Jayce
My God, I feel like I'm taking care of a child.
As soon as I witnessed Alex finish that hash brownie, I immediately rushed over to her, making her take a seat on the couch.
It was not too long before that Parker joined me. Shocker.
"What's going on?" He asked, a look of concern flashing over his face.
I sighed and was about to explain to him the situation, when Alex just began laughing all of a sudden. Narrowing my eyes, Parker stared at her as if she was crazy, "Did you drug her?"
"What? No!" I ran a hand over my face, "Miles and Quinn gave her drinks, she said she was hungry and then she found and ate a hash brownie that was on the table over there."
Speaking of the devils, they both sat down on the couch in front of us, "This just got better." Quinn smirked, "I wonder what drug induced Alex is like, if the drunk version of her is this fun, I'd love to see how she us under the influence of that brownie."
I glared at them both, "Alex would never take more than at least two drinks willingly. What did you put in the drinks you gave her?"
"You guys must've done something to make her want more," Parker chimed in.
Miles shrugged casually, "We didn't do anything, and you really think that we'd stoop that low to drug her? Give us some credit guys, we're not that bad."
As our conversation continued on, Alex would continuously sway back and forth between Parker and I, rambling on about that green drink that she wanted more of.
"Well then why would she take any type of drink from you guys?"
Quinn looked smug, "Persuasion."
"Persuasion in what? Cut the crap Quinn. What do you expect us to tell her brother when he sees her like this?"
I shot Parker a look, "We can't let Cameron see her this way! He'll kill us!"
He simply brushed me off, and turned back towards the terrible two, "What did you say to her?"
"We told her to let loose for once, of course she didn't listen at first. Although when we mentioned Jayce, she was all ears." Quinn snarkily replied, leaning back against the couch.
Parker seemed to be paying full attention now, "What did you tell her about Jayce?"
Miles sighed amusingly, "All we said was that Jayce went for girls who took risks and were daring. Once those words came out of our mouths, she downed that cup of beer and asked for more."
At that moment, I felt something fall down onto my lap. Brunette hair covered some of jeans, I moved the strands away her face, and she just lay there peacefully in my lap.
"Crap," Parker muttered. "I'll go get her some water, Jayce lead her outside to your car, and we'll take her home."
I agreed, lifting her up easily into my arms. I went out the backdoor, leading to the backyard to appear inconspicuous to the rest of the party, especially from Cameron, who I prayed wasn't outside to see his unconscious sister in my grasp. To my surprise, the couple that was arguing before were still there. They noticed me walking out, and as they came closer, their faces became clear, Lillian and Colton.
"What the hell happened to her?" She demanded, looking worriedly at Alex's limp body.
Colton glared at me, his jaw clenched, "What did you do to her?"
I retaliated, "I didn't do anything. This is the result of the workings of Miles and Quinn, so don't get mad at me for being a good person and helping out a friend."
He really needed to chill out whenever I was around.
"When and where did you find her?" Lillian asked with concern.
I sighed, "She had just done a body shot on Miles, I took her away, but she managed to get a hold of a hash brownie and ate it all. She passed out on me not too long ago."
"Do you want us to take her home?"
I shook my head politely, "No it's okay. I'm heading out right now to let her rest in my car, Parker's also coming along with some water, we'll be alright."
"You better not do anything stupid Reynolds," Colton threatened.
I rolled my eyes, "I care about Alex, alright?"
"If you cared about her, you wouldn't act like she doesn't exist at school."
I huffed, "Don't play dumb and act like that's something you want me to fix. You know why I can't be with her at school."
"I don't know what you're talking about," He spat with poison laced in his tone.
Thankfully, Parker stepped out and urged for me to bring her out to my car. I left Colton fuming, whilst Lillian was confused as to what our conversation was about.
Reaching my car, I opened up the trunk, putting down the seats so that there was just one big open space for Alex to lie down.
Sitting on the edge of the car, I silently just observed Alex as she slept.
"Jayce, did I do something wrong?" Parker asked, breaking the silence.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "Besides the fact that you left Alex all alone to get drunk, no you didn't do anything wrong."
He sighed, "You're always so hostile around me. What's going on with you?"
"Nothing, I'm fine," I quickly replied.
He muttered, not so quietly, "If I were Alex, you would've answered the question."
I stared at him coldly, "What's that suppose to mean?"
"It's supposed to mean that you would tell her anything, but when it comes to your best friend, you lock everything up." He explained.
I rolled my eyes, "You're my friend, not my mother. You don't need to know everything about me."
"Well lately I've felt like you don't want me to know any aspect of your life anymore," He retorted. "You've iced me out. I get Miles doing it, but you? We've been friends forever, brothers actually. And if this is because of some girl-"
"She's not some girl," I snapped.
He leaned away from me, holding his hands up in surrender, "I'm just saying."
At that moment, I heard Alex stir in her sleep. Looking over to her, she slightly sat up, leaning against the wall of the car. Her eyes fluttered open, and she hunched over immediately, holding her stomach.
"You okay?" I asked worriedly.
She scooted closer to the opening of the car, trying to hold herself up. Letting out a small breath, she laughed to herself, "That brownie was good, c-can I have more?"
The sound of her hurling followed. Throwing up the contents of her stomach onto the street, she giggled and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, "I feel... amazing."
I grabbed her shoulders, making her face me. Looking into her reddish eyes, I groaned, "She's so out of it."
Parker examined her face closely, "Well what do you expect, she ate a pot brownie."
I sighed, as she took the bottle of water and drank it, "How long do you think the affect will last?"
He pursed his lips, "Probably about four hours. She only ate one, so that's good."
I averted my eyes towards Alex, who was contemplating on something, "I'm really really hungry still. Do you have," She snapped her fingers multiple times, trying to find the word she was searching for, "Oh! Do you have donuts? Or no, wait! I want potato chips! Ooh, maybe tacos! Do you have something crunchy? I want crunchy food!"
I tuned her out, confused as to what I should do with her.
"Do you have feelings for her?"
My head snapped towards him, "What's with the sudden interrogation?"
"You didn't answer the question," He pointed out.
"Why do you care?" I questioned.
I didn't mean to sound so rude, but his persistence in talking about her irritated me. It's as if he couldn't get enough of her.
"Because maybe there's someone out there who likes her, yet he can't do anything about it because he knows that she's too hung up on you."
Could he make it more obvious that he was the person who liked her? Besides, she's not hung up on me; she probably hates me deep down. If she were given the decision to decide between Parker and I, she would choose Parker within a heartbeat.
"Hung up on me? I could assure you that your presumption on her isn't true." I assured him.
He scoffed, "If I'm wrong, why did she willingly agree to drink just to fulfill the type of girl you like."
That shut me up.
First of all, that wasn't my type of girl. Girls who took risks and are daring are fine, I guess, but they're not the type of girls I like. My type of girl is Alex, but she could never know that.
"I don't have time to talk about this. Right now, all I care about is for Alex to be okay, and to get her home safely. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."
Not bothering to hear what he was going to say, I carefully led Alex to the front seat, with minimal help from Parker.
I slid into the drivers seat, buckling in her seat belt, afterwards doing my own.
I assured Parker, "I'll text you when I get her into her house. Tell Lillian and Colton that I'm taking her home."
He nodded, telling us to take care, and headed back into the house.
Putting the key in the ignition, I started the car, backing out of the driveway, ready for the drive to Alex's house.
♔
"Jayce, I'm tired, and hungry, where are my chips?!" She exclaimed as I helped her walk up the stairs of her home.
I shushed her, cupping a hand over her mouth, "Do you want your parents to catch us? Especially you because you're the one that's high right now." I huffed, "And Alex, the chips are in your hand."
I felt her mouth form an 'o'. She giggled, pushing my hand away from her, "My parents don't give a shit."
We continued our way up the stairs, until we reached what I presumed was her bedroom, "And why exactly do you think that?"
I opened the door, flicking the lights on. Her room looked the same as it did the first time I was in here, except there were more clothes on the floor.
I set her down on her bed and she lay back with a sigh. I stifled a laugh, scanning the room before me, "It seems to me that your room is messier than mine."
"Well, it took awhile for me to get ready for this par-tay, I was trying to look pretty, because usually I don't look like anything near that."
I scowled, knowing her words were untrue, "Don't ever say that."
She grinned, and stretched her arms, "I see what you're doing."
I stared at her in confusion, "What am I doing?"
She pushed herself up, leaning against the headboard of her queen-sized bed, "You're trying to make a conversation about how boo-tiful I am, and then you're going to say some cheesy line to get me to like you." Crossing her arms over her chest, she pouted and had a determined look on her face.
"But you are beautiful, that's a fact, not a line." I winked.
She huffed, and slowly slid down the headboard so that she was now lying on her back. The bag of chips she yearned for were carelessly thrown onto the ground.
I glanced at my phone, checking the time, "12:48am."
Huh, I hadn't realized how much time has gone by.
"Alex, I have to go now. My parents might get worried, and you should get some sleep." I informed her gently.
There was no reply. I glanced over at her, and it seemed that she had fallen asleep without a sound.
