up but it's already eleven," Andrew says softly. I just groan and sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
I swing my legs over the side of my bed and put my hands together and push out, stretching my arms.
"So how exactly does today work?" I ask Andrew. "What do you mean?" He questions me.
"What are we doing all day today?" I ask him, wondering how I have to dress for now.
"My mom already told me what the plan for today is. We are going to have everyone head down to the party room and play a game, and then we will have lunch. Everyone is in charge of one dish. So we come back and do that and chill out until dinner which we have to set up a little bit before." Andrew explains today's game plan to me.
"What should I wear to go down there now?" I ask him, wondering if it should be nice or a chill outfit.
"Nothing nice or fancy. The kids are probably going to be wearing pajamas. You can wear leggings or sweatpants with a hoodie." Andrew tells me.
"Alright, I'll be out in a few minutes," I tell Andrew, grabbing my clothes and walking into the bathroom to get ready for the day. I put on a pair of cropped leggings with a black crop top and an NYC hoodie over it. For makeup, I just put on some mascara and powder.
Walking out of the bathroom I see Andrew already dressed in a pair of light gray sweatpants and a navy blue hoodie that says 'sdsu basketball."
"Hey, are you ready to go?" He asks me. "Just one minute," I say grabbing a hair tie and walking back into the bathroom.
I put my hair in a night ponytail and put on a light squirt of hairspray and walked out into the hotel room Andrew nodded at the door.
"You are ready to go?" He asks me. "Yeah, let's hit the road," I tell him.
"We're waking like 400 feet, but okay." He teases me. We head down to the party room which is on the bottom floor of the hotel.
"Finally, what took so long Andrew?" His mom asks him with a raised eyebrow.
"We're here now, and it's only been like 10 minutes." He rolls his eyes at his mom. She just slaps his arm and he rubs it. "Jesus, mother stop slapping me!" He exclaims. It's kind of funny to see him like this with his mom.
I see a giant whiteboard with a long list of food on it. I look at Andrew, confused about what this board is and he says "Everyone signs up to make one of the things on it and the board is so that it just so much more organized." He explains to me.
"Cool. The only problem is that I'm not exactly the best cook." I say.
"It's fine, I'm good at cooking anyway so I can help you. Take something easy like mixed vegetables or corn casserole." He tells me as we walk up to the board to write what we are going to bring.
I put my name for the corn casserole and Andrew put his name for a pecan pie.
After we do that we just sit at the giant table where a bunch of other people that already written their names were sitting.
"I feel like if this was my family It would've taken me u til I was like ten to learn every bodies name," I admit to Andrew. He just chuckles at my confession.
"It's not that bad since I grew up around everyone." He says, wrapping his arm around my back and pulling me a little bit closer to him. Oh my god.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just messing around." I tell him, which he already knew. "So, what is happening after everyone picks something to make?" I softly ask him.
"Usually we will do like a family game sort of thing." He explains to me, I don't think he knows exactly what we are going to be doing.
"Hey, Alexis!" I hear Lesley come up and greet me. "What are you making for the dinner?" She asks me.
"The corn casserole. I am pretty bad at cooking and Andrew said that would be pretty simple to do so I decided to do that." I explain to her.
"ANDREW DAVIS!" I hear his mother's voice yell at him. "Yeah?" He asks her looking confused, probably on why she is yelling at him.
"You seriously are having a guest make something for dinner? Alexis does not have to make something. You should be making two not making the poor girl that already has to deal with you have to cook. Shame on you." She yells at Andrew who is just shaking his head at her.
"Sorry, mom." He says hugging her. "Good. You are going to make the corn casserole for her. She is your guest. Don't be disrespectful." She tells him.
—
Standing up off my bed I decided to get started on the corn casserole that I signed up for. "Are you done making the pie?" I ask Andrew who was doing something on his phone in the kitchen.
"Yeah, it's just cooking in the refrigerator." He tells me pulling out a bag. "What's in there?" I ask him.
"This is everything I need for the corn casserole." He explains. "Is there a recipe for it?" I ask him, wondering how I have to make it.
"Whoever is making that particular dish finds a recipe for it." He explains to me. "But you're not making it, so I'll get started." He tells me.
"It's okay," I say. "Your mom is just being nice to her kid's friend. I can handle making a corn casserole." I tell him.
