Author note at the beginning, I Sold Myself style. 8D Sorry about that, I just really want you guys to read this. Then I'll leave you alone and talk again at the end. :P
READ THIS.
A new feature is going to start coming with your newest version of Wattpad. You will not be able to have your full library available while offline. This won't really affect me as a reader, I rarely use Wattpad offline for that, but I know a lot of you will be hurt from this, and consequently, hurting my readers hurts me too. I want you guys to be aware that this is going on. The only way to have an unlimited amount of stories available offline will be to get Premium membership. Otherwise you'll only be able to have 1 to 5 stories available offline. If you have bad internet connection, or limited data, this will affect you. This isn't a call to boycott or anything. I love Wattpad. I think it's the platform with the best readers and it's the most user friendly one. But loving it does not mean I shouldn't be allowed to critique it. And this just doesn't feel right to me, because this probably hurts the people that can't pay for Premium.
You can go check out the forums to see what people are saying. There's also this profile that some users made to keep people updated at @OneVoice
Let's stay informed about the latest changes.
Alright. You can read about Blake now. XD
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A few things crossed my mind as our fully clothed bodies hit the water.
Most of my thoughts went along the lines of Lexi Grayson is going to kill me with her beautiful little hands.
I definitely had better ideas before.
But all of that kind of went on the back burner because as we fell in the water, I had my arms around Lexi and that was kind of a dream come true.
The idea was stupid, the water was cold, and Lexi was going to throttle me the second she would have a chance—she was already thrashing in my arms trying to get away, but that was totally okay.
Because I was crazy. Completely, absolutely crazy. What was I even thinking? We were having a heart to heart three seconds ago.
I really lost any kind of brain functions whenever I was around this girl.
I let Lexi go and she swam directly to the surface. I followed a second later, laughing.
I couldn't help it, I had to laugh. I was losing my mind and all I could do was laugh. I partly blamed my sleep deprivation.
I barely had time to take a breath and Lexi was almost jumping in my arms and pushing my shoulders down, taking me back under water.
I almost swallowed water because I'd been laughing like an idiot.
Two could play that game. If she was going to take me down, I was going to drag her with me.
I wrapped my arms around her waist again and dragged us down towards the bottom of the lake. Lexi was fighting against my grasp and since my plan wasn't actually to kill us both, I let her go.
I wasn't completely done though and the second she broke back to the surface, I grabbed her ankle and dragged her back under. I got a kick in the chest as a result.
I let her go again and went back to the surface, taking a big breath of air... to laugh a bit more.
She was heading straight for the deck. I went after her. Hey, if she was going to kill me for that stunt I was going to really make it worth it.
She had her hands on the deck when I caught up with her and grabbed her around the waist again, pushing myself backwards with her in my arms.
I was laughing and swallowing water and kicking us away from the deck. I could physically feel how annoyed with me Lexi was.
I was laughing too much so she easily pushing me away.
"Do you have any idea in how much trouble you are right now?" she yelled floating a bit on her back which allowed her to easily kick water with her legs right in my face. "Because trust me, you're in so much trouble that your children and your children's children will pay for this."
I was laughing too much to come up with any good comeback. Sure Pumpkin, I'm sure our grandchildren will hate being told the story of the time I threw you in a lake fully clothed. How hysterical. I was definitely losing my mind.
"God, you're sooo annoying," she added and pushed my head underwater. I didn't fight against it. And I didn't swim after her to catch her again when she headed for the deck this time.
Once she was out of the water, she stood on her feet, with her legs and arms sort of spread apart, like she was trying not to have any of her limbs touch. She looked like an angry wet cat.
I had no idea my life had been missing that hilarious visual. The level of outrage and discomfort was perfectly balanced. I could pinch her cheeks and squeeze her in my arms.
My adorable Pumpkin.
"Look at what you've done! Now I'm all freaking wet because of you," she yelled at me, pulling at her sticky shirt like it was some kind of abomination.
The reply was instantaneous. It was just too easy. "Oh that's so not the first time I'm getting this from a girl," I said, and got out of the lake.
Her reaction? Predictable. And also priceless. "Dear freaking mother of god! Could you just once, just freaking once not turn everything I say into something sexual? Just once?" she replied, shoving me. I took one step backwards, still completely amused.
"I could, but where would be the fun in that?" I answered, laughing.
I could, I definitely could stop finding innuendos in absolutely everything she said, but I just felt like if I ever did that, if I ever didn't turn what Lexi was saying into something funny, I would have to be serious and then I think Lexi would be even more annoyed with me. I didn't think my feelings were anything Lexi wanted to deal with. I could spare her that.
Lexi didn't dignify my reply with an answer and just scowled at me before walking away.
The way she was walking because of her wet clothes, kind of like a duck, I threw my head back, laughing more, but then rushed to keep up with her.
My shoes were making an ungodly sound. It felt like I was walking on wet sponges.
"Aw, come on Lexi, lighten up," I said, but Lexi didn't even turn around to look at me, she actually definitely grabbed a branch and snapped it back right in my face.
"Ouch," I said automatically. Damn, that hurt. I hoped I wasn't bleeding. "That was just mean Pumpkin."
"Well that's all you deserve, you stupid prick," she said and suddenly turned around, punching me on the chest. "Not only did you throw me in the water but you freaking drowned my M&M's, you asshole!"
Was she... was she this furious particularly because of the M&Ms? Was she this mad because of candies? God, there was no way I was ever going to understand this girl.
"If it can make you happy, I'll buy you more," I told her, laughing. Always laughing. I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed this much.
Lexi on the other hand just made the sound a pained animal would do if they were caught in a trap, glared at me and walked away.
And because I had been thinking about laughing and being happy, of course Glorious-Almighty-Alex had to appear.
"Oh my god! Kitty what happened to you?" he asked Lexi, laughing.
It was okay for me to laugh, not for him. I hadn't done this to amuse him. He didn't deserve to be amused by this.
God, I hated him.
"That jackass, that's what happened," Lexi told him, pointing right at me.
I kept laughing, because that was really all I could do. But also decided to take my shirt off. You know, to show my male dominance, as one does. Alex should totally read this move as a call for fighting.
"And don't you think taking your shirt off will make up for it, you dim-wit," Lexi yelled at me and ran away.
Alex totally didn't accept my call to fight and instead just followed Lexi yelling, "Kitty, wait up," before adding, "I put your things in my tent," when he caught up with her.
"Thanks," she replied.
I didn't listen to the rest. Her things in his tent. Of course, they were going to sleep together. Because it was okay for him to hurt her and break her heart. He would always be forgiven.
