"INEZ HUGGED ME YESTERDAY," Alexander exclaimed all of a sudden as he ripped open a small container of ranch. He dipped a baby carrot into it before he took a large bite, grimacing at the dressing's sweet, yet bitter taste. One thing he knew for sure the dressing wasn't real ranch, and the baby carrots weren't real baby carrots. But that was far from the point.
Significantly distant from it, in fact.
Jayden and Alexander had just begun their lunch period, which they highly looked forward to. For almost an entire day, Alexander managed to keep the whole incident that happened the day prior to himself. That was only because his brain was trying to comprehend what happened — and why it did. Keeping it to himself was useless, however. His brain failed him once again by not penetrating the new, baffling information that happened.
Frankly, he only had one choice, which was to turn to his forever trusted best friend, who always had something to say about every situation. But what will Jayden say about Inez Archer unexpectedly giving him a hug? That was all Alexander Choi could think about as he waited for an answer.
"Inez hugged you yesterday?" Jayden exclaimed, which echoed the exact way his best friend told him the new information. "Oh, my Lord, you should've told me much sooner. What was it like?"
"I'm not sure," Alexander replied as he felt a dry taste rush through his mouth. The baby carrots and ranch weren't helping his situation one bit, so he pushed away his lunch tray in an instant. "I have to admit — it felt good. But I'm still trying to figure out why."
"Okay, back it up, back it up, back it up," Jayden persisted as he held his hands out. "What even happened before she gave you a hug? That could help us both figure out what caused her to hug you, maybe."
"Well . . ." Alexander felt his cheeks flush as he placed his hand on the back of his neck. "She got her period and was unaware, so I reached out and helped her out. I let her borrow my jacket to cover up the stain."
"Oh, so that's where you went yesterday. I was looking for you, but nevermind that," Jayden remarked as he folded his hands together. "Did she give back your jacket yet?"
"No, not yet," Alexander mused. "Sometimes, she visits me in the library during my free period, but I didn't see her today. Maybe in choir?"
The mixed boy's eyes lit up. "Y'all hung out at the library before?"
"I wouldn't word it like that, but yeah. Last time we did, we got kicked out of the library by knock-off Kris Jenner," the Asian boy mused.
"Ain't no way you guys got kicked out by Ms. Dunn," Jayden began to laugh as he shook his head.
"Well, we did, but that's beside the point," Alexander said. "If she brings me back my jacket, then she does, and if she doesn't, then oh well. It's alright."
Then, there was a pause. A smirk began to crawl across Jayden's lips.
"Aww, that's so cute and considerate of you to do," he folded his hands together. Hearts literally bursted out of his eyes. Figuratively speaking, of course. "Considering how close you've gotten to her, do you . . . like her?"
"Jayden, I don't," Alexander shook his head in denial. For him, it was weird to think of. The whole idea of loving someone he's argued with for years put a salty taste in his mouth. But things have changed. The shit that happened between them in the past would remain in the past. Still, the idea sounded strange to Alexander.
"You're just in denial. Like I said once, her and you would make a cute couple, I'm not gonna lie," Jayden reasoned before he took a sip out of a crisp cold-water bottle. "But it's all your choice."
Then, everything at their table was silent. The lunchroom itself was still significantly loud as hundreds of voices competed to become the loudest, but still, it was silent at Jayden and Alexander's quaint table.
The Korean boy frowned as he thought everything over. He had to admit — Inez was pretty. Everything about her was, especially her angelic singing voice. Frankly, that's what he thought all these years. Maybe that's what stirred competition and rivalry between them. But now, that was far from what he was thinking of. Inez Archer was gorgeous in all ways possible.
But all these years, he let his pride get in the way of thinking about it.
Love has always been a confusing concept. The definition alone could cause one to think so many things. What was love? And how would Alexander know if he was slowly falling into it?
"Hey," Inez Archer exclaimed to Alexander Choi as they filed out the doors of the choir room. Wrapped around her arms were the boy's jacket. "Here's your jacket."
The last period of the day was over and done with, and finally, it was time to go home. Alexander spent the remainder of his day contemplating life decisions but walking to the student parking lot was a good distraction, especially as Inez walked with him somehow. When she handed him his jacket, he couldn't help but smell the light, yet heavenly fruity aroma of both laundry detergent and fabric softener all combined into one. The relieving fragrance stung his nose, but it smelled really good — in better condition than his jacket was before he loaned it out to Inez.
