Chapter 17
(2 weeks later)
“Are you sure you can handle this?” I couldn’t help but eye Drew suspiciously as we both stood inside the house next to the front door. This was a terrible idea. Why had I even considered this? This was officially the worst decision I’ve ever made.
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Drew rolled his eyes. “Mom will be home in a few hours. I can handle it, Maddie. I’m sixteen!”
I bit my lip and stared at him debatably. Part of me agreed with him, knowing that he was more than capable of watching Devon until Mom got home from work. But there was another part that was yelling, saying I was insane for even considering letting Drew babysit. I was feeling conflicted, even though I didn’t really have a choice.
“Seriously, I got this,” Drew must’ve been able to see the concern in my eyes. “Just go. He’s waiting.”
I sighed in defeat, gripping the door handle. “Alright, fine. Just… be careful, ok? Call me if you need anything.”
“I know,” Drew got closer, forcing me out the door. “Bye!” He practically shoved me outside and shut the door in my face before I could get another word out.
I huffed in annoyance and started to question my decisions again, staring at the closed door in front of me. I had a feeling I would regret this. I had never left Drew to babysit by himself before. There were so many ways that this could go terribly wrong. He probably wouldn’t even call me if anything did happen. Hopefully Mom wouldn’t end up getting stuck at work later than she was supposed to.
The sound of a car horn caused me to jump. I turned and saw Alex’s small pick-up truck sitting in the driveway. I had almost forgotten that he was already here.
I walked down the steps of the front porch and along the path that led to the driveway. I opened the passenger door and climbed in.
“Took you long enough,” Alex said as he started to back the truck out of the driveway.
“Sorry,” I grabbed the seat belt and buckled it. “My mom won’t be home until four so, Drew is now babysitting by himself for the first time ever.”
“Is that a smart idea?” Alex laughed, stealing a glance in my direction as we began to drive down the road.
“No, probably not. I’m just trying to convince myself that he’s seen us take care of Devon enough times to know what he has to do,” I leaned back in the seat.
“Don’t worry too much about it. He might surprise you.”
“You meant that in a good way, right?” A million different thing that’s could go horribly wrong flashed through my mind.
“Yes,” Alex chuckled. “In a good way.”
The whole reason that Alex had come to pick me up was that he was heading off to college in two days and he still needed to go buy things for his dorm. He invited me to go shopping with him for the day so that we would have another chance to hang out before he left. I probably wouldn’t see him again. He had today to shop, tomorrow to pack, and would be moving in the day after.
“So, what are we buying today?” I asked, looking over at him.
“I still need to get blankets, some bins to keep my stuff in, a mini-fridge...”
“And you waited until today to buy all of this stuff?” I looked over at him questioningly. What if he didn’t find everything he needed? He didn’t have time to go shopping again.
“Yeah…” He met my gaze for a second before looking back at the road. “It probably wasn’t the best decision.”
After a little while we arrived at our destination, Walmart. We parked the vehicle and headed towards the store. Once we were inside, Alex grabbed a cart and we ventured off and began circling the store. We stopped in the bedding aisle to find the blankets and sheets that he needed.
“Oh my God!” I heard Alex yell from down the aisle.
“What?” I turned to look at him with a throw blanket in my hands.
“Look at it! It’s a triceratops!” His face was filled with pure excitement as he held out a blue pillow pet in my direction.
I just laughed at him. “You’re getting that excited over a pillow pet?”
“Um, of course,” Alex looked at me like I was insane as he walked over to where he had left the shopping cart behind him.
“Are you really going to buy that?” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Alex you’re going to college! Those are made for, like, five year olds.”
He kept a straight face and stared at me as he dramatically threw the pillow into the cart. It landed on top of the black and grey comforter that he had picked out earlier.
“You’re really going to buy that for your dorm?”
“Yeah, I am. You gotta problem with that?” He walked towards me, trying to look intimidating.
“Your roommate’s gonna see that and beat you up,” I laughed at how he was trying to defend his new pillow pet friend.
“Nah, he’s totally gonna be jealous of it.”
“AlriiIIiight. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I turned back to throw the blanket I was still holding back on the shelf.
Alex was now standing next to me. His eyes followed the blanket as it landed on the shelf. “Look at that!” He pointed near where the blanket landed and excitedly walked up to the shelf. He grabbed a different throw blanket and held it up for me to see.
“Really, Alex?” I rolled my eyes at the Power Rangers blankets he held.
He bit his lip and raised his eyebrows quickly, obviously really happy about his discovery. “I used to be obsessed with Powers Rangers when I was little. It was the best show ever.”