"If you say so. You can do it just tell me if you need anything." He tells me sitting on one of the stools in the mini kitchen.
I found a recipe that looks like it would work and be good.
2 cans cream corn
1 can sweet corn
1 box corn muffin mix
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup salted butter
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
@copyright/reciperoundup
I mix everything and once it's in the oven I set the timer for 45 minutes as it tells me to. Sitting down on the couch I decided to talk to the girls for a little bit.
—
#girlbosses
Alexis, Ariana, Amelia
Alexis: Happy thanksgiving, girls!
Ariana: You too babe, miss you, girls!
Amelia: Miss you guys too, what's up?
Alexis: Nothing much just waiting for my food to be done being cooked for dinner tonight.
Ariana: Did you get laid by the hot basketball player yet?
Alexis: You have a boyfriend, first of all, and Andrew is just a friend, second of all.
Ariana: Girl, you already told us you like him just admit it already. I can't even imagine the sexual tension right now.
Amelia: Guys, guess what?
Alexis: Yeah?
Ariana: What?
Amelia: We picked a date for the wedding, I'm so excited.
Alexis: You two are just so cute. When is the date?
Amelia:That's a secret for now.
Alexis: Cool, can't wait to find out. My timer for the food is going off but I'll talk to you guys later.
—
Everyone has just sat down at the Thanksgiving table. There is a lot of food and just as many people. Ok, my left is Lesley and next to her is her fiancé. On my right is Andrew and next to him on the other side is his mother, then next to her is his father.
"Let's all enjoy this meal that we all put hard work into and accept our newest guest." Andrew's mother says as we all dig in. I had a piece of turkey with some gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.
Andrew had a piece of turkey with some gravy, cranberry, stuffing, corn casserole, and fresh bread that his cousin made.
"So, how was today?" Andrew leans over closet to me and whispers in my ear.
"It was fun. Everyone that you are related to is so sweet. I loved everyone." I softly admit. "Well, we still have a bunch of days until we head back to campus so that's good." He teases me.
"Yeah, I guess I can put up with you for a few more days until we have to back to campus." I tease him back. I love how comfortable we are with each other that we can always talk like this.
"Thank you for coming. You have no idea how much it means to me." He tells me. "Always," I say, meaning it.
ANDREW DAVIS
"So, are you going to pull through and do it?" My oldest brother, Alejandro asks me. "Yeah. I can't just be friends with her. It helps me a lot more that I know that she does like me too. I thought she did but she was texting with Oliver and Xavier's girlfriends yesterday and she said that she liked me." I admit.
It wasn't exactly my proudest moment to read her texts over her shoulder, but now that I know that she does like me and that makes me feel better.
START OF FLASHBACK
Looking up from my phone I look over to Alexis who is comfortably laying on the couch.
I see a text from Ariana that says "Girl, you already told us that you like him just admit it already. I can't even imagine the sexual tension right now." Surprisingly enough there isn't sexual tension between us. Amelia changed the subject so she didn't reply.
I was pretty sure that she liked me at least a little bit but now I know that I was for sure right."
END OF FLASHBACK
My parents decided to buy fireworks and shoot them off tonight. At some point around there, I am going to admit to Alexis that I like her. I don't have a plan so I am just going to wing it.
"Hey," I say and nod at Alexis who just came out of the bathroom. "Hey." She greets back, she seems off today and I don't know why.
"Are you okay?" I ask her and she just rolls her eyes at me. "I'm fine." She responds flatly to me. I just groan. So clearly she is not fine.
"Believe it or not your not the first woman I've ever known. So tell me what's wrong." I demand. "Nothings wrong." She groans flopping down onto her bed.
A few minutes later she stands up and plugs something into the wall. I'm pretty sure it is to straighten her hair.
"I'm going to go and grab some breakfast from the lobby do you want anything?" I ask her. "Can you just get me orange juice if they have it?" She asks me. "Yeah, sure." I shrug.
Walking down the stairs I see Alejandro waiting for me at the bottom. "What's up?" I ask him. "Where's your girlfriend?" He asks me causing me to roll my eyes.
"First of all, she's not my girlfriend. Also, I don't know but she's acting like she's mad at me or something." I say I don't think that I've done anything that she could be mad at me for.
"Well, what did you do to her?" He asks me causing me to roll my eyes. "Nothing that I know of," I explain. "Maybe she's on her period. From my dating experience, girls get very pissed off when they are." Alejandro shrugs. "Anyways, are you going to get breakfast?" He asks me, to which I nod at him.