I couldn't be mad at Lexi for that. Just like Lexi could forgive anything Alex did to her, I could forgive anything Lexi did to me. The thing is though, I forgave but I never forgot. Lexi seemed to have forgotten how much he had hurt her. She couldn't possibly be still friends with him if she did.
I dragged my feet to my tent to get changed, and afterwards went to the spot where everyone was gathered to eat, to go hang my wet clothes.
Lexi was already there, sitting at one of the picnic tables. She looked all comfy in her hoodie and sweatpants and hair up, munching furiously on her chocolate bar. Sweets again? She seriously had a sugar problem. Pepsi first and now almost killing me for ruining her M&M? Maybe I should take out studies for her about the danger of sugar.
"Does that mean we won't get Lexi's famous marshmallow and chocolate chip honey cookies?" Trevor said beside her, pouting.
S'mores. They were called S'mores. God, my friends were such peasants.
"No don't worry you'll get one," she told him and when her eyes met mine she added very loudly, glaring a little, "BUT SOMEONE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR THE SPIT IN HIS."
I laughed. That seemed to make her angrier.
I went to sit with the boys, waiting for something to happen. When Lexi was done with her bar of sugar drug she got up and left with a pile of her wet clothes. I kind of snickered by myself.
"We should be starting a fire, it's getting cold," Peter said out of the blue, as he sat down in on of the chairs, his hood over his head.
Our responses were quite immediate. Everyone bumped their fists on their forehead saying, "not it." The slowest of us was Cameron, so he was the sad loser of this editing of not it and therefore had to be the one to try to start it.
"Come on guys, I wasn't ready," he whined, getting up.
"This is the price to pay for not being the smartest one between us two," Trevor retorted.
Cameron flipped him off while we all chuckled at their antics. "Fine, I'll see this as your way of accepting me as your leader, since making fire is clearly a sign of higher intellect."
"How about less talking, and more fire making?" his brother replied.
I grabbed a Gatorade from a cooler and went back in my chair, watching the circus that was unfolding as Cameron tried to start a fire and every guy around was bossing him, telling him the best way to do it.
A few minutes later, Lexi came back from wherever she had been and went to sit beside Alex while Cameron was proudly announcing, "I'll bring you fire, my people."
"If you could do that, like in this century that would be really nice," Trevor was telling him.
Unsurprisingly, Shawn said something stupid, "We should throw beer on it!"
It truly was a miracle to me that Shawn had gone through his life so far mostly unscathed. What an idiot. "Wow, what a wonderful idea Shawn, why don't you try that and see how much that won't work considering how low in alcohol that stinking American beer is," I told him.
"Got a better idea?" he replied.
Roll around in oil and throw a lit match in your hair. Gosh, I really needed to take a nap, I was getting too exhausted and I was making less and less sense. Everyone was getting on my nerves. "Just give him a minute, we're not at the throw-gas-on-it stage yet."
Alex and Lexi were chatting together like they were sharing naughty secrets. I could crane my neck and try to listen to them, but I didn't. Why should I make myself feel more miserable by being reminded yet again how much these two were close?
I stopped looking their way and stared at the horizon instead. The sunset was pretty this evening.
Cameron finally managed to start the fire and was making a much bigger deal out of it than he should. I ignored my friends antics.
I looked back at Lexi. She wasn't talking to Alex anymore. She had a far away look, staring at the open space in front of her, her legs up to her chest, her chin on her knees. She had the beginning of a little smile on her lips. She seemed... I don't know, serene.
I wondered what she was thinking about. I always wondered what she was thinking about.
"So you guys are enjoying our trip?" Alex asked us, like some insecure aunt making sure everyone was having fun at her lame family party. Alex took his captain title a little too seriously, if you asked me.
"I'm going to be enjoying it more when I'll have one of Lexi's marshmallow cookies in my hands," Trevor answered him.
OHMYGOD. S'Mores. S'Mores. Peasants. Peasants, the lot of them.
"Forget about it dude, you ain't getting your hands on my cookies," Lexi told him with a cheeky little grin.
"Oh, Trevor got burned," Dwayne announced, and everyone laughed.
"See that's exactly what we were missing, dirty jokes," Clark nodded, smirking.
That wasn't even that naughty. The guys was totally grasping at straw.
Lexi wasn't amused. She rolled her eyes at him, going, "please."
"Oh yeah and I made another of my legendary versions of the Aristocrat's joke for you guys," Clark informed us.
Ugh. Not again. Clark seriously sounded like a sexually frustrated virgin sometimes, like he had to talk about sex all the tiiiime. I had a dirty mind, but I knew when to stop.
Clark ignored everyone's frustrated cries against that idea and went, "So, a family walks into a talent agency. It's a father, a mother..."
Yeah, no. "If you don't stop right now, so help me god, I'll tell everyone about that time you tried to p—," I started to say. That sentence should have been that time you tried to pee in a cup while we were on a bus to an away football game and you peed on yourself instead and got stuck in pee pants for three hours. Clark had no idea that was the story I was going to share, but I had an infinite number of embarrassing stories about Clark. He should really stop oversharing. It was nice to know my knowledge of him scared him because Clark lunged at me and tackled me before I could say anything more.
"If you ever tell anyone," he yelled at me, while I was trying to push him off of me while laughing.
"Alright guys, break it off," Mark intervened, shoving Clark away.
"Fine," I complied, and sat back properly on my chair.
"I was just trying to tell a little joke," Clark said, looking like a petulant child.
"Yeah, like the most disgusting joke in the history of dirty jokes," Lexi said before snorting.
Clark grinned. "You don't know about that! Maybe in this version they really were doing a talent show."
"Alright, what's an aristracrap joke?" Stacey suddenly asked, coming out of nowhere. I had kind of forgotten she was here to be completely honest.
"If you answer that Clark I'm telling everyone," I told him, a little gleefully.
"Aw, come on! She asked," he whined.
"Well, we ask you to keep your jokes to yourself," Alex told him.
"If I can't share my sex jokes than I might as well leave right now," Clark declared.
"Please do," Lexi told him with a satisfy little smirk. I wanted to pinch her cheeks. I smiled behind my bottle of Gatorade.
"Shush! You like me! My presence is a blessing," he told her.
"And now, I'm asking you to stop being delusional," Alex said, shaking his head at him.
"Fine, as long as I get to ask one thing," Clark finally complied.
That ought to be good...
"Depends," Alex answered.
"Oh it's really simple, there's one thing I want to know in life one thing, and that is," Clark started to say and stared right at me, "how the hell did you manage to score that Maxim girl? Seriously, how? I'm begging you man," he said, hands linked together.