“You’re having way too much fun with this.”
He ignored my comment and threw the blanket in the cart as well. “Well we’re done with this aisle. C’mon!” Alex grabbed the shopping cart handle and walked away with the cart, prepared to wander around the rest of the store.
I had to jog a few steps to catch up with him. I couldn’t help but peer into the cart and laugh. “That’s quite the combination you picked out.”
“I think they match nicely,” Alex smirked at me as we walked.
“The ladies definitely won’t be able to resist you,” I said teasingly.
He reached down towards the triceratops in the cart and stroked it while simultaneously trying, and failing, to bite his lip seductively.
I burst into a fit of laughter. “Oh God.”
He laughed along with me. “You never know. That could be what they’re looking for in their dream guy.”
I just shook my head at him while trying to catch my breath. “Yup. That’s definitely it.”
We walked around the store for a little while longer. Alex had found some more of the things he had been looking for as well as a few extra.
We were passing through the middle of the toy section when Alex suddenly stopped. I looked around in an attempt to see why.
“Have you seen those videos on the internet where people dive into the ball pits at Walmart?” He asked, causing me to turn my attention toward him.
“Yeah… They’re hilarious. Why?” I watched him curiously.
“It just reminded me of those,” He pointed to where the inflatable bouncy balls were kept in the cage like display.
“The people who do that are crazy-” Before I knew what was happening, I felt arms wrap around my waist from behind and I felt myself being lifted off the ground. I flinched at the sudden contact.
“Ah! Alex! What are you doing?!” I frantically began flailing around, trying to escape his grasp. What was going on? What was the meaning of this? Then I noticed he was walking towards that ball pit. “Put me down! You are not going to throw me in there!”
I could hear his laughter in my ear as we got closer. Was he really going to do this?
“Seriously! Let go! You’re gonna get us kicked out of the store!” We were now so close to it that I could reach out and touch it. I placed my hands against the bars and pushed against them, trying to fight back. There was no way I was letting him put me in there.
He suddenly placed me back on the ground. I stumbled a little but, luckily I caught my balance and didn't land fave down on the floor tiles..
“You can’t do that to people!” I turned around and smacked him arm.
“Did you really think I was going to throw you in there?” Alex said sounding extremely amused.
“Yeah! I practically saw my life flash before my eyes!”
“I’m not that evil!”
“You gave me a heart attack! I thought I was going to die, or at least break something!” I started to walk away from him, purposely overreacting. I heard the sound of quick footsteps and the shopping cart rolling along, the wheels squeaking. He was catching up with me.
“Sorry Mad,” He chuckled. “I just wanted to see what you would do.”
“Well now you know,” I felt a smile spread across my lips. “It you ever do that again, I’ll punch you.”
“Sure you will,” I could practically hear him rolling his eyes.
“C’mon. Let’s just try and find everything else you need,” I said, ushering him along. The quicker we got out of this store, the faster I could go home and save Devon from his terrible babysitter. But, getting home faster also meant that I had less time to spend with Alex before he left. I tried not to think about it too much. I wanted to enjoy our day together, after all who knew when we'd see each other again.
…
By the time we got back to my house, it was almost dark outside.
“That was fun,” I said, unbuckling my seat belt. I looked over at Alex. He seemed depressed. His expression caused my mood to instantly sadden as well. Then it finally sunk in. This was probably the last time I would see Alex for the next few months.
“Yeah,” He forced a smile but, it didn’t reach his eyes. Alex had obviously been dreading this day as much as I had.
“I wish you didn’t have to leave so soon,” I sighed and pushed my hair out of my face. I didn’t want to have to say goodbye to him. I already said goodbye to James a couple weeks ago and that left me an emotional mess. I didn’t want to relive that.
“I know what you mean. It still hasn’t kicked in that I’m actually going to college.”
I nodded in agreement. College was such a different concept from high school. It didn’t feel like we were already graduated and getting ready to move on with the rest of our lives. I wasn’t ready for everything to change, and it was about to change very soon.
“Oh!” He turned towards his door and started digging around in the compartment that was there. “I got you something.”
“What?” I was shocked by the news. I had not been expecting that.
“Yeah. Think of it as a… going away present,” Alex turned back to me holding a small box.
“Alex I…” I stared at the box in his hand, feeling my heart beat quicken. It looked like the kind of box that jewelry normally came in. That was even more unexpected. “I didn’t get you anything… Besides, you’re the one that’s moving away, not me. Shouldn’t you be getting the going away presents?” I tore my eyes away from the gift to look at him.
