After I was dressed I pulled on the brand new dark green pea coat Jack had gotten me. Jack had written me a note along with it,
Dear Leah,
I hope you like this coat; you'll be needing it for the cold Baltimore winter next year.
Love,
Jack.
I had laughed at it before telling him that I was thinking about moving here and I wasn't going to make any promises. Once I was completely finished I walked down the stairs and Alex who was sitting on the floor with Jack quickly jumped up at the sight of me. "You look gorgeous." he said coming close and taking my hand. I giggled nervously, pulled my hand from him gently and walked over to Jack. "I'll be back later, thank you for the presents." I said before pecking him on the head. I then said bye and merry Christmas to everyone before slipping out of the house behind Alex.
I felt really bad that I hadn't gotten Alex anything but I didn't expect seeing him. I climbed into his car and looked over at him while we waited for the car to warm up a bit. "I like this style better than the old one." Alex remarked while looking over at me and I raised a questioning eyebrow. "Well when we were in high school you were into baggy skinny jeans and oversized shirts, now you could pass for a Hollister model, Kara would be proud." he teased and I looked down at my clothes. I was wearing light wash Hollister jeans, under my coat I had on a light blue Abercrombie and Fitch pullover and under that a blue long sleeved shirt that said Hollister up the arm. I had kind of changed but I liked the way I dressed now, it was cute.
"You don't dress like a girl anymore, I like it." I teased Alex and he turned slightly red. I remembered the girl's jean phase very well; it made me laugh just thinking about it. "So, what are you doing tomorrow?" Alex asked and I thought. Jack and I were supposed to the mall so I could pick out something for Alex as a late Christmas present. "Going to the mall with Jack, why?" I asked as Alex's face fell slightly. "Oh, I was just wondering if you would want to hang out but if you're busy…" he said trailing off and I frowned. "You can come if you want." I offered hoping he would say no. I wanted to be around him but I couldn't shop with Alex not far behind me. "Yeah!" he said excitedly and I gave him a big smile. I guess I would just have to figure out how to shop for him with him standing right there I thought as Alex started driving.
Soon we pulled up to the big familiar house. The last time I had been here had been when I had told Alex about my mom. I pushed the thoughts of that day out of my head and looked over at Alex who was now twisted around in his seat and trying to dig stuff out of the back. I took the presents he handed me and got out. Alex walked up the walkway and right into the house and I followed close behind, "Mom! I'm here!" Alex shouted as he kicked the door shut with his foot. "I'm in the kitchen Alex." his mother called and Alex dumped the presents on the couch. I followed his lead and then he grabbed my hand, pulling me to the kitchen. "Mom, you remember Leah, right?" he asked as his mother turned and her smile got wider. "Of course I remember her, such a sweet girl." she said and I smiled.
She hugged Alex and then we went to sit at the table. Alex's dad was already there, eating a large plate of food. Alex stacked a plate full of food for me, set it down in front of me and then began to make himself a plate. "Merry Christmas dad." Alex said and his dad said merry Christmas back, the smile on his face large. I knew he was glad to have Alex home after months of touring. I picked up my fork and then began eating the delicious food. It had been forever since I had gotten a good meal; I practically lived on ramen noodles and hastily made sandwiches. "Whoa, slow down there. Chew your food." Alex instructed and I glared at him. "I live on a budget which means delicious food is hard to come by." I told him once I swallowed and he laughed.
The rest of the day went quickly after breakfast and soon Alex was taking me back to his house. It was only 5 pm but it was already really dark outside. "Did you have a good day?" Alex asked, one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding mine gently. "Yeah, I think I gained like 50 pounds though. Would you still love me if I was fat?" I asked and Alex laughed loudly. "Of course I would, I love you no matter what you look like." Alex told me sweetly and I smiled. When we pulled up to his house it was dark and I was kind of scared knowing that Rian wasn't there. I knew Alex wouldn't pressure me to do anything; it wasn't him who I didn't trust. We were like two magnets, I always felt myself being to drawn Alex no matter how hard I tried to stop myself. There was just something about him, I wanted him as close to me as possible always.
I helped Alex carry his gifts inside quickly, both of us trying to get out of the icy wind as fast as we could. Alex flicked on the light as we shrugged off our jackets and kicked off our snowy shoes. "I'll take these upstairs and be right back." he said taking the gifts from me and disappearing from sight. I looked around for a moment and then went to walk into the living room. My fuzzy socks slid as I did so and I giggled. I listened for any sound of Alex and when I didn't hear him I slid across the hardwood floor.