Why was he even asking me that. That was old news. Why did he suddenly need to bring the conversation to my now practically none existent sex life. I had no idea why anyone ever wanted to hook up with me. Sure, I was good looking, but I was kind of a depressing drag most of the time. It was a miracle anyone ever hang around me.
And now Clark was just kind of kneeling in front of me, with pleading eyes, hands clasped and begging. "Don't get all whiny, damn it. I don't know. She was at one of my mom's book release..." I mumbled. What was I supposed to say? She was bored, she grabbed my phone, kissed me by surprise and took a photo of it and then saved her number with that picture.
I had done absolutely nothing. I doubted he wanted me to tell him, I was just standing there.
"What kind of book does your mom write that makes a Maxim girl come to the event?" Clark exclaimed.
Book release, movie party, same old, same old, right? I wasn't even sure when that happened, that's how un-noteworthy it was to me. The girl was drunk and looking to entertain herself. Who was I to judge? I hadn't been the only one who got her number that way that evening. "That's... she was with a guy, a publisher or manager or something like that, alright, that's just how it works," I told him, not even sure of the details myself.
"But how?" Clark begged.
Could he just leave it alone already? "I told you, I don't know, I was drunk."
Everyone was looking at us listening to the conversation and I really didn't feel like talking more about this. I wasn't exactly proud of my more promiscuous years.
"See, that's why life is so unfair, he gets drunk, he gets a Maxim girl, I get drunk I get—"
I cut him off and said for him, "Your cousin Sue," just to shut him up, so he would finally be distracted and leave me alone.
"Just shut up," Clark said, falling deep in his chair, sighing "Life is so unfair..." he frowned, shaking his head and then drank from his beer bottle. "I wonder who deflowered you..."
I threw my hands up, completely discouraged. Seriously? What was wrong with him? Could he stop obsessing over me already? "Aw for fuck sake, aren't you done talking about my sex life?"
He ignored me and said, a little thoughtfully, "I bet it's that chick I saw on one of the pictures in your phone, Evelyn I think."
I am going to kill him. I am. I'm going to rent a boat and go in international waters and fucking dump him for sharks to eat. How dare he talk about my angel cousin? "Dude, that's my cousin! Unlike you, I don't do that family thing. And if you don't wipe that fucking smirk off your face and stop thinking about her I'm going to do it myself."
"Ah please, you can't keep all these England girls to yourself," Clark replied, still smirking.
There was absolutely no way to win with this guy, he had no shame and no filter. And I seriously didn't want to keep on talking about whoever had sex with me first. I was certainly not proud of it. "You know what, suit yourself, go on and try to nail any of them, just keep the fuck away from my family," I warned. Anyway, it wasn't like any of my cousins would ever be interested in a dumbass like him. They had better taste than that.
"And why would you want to go anywhere else when I'm here?" Miriam suddenly said, going to sit on his lap.
"Ew, get a room or something," I told them. What a ridiculous show. I saw Lexi make a face. I took the opportunity. I grabbed my chair and went to pluck it right beside her.
She just rolled her eyes at me without making any complaints. That was definitely progress.
"So, still mad at me Pumpkin?" I asked her.
"Of course not," she replied sweetly.
I narrowed my eyes a bit. That was... out of character? "Should I be scared?" I asked with a snort.
Lexi smirked at me. "Very."
"Oh well, I guess I'll deserve, whatever it is right? After all, I killed your M&M's," I told her.
"Exactly and murder should earn you a death penalty or something. Especially since what you did was like mass murder," she replied.
Oh my god, I was right. Ruining her M&Ms was what made her this pissed. What a strange, strange Pumpkin.
"So you're like an over protective brother with that cousin of yours?" Lexi suddenly asked me.
It felt weird to talk about real stuff like this. I mean, sure she had kind of shared stuff about herself with me, but she had never really asked about me.
So, I guess that kind of turned me into a rambling mess. "Well, she is like the little sister I never had. Every time I go back to England with my parents, we stay most of the time at the family mansion so I spend a lot of my time with her, and my other cousins of course."
"Family mansion? How loaded is your family for Pete's sake?" Lexi asked, surprised.
Oh, yeah, I guess she probably had no idea who my Mom was. And she had never seen my house either. Most of the guys knew, I guess she had never cared enough about me to find out.
I could have fun with that. Also, rambling mess. "Oh it's because I'm a prince you know I'm the heir to the throne and all that, and my family rule the world with an underground organization, fighting all the mythical creatures, so we get a lot of cash killing zombies."
"Dang it, and here I thought you were an undercover cop or something," Lexi replied, with a cute smile, playing along.
"And I was spying on you because your mom actually found a new profession; prostitution. And her pimp, that we saw at the restaurant, is like the leader of all pimps and I want to take him down because he shot me once and because of him I can't pee straight anymore. But now, I can't seem to take her down because I'm hypnotize by your beauty."
I am a rambling mess. RAM-BLING MESS.
"No, no. no, that's not it! You're actually a double agent and you fell in love with one of the whores and you kidnapped her, trying to pull a Stockholm syndrome on her," Lexi exclaimed enthusiastically, laughing. She was having fun. With me. When I made no sense.
God. I really shouldn't tell her that I love her right here, right now, right?
"And it turns out the pimp is the love of her life and I can't kill him because otherwise she'll be mad at me... yeah, yeah, I like that scenario," I replied, laughing too.
"But seriously?" Lexi, pressed, suddenly serious again.
That felt kind of weird explain. "Oh... well my families just always been lucky in business. They invested in the right companies at the right time, I guess, oh and inheritance and life insurance helped too. But yeah, both families, always been loaded, always will be I guess... well who knows with the stock market these days," I rambled on, and then added, "I think I liked the pimp story better."
Lexi smiled. "Me too."
"Alright Lexi, I think I've waited long enough now! I want my cookies," Trevor whined right beside her, appearing out of nowhere.
"Okay, don't get all hysterical-girl-in-a-50%-off-sale-on-shoes-shop on me dude," Lexi replied with a laugh and got up, walking away from me.
Just like that, I was forgotten again. I stayed on my chair while everyone got in line, waiting for Lexi to feed them more sugar. Maybe Sugar-Mama would be a better nickname for her.
Lexi was smiling and bossing everyone around, making them their S'Mores. I just sat there, smiling at her.
She looked happy. I shouldn't care about whether or not I mattered in her life.
"Blake? Aren't you going to get off your ass and come here? I'm not walking up to you to make you your cookie," Lexi suddenly said.
I looked around me, a little confused. Wait. She was actually talking to me?
I listened to her and got up.
I didn't particularly want to eat her diabetes-in-the-making S'Mores, but I'd be damned before I ever admitted to that.