"This smells good," the boy remarked with acknowledgement. "Really, really good."
"I thought I'd put it in the wash before giving it back to you," Inez mused before the pair rounded a corner.
Alexander began to chuckle. "You didn't have to do that, Nezzie."
"Don't call me Nezzie," the girl retorted as her head spun to directly face him. "And I thought it would be nice to wash it for you, so I did. Case closed."
"You win then, since that's what you want," the Korean boy smiled before he raked a hand through his brunette hair.
"But jokes aside, thanks for everything. You don't know how much you saved me yesterday," Inez sighed in relief. "Which is why I hugged you yesterday. I was just so . . . relieved, you know?"
"It's no problem at all," Alexander nodded his head curtly. That's when the girl's words began to sink into his brain.
Inez was relieved. That's why she hugged him. Maybe he over-scrutinized the whole situation earlier, but it all began to make sense. The path ahead of him began to appear much clearer to him.
The girl, however, was quick to reverse the conversation. "Do you remember the time where we went to the hospital a few weeks ago?"
"Yeah, I remember," the brunette-haired boy nodded as the memory flashed in his head. "What about it?"
"I was thinking — since it's Friday, I'm going to visit the hospital for volunteer work. But if you want, you can come with me," Inez reasoned briefly. "We won't see the little girl we visited last time, but it will still be fun."
Alexander's eyes brightened, glistening in the artificial school lights that shone from above. "Sure, I'm going to text my dad about it real quick, though."
He foiled his phone out of his pocket as he texted his father the information. Most likely, his father was at work and his sister would go to a friend's house after school, so there was nothing to worry about.
"Great. I think I can get Charge Nurse Zamora to give us snack cart duty for the kids in the recovery area," Inez mused as her eyes lightened up. "Unless you wanna go down to the ED."
"No, the recovery area is just fine," Alexander responded as he held the door open for the girl.
The girl nodded her head in response as they walked to the Korean boy's car, which was parked near a small tree. The cold February breeze made him shiver as he unlocked his car with his keys. Before he walked to the driver's seat, he opened up the passenger seat door for the girl so she could easily get inside.
As soon as she was safely inside, he swung around to the other side of the car, placing his bulky backpack at the back of the car before climbing into the driver's seat.
"You know, you don't have to open the door for me, Alexander," Inez chuckled as she placed her backpack on the floor ahead of her.
Alexander retorted. "On Alexander Car Services, we like to make it a priority to best serve our passengers."
"Shut up. You're so goofy," the girl rolled her eyes as she fastened her seatbelt.
"That's me," the brunette-haired boy remarked as he started up the car's engine. Soon enough, he pulled the car out of its tight parking space and settled for the hospital.
The roads were sort of busy as schools across the area began to let out. The ride to the medical center, which should've been ten minutes from the school, turned into fifteen minutes.
Once they were at the main part of the medical center, Alexander paid ten cents to enter the gated parking lot and luckily found a free space right next to a handicapped parking space, which were always conveniently near an establishment. Once the pair was out of the car, Alexander locked it with his keys as Inez put a hospital visitor's card lanyard over her neck.
They shuffled into the medical center through the automatic doors before walking down a broad corridor, right around a large statue of the hospital's founder and beside a large hospital directory map. As soon as they approached the hospital's tall, silver elevators, Inez tapped the small, clear button fastened to the wall, causing it to light up so the machinery system could call an elevator over.
"You did say that your mom works here, right?" Alexander questioned as he faced Inez, who was tugging against her bright red lanyard, which her visitor's card was attached to.
"Yeah, she does," the girl said dryly with a nod.
"What if she sees us here? She doesn't even know me, and parents tend to assume the worst about people of the opposite genders hanging out," the brunette-haired boy said. "I just don't wanna get you into any trouble or anything."
"Alexander, everything is going to be fine," Inez scoffed as the elevator in front of them dinged. The doors flung open, and the girl pressed a button that led to the third floor. "My mom is an emergency nurse practitioner for kids, so she won't be in the area of the hospital we're at right now. She rarely goes there, from what I know."
Alexander nodded as he watched the elevator doors close shut. The engine revved up as it traveled two floors above to the third floor. Throughout the ride, the pair found themselves facing each other, their eyes facing each other directly.
Inez's eyes glistened in the bright elevator lights, which radiated over her head. God, she really is pretty, Alexander said to himself internally.