*Alex's POV*
I walked downstairs after throwing my gifts on my bed and I heard a laugh. I slowed down and began tip toeing through the house. I peeked around the corner and saw Leah slide across the floor. I laughed just as she slide back towards me, lost her balance and fell back on her butt. I laughed harder as she turned red and quickly climbed to her feet. I slid across the floor towards her and she smiled as I stopped before I could crash into her. "Fun, right?" she asked and I nodded. "Loads of fun." I answered and let go of her for a moment to go turn on the stereo. "Dance with me? Pleaseee?" I begged as I slid back to her.
"I can't dance." Leah said shaking her head. "Yeah you can, stand on my feet." I instructed and she gave me a weird look. ""I'm serious, do it." I encouraged her and she stepped onto my feet. I wrapped my arms around her and began to dance around the room, holding her close to me. She leaned her head back and laughed as I dipped her down. "See, you can dance." I told her as I lifted her back up and started dancing again. "You're silly Alexander." Leah giggled and she rested her head on my shoulder, looking up at me with what looked like pure love. "Leah-boo, you're beautiful, you know that right?" I questioned and she wrinkled her nose. "You're handsome Lex, you know that right?" she asked and I nodded. "I'm sexy, I know." I said and she raised an eyebrow at me.
"I would say the fame has gotten to you but you've always been a bit conceited." Leah said and I frowned. Leah laughed though and I knew she was kidding so I smiled. I put my hands on her hips and lifted her up; Leah quickly locked her hands behind my neck and wrapped her legs around my hips. Our faces were now level and I brought my lips to hers. At first the kiss was innocent but then Leah gently brought her tongue across my bottom lip. I opened my mouth a bit, letting her tongue slid in as I felt behind me for the couch. Once I found it I fell back onto it while never breaking the kiss.
I was going to whine when she broke the kiss but when her lips connected with my neck I stopped. She bit down hard and then quickly sucked where she had bitten me, which felt amazing. I had just reached my hands under her shirt when she pulled back. "Wait, I'm sorry Alex." she said while pushing my hands away and quickly climbing off of me. "What? What's wrong?" I asked sitting up and grabbing her hand before she could walk away. I couldn't read the emotions on her face for once and I hoped she would tell me what was on her mind because at the moment I was clueless. I thought everything was going good.
"Talk to me Leah, I can't read your mind." I told her pulling her so she fell back into my lap. She squirmed under my gaze and I looked down at her hand that was in mine hoping she would be able to talk easier if I wasn't staring at her. "I don't want to do anything sexual, I've lived without it for 6 months and if we do it now then it'll just make me miss you more when I have to go home." Leah said softly and I looked up at her. I pulled her so she was lying down on top of me, her head beneath my chin. "We don't have to do anything, we can just hangout." I said after kissing the top of her head. "Thanks Alex." she said before yawing widely. "You tired?" I asked and she shrugged.
I chuckled and gently pushed her off of me before standing up. "Where are you going?" she whined as I walked off but I didn't answer. I came back a couple minutes later dragging my comforter, "Sit up." I instructed while nudging her with my foot. Leah leaned forward slightly and I sat down behind her, throwing the blanket over the both of us. Leah moved back so she was resting her back on my chest and I leaned back against the pillow behind me. She rested her head against my chest and I flicked on the TV. Sebastian came and rested on top of Leah's stomach as I went through the channels looking for something. I could see Leah patting his head from the corner of my eye as I looked for something and I smiled. I loved that she loved my babies.
Finally I settled on something and I looked over at Leah to make sure she was okay with what I chose when I saw she knocked out. She had one hand on my forearm, the other on Sebastian's back and she was smiling in her sleep. I laughed softly and leaned my head back against the pillow, struggling to stay awake to watch the TV show I was watching but I quickly started to lose the fight. Soon I was asleep too and began having a really weird dream. I was chasing Leah and screaming her name but she either didn't hear me or didn't care because she didn't slow down. No matter how fast I went she seemed just out of reach and I started to get hysterical, I didn't want her to go. Finally I got just so upset all I wanted to do was cry, I began to struggle to go faster and I cried out her name louder than before but still she continued walking.
*Leah's POV*
I heard my name being called over and over while someone thrashed beneath me. It took me a minute to rub the sleep from my eyes and realize that Alex was freaking out underneath me. I jumped off of him as fast as I could and placed my hand gently on his chest as he moved about calling my name. "Alex, Alex, you're having a bad dream. Alex wake up." I said firmly and he began to whimper less. "Alex sweetie, it's just a nightmare." I said more gently as he slowly began to wake up. After a couple minutes of quietly coaxing him awake he opened his eyes and he looked at me. His eyes looked pained and I bent down beside the couch holding his hand until he calmed down a bit more.