Her face seemed relax, as if just hours before she wasn't chugging down drinks and getting herself stoned. The locks of hair were spanned out around her, she was clutching a pillow, whilst breathing softly through her nose. Getting up, I pulled the duvet over her sleeping figure, and made sure she was comfortable before heading towards the door.
I was about to walk out, when something hanging in her open closet caught my eye.
Stepping towards it, I took it off its hanger, and examined the condition of the jacket. I'm kind of surprised she kept my jacket in such clean condition, if I were her I would've probably burned it, especially because of the way I treated her.
Before I even thought about it, I took the jacket, and carefully draped it over Alex's sleeping body, right over the blanket.
Using my hand to brush the loose strands of hair away from her face, I slightly grinned, "Sweet dreams."
Before I moved away, I heard a small mumble, "Thank you."
I have this weird instinct that my infatuation with her wouldn't be going away so soon.
And for some reason that didn't bother me.
♔
Alexandria
Let me tell you something.
Drinking is fun when you're in the heat of the moment. But the next morning is complete hell. I will honestly say that my first time drinking felt amazing, priceless, but the hangover part... not so much.
When I woke up this morning, I felt like some little gremlins were in my head, pounding on it with hammers from the inside. The sunlight that squeezed through my curtains blinded me. Actually any light in general as of right now blinded me, making me see white all over. The first thing I did when I could actually manage to move out of my bed was run over to the bathroom, and vomit out all the contents that were stored inside my stomach.
Looking into the mirror, I noticed that my eyes were a bit red. Turning on the sink, I cupped my hands together under the faucet, getting some water to splash onto my face.
I changed out of my romper from the night before, and slipped on some sweats and a sweater, pulling my hair up in a ponytail.
It was extremely fortunate that Cameron wasn't awake yet; he too was probably hungover by what J.C told me the night before.
As I made toast in the kitchen, I tried making as little noise as possible, since for some reason my ears were sensitive to any sudden noise, even by the sound of the fridge closing and opening.
I basically spent only an hour lying on the couch as if I were dead. Well that was until the blaring ring tone of my phone echoed throughout the living room, causing me to cringe. Of course it was Lillian, really who else would it be?
She demanded for me to meet her at the same coffee shop we usually go to. Just wanting to shut her up, I agreed and ended the call.
And that brings me here. Here I am, sunglasses on my face, sipping a cup of hot coffee, whilst trying to move as slowly as possible, with Lillian staring at me like I was some foreign alien.
"First hangovers are the worst," She stated.
To be honest it actually sounded like she was screaming.
I winced, rubbing the sides of my forehead, "Keep it down to a whisper please."
She sighed, and sipped at her latte, "Do you even remember anything from last night?"
I slightly shook my head, "Bits and pieces. I remember getting to the party and losing you and Colton. Thanks by the way." Sending her a look, I continued, "Then I was with Parker, we went into the game room. He left me, and then J.C came, then left. Miles and Quinn came as well, then after what seemed like a third cup of beer, my memory gets all blurry and patchy."
She nodded, and smirked, "You just experienced your first party. I'm so proud!"
I flinched back in my chair at her enthusiasm, "My God, Lillian please stop."
She seemed to shrink in her chair, "Sorry."
I sighed, getting a bit relaxed, "Now instead of talking about my party experience, how was yours?"
At those words, her face seemed to turn red. As her best friend, I knew what that expression meant. "Did something happen Lil, with a boy specifically?" I questioned, out of curiosity.
She faced away from me, looking anywhere but in front of her. Her gaze was set on the door behind me, but I immediately tried to get her attention, "Lillian, c'mon tell me. I know something last night happened between you and a boy. Now who was it?"
Her eyebrows furrowed, "Jayce?"
My eyes widened, and I almost shot out of my seat, but the hangover got the best of me, "Ja-Jayce?"
She nodded as if it were the most obvious thing, "Yeah, Jayce!" Her hand lifted up and gestured towards the door behind me.
I turned around to see that, Jayce was indeed there, along side with his little brother, Jacob, who looked like he didn't want to be here, or with his brother in general.
We locked eyes, and he grinned slightly. They walked over to us, spotting right next to our table.
"Hey guys," He greeted us, then turned to me, "Alex, you look well."
I scrunched up my nose, something I did when I was frustrated or annoyed, "Stop. I don't even want to know what you witnessed me say or do last night."
He laughed, "Who says that you were with me last night?"
Does he think I'm that stupid?
"Your jacket draped over me practically answered that question," I retaliated.
He smirked, shoving his hands into his pocket, "Alright you caught me. But I just did the civil thing and helped out a friend who happened to be extremely drunk. And stoned, might I add."
