SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER: Don't You Go by All Time Low
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I took two deep breaths before opening the door.
"Hi." I grinned as I looked up. My breathing stopped for a second and shock jolted through me. "Stella? What are you doing here?" I said as I came face to face with my usually smiley best friend. Honestly, she looked a mess. She was wearing a pair of thin leggings and her shirt was ripped in several places. Tears were running fast down her red cheeks and I could see a mark forming on her left cheek which looked suspiciously like a bruise. Her nose was bloody and there was several scratches across her face. "What happened?" I gasped, pulling her into my apartment. All thoughts of meeting Alex now vanished from my head. My best friend was hurt.
"Mark." She choked, clutching her bloody nose. I rushed into my kitchen, grabbing some ice, tissues and some antiseptic wipes.
"Your ex?" I questioned as I walked her to my couch and sat her down. I began cleaning up the cuts on her forehead. She winced a couple of times before settling.
"He came back to get some of his stuff and we got in an argument and then..." She trailed off. I sighed and let her hold the ice to the bruise forming on her cheek. We cleaned up her nose and I was in the process of finding her some clothes when someone knocked on the door.
"I'll get it!" Stella sighed. I heard her stand up and panicked.
"No Stella! I uh, I'm not sure what will fit you. Can you get yourself some clothes whilst I sort out who's at the door?" I said, standing in the doorway to my room. She nodded and I sighed in relief as she passed me, allowing me to answer the door. I opened it quickly and stepped outside. Slowly, I looked up and butterflies swarmed like bees in my stomach. My green eyes made contact with the familiar warm brown ones and a smile broke onto my face.
"Hey." Alex smiled. It was a slightly cocky smile which sent my heart into a frenzy and jumbled my thoughts. He was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a plain white shirt. He had a plaid shirt tied around his waist and a pair of black converse on his feet.
"Hi." I replied, the smile on my face growing wider as Alex looked me up and down.
"Are you ready to go?" He asked, his eyebrows knitting together when he noticed I still had my hand on the door handle. I wanted to say that I was ready and leave with him straight away but I had to help Stella.
"Can you give me like ten minutes? My friend just turned up because she was attacked by her ex-"
"Attacked?" Alex cut me off, concern all over his face. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine. I just need to clean her up and then we can go." I explained.
"Can I help?" He offered, reaching towards the door handle.
"No!" I replied too quickly. Alex frowned and I internally slapped myself in the face. "Look, it's the same girl I was at the meet and greet with yesterday. If she knew she was keeping me from seeing you or anyone else she'd feel bad and beat herself up about it." I said softly. Alex raised one eyebrow and smirked.
"And you don't want her knowing that we're seeing each other." He replied. I shrugged and sighed.
"I didn't tell her I was seeing you and I didn't tell her about what happened yesterday either." I admitted. He chuckled before squeezing my shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'll wait in my car, just send me a message when you're on your way out." He smiled, before winking at me and disappearing down the corridor. I breathed out and smoothed out my clothes before opening my door and walking back in to help Stella who was sat on my bed wearing a pair of my sweatpants and my Slipknot hoodie. The bruising on her cheek had gone down a lot and there was no trace of the blood that had been running from her bruised nose.
"I've called Joel to come and get me." She said as I sat beside her.
"Okay." I replied quietly. I put my arms around her and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry Stella , I should've been there to protect you."
"Don't be silly babe. I'm okay, a little bruised but okay." She paused for a second before her phone lit up. "Joel's outside. Thank you Holls, i owe you big time." She smiled before climbing off the bed and rushing towards the front door. Once she had reached the door she turned, blew me a kiss and left. Typical Stella, always smiling even when things were bad.
I waited a couple of minutes before messaging Alex and leaving my apartment. I had to make sure Stella and Joel were really gone to avoid them seeing me with Alex. Slowly, I walked down the steps onto the pavement in front of the tall brick apartment building and looked around using my hand to shield my eyes from the Suns harsh glare. I didn't have to look very far because standing slightly to my left was Alex. He was smirking at me like he had before and I automatically blushed. Why did he keep smirking?
Slowly, I made my way to him. The redness was still visible on my cheeks as a smile formed on my lips.
"Hi again." He said once I was close enough.
"Hi to you too." I grinned, tucking my phone into the back pocket of my jeans.