"Are you okay?" I inquired hoping he was feeling slightly better but all he did was pull me onto his lap and bury his face into my chest. I stroked his hair soothingly and waited until he was ready to talk. When he finally pulled away he looked up at me. "Are you better now? Do wanna talk about this dream?" I questioned as I tucked a piece of hair behind his ear and then let my hand rest on his face. "No, I just want to go back to bed." he said softly and I sighed before looking over at the clock. It was close to midnight, far too late to go back to Jack's, everyone would be asleep. "Come on, I'll stay with you." I said patting his leg and grabbing the blanket I had hastily thrown to the floor. His face seemed to brighten a bit and he stood up quickly and then took the blanket from me. "I'm going to call Jack and tell him where I am, I'll meet you upstairs in a second, okay?" I asked and he nodded before trudging out of the room.
I pulled my cell phone out of my jeans and saw I had a couple texts from Jack. I read them all and then dialed out his number. I held the phone to my ear waiting for him to answer. "Hey, where are you?" Jack said when he answered on the third ring. "At Alex's, he's tired so I'm just gonna stay the night." I explained. "Oh, alright, we're still on the mall for tomorrow right?" he asked. "Yup, when we wake up I'll come back, get changed and then we'll go." I said. "Kay. Night, love you." Jack said and then he hung up. I put the grey Blackberry back into my pocket and then stretched before walking up to Alex's room quietly. He was already in bed looking like a lost puppy when I turned into his room and I frowned.
"You can borrow clothes, they're in that dresser." Alex told me pointing to a dresser on the far side of the room. I nodded and went over to it, opening the middle drawer. I pulled out sweatpants and then shut the drawer. I kicked off my jeans and pulled on the sweatpants quickly before climbing over Alex to get into the bed. He was still facing the door with his back to me so I wrapped my arm around him and leaned my head onto his back. "Are you feeling better?" I asked and he shrugged. I sighed when I realized I wasn't going to get much out of him tonight and then I closed my eyes. I never really let myself drift into a deep sleep, afraid that Alex might have another nightmare.
The next morning I woke up to my phone ringing. I groaned and rubbed my eye, crawled over Alex and walked toward the sound of the ringing. I dug my cell phone out of my pocket and answered it tiredly. "What?" I asked annoyed because I wanted to still be asleep. "Hey, when are you coming? I'm bored." Jack whined and if I was with him right now I would have probably strangled him. "I don't know Jack, Alex is still asleep and I have to wait for him to get up and get ready." I said and Jack groaned. "I'll be there in 10 minutes with clothes for you." he said and then hung up before I could even protest. I was gonna kill him when he got here, I couldn't even go back to sleep cause he would be bothering me to get ready. I looked over at the sleeping Alex and decided to let him get some rest before Jack woke him up.
I tip toed out of his room and shut the door softly behind me. I walked down stairs and into the kitchen where Rian who was sitting at the island looked up at me. "Whoa, what are you doing here?" he asked as I walked over to the fridge. "I live here now, didn't you get that memo?" I said sarcastically and he gave me a look. "Seriously though Lee, what are you doing here? You and Alex are back together?" he questioned and I sighed before shutting the fridge and leaning up against the counter. "Alex and I fell asleep on the couch last night so I just decided to stay because when we woke up it was too late for me to go back to Jack's. And I don't know if we're back together, all I know is I love him and I want to be with him." I told Rian and he gave me a half smile. "Then what's stopping you?" he asked and I sighed. There were a bunch of things stopping me, the fact that I would be going home and Alex would be staying here was the biggest one but there was also the fear of it not working and getting hurt again.
I didn't want to answer Rian though and thankfully I was saved by the doorbell. Rian looked at me for a moment before jumping off of the stool and going to answer the door. A couple seconds later Jack came flying into the kitchen and shoved a bag into my hands. "Go get ready, I wanna go." he whined and I rolled my eyes but I went up the stairs. Jack followed behind me and I stopped before going into Alex's room. "Don't you dare wake him Jack, he didn't sleep well last night." I warned and he frowned. "Fine." Jack grumbled and we both walked into Alex's room. I went into Alex's bathroom and gave Jack a warning look before shutting the door.