My mouth was a bit agape, "H-high? How did I get high?"
"There's this thing called weed sweetheart," Jacob chimed in.
Jayce and I glared at him. He really was Jayce's younger brother. Lillian laughed at Jacob's statement, causing me to send her a cold look.
"And how exactly does a 14 year old know about that stuff huh?" His older brother asked rhetorically.
Jacob flushed in color and shut his mouth.
I let out a laugh and slightly shook my head. Obviously they had to teach these kids about drugs in middle school to prep them for the real world that is high school and college.
He then turned to me, "In all seriousness, are you alright though? I know how it feels to experience your very first hangover."
I nodded, "I'm fine, nothing unusual happened so far, so I guess I'm good. Thank you, Jayce, for taking care of me."
He returned the grin, "No problem."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the four of us, until Jacob broke it obnoxiously, "Why are we even here? Mom just said to go to the post office to drop off the letters for Wesley, she never said anything about coming to this," He averted his eyes around the space, "...somewhat average looking coffee shop."
Jayce narrowed his eyes at his brother, and took a five dollar bill from his back pocket, "Here," he pressed the bill against Jacob's chest, which he reluctantly grabbed, "buy yourself something if that'll get you to stop bitching about why we're here."
His face lit up, and he ran towards the line of customers in front of the counter.
"Well, your brother is... something," Lillian said, with a laugh.
Jayce nodded, "Yeah, he's-"
"Exactly like you," I finished for him.
He frowned and shook his head in disagreement, "Are you kidding me?" His arm gestured towards Jacob, who was currently ordering, "That 14 year old little monster is not like me."
"Whatever you say," Lillian said in a song like tune, whilst also excusing herself to the bathroom.
Jayce took her spot in front of me, and folded his hands on the table, "So, I've been meaning to ask you something."
I raised my eyebrows at him, "Oh really?"
He nodded, "Yeah, I would've asked you last night, but it seemed like you were too out of it to answer."
"Well, let's cut to the chase. What did you want to ask me?"
I waited patiently for his answer. It looked like he was keeping an eye on his brother, who was waiting calmly for his drink to come out.
"I wanted to know when our next outing together would be. And by that I mean, when we would get to hang out just the two of us, again."
I was taken back; it seemed peculiar for him to just blurt something out like that.
I let out a breath, taking a sip of my coffee, "I don't think we should do that again."
His face fell, "W-why not?"
I couldn't do this again. I don't want to be led on just for him to hurt me for the hundredth time. I could already predict what was going to happen. He was going to take us to some secluded place, we would have a great time, but the next time we see each other in public, he'd ignore me completely, as if I wasn't part of the human race. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
"Because, why do that if there's no point to it?"
"There is a point to it," he insisted, "I want to spend time with you, I like being with you."
I scoffed, "If that were true, you wouldn't act like an ass whenever we're in public together."
He spread out his arms, gesturing to everything around him, "We're in public right now, Alex. You don't see me acting a certain way, am I correct?"
"But when it comes to being around your so called friends, your attitude changes," I snapped. "Just because you helped me out last night doesn't mean I owe you anything."
"I never said you owed me anything, did I?"
I rolled my eyes, "Don't be a smartass." Rubbing my forehead in frustration, I internally groaned and spit out the first thing that came to my mind to get him to just stop talking, "Can't you see that I don't like you that way? And I'm pretty sure that you feel the same way."
He smirked, whilst laughing afterwards.
"What's so funny?"
"You do understand that the more you push me away, it'll just make my feelings for you grow stronger, but hey, I don't mind. I like a challenge." He leaned back in his seat, clasping his two hands behind his head.
I shook my head, leaning back against the wooden chair I was currently sitting on, "Copyright. You got that from The Fault in Our Stars."
He simply laughed, "Not necessarily, I changed the words up to make it sound more like me. But if Augustus can use the same tactic, so can I."
I scoffed jokingly, "I don't see your prosthetic leg."
"So you're saying only guys with prosthetic legs can use that line?" He teased.
"No, only and only Augustus Waters can use that line," I replied. "And you sir, don't seem to be the type of guy who would read John Green books, young adult-romance novels in general."
A grin plastered itself on his face, "Like I've told you before, don't judge a book by its cover."
I laughed, and our gazes locked together, "I mean what I said Alex."
And I'm surprised he did.
-
Authors Note:
early update, yes!
this was written in one day, so i guess i could say i'm kind of proud of myself.
this has to be one of the longest chapters i've written so please read every word of it c:
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Until next time,
-queenfreakco