She bossed me around, like she had everyone else, but there was nothing mean about it. It felt nice, actually.
When she was done and off to make another one, I just stood there beside her, staring at the S'mores, a bit like a moron. She'd made this for me. She'd never really made anything for me before.
I was kind of thinking about that, ignoring everyone around, when suddenly I felt something scorching hot on my cheek.
Lexi had just wiped the burnt marshmallow off her fingers on my face.
"Damn it Lexi! That's hot," I automatically yelped, jumping away from her. Was it her goal to scar my face this weekend? First the slapped branch in my face and now this?
Lexi just laughed though.
That little... "Oh you wanna play that game," I told her and opened my S'Mores, wiping the marshmallow and chocolate all over her face. That'll teach her.
"Ew! You jerk! That's gross. Get it off," Lexi yelled, her hands just making more of a mess as she tried to wipe it off.
There were a number of ways I could have complied with that demand, but I only had one brain cell left and it was clearly having a stroke, so it decided to grab Lexi's chin and lick it clean off.
"OH MY GOD! Blake! You fucking dick," Lexi yelled. I got a fuck, not a frack. Pumpkin was obviously mad. I was ready for about any kind of manhandling she could throw my way for pulling that stunt, what my only remaining brain cell had not anticipated was for Lexi to push me down on my chair, grab my chin and start licking me all over the face.
There was absolutely nothing sexy about this, aside from the fact that she'd push me down on my chair and she was practically straddling me, and her mouth was touching my face and my only remaining brain cell was having a stoke again.
"Alright, alright, get off," I told Lexi, pushing her off of me, before I started to take this seriously.
"You know that was just gross," Lexi said with a scowl, wiping her face with her arm.
"Hey, you licked too," I pointed out. She'd done it first, that was totally fair game.
"You know what, ground rule; no face licking, or just licking for that matter!" Lexi told me, while she sat down beside me. So, we needed ground rules now? Because we were going to see each other often? And situations might entail that we could lick each other faces again? Also, now Lexi was grabbing the hood of my hoodie and was wiping her face with it, getting way too close to me again.
She was going to kill that last brain cell of mine.
"I can't promise that," I admitted, laughing.
"Dumbass," she replied and punched my arm.
There was my manhandling. It had taken her a while this time.
"God I hope you didn't give me your herpes," Lexi whined.
Stacey, who I had still forgotten about, and for some reason was listening to us, snorted. "For him to have herpes, he'd need to kiss a girl!"
Lexi was confused and still wiping her face with her forearm. "What?"
"Oh yeah, mister doesn't like to get kiss," Stacey explained.
Could... could people leave me and my none-existent sex life alone today? Could I maybe catch a break?
"You'd blame me for not wanting to kiss that mouth," I mumbled before I could catch myself. I only had myself to blame for anything that happened with Stacey, so I couldn't exactly be bitter about it. It didn't mean I wanted to be reminded all the time.
Obviously, Lexi heard me, and instead of saying something mean, muffled a laugh.
It felt... good.
"You're so weird Blake," Stacey scowled, flipping her hair. Why was she even talking to me, if she clearly didn't enjoy my company?
"Thanks, coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment," I shot back.
"Whatever," Stacey she huffed and finally left, to go sit on Shawn's lap.
I kind of felt bad for the guy.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think it's dark enough to go swimming now!" Connor said loud enough, so everyone chatting around could hear.
"Great idea," Lexi automatically agreed beside me.
I wondered why she was so happy about this. She was always whining about being cold.
I kept this to myself, I mean, this meant I could see her in a bikini again, so I wasn't going to complain.
We all went to get out swimming suits. Lexi disappeared quickly.
I grabbed my own, but something was wrong with it. I automatically saw it. It was filled with little sticky burrs.
Oh.
So this was why Lexi had suddenly stopped being mad. She had planned on scarring my man junk.
The little vixen.
"Yo, Clark?"
"Reporting for duty."
I didn't need a lot to convince Clark of my brilliant idea, and the second we agreed, and I was done making my bathing suit man junk safe, I was screaming "LEXI!" at the top of my lungs.
No answers. Obviously.
"LEXI GRAYSON! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" I yelled again, trying to find her.
The guys were kind of looking at me weirdly, but I ignored them and started to walk around the wood. I swear I could hear Lexi laughing.
"LEXI! SHOW YOUR FACE YOU LITTLE COWARD!"
More muffled laughs.
"Get out of your hide out so you can explain to me why the hell you seem to find so much pleasure in torturing my balls!" I said, and this time I could clearly hear her laugh. She was really close by.
A walked a bit more and Lexi really started to laugh now. She was just a few feet from me, hiding behind a bush. I walked up to her. She was sitting on the ground, clutching her stomach and laughing.
I was glad she found so much amusement in my plausible pain.
"Oh Grayson, you're so dead right now," I told her the second I was standing in front of her.
That just seemed to make her laugh more.
"Oh god... I'm sorry... I didn't think about all the aspect of this prank... or your hairiness," Lexi was trying to said between her laughing, almost losing her breath over it.
Was she implying that I had a hairy bush? Was she even thinking about that?
I crouched down in front of her and gently pressed all the burrs I had taken out of my shorts in her hair. "Good luck taking those out. By the way I gave you the same. Enjoy," I told her and smirked. Let her think those were all pressed against my junk. She'd flip.
My guess was right. Lexi was up on her feet and furious the next second. "Oh that's just gross!"
"Should have thought about it first," I told her, and started to walk away.
She was trying to take the burrs out of her hair behind me, and I was waiting for Clark to do his thing.
Which happened right about now.
"Oh my god, did you hear that?" Lexi asked, while I just kept walking.
"My balls weeping in pain?" I answered.
"No! I'm serious, did you hear that sound?" Lexi said, and walked closer to me, her front almost touching my back.
Clark's ridiculous rendering of a bear? I couldn't believe she was falling for this. "What sound?"
"Like a growling," she whispered in a hiss at me.
I narrowed my eyes a bit. Slowed down. "No..."
Clark growled again. Lexi freaked. "Oh SHIT."
"What?"
"It's a bear. There's a bear!"
"What are you talk--" I started to say, and right at that moment, Clark growled a lot more loudly, "OH SHIT! There's a bear! RUN!" I said and started to run.
I easily lost her behind me and went to duck behind a tree while Lexi rushed out of the woods and into the clearing.
Lexi just looked around, clearly freaking out.
"BLAKE!" she yelled.
"HELP!" I yelled back.
Lexi was looking around herself frantically again. "SOMEONE HELP," she screamed, heading back to the forest.
She was yelling my name and I was following her and she was saying "Blake where are you?" and I was standing right behind her and saying, "Right here."