"Is your friend okay?" He asked as he brought me in for a quick hug.
"Yeah." I breathed, suddenly noticing how short I was compared to him. I only just reached his shoulders.
"Good. Now for the second time are you ready to go Holly?" Alex asked, releasing me but offering me his arm instead. I looped my arm through his and nodded.
"Yes I'm ready." I replied, laughing a little. He looked down at me once before the familiar smirk creeped back onto his face.
"You're very short Holly." He noted as we walked down the almost empty street. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him.
"Really? You just noticed!" I replied sarcastically earning a laugh from him. We continued walking in silence for the next ten minutes. It wasn't an awkward silence, it just meant neither of us had anything to say.
"So why did you want to see me again?" I asked hesitantly. This question had been floating round my mind all day and I hoped that now I would finally get my answer. Alex sighed before looking at me.
"Why did I want to see you again?" He sighed "Well Holly, there's just something about you, I feel like I have to see you and talk to you so I can make sure that you're okay. When I read your letter yesterday I knew that I had to look out for you in anyway I could." He shrugged before running one hand through his hair. "So I don't know why I wanted to see you again. I just felt like I should." He shrugged again as I thought about his answer. He felt the need to make sure I was okay, that I wasn't doing anything stupid and that was kind of sweet.
We turned a corner and arrived at my favourite ice cream shop. From the outside it didn't look like much however once inside it was like being a kid again. Inside the walls were painted a bright pink which clashed with the black and white tiled flooring. There were shelves stacked high with all the sweets you can imagine in every flavour and every colour. In the far right there was an ice cream area with all the flavours on display. There was bubblegum, Nutella, strawberry, mint, cookie, caramel, chocolate, coffee, vanilla and so many more.
"I love this place." Alex smiled as we walked towards the ice cream counter.
"Me too." I said as I breathed in the sweet scents that filled the small room. We both ordered our ice creams. I had bubblegum and Alex went with chocolate and then, despite me telling him not to, Alex paid for both and we walked the short distance to the local park. We sat beside each other on the long grass and ate before Alex began quizzing me about my family, my job, pets I'd had, my friends and music. We talked for hours and when it turned five pm Alex walked me home. We exchanged numbers and he promised to stay in touch.
- 2 months later -
"Alex." I giggled as he sprinkled flour into my hair. The flour he'd meant to sprinkle over my kitchen countertop so that we could roll out the sticky cookie dough we had spent twenty minutes making with my limited cooking skills and Alex snacking on the chocolate chips every five minutes.
"What?" He grinned cockily, grabbing me from behind and pulling me close against his body.
"You got it in my hair!" I pointed out, removing his hands from my waist and leaning back against the countertop.
Alex and I had continued to see each other after our first meeting. Stella and his band mates had no idea but that didn't matter. Alex and I were pretty close and he was an incredible friend to have. There was undeniable tension between us. Every time our skin came into contact one of us would jump a little and it sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach. He often caught me staring at him and would laugh it off half heartedly and it did make me wonder if anything could happen between us.
"Oops!" He grinned putting his hands either side of me. My heart sped up a little, noticing how close we were and he was still coming closer, our bodies were touching. I took a couple of shaky breaths before slowly looking up into his eyes.
"Alex." I breathed, he was so close now I could feel his breath on my face. Was he going to kiss me? "What are you doing?" I asked although it was almost inaudible.
"I just want to try something." He replied just as quietly. His eyes darted to my lips which were only centimetres from his before he closed the small gap between us and his soft lips were on mine. My hands automatically reached up to rest on his chest whilst one of his stayed put on the counter and the other rested on my waist. The kiss was soft and gentle but before long it began to get more heated and passionate as my arms wrapped themselves around his neck and he used one hand to cup my face and used the other to pull me away from the counter so that I was now completely pressed against him. My head was screaming at me to stop. I'd only known him two months and we were just friends but part of me thought that what was happening was good and was enjoying it. Without breaking our kiss Alex lead me out of my small kitchen out into the living room before we broke apart briefly so that he could lower me down onto the couch gently. He stared at my face, which must've been red, for a couple of seconds as he hovered over me before kissing me again. My fingers tangled in his hair whilst his hands explored my body. Neither of us heard the door open however we jerked apart when Stella's shocked voice echoed throughout my entire apartment.
"Holly! What the hell is going on?!"