"Yeah, I'm going to find something for me, and Alexis skits wants orange juice if they have," I tell him.
"They have some good stuff down there." He tells me. "Cool, I'll see you later. Ok just going to grab Thai stuff and head back upstairs." I tell him while turning and walking into the breakfast room. For me, I got a toasted bagel with cream cheese, bacon, and black coffee. I figured Alexis may have changed her mind about being hungry so I grabbed her a pancake, a waffle, an egg, a muffin, and the orange juice that she requested.
I took the elevator back up to the floor that my family rented. I walk in and see Alexis laying down asleep on her bed. "I brought you something to eat," I whisper to her, shaking her awake. "Mmm." She groans, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "How long has it been?" She asked me sleepily.
"Only a few minutes. I ran down to get food and came straight back." I explain to her. "Okay, thanks, did you get me my orange juice?" She asks me.
"Yeah, I brought you an assortment of food in case you changed your mind," I told her, giving her the to-go bag with the food in it.
"Thanks." She says peeking into the bag to see what is inside of it. "What exactly is the plan for today?" She asks me while sitting up on her bed.
"I don't know, I think today is pretty chill. Tonight there are going to be fireworks that my parents bought and are letting off." I explain to her. Little does she know that tonight I'm going to be confessing to her.
"That sounds fun. So during the day, everyone is just hanging out?" She asks me. "I think so," I tell her. She looks like she wants to say something but she's not saying anything.
"Would you care if I went shopping with Lesley today? She asked me if I wanted to but I don't know if you..." She asks me and then keeps talking.
"That's fine, Lex. I'm not going to control what you can or can't do while you are here. You can do whatever and it doesn't have to be with me the entire time." I tell her.
"Do you know what mall you are going to go to?" I ask her. "I'm not sure. I've never really gone this way off of campus so I'm not exactly sure what's over here." She says. Lesley doesn't live too far away so they'll probably stay nearby.
"Alright, I'm going to head out now. I'll see you in a little bit." She says waving goodbye as she steps out of the hotel room.
—
A while after the girls went shopping it was time to set up the fireworks to be let off. At some point when we were doing this, they got back and came down to help us set everything up.
After everything was set up I started getting nervous knowing that no matter what I am going to admit to Alexis how I feel. You would think that knowing she feels the same way would help me but I don't know I feel like she might reject me.
My parents have a fire truck here and someone that they hired to set off the fireworks. The fire truck is state regulation that if fireworks are going off you are required to have firemen there in case of an unforeseen emergency.
About half an hour later we all decided that it was time for the fireworks to be set off.
After they've been going off for about twenty-five minutes you can hear the extra loud ones telling you that it is the finale. I look over to see Alexis looking at me and she quickly averts her eyes back up to the fireworks and at the end, I put two fingers under her chin and wrap one hand around the back of her neck pulling her in to kiss her.
Compared to everyone I have ever kissed, this is the best kiss I have ever had. A lot nicer than our first kiss a while ago. It was just a gentle kiss, full of love and care.
We pull apart and she gets up and runs to our room. We were sitting behind everyone else so no one else saw the kiss, but they all heard and saw her run-up to her room.
"What did you do to her?" My mom asks pointing an accusing finger at me. Because always blame your child.
"I'll be back later," I say, heading back up to our shared hotel room. I put the key in the hole and it turns green letting me in. I walk in expecting to spot Alexis right away, but I don't.
She wasn't in the hotel room at all. She could not have been in the bathroom either because the door was left open.
—
Andrew: Where are you?
Andrew: We need to talk. Come back upstairs.
Andrew: I'm in my brother's room. If you want to come back by yourself you can.
—
I send Alexis three texts. I hope that they will make her come back so that we can talk. I probably should have figured that this is what would happen considering what happened when we kissed for the first time.
A few minutes later I hear the green light click on the hotel room door telling me that she just walked in.
I'm laying on the couch so that she can't see me. I see her walk into the bathroom, look around then come out. She takes a quick walk around the whole room, checking to make sure I'm not here I would assume.
She lets out a sigh and a string of curses before falling backward onto her bed.
I stand up and sit next to her and say "Alexis, we need to talk." She lets out a startled Yelp and tries to get up but I pull her back down onto the bed.