Lexi yelled some more.
"Blake, are you alright?" she asked, and Clark chose this moment to go all out and Lexi was yelling like there was no tomorrow.
And I was laughing.
Clark stopped growling and started to laugh with me too.
"Oh god you should have heard yourself," I said, laughing some more, and I was leaning down on my knees, trying to catch my breath.
"Blake, Blake, Blake," Clark added in a high pitch voice, laughing too.
"Oh my god! What's wrong with you?" Lexi yelled, and kicked my shin.
I ignored it. It hadn't been that strong of a kick. I guess she didn't want to totally hurt me.
"First, please Pumpkin did you really think I would be dumb enough to put my shorts on with those spiky things, I'm a jerk, not blind, oh and for your information the hairiness thing, that was just gross of you to think that, I mean please I'm hot. And second did you really think you could get back at me? Seriously Pumpkin, there's no point in trying to get revenge, I'm unprankable," I told her.
"So what you decided to just get me more mad at you," she replied, punching me on the shoulder this time.
More manhandling. Totally predictable.
"Well you did try to hurt my manbusiness again, and that's just hitting below the belt, plus I gotta say, you make a funny frightened girl," I informed her, laughing a bit more.
"Oh god! What's wrong with you two? I almost had a freaking heart attack," she yelled and shoved Clark.
"Hey! Not my idea here, I just followed the lead," Clark answered, still laughing. He ought to be useful sometimes.
Lexi narrowed her eyes at me. "You!" she pointed at me, "You're in so much trouble," she said and punched me again.
How many times was that now, in twenty-four hours?
"Aw, just give it up Pumpkin, you're never going to win against me, but hey, if it makes you feel any better, I give you an A plus for your efforts! You earn yourself seven minutes of heaven with Clark the Tornado!" I said and then just laughed and laughed and laughed, because I was delirious and hysterical and clearly sleep deprived.
"I'm all yours, sugar," Clark said, taking a few tentative steps towards her.
Clearly a bad idea on his part because that earned him a kind in the family jewels.
Clark instantly fell to the ground.
I stopped laughing. Lexi glared at me.
"Oh shit," I automatically said and ran away.
"YOU'RE A DEAD MAN, EATON," Lexi yelled, running after me.
I was running away, but I was also laughing and I was exhausted, and I kind of wanted Lexi to catch up with me, because I had very troubling issues.
I hadn't expected for Lexi to basically tackled me to the ground once she did.
I kept laughing up until the point Lexi grabbed my short and pulled and I realized a very troubling fact quite immediately.
I guess I had sort of overestimated my cleverness. Also, I was tired and it was dark out.
There clearly was one spiky burr left in my swimming suit. And now it was probably causing permanent damage to my man junk.
"STOP, STOP, STOP!" I yelled, pushing Lexi off of me.
Oh god, oh god. This was going to cause permanent damage. I was getting into the fetal position and I was never going to move again.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god... I forgot to take one out... Oh god that hurts..."
Lexi understood what was happening and was laughing again.
"OH. MY. GOD!" I punched the ground to deter the pain.
Lexi kept laughing.
"Oh this is sooo not funny, Grayson," I whined.
"Trust me, from my point of view, this is hilarious," she replied, a little breathless from her laughing.
I ignored her. I was just trying to take out the burr out of my shorts without exposing myself and causing any more permanent damage.
I wondered if the expression you break it you buy it applied to this situation.
"This is for all my dead M&M's. I avenged your memories, rest in peace guys," Lexi said.
"I'd like to inform you that I'm in fucking pain," I reminded her.
"Well, then I think we can say we're even now," she replied smugly.
At this point the burr was out and I was back on my feet, ignoring the pain. "Oh we're far from even."
Lexi's eyes widened with worry and then she was running away.
Smart girl.
"Alex! Alex! ALEX!" Lexi started to yell as she was running as I tried to catch up with her and dodge every branch she snapped back in my face. Again, you break it, you buy it?
Unfortunately, up ahead on the deck, her knight in shining armor appeared.
"Alex," she yelled again, catching his attention. Once she caught up with him, she went to hide behind him.
Like that was going to save her.
She kind broke it. She kind of had to buy it.
"Hiding behind Alex won't save you," I told her while Alex asked what was wrong.
"Papa Bear, Blake's mean to me," Lexi whined in a little voice, playing the innocent.
"She gave me a freaking wedgie," I stated, though I didn't understand why I had to explain anything to Alexander Parker. I tried to grab her from behind him. He kept shielding her from me. What was new there?
"Kitty, that's low, even for you," Alex said and laughed.
I ignored his stupid nickname and their stupid friendship and said, "Hand her to me Parker."
"He drowned my M&M's, threw me in the water, oh and put the spiky thingy in my hair and scared the living crap outta me making me believe there was a bear," Lexi ranted with a little pout.
Alex laughed. "Sorry man, she wins."
"That's just because she had sex with you." I regretted saying this automatically. Part of me dreamt that either of them would deny this.
"So not the point here, you're torturing my Kitty, I'm the only one who has the right to do that," Alex answered.
No denying it. Of course. What was I thinking? That the force of my will could change history?
I should really stop torturing myself over this. I shouldn't matter to me, what she and Parker ever did together. Lexi never belonged to me. Lexi didn't owe me anything. I shouldn't take their relationship so personally.
"Yeah, and I think we could drop it now, call it a truce?" Lexi said sheepishly behind Alex, clutching his arm.
"You're unbelievable," I answered, rolling my eyes.
"Is that a yes?" Lexi asked, with a grin.
"Whatever," I mumbled. I wasn't actually mad at her. Kudos to her for actually getting me with her burr prank.
"Shake hands kids," Alex said, stepping aside. Lexi's shield wasn't protecting her anymore.
She extended her hands towards me, to call a truce. I rolled my eyes at her antic. I grabbed her hand and shook it. And then dragged her towards me and put the burr that had been in my pants in her hair before letting go of her.
"This one really went against my manbusiness," I informed her with a smirk.
Lexi was making disgusted sound, trying to get the burr out of her hair, whining and squealing.
"Now we're even," I informed her. She glared at me.
One of the twins took this perfect opportunity to deflect the attention from me, and jumped in the lake, splashing Lexi in the process.
"Ah cold," Lexi screeched, jumping away. If she didn't lose her voice by the end of this trip, it would be a miracle.
"Dude you're in trouble," Lexi told him.
Once again, I was forgotten. It wasn't exactly a bad thing.
"Come and get me," the twin replied.
It was Alexander's turn now to jump in the water and splash Lexi again.
"What's wrong with you all? It's so cold," Lexi whined, wrapping her arms around herself, shivering from the cold.
"Come on! Get in Lexi," Davis yelled from somewhere in the lake.
"Nope! I think it was a bad idea! I'm all skinny you know. I'll get hypothermia in no time," she answered.
I smiled a little at that. She was so cute.
Connor added form the water too, "You chicken out?"
"No I'm just being realist," she replied.
I crouched down to see how bad it really was. It wasn't that bad, we had definitely come to the Creek and jumped in the water when it was colder, but I humored her. "Yeah, definitely freezing."
And now Alex was out of the water and wrapping his arms around Lexi, hugging her to him.
"Dear god! Get off, you're fucking cold," she squealed, pushing him away.
Yes, that was the perfect way to react to Parker hugging her.
"Wanna come in my arms. I'm all warm and cuddly," I offered her.
She scowled at me. "Dream on smartpants."
"I will Pumpkin, I will," I admitted and then teased her, "Alright so wanna race me to the other side?"
"Are you out of your freaking mind?"
I chuckled, took a step towards her. "Come on. Where's your competitive side?"
"Didn't you hear me at all? It's dead cold."
"The weather or your competitive side," I asked with a laugh.
"Both!" she whined.
"I think we should throw her in the water," Alexander added.
I'd done enough to piss off Lexi today. I wasn't going to help him with that, or help him with anything really.
"Oh no you don't," Lexi said, trying to run away from him, but he caught her around the waist quite easily again.
Everyone was shouting at him to throw her in the water. I didn't say anything.
"Alexander Parker! You'll get into humongous trouble if you don't put me down right this instant," she said, still trashing.
Maybe I should punch him to let her get away.
Before I could do anything, Alex just said, "Alright," and let go of her.
Everyone whined. Maybe this was why she loved him. He listened to her in the end.
He jumped back in the lake. I came to stand beside Lexi, while she just stood there with her arms wrapped around herself.
"I'll make a deal with you, if you jump I'll do a back flip," I suddenly offered her. If she really didn't want to go in the water she would be off this deck. She needed an incentive. I could give her one.
"Show off," she replied, but there was no malice in her voice.
"Come on Pumpkin, I thought you were tougher than this," I teased her.
Everyone was still yelling at her, trying to get her to jump. I saw the resolve in her eyes, the second she convinced herself she was going to do it. And then she was running to the end of the deck, squealing again, and jumped in the water.
It wasn't exactly graceful. She tried to stop her fall before she even touched the water. Her head barely went under. Her arms were slapping water around while she kept squealing.
There was commotion in the water, Lexi was trying to get out, the guys wouldn't let her. I was going to do that backflip quickly so people would be distracted and leave her alone.
"Alright, you earn your back flip," I yelled at her and added, "Now, just so you know, if I hit my head or something, you'll have to be the one giving me mouth-to-mouth."
"DREAM ON," she automatically shot back.
"I WILL," I answered with a laugh. I stood at the edge of the deck. Crouched forward. Took a swing and jumped, lunging myself backwards.
The change in temperature took me by surprise. The second my head got out of the water I let out a, "Oh god, it is cold."
"Told you, dumbass," Lexi said from somewhere behind me.
I got out of the water not too long after. The guys played around for a while. Lexi stayed a bit longer than I had thought.
I went to change. My whole body felt crisped. My head felt kind of empty. I was having the beginning of a headache, I could totally see it coming.
And all my movements were a lot slower than normal. I was so tired. I needed to eat something. I needed to sleep.
I really needed to sleep. I should have just gone in my tent right away, but part of me thought about Lexi sitting around the fire. I wasn't going to lose a precious minute with her. I could sleep later.
I headed back to the fire., with a bag of food Anita had made for me.
Lexi was sitting with the girls and Catherine was there and suddenly, in my head, all I could think was that Josh's damn sister was going to open her mouth and blab so I rushed over there.
"Scooch over Pumpkin," I said, standing beside the picnic table.
The most surreal thing happened. Lexi just moved over, giving me space to sit down, without complaining or making any snarky remark.
I was going to lose my mind here.
I should reward good behavior. I dug a piece of Nanaimo bar from my bag and handed it to her.
"What's that?" she asked me, her cute little face frowning.
"Nanaimo bars. It's good, just eat it," I told her, laughing a little. She was a sugar-monster. She would love it.
She just kept staring at the dessert with her little confused frowning face. The second she ate it though, I saw the sugar-monster was happy.
"Do you think giving me sugary thing like that will lure me into your tent?" she said laughing.
Oh yes, I wanted to lure her into my tent and.. maybe like sleep for three days. God, I was tired.
"Doesn't hurt to try," I teased her.
"Oh you'd be surprise," she said beside me, nodding. Of course, I should always expect manhandling from her.
I laughed. She smiled at me. I didn't regret not going to sleep right away.
That was until I heard Stacey's voice.
"Oh my gawd, you guys, I have to tell you this. You know that huge gorgeous sign for Victoria Secret? Well that dick that puts graffiti everywhere drew a fucking fatty beside her that says, I can't believe we used to be BFF in high school. I mean, come on. So disrespectful."
Why...? Why was she even talking about this?
"I personally think it's funny," Clark said from afar.
Of course he did. The one graffiti we did while Josh was slightly drunk and absolutely dead set on making it this way and no other way was the one Clark enjoyed.
"So isn't," Miriam said, probably just to stick up with Stacey.
"The dude doing this is out of his freaking mind, that's for sure," Jimmy pitched in.
Well, that particular time, one was drunk and the other clearly only had one brain cell working.
"Dude? Please, they need to be more than one to do that. I saw it while driving here. The graffiti is huge," Connor added.
Yep, two morons.
"Whoever they are, they're pretty stupid, don't you think?" Catherine said, staring right at me. I sort of cowered in my seat.
"Sure," I shrugged trying not to jump over the table to cover her mouth.
"And immature," she added.
"Whatever you say," I mumbled, trying to look away. I am not suspicious, not suspicious at all.
"And they should definitely grow up and stop drawing stupid things, right? And actually try to get a normal job?" she kept on going.
Oooooh. Low blow.
She was saved by her boyfriend who announced at the exact moment, "Got the wood!"
"Yeah!" Lexi cheered and then I looked at her and her teeth were chattering and she looked really freezing with her lips more blue than pink.
"Your lips are blue Pumpkin," I told her, a little worried.
She was going to get a cold. Maybe I shouldn't have helped into getting her back in the lake. She was a tiny little thing.
"I'm fine," she answered me, dismissing the matter with her hand and then she rubbed her arms.
Maybe I should tell her to come snuggle in my arm. More manhandling on her part would mean she would be moving and she would get warmer. Getting pissed would also make her warmer.
But I didn't want to fight with her again. "You're so stubborn," I told her, shaking my head.
"Why, yes I am," she said and then she got up.
I followed her with my eyes all the way to the fire. She raised her hands over it, trying to get warmer.
I was about to get up, and go stand next to her but then Parker went to stand beside her. I looked away.
Of course.
I started at the table while everyone chatted around. I tried to keep my eyes open. I dug my nails in my palms to stay up and distract myself.
"Alright guys, I'm out. Good night!" Lexi yelled.
"Night Lexi," Catherine said smiling, along with Janna.
"Try not to dream too much of me Pumpkin," I told her. I did enough dreaming about her for the both of us.
"Don't worry about that," she answered me rolling her eyes.
"Oh and don't die of hyperthermia. It would really be a party pooper if we had to bring back your corpse," I told her, trying to be teasing, but truthfully I was a bit worried.
Her teeth were still chattering.
"Ha ha! Real funny Blake!" she said and rolled her eyes again and then she said something to Alex. I didn't want to know what, so I just turned around and stared intently at the table again, trying to find patterns in the wood.
When I raised my head Catherine was looking at me with sympathy. I gave her the don't you say a word look.
She just shook her head at me.
"Alright, I think I'm going to go find my Aquaman and drag him to my tent," Janna said, smirking a little and then she got up after saying goodnight to everyone and left.
"Well looks like it's just you and me Blake," Catherine said an evil smile on her lips.
She reached for one of my Nanaimo bars but I slapped her hand.
"Nah ah! No, no no. You ain't getting any of these," I said and ate one. Maybe the sugar would help with the whole almost passing out from exhaustion on the table thing.
"That is absolutely unfair. If I was Lexi you'd give me all your stack," she said and rolled her eyes.
"God damn it, woman! Would you shush?" I hissed at her, ready to shut her up.
What was wrong with her? Almost everyone had gone to sleep at this point, but Alex was still sitting around the fire. Did she want me to die?
"Hey! I'm just saying," she said with a shrug.
"Don't say anything, please."
I was too exhausted to deal with any of the repercussions her blabbing could cause.
"You hopeless precocious lover," she said shaking her head, smiling a little.
"You and your brother enjoy my misery," I said, glaring at her.
"We just like to ruffle your feathers a bit," she replied getting up. "Now, go to sleep will you?"
I nodded and looked at her going up to her boyfriend, taking him by the hand walking to their tent.
I got up too. Time to go to bed, I guessed.
I dragged my feet there. Alex was still sitting around the fire, texting away. I ignored him. I was done with people for today.
Or I thought I was. Unfortunately life apparently had other plans. I had set up my tent a little further away than anyone else, in case I would have had nightmares. With how exhausted I was, I wasn't surprised I'd have one tonight, especially since the headache was building up.
Apparently some asshole took advantage of that because someone was clearly in my tent and they weren't alone.
"Whoever this is just get the fuck out of my tent," I said a couple of feet from it.
The only answer I got was some disturbing noises. I just raised my hands in surrender. I wasn't going anywhere near it now.
Ew.
I walked back to the fire scowling.
"Wow, you up already?" Alex said, looking at me, laughing a little.
"Someone is popping my tents' cherry and I do not find it particularly amusing. And I don't even have the energy to do anything about it," I mumbled and sat down beside him.
I was kind of feeling hollow inside with how tired I was. But there was no way I could fall asleep here. Maybe today was the day I would die of exhaustion. I hoped Lexi would say a mournful speech at my funeral.
Everyone was gone to sleep at this point and I wasn't going to be an asshole and wake anyone. But Alex had a car. I didn't need to sleep out in the open. It was cold outside.
I hated to ask anything of him, but I was a little desperate. "Hey, Alex, do you mind if I go sleep in your car? At least it won't feel as cold and humid as it does right now."
He looked up form his phone a little disheartedly. "Yeah, huh, about that... I'm going to have to leave for a short bit."
"What?"
"I'm kind of... leaving." I must have made one heck of a mean face because Alex raised his hands in defense and automatically added, "I'll be right back though."
"Seriously? Why?"
"I'm kind of meeting someone."
"Why didn't you just bring your girlfriend here if you couldn't even spent a whole evening without her?"
I was getting angry. This wasn't about me though, it was about how much of a coward Alex was that he couldn't even be honest about having a girlfriend in front of Lexi so he had to sneak in the middle of the night to go meet her.
How ridiculous.
Was he just doing this shit because he wanted Lexi to keep pinning for him?
"It's a little bit more complicated than that..." he trailed.
Oh yeah, sure. "How about I go wake up Lexi and you two can have a nice little chat about your sudden need to run away in the middle of the night to answer a booty call?"
Parker grabbed my arm. "Dude, seriously, don't. It's none of your business."
"You shouldn't be doing something you would be ashamed of admitting."
He snorted with kind of a scorn. "Wow, getting advice from you, what a night."
That felt like a slap. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Sure, because I'd fooled around a little a while back I had no say in anything apparently?
"You're right. I'm the jerk. I'm the bad guy. You're the saint. Do whatever you want."
Alex had done enough hurting Lexi. I wasn't going to be the one to add some more of his crap on top of the already steaming pile. And I was done talking with him.
I got up.
"Where are you going?"
"Gonna jump in the lake and hope to be eaten by some lake monster to end my misery," I said without turning around.
"Blake..." Alex said.
I turned. "What?"
He was looking at me with a frown. He shook his head. "Nothing..."
I ignored whatever that was supposed to mean and headed for the deck.
When I was lying on my back on it, I texted, Tyler Grayson, please entertain me.
Seconds later, he sent me a picture of him trying to shove his foot in his mouth.
I called him immediately. "What the fuck Tyler?"
He laughed on the other side of the line. "What? It's just a little preview of what I can do. Pick meeeee."
"Christ."
"Why do you need entertainment?"
I breathed for a second. Thought about saying I couldn't fall asleep in this cold. Thought about saying a dozen of things. "Why does your sister love Alex so much?" I asked him softly.
Tyler answered automatically. "Good abs, killer hair, smells nice, says yes to most of her ridiculous ideas, can shove his whole foot in his mouth."
I chuckled, not one bit satisfied with that answer. "I really don't understand your sister."
"Oh, no one does. That's totally fine," Tyler said. I snorted. I didn't say anything else. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
I sighed. "I got undesired visitors of the carnal pleasure variety in my tent, so I'm staying as far away from it as I can."
"No other free tents?"
"Nope."
Tyler suddenly sounded super excited. "So, are we gonna like, talk all night? Fall asleep while listening to each other breathe. Oh please moan my name in your sleep, sweet Blakina."