Without hesitation, he brushed a strand of her soft, natural curls behind her ear. Before he could lean in closer, he resisted himself and stepped back as he realized what he was about to do.
"What was that for?" Inez mused softly.
"Your hair . . . it was in your face," he lied.
With all urges possible, he was about to kiss her. As weird as it sounded, it was about to happen. He didn't know what tempted him to want to do so, but it was an urge. Inez, luckily, believed the white lie before she shrugged.
Soon enough, the elevator doors flung open. Before they got the chance to get out, a woman stood in front of them, blocking their way to barely get out. The woman had medium brown skin and was dressed in navy blue scrubs. According to her name tag that dangled on a bright blue lanyard, her name was Gabrielle Archer.
She had the exact same last name as Inez, and even looked like her a little. Oh shit, maybe she's Inez's mother, Alexander thought.
The girl raised her eyebrows. "Mom? What are you doing here?"
"I was here to talk with Dr. Grant about a patient's medication plan," the woman said with her eyebrows furrowed. "Who's your friend here?"
"This is Alexander, Mom. And I know what you're thinking," Inez muttered, followed by a sigh. "He's not my boyfriend — he's really not. He's a friend of mine, and we're here to do some volunteer work."
"Inez, I hope you're not lying to me right now," the girl's mother sighed as she motioned the pair out of the elevator so she could hold it open with her hand.
"She's not, Ms. Archer. We're just friends, and have been for a little while," Alexander intervened.
"He's right," Inez said truthfully. "But Mom, please don't tell Dad about it. He's going to take this a mile."
The girl's mother sighed as she removed her hand from the elevator door. It fell into nudge mode, which made the door forcibly close. "I'll keep my mouth shut. But just in case . . . don't act crazy."
The curly haired girl felt her face flush warm. "Mom, why would you say that? I already told you that we are just friends."
"I'm saying this in advance, Nez. Love you," Ms. Archer hummed as she tapped the elevator button. After the doors instantly flung open, she stepped inside before she tapped on a button. Soon enough, the elevator doors closed, causing Inez to sigh in relief.
She found herself staring at the floor as they walked to the charge nurse's desk. "I'm sorry about my mom. I really didn't think she'd be up here. Out of all times, she just had to be upstairs right now."
"Don't worry about it, Nezzie," Alexander nodded. "She did say that she had to talk to a doctor about someone's medication plan, so it was a coincidence."
"If you say so, but don't call me Nezzie," Inez mused as she approached the charge nurse, who was typing away at a small paging machine. "Hey, Nurse Zamora."
"Inez, hi. I see that you're back here with your friend?" The nurse questioned as she turned to the boy as she extended her hand. "And your name is . . ."
The boy intervened as he shook the nurse's hand. "Alexander."
"Nice to see you again," Nurse Zamora smiled before turning back to the curly-haired girl. "Inez, would Alexander and you like to do snack cart duty today?"
"Yes, that's perfect," the girl nodded. "Thank you."
Nurse Zamora nodded as she pointed to a wall far behind them. "The cart behind you has just been restocked, so you can use it."
Inez nodded as she quickly retrieved a large cart filled with all sorts of kid-friendly snacks, like goldfish, graham crackers, muffins, and apple juice boxes. There were also other necessities, like miniature water bottles and fuzzy blankets.
Soon enough, the pair went from door to door, genuinely offering each kid whatever they wanted from the cart. It certainly brought a smile to Alexander's face to see the grateful looks on a child's face whenever they received something, especially from Inez, who seemed to be well-known at this wing of the hospital.
But in the boy's mind, all he could think about was Inez. With what happened inside of the elevator and the second they tried to get out, he sure had a lot to think of.
All Alexander could think about was Inez. Maybe for once, Jayden was right. Maybe he was in denial about something — but he wasn't sure if it was love or not.
a/n: hey besties! my baby boy Alex is confused about his feelings. but we NEED to talk about how he almost kissed her omg. i know that y'all hardcore shippers are finna be mad at me for that. i mean, what can i say? keeping y'all at the edge of your seats is fun 🤭
ok, group discussion time. let's talk about Inez's mother. do you think she'll tell her husband about the situation? we'll find that out soon 😵💫
let's rewind a bit. do you think Inez should've kept the jacket instead of giving it back? 🍵
like always, thank you so much for reading, and i'll see you in the next one. remember to stay nourished, hydrated, and to take care of yourself✌🏾