“Don’t worry about it,” He smiled at me reassuringly. “I wasn’t planning on buying anything but… It just kind of happened. I saw it and thought of you.” He handed the box to me.
The box felt light in my hands. I continued to stare at it, biting my lip nervously. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react to this. Why was he buying me things like this?
“Maddie, its fine. You can open it,” Alex laughed at me, obviously seeing that I was uneasy. “It’s not real gold or anything. The price was under fifteen dollars, if it makes you feel better.”
“Sorry. I was just… not expecting you to give me anything,” I looked back at him. Alex just motioned for me to go on and open it.
I took a breath to calm myself. Why was the sight of the small box enough to make me uncomfortable?
I carefully grabbed the top and pulled it off, a little scared of what was inside. I held the lid in one hand and peered into the box. Sitting on top of a strip of white, fluffy material, was a bracelet. The silver chain was simple. There was one transparent, red charm hanging off of the chain. It was shaped like a gemstone, most likely made of some type of plastic or glass.
“…Do you like it?”
“It’s… beautiful,” I put the lid down on the seat next to me so I could pick the bracelet up.
“I got the red one on purpose. It’s the color of Devon’s birthstone,” Alex sounded proud of himself.
“How did you know what his birthstone was?” I turned to look at him in surprise. How had he remembered that? I wasn’t even sure if I could have remembered that. There were too many gemstones that represented the different months of the year. Some of them even looked the same.
“My mom was born in January too,” He smiled at me.
“Oh yeah…” I had forgotten about that. I looked back at the bracelet I was holding. “Well… thanks, Alex.”
“You’re welcome.”
I glanced up at him, only to find him smiling down at me. The sight caused my lips to break into a smile as well. The gift had been really thoughtful.
I broke away from his gaze and placed the bracelet along my wrist. Might as well put it on. I grabbed the end with the clip on it, preparing myself for the struggle that always came along when clipping a bracelet on your own wrist.
“Here,” Alex spoke up after a few seconds of me fighting with the chain. “Let me.”
I nodded and his hands reached out to grab the ends of the bracelet, his fingers brushing my wrist in the process. His face scrunched as he concentrated on latching it. Finally it was on.
I smiled and rotated my wrist to examine it. It was pretty. “I really do like it.”
“I’m glad.”
I felt the sadness come creeping back into me as I stared at him. This was it. This was our last encounter with each other. Before I knew it, I moved to the middle of the front seat and had my arms wrapped around his back, burying my face into his shoulder. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Me too,” I felt his arms lock tightly around me in return. His head rested on my shoulder.
I squeezed my eyes shut, suddenly fighting the urge to cry. I exhaled loudly.
“Feel free to call,” His voice was slightly muffled.
I nodded and sniffled, opening my eyes. “Yeah. We’re definitely staying in touch.” I paused for a second, enjoying the hug. “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me,” I felt a tear slide down my cheek. “I know I say that a lot but… I just- I don’t know how my life would’ve turned out without you…”
“I know what you mean,” His grip remained tight. “You’ve helped me too, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”
We stayed in the bone crushing embrace for about a minute. The only sounds that could be heard were our breathing and the occasional sniffle. It wasn’t an awkward silence. Everything about it was comforting, the feeling of his arms on my back, the heartfelt way we clung to each other. We didn’t need to exchange any more words to know how the other was feeling or what they wanted to say. The emotions that were felt passing between us said it all. We felt depressed, heartbroken even, having to say goodbye to each other. It was a hard thing to do.
Alex eventually pulled away and I dropped my arms, putting my hands in my lap.
A moment later, I laughed at myself. “I feel like an idiot for crying again. I feel like that’s all I’ve done for the past two years.” I brought a hand up to wipe my eyes but stopped it midair when I felt Alex place his hand on the side of my jaw, beating me too it.
He ran a thumb under my eye to wipe a tear away, causing me to instantly look up at him. I stared at him, feeling friction between his thumb and my cheek. His green eyes held my gaze and it was impossible to look away. I couldn’t help but notice that he was teary eyed as well. At least I wasn’t the only one crying.
“That’s not true,” He kept his hand on my jaw as he spoke, staring into my eyes. “You didn’t cry all the time. We’ve had a lot of good memories together.”
I smiled in agreement. The memories came flooding into my mind.
I saw the time we went to the park and Alex pushed me so high on the swing that I became absolutely terrified and freaked out on him. He had just laughed uncontrollably, clutching his stomach, and continued to push me higher.
I saw all the late night phone calls when I had felt lost and confused. He would always try hard to give the best advice he could. Sometimes we had even talked into the early hours of the morning, until I finally felt better and my fears were ceased. He had sacrificed his precious sleeping time to help calm me down.
I saw the night that we watched a ton of scary movies in a row and jumped at every little thing afterwards. We had stayed up all night feeling super paranoid and regretting not having a Disney marathon instead. His dad had then felt the need to continuously scare the crap out of us for hours.
I saw every time he had made me smile as we sat on the outskirts of the lunch room at school. Alex made me forget the problems and stress in my life with his funny stories and pathetic jokes. He had made me feel like I had a purpose again.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I grinned at him, blinking the remains of my tears away. “And we’ll have a lot more great memories to come.”
He smiled back at me, his eyes still slightly red and watery. He obviously enjoyed the fact that I had every intention of keeping our friendship alive, even when he was away.
Alex looked at me hesitantly. I watched as he swallowed nervously and slowly moved closer. I felt my heart skip a beat when his eyes quickly glanced at my lips. Was this what I thought it was? Was he thinking about…kissing me? Would I be able to handle it if he did?
Ever since I had become friends with Alex, I had told him about how I wasn’t ready to think about being in another relationship. It wasn’t directed at him specifically. It had been directed at all boys in general. I had gone through a tough time in my life and wasn’t mentally ready to handle another relationship after what had happened with Ashton. I wasn't ready to get hurt like that again.
All the suspicions that I had developed about Alex liking me were confirmed as he got closer. I felt his lips land on mine. My stomach erupt with butterflies at the shock of it. My eyes closed and without realizing what was happening, I had rested a hand on his shoulder and began kissing him back. I felt his other hand grip my side. His lips moved slowly and sweetly against mine. Suddenly, Alex pulled away. I instantly opened my eyes and removed my hand from him.
He dropped his hands and awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes wandered away from me and toward the interior of the vehicle.
I placed my hands in my lap and stared down at them with the same awkward expression. I felt myself blush and was thankful that it was getting dark outside, hopefully making it less noticable.
“…Sorry,” Alex cleared his throat. “I just, uh…”
I smiled due to both his embarrassment and my own. That had really happened. Alex had just kissed me. The surprise was still present in my mind and it didn’t seem like I would be able to get rid of it. My mind spun as I thought about what it all meant. And, honestly, I felt slightly afraid.
“Well, um… it was going to happen eventually… right?” I built the courage up to look at him.
I saw him smile and he let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah…”
I caught his eye and we both instantly looked away, mortified. We were both trying to figure out what to do about the situation. How did we make it less awkward? How were we supposed to continue our goodbyes? What would come from the incident? How did he feel about it? How did I feel about it?
“Um…I guess I should, uh, be going then,” I had no idea how long it had been since we had pulled into my driveway and I didn’t want my mom to get any ideas about what was taking so long. She knew that I was going to be saying goodbye to Alex today but I didn’t need her getting any suspicions about what had happened. That would be extremely embarrassing. Hopefully she wouldn’t think anything of it. Maybe it hadn’t actually been that long.
Alex nodded in response, meeting my eyes.
“Bye Alex,” I moved my arms to give him one last quick hug. It seemed necessary, due to the fact that I wouldn’t see him again for a while. I did my best to make it seem as normal as I could, which was completely impossible.
“Bye Maddie,” He wrapped his arms around me, giving me a quick squeeze and letting go almost instantly. That hug was a lot more uncomfortable than the last one. There was definitely some awkward tension present this time.
“Have fun packing everything,” I slid back to the passenger seat and opened the door. I grabbed the box the bracelet had come in and climbed out of the truck, shutting the door behind me. I sent him a small wave before turning to walk up the walkway that lead to the porch.
Absentmindedly, I brought a hand up to lightly touch my lips. It felt like I was in a daze as I walked. What the hell had just happened? I felt extremely confused but, I also felt like… it hadn't actually been all that weird. I was unsure of what to make of the situation. Too many emotions were present at the same time, including the sadness caused by Alex moving, and I couldn’t think clearly.
Suddenly my body filled with fear. How was this going to affect our friendship? Was everything going to be extremely awkward from now on? We were going to have to talk about the kiss eventually… I gulped. That meant that I was going to have to decide how I felt about it. We’d have to have a serious face to face conversation expressing our feelings. Crap.
(Pic of bracelet to the side->)
(Video pf people jumping un walmart ball pits to the side-> lol)
AN: Sorry for the wait on this chapter. Hopefully the next one will be up sooner that this was. I also went back to college last week... so thats been fun (not really).
Vote and comment if you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you guys think!