"Jesuuuus. I'm hanging up now. I've been entertained and now traumatized."
He ignored me and shouted, "SEND ME NUDES!"
I hung up and laughed alone. I closed my eyes for a second. Opened them again. Stared at the stars. Tried to find constellations. My head was spinning a little from sleep deprivation so I couldn't do a good job at it though.
I stretched out my arms and then folded them under my head.
This was going to be a long night.
"Hey Blake?"
I sat down, turned around to look at Alex walking my way. It was dark. All I could see was the shape of him.
I wanted to throw something at him. Unfortunately I had nothing laying around. "Please don't tell me I can't even sleep here."
Alex stopped a few feet in front of me. He was kind of twitching. "No... Huh. Look, I'm sorry. I think. And... well, I'm leaving, but... my tent is kind of big."
He was making no sense. What was up with the mumbling and rambling? "So?"
"So you can go sleep in it."
I snorted very loudly. I almost shot up snot. "Ha ha. Yeah right, I'm not going to go sneak in a tent where Lexi sleeps to scare the crap out of her. I'm not a total freak."
I was obsessed with her and probably not in a healthy way, and I was kind of a creep I guess, but I wasn't going to be that much of a creep.
"Did I tell you to go cuddle with her? I just said to go sleep in my tent. I wasn't going to cuddle with her in her sleep either. Go in, get in my sleeping bag and just get some sleep."
I chuckled. Turned around. Laid down on my back again. "No thanks. I'm fine right here."
"Blake, if you do fall asleep you're probably going to roll around and actually fall in the lake."
I closed my eyes. Smiled a little. "Music to my ears."
Alex nudged my arm with his foot. "Blake. Go sleep in my tent. We'll wake Lexi up and ask. I'm sure she won't care."
I wanted to say no again. I should have said no. It was the right thing to answer. But I was dead tired and slightly delirious and tired of saying no when I really really wanted to say yes.
I got up. "Fine, but you better tuck me in."
We walked side by side back to his tent. Alex was still holding his phone. It kept flashing with incoming texts.
"So, why are you ashamed of introducing your girlfriend to us?" I asked him.
He kind of jumped in surprise at my question. He took a second too long before answering quietly, "it's not my girlfriend."
Poor girl. "Oh, so she's just a side bitch and you don't want to make her think you guys are serious by introducing her to the gang?"
He sighed. "It's not a side bitch either."
"Don't tell me you're into your cousins like Clark?"
"God no."
"Wait... is it Daphnee? Are you guys seeing each other?" It would make sense. Daphnee was kind of... promiscuous and sly about it. It would make total sense for them not to be honest about it with Lexi. And Daphnee was due back from her trip soon, if I remember what Fred had said.
"Can you drop this please? It's none of your business and you're really not the first person I would want to talk about this with, okay?"
Oh! He totally hadn't denied it. I stopped pushing though. One day I would have to stop hating Alexander Parker because Lexi loved him. It wouldn't be today, but it wasn't bad to start thinking about doing it. "Whatever."
At this point, we had reached his tent. Alex unzipped it and poked his head inside. "Lexi?"
"Shut up," Lexi mumbled from inside, hiding in her sleeping bag.
"Blake's going to sleep here, is it okay?" Alex asked her.
"Blake..." Lexi just trailed.
"Yeah, Blake, is it okay?" Alex asked again.
"I think she's still sleeping," I said from beside him. I had no idea if she talked in her sleep normally, but she didn't seem a hundred percent aware of what was happening.
Alex backed away and patted me on the back. "She didn't scream bloody murder. You should be fine. Let's never talk about this again. Bye bye."
"Wait!" I said, but he just ignored me and walked away.
I could zip it back up and turn around. I should probably do that.
I stepped inside and zipped the tent behind me.
"Lexi, it's Blake, you have permission to manhandle me if you don't want me here," I said softly.
"Shut up," she mumbled again.
I sat down and slipped in the empty sleeping bag.
"Lexi?"
"Hmm?"
I laid down beside her. And by beside her I meant that I was leaving a good five feet between our two bodies.
"If you want to kick me out, this is the right time to do it," I told her.
She shifted, coming closer and flayed her hand around, kind of slapping me in the face, covering my mouth obviously to shut me up.
Her hands were freezing.
"Hey, you okay there Pumpkin?"
"So god damn cold," she mumbled in a shiver.
"Yeah, I can see that," I answered and took her hand in my own, sandwiching it and then blew my warm breath on it.
She started to wiggled around in her sleeping bag, coming closer and closer to me. She was right beside me now.
We had two sleeping bags and many layers of clothing between us. I was sure she could still feel my heart beating frantically.
She snuggled closer and closer. She pressed the tip of her freezing nose against my cheek.
I yelped. "Pumpkin, you're freezing."
"You're warm," she told me. Was she awake? I never heard anyone say she sleep-talked. Was this real? Was I going crazy from sleep deprivation?
"No shit."
"Hmm. You also smell good."
I chuckled, staring up. "Thanks."
She wrapped an arm around my waist over the sleeping bag, settling her face in the crook of my neck. I stopped moving. I stopped breathing. I was freaking out, ready to push her away, scared that this was just some kind of dream.
But then I just... I let go. I let it all go and wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her against me. The hell with everything. I'd let her think whatever she wanted of me. I would let her curse me and punch me. It would be worth it. I was ready to pay any price for this. I would probably have to pay for this.
I squeezed her tighter and pressed my lips against the top of her head. And she just snuggled against me more comfortably, holding me tighter too.
I closed my eyes.
That girl would be the death of me.
_______________
A/N: FINALLY. Am I right? haha
So after like... what, 10 years the mystery is finally resolved. Tyler is the original Blexi shipper, y'all. You may assume that Alex's change of heart comes from Tyler butting in. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also, let's mention the fact that this chapter is freaking humongous. It definitely rivals with my old I Sold.. chapters. (It's like... three I Sold chapters?) I know I said it was going to come sooner, but it was so long that it took me a whiiiiile to finish it. A lot longer than I had anticipated. I should have realized that everything I had written for this chapter ten years ago was going to need some serious editing. It probably needs some more editing. I'll look over it again later today.
Now, for the next few days, please don't ask for more Smirking Jerk uploads. Okay? I'm putting 100% of my writing efforts into finishing The Spawns. You guys got a HUMONGOUS Smirking Jerk chapter. Re-read it. You won't be getting any Smirking Jerk until I finish The Spawns. You won't be getting anything else as a matter of fact. I have the 5 last chapters planned out and partially written. I want to finish The Spawns before the end of the year.