Chapter Ten:
Bryce's POV
Anders and Scarlett insisted on joining us.
I fucking hate those cock-blocking pieces of shit right about now.
As I emerge from the bathroom, unbuttoning one more button of my shirt for good measure, I find Blossom putting in her second earring in the mirror, biting her lip in concentration.
Not wanting to startle her knowing that she would try and choke me to death if she accidentally stabbed herself, I simply take a seat down on the bed, slipping my feet into a pair of black dress shoes.
My breath catches in my throat when Blossom turns around to face me.
She looks fucking beautiful.
She's wearing a burgundy dress that falls below her knees, a long slit up one side. The straps are thin and it has a sweetheart neckline, showing off a shit ton of her cleavage, and I don't realise that I've been staring for an absurdly long period of time until Blossom innocently clears her throat.
I blink a few times, shooting her a sheepish smile as I stand up from the bed and make my way across the room towards her.
Once there's only a few inches of space between us, Blossom strains up on her toes. Expecting her to kiss me I shut my eyes, opening them soon later when instead of a kiss she adjusts the collar of my shirt.
"You little tease," I mutter, and Blossom simply smiles at me.
"You look very handsome, Bryce," she compliments, now wrapping her arms around my waist. She bridges the gap between us, pressing her chest to mine, and I band my arms around her waist to squeeze her close.
"And you, my dear, are fucking gorgeous. My beautiful girl," I reply back in a whisper, kissing the top of her head.
"I love when you say that I'm your girl. It makes me feel so happy," Blossom mumbles, and I instantly bend down to hook my arms under her thighs, hoisting her up into my arms.
She lets out a youthful giggle and I smile at the sound. I let her wrap her legs firmly around my waist as she buries her face against my chest, and as I grab her phone from where it was resting on the table before slipping it into my pocket, I hear her whisper, "I love you, Bryce."
I give her another kiss, this time on the side of her head. "I love you too, baby. Let's go see if Scarlett and Anders are ready to go."
She nods against me, and so I carry her out of the bedroom and into the living area. Shutting off the lights after us, I close the door as well just for good measure, then spotting Scarlett and Anders seated at the island.
Scarlett is wearing a short black dress, cut low at both the front and back. Her hair is tied up in a sleek bun atop her head, and she's wearing the pair of ruby earrings that she always used to wear. Meanwhile, Anders is dressed in plain black pants and shoes much like me, except his shirt is burgundy.
This makes me realise two things.
First, that Blossom and Anders are wearing the exact same shade of red, making them looking like a dorky fucking couple.
Second, that Blossom's dress is cut even farther down at the back then Scarlett's, meaning that she's almost certainly not wearing a bra.
Setting Blossom down on her feet, I rub my hand up and down her back, not able to feel a bra underneath the dress at all.
This girl will be the absolute death of me if I have to go all night knowing that she isn't wearing a damn bra.
Glancing towards Anders, I find his eyes greedily raking up and down Blossom's body. When he moves on to look at me, I narrow my eyes at him, scowling.
I can tell that he must've noticed that him and my girl are matching judging by the cheeky grin on his face, and I give him a warning look as I look back down at Blossom.
This has got to be a fucking joke. Now they're going to be walking around looking like a damn couple all night.
"What jacket and shoes are you going to wear, beautiful?" I ask Blossom, whose eyebrows fly up at my question.
"I totally forgot! I have no clue!" she exclaims, and I can't help but to watch in amusement as she scampers off back into the bedroom, her long hair flowing behind her.
As soon as she's out of earshot, Anders comments, "You're a lucky damn bastard. She's really hot. Like, really hot."
"Don't even think about it, buddy. I'll slit your fucking throat," I snap, and he lets out a gruff laugh.
"Her and I would look good together, don't you think? You and Scarlett have always looked really great together anyway, in my opinion," he says slyly, biting down on his lower lip.
I have to take a few deep breaths in and out to contain myself. I want to murder him for bringing up how Scarlett and I used to be an item, and I also want to castrate him for having thoughts about touching Blossom.
"I hate to say it, but he must be really into Lexi, Andy. He's never wanted to have a girlfriend before, and he didn't even try to start a relationship with any of the girls at school knowing damn well that almost all of them would say yes. I believe it when he says that he's in love with her," Scarlett chimes in wistfully, and for once in the past forty-eight hours, I'm not mad at what she has to say.
Anders sighs, leaning back in his seat as he says, "She just seems so innocent. And I think we all know that you are the exact opposite, Bryce."
I raise my middle finger to him and he shakes his head at me. There are so many other things that I want to say and do, such as bashing his head against the hardwood floor, but I don't want Blossom to be upset with me and so I stick my hands in my pockets as I remain silent.
"She didn't seem that innocent when she had her hand around my neck last night," Scarlett mumbles, and Anders snickers at her.
She didn't seem that 'innocent' when I had my hand around her neck, but I'm certainly not going to bring that up in front of these two.
I luckily don't have to reply to Scarlett's comment as Blossom comes flouncing back into the room holding a pair of heels in each hand.
"Which shoes?" she asks me, holding both pairs out for me to inspect, wearing an adorable smile on her face.
Glancing between the two pairs, one the same burgundy as her dress and the other plain black, I answer, "I like the ones that match your dress."
She nods, grinning at me. I watch her vanish back into the bedroom, and she soon emerges wearing the red shoes and a black denim jacket while carrying my leather jacket in her arms.
"I figured you would want to wear this," she says, biting her lips as she hands me the jacket. I take it from her, slipping my arms through the sleeves before bending down to whisper in her ear, "Thank you, baby girl."
She now has a satisfied smile on her face as she nods at me. I reach for her hand and she easily links her fingers through mine, shuffling closer to me so that her side is pressed against mine.
"You two are ready to go?" I ask Scarlett and Anders, who both nod as they glare at Blossom and I.
I'm fairly certain that Blossom is well aware of how Anders is staring at her like he's ready to rip off her clothes, and so I'm happy to see that the thought of people being attracted to her doesn't make her uncomfortable anymore; she's finally owning how goddamn perfect she is.
As long as he doesn't try and pull something, I think that she'll be feeling secure tonight.
Scarlett and Anders stand up from their seats, both of them making their way towards the foyer to grab their own jackets. I take advantage of this moment alone with Blossom to quietly ask, "Why aren't you wearing a bra?"
She freezes, her eyes widening before she gets a cocky look on her face. "How are you so sure about that?"
"I couldn't feel it, and your dress is very low-cut. We could just skip the dinner plans and head back into the bedroom so that I could find out for certain, though," I suggest, making her gasp.
Her cheeks flush a deep shade of red, and she stares down at the ground for a moment before muttering, "Maybe later."
🌸🌸🌸
"How's your dad doing, Bryce?" Scarlett asks me, brushing her nails up and down Anders' arm.
Anders barks out a laugh, and Blossom just raises her eyebrows at him from where she's seated directly beside me.
Of course: Blossom has no clue about Scarlett's obsession with my father.
She's always had an obnoxious and gross crush on him, completely neglecting the fact that he's thirty-six years older than her.
It's fucking nasty, and I'm just glad that she's never tