I closed up my notebook, finishing the last class of the day.
Finally, thank the Lord in heaven above.
Everyone rushed out of the classroom, heading out towards the parking lot of the school, eager to get of here as fast as they could.
I walked over to my locker, stashing away the unneeded textbooks. Closing the door gently, I turned around, only to bump into what felt like a rock hard wall. Looking up, I found myself staring into intimidating crystal blue eyes. A scowl placed itself on his face as he set his gaze on my petite body.
"Look who it is," He crossed his arms over his chest, scanning my figure up and down. I tried going around him, but he continuously stepped in my path, "It's rude to walk away when someone is talking to you Alex."
"So you finally got it into that thick head of yours that my name isn't 'stalker girl'," I fired towards him.
He chuckled bitterly, taking steps my way, causing me to take steps back, "Huh, I never thought that I'd live to see the day that Alex Simmons would actually grow a backbone."
My eyes scanned the almost vacant hallways, in search for someone to notice how uncomfortable I was, but to my dismay, no one came to rescue. Although, there were students lingering in the halls, but they probably didn't have the guts to stand up to a guy like Miles.
I hitched my bag strap onto my shoulder, getting even more uncomfortable that he hadn't moved yet, "Can you please move?"
He grinned, "Oh, so now you want to be polite?"
I huffed, purposely nudging his shoulder whilst walking away from him.
"Hey, wait!" He said just before I stepped out the front doors.
I whipped around and snapped, "What?"
"What's that red head's name, that you always hang around?" He questioned, with a certain glint in his eyes.
I furrowed my eyebrows, my mouth slightly agape because of his peculiar behavior, "You mean Lillian?"
A look of recognition flashed across his face, "Right."
Why did he want to know? No wonder he wasn't as harsh to me, he just needed to know information. But why about Lillian? What did she have to do with anything?
His hands were shoved into his pockets, as if hiding something from me. I noticed that he was looking around, probably not wanting to be seen talking to someone like me. Figures, even if him and Jayce seemed completely different, their actions begged to differ.
He instantly stood up straighter, clearing his throat, acting all "tough" and what not, "Well, run along now. You don't want people thinking that you're stalking me now, right?"
I glared at him, "You're a jerk."
"Like I care, " He scoffed.
I quickly walked out of the school, instantly spotting Jayce leaning up against the bumper of his car. Perplexed at my confusion about how he managed to get his car here when he told me he was going to ask a friend to take us to his house, he added, "I had one of my dad's associates drop off the car earlier." He shook his head as if getting rid of the thought, "Besides the point, what took you so long? I've been waiting here since school ended."
"I was a bit preoccupied. And didn't school end only 15 minutes ago?" I questioned.
"Whatever, just get in the car and let's go."
And here we go with another mood swing.
I opened the door to the passenger seat, and hopped in.
The whole ride to his house was filled with awkward exchanges in conversation, and the slight sound of the radio playing.
I glanced towards Jayce, who was relaxed in his seat, one hand on the steering wheel, and the other hanging out the window. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the ring tone of my phone.
I didn't bother to look at the caller I.D, since only 3 people ever called me, "Hello?"
"Alex, where are you?" A voice, which I identified as Colton, asked.
"I'm out with a friend, going to work on a project. Why? What's up?" I replied.
"I was wondering if you were going to Zac's party on Friday night." Of course Zac Bradley was throwing a party. He's known for his wild ragers. They were always filled with alcohol, booming music, and teenagers doing unholy things in the bedrooms.
"Since when have I ever gone to a party?"
He sighed, "Come on Alex, there's a first time for everything."
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jayce eyeing me, probably eavesdropping on my conversation. "I'll think about it, " I said right before hanging up the phone.
"Who was that?" Jayce asked.
I looked over to him, "Colton."
"What did he want?" He seemed a bit nervous by the way he was gripping the steering wheel.
"He was just asking me if I was going to Zac's party on Friday."
"Oh," He mumbled, and muttered something after that was incoherent to me.
The whole time that I was on the phone, I hadn't noticed that Jayce pulled into a cul de sac street. He drove straight into the driveway of a 2-story house.
We both stepped out of the car. My head tilted up examining the tan looking house. There was a balcony on the second floor with light pink curtains flowing in the wind. I was surprised when a little girl with brunette hair scurried out, holding a teddy bear, with a bright big smile on her face, "Jay!"
I turned to Jayce, who grinned back up at her and waved happily.
"Little sister?" I questioned.
He nodded, and gestured for us to go inside, "I'll introduce you two."
I followed him through the glass double doors, and stepped onto the polished hardwood floor.
He led me to the living room, that contained two large black couches, with a red loveseat, a glass coffee table, and flat screen hung up on the wall, with a few game consoles and DVD's on the shelves.
Jayce noticed my wandering eyes, and smirked, "Like my house?"
"It's definitely better than mine," I replied laughing slightly.
"Jay," I heard the little girl voice say followed by quick footsteps coming down the stairs.
She ran down the stairs, jumping towards Jayce, who picked her up quite easily. He kissed her cheek, "Miss me Em?"
She nodded, giggling, "I missed you so much!"
He put her down, and she noticed me. I smiled at her and waved slightly.
"Who's this Jay?" She asked, looking up at him.
He crouched down to her height, "This is my very good friend Alexandria, but you can call her Alex."
She hesitantly walked over to me and gazed up at me, looking at me as if I was some monster, and I crouched down just like Jayce, "Hi sweetie, what's your name?"
"Emily," She muttered shyly.
She had her hands behind her back, which clutched her teddy bear.
I noticed her shirt, which had a picture of Elsa and Anna from Frozen. "Do you like Frozen?" I asked her softly.
She nodded shyly.
"So do I," I replied.
Her face lit up, and she smiled widely, "Really? None of Jay's friends ever like the things I do. Do you want to see Olaf the snowman, I have him in my room. Come on!"
She clutched my hand, running up the stairs, whilst dragging me along with her.
I turned my head to see Jayce, who was chuckling following us up the stairs. He mouthed, "Sorry."
And I shook my head, and grinned, implying that it was alright.
She pulled me through her open door and went over to her toy chest.
The walls of her room was white, but was plastered with posters of Disney characters. I couldn't help but admire the hanging lights on the walls. If the lights were turned off, they would look like floating stars in her room. Just across from the door were two glass doors, covered with those pink curtains I saw from outside.
She had what looked like a merlot bunk bed. On the bottom was a full queen sized bed, sticking out past the top bunk, which contained a small mattress, covered with blankets, pillows, and plush toys.
Damn, this girl was definitely treated like a princess.
She walked over to me, with Olaf in her hands, "See look. He's not real like in the movie, but I pretend that he is."
I smiled at her adorableness.
"Come sit with me on my reading rug, and I'll show you all my other princess books." I followed her to a circular rug that had a pattern of flowers on it, scattered with books around it. I sat cross-legged next to her, as she pulled out books, explaining to me what they were about.
But what caught my attention was when she grasped a lock of my hair, holding it up to her own, "Your hair looks like mine."
I glanced between my hair and hers, and she was right, "You've got quite an eye there Emily."
"I'm glad we have the same hair." She said, letting go of the lock.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "Why?"
"Because you're pretty, and if I have the same hair as you, that means I'm pretty too." She mumbled quietly, fiddling with her thumbs.
I took her soft little hands in mine, and sighed, "Emily you are beautiful, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
She nodded, and looked up at me with her innocent doe like eyes, "You're not like Jay's other friends."
"Oh really?"
She agreed, "Yeah, they never talk to me even if I say hi to them, that's why I was so shy around you. But Jay said you were so nice before, so I guess he was right."
I was surprised as to what she said; I looked over at Jayce, who was standing at the doorway, cheeks were flushed with red, "Oh, so Jay has talked about me before?"
She nodded, oblivious to what Jayce was probably trying to tell her from behind me, "Yeah, he talks about you all the time, especially to mommy whenever they are alone in his bedroom. He always says that you look so pretty, and that-"
A hand clamped over her chattering mouth, "Alright Em, I think that's enough."
Jayce removed his hand from her mouth, and he instantly grasped my arm, bringing me up, "Alex and I have a project to do together, so we'll talk to you later."
"Okay," She smiled and went back to reading her picture books.
He led me outside into the hallway, and opened a door across from hers, his room.
Unlike Emily's room, his was a bit smaller, but it also had a balcony, viewing the backyard. As you enter, on the left was his queen-sized bed with a black blanket, two white pillows, and white bed sheets. On the right was a door that led into the bathroom.
What captivated me was the computer desk against the right wall. A Mac computer was on the black wood desk, with an office chair in front of it. I noticed familiar school textbooks on the desk. But the part that I admired was the bookcases above it. There were tons of paperback and hard bounded books stored there.
Damn, it was as if their house was bought straight out of Ikea.
"So, you talk about me?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest, with a smirk on my face.
He laughed nervously, "About that, I uh-"
I giggled at his uneasiness, "It's okay Jayce, I'll just leave what you and your mom talk about to yourself. I'll save you from further embarrassment."
He cleared his throat, and grinned, "Anyways, let's get started on this project, shall we?"
♔
"I think we've had enough Jayce," I said, leaning back onto his bed.
"We've only been working for 2 hours Alex," He stated flatly.
I huffed, "We'll pick up on this some other time."
He agreed willingly, closing his literature textbooks.
I sat up, rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes. I glanced around the room, my eyes landing on his computer desk; where there were a few picture frames hidden behind the piles of textbooks. Curiosity got the best of me, so I stood up to look at them.
One frame consisted of a family photo. The only difference between them were their eyes and hair color, whilst Emily, Jayce, and a younger looking boy had brown eyes just like their father, an older looking boy and their mother had gray eyes with darker hair.
The older boy was probably Jayce's brother, but he never seemed to speak of him.
Another frame had a picture of Jayce and the football team, my brother included.
My eyes averted to the rest of the photos, when one frame faced down caught my eye. I lifted it up to see Jayce and his brother side by side, grinning widely, while their arms were around each other. I wonder why he faced this particular picture down.
"Hey Jayce?" I said, whilst still looking at the photo.
"Yeah," He replied, oblivious to the fact that I was snooping.
I turned around, showing him the frame, "Who's this?"
His face turned pale once his eyes landed on the picture, "Um, that's my brother, Wesley."
I nodded, putting the frame down, "Is he here?"
He quickly shook his head, "No." He changed the subject, and I took the hint, "Hey, you hungry? I could make us some food downstairs. Come on let's go."
I followed him out of the room, and into the kitchen downstairs. It was as if this kitchen came out of those housing magazines. Everything looked so modern, and... marble.
Jayce began taking out all these things from the pantry, and a pot and strainer from the cabinets.
"So you cook?" I asked, sitting on one of the stools next to the counter in the middle of the kitchen.
He nodded, "Somewhat. I don't seem like the type of guy who can cook, right?"
"Well yeah," I admitted.
He chuckled, "Don't judge a book by its cover."
"Speaking of books, you have quite the collection in your room, "I pointed out.
He turned on the stove, placing a pot of water on top, boiling it. "Like I said before, we have a lot in common," He plopped down on the stool across from me, folding his hands on the countertop.
"So, football star is secretly a bookworm? How interesting," I said.
He laughed, "See, we're not that different."
"Actually we are. I'd like to pursue a career involving writing or anything that has to do with books. You probably want to be an NFL star."
He scoffed, "Now that's where you're wrong."
"So what do you want to do in your life then?" I questioned.
He shrugged, "I don't know actually. But even if I did know, I wouldn't be able to pursue in it."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "Why not?"
"It's like my life was predetermined for me," He answered.
Before I could ask for him to elaborate, he stood up to check on the water. He then added macaroni noodles into it, and began to stir.
"Macaroni and cheese?" I asked amusingly.
He grinned at me, "Problem?"
"No, I love it. It's simple yet delicious." I replied. "Can I help?"
He nodded, taking out a mixing bowl and a whisk. He placed flour, cheddar cheese, and milk next to it. He then started to heat up vegetable oil, probably to mix in with the rest of the ingredients.
"You can make the cheese, just wait until the oil is heated and I'll pour it into the bowl. Then mix the rest of the ingredients with it."
I saluted him mockingly, "Got it, Chef Reynolds."
He laughed, and went back to the stove. I leaned forward against the counter, patiently waiting for the oil to heat up. "Alex?" He called from behind me.
I turned to reply, but was met with a handful of flour thrown in my face.
Swatting away the powder lingering in the air, I glared at him.
"Aw Alex, it looks like you've seen a ghost," He said amusingly.
I hadn't even noticed that he took the flour from me. Catching him off guard, I grabbed the gallon of milk from the counter, and poured it over him, soaking him from head to toe.
Only half of the milk was left in the gallon.
"Now we're even," I smirked evilly.
He wiped his face, and pushed his soaked hair back, "Alright, now that was a waste of milk Alex."
I shook my head, "That is not a waste of milk, it was used for a good cause. Besides, now you know how it feels to have milk being poured onto you. Not so fun right?"
He sighed, "I guess so," He opened his arms wide, and started walking towards me, "Now as a truce, why don't we hug it out?"
I put my arms out defensively, "No, no, no. Get away from me! You're all wet and messy! No way!"
I turned around to get away from him, but failed miserably when I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist.
"Get away from me! You're soaking wet!" I yelled, trying to slip out of his grasp.
"This is your fault Alex, if you didn't pour that milk on me, we wouldn't be in this situation."
I could just feel his signature smirk on his face.
"Jayce?" A voice called from the doorway of the kitchen.
He instantly let go of me, and we both turned around to see an older woman.
The one from the family picture.
"Hi mom," He greeted her with an innocent grin.
-
Authors Note:
Hey everyone!
Hope you like this chapter because you know, yeah
Shoutout to @radca1um because it's her birthday today! Go check out her story, and I'll give you an apple
Please guys vote and comment I really appreciate it!
Come on give me some feedback, I really want to know what you guys have to say! Don't be shy guys! If you comment and vote more often I will update more often than usual
On the side is Jayce's bedroom, so its easier for you guys to picture
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Until next time,
-queenfreakco