*Alex's POV*
"Alex!" Jack shouted as he jumped on my back. I decided I hated him and pushed him roughly off of me. "I'm tired." I snapped as angrily as I could but my tone didn't even faze Jack. He ripped off my blanket and I scowled as I rolled over to glare at him. "You're a dick." I said and he shrugged. "I wanna go to the mall and I don't feel like waiting on you." he said before he started throwing clothes at me. "Alright, I'm up and getting ready. Get out." I said standing up and gathering the clothes he had thrown at me. Once I had everything I stumbled tiredly into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. "Jack, I just started washing my hair! Get out!" Leah shouted and I realized she was in the shower. "It's not Jack, it's me." I said and Leah poked her out of the shower. "Did he wake you up?" she asked and I nodded. "I'm gonna fucking kill that kid." she muttered under her breath and I raised an eyebrow.
"Mind if I hop in there with you? Jack might kill us if we take too long." I explained. "I don't mind." Leah said and I pulled off my clothes before stepping into the shower. I tried not to stare at Leah while we showered; deciding to focus more on the soap or the way the water swirled around the drain. "So, what was that dream about last night?" Leah asked and my head shot up. I bit down on my lip as I thought about the dream and I felt like a big wuss. "You don't have to tell me." Leah said as she turned off the shower. I nodded as I opened the curtain and grabbed two towels. I handed one to her and used the other to start drying myself off.
A half hour later we were both dressed and being ushered out of the house by a very impatient Jack. "Jack, the mall isn't going anywhere." Leah told him while adjusting the gray beanie she had borrowed from me. "But all the stuff inside is going places!" he insisted and I rolled my eyes as we climbed into my car. Jack bounced around the back and Leah sat in the front. I was instantly reminded of high school and I laughed to myself as I started the car and backed out. I took the long way to the mall just to annoy Jack who was now whining dramatically in the back seat. "Finally!" Jack shouted when we found a parking spot and he jumped out. He practically dragged Leah into the mall and I had to take large steps to keep up with them.
Jack turned into Urban Outfitters right away and Leah held back. When I reached her she held out her hand for me and I took it, smiling. We walked in after Jack who now looking at hoodies and we walked around the store. I watched Leah hoping she would look at something longingly and I would know what to get her as a late Christmas present but she just looked over everything, not really staring at anything for too long. This process went on for a while, me watching Leah for a sort of sign but not even getting the slightest one. Only after she bought me a new pair of Nike dunks, a black and white stripped beanie and a new black hoodie did I realize I needed to get her something really freaking good but I just didn't know what.
"Can we go into the pet store?" Leah asked as we neared it and I nodded, turning into it. She went straight for the small brown Cocker Spaniel puppy, putting her hands up against the glass and cooing at him. That's when it came to me; I could get her a puppy! She lived alone so a puppy could keep her company and I saw how good she was with Sebastian and Peyton. I walked up behind her and smiled at the puppy. He was really cute, small with large ears and paws that he still hadn't grown into. I laughed as he licked the glass and Leah turned to give me a big smile. "Isn't he so cute?" she squealed and I nodded. Leah was still staring at the puppy longingly when Jack walked into the pet store. "You hungry?" he asked Leah and she nodded. "Let's go to the food court." he said and Leah gave the puppy one last fleeting glance before nodding. "Uh, I'll meet you up there, I wanna get something for Baz and Peyton." I said and they both nodded. I gave Leah a quick kiss on the cheek before they walked out.
Once I was sure they were gone I walked up to the cash register. "I would like to buy the Cocker Spaniel puppy?" I asked the woman at the register. After what seemed like an obnoxiously long time later I left the pet store with a bag full of puppy food, a food bowl, a water bowl, dog toys, a dog bed and in my hands a wriggling puppy. He kept turning back to lick at my face and I laughed as I leaned my head to get away from his tongue. Luckily I spotted Jack and Leah before they spotted me and I managed to sneak up on them without either of them seeing me until I was right beside them. Leah looked up at me and her jaw dropped when she saw the puppy. "He's yours, merry late Christmas." I said placing him in her hands. She seemed in shock for a moment but when he started licking her face she started petting him.
"Alex, you really shouldn't have." she said holding him to her chest gently but I knew by the look in her eyes she was glad I did. "It's a boy so you got to think of a manly name." I said and she smiled but didn't look up from the puppy. "He's so cute!" she said as he licked at her hands. I smiled at the two, Leah clearly already in love with him. "Wait, what am I gonna do with him? I can't take him back to Jack's." Leah said a couple moments later looking like she was ready to burst into tears. "He can stay at my house, Baz and Peyton will keep him company." I said reaching over to scratch him behind the ear. "Oh Alex this is the best present ever." she gushed before kissing me passionately. I kissed her back for a moment but quickly stopped as the puppy between us began to wiggle crazily. I smiled to myself as I watched her smile as the puppy nuzzled into her neck and I knew I had made a good choice when it came to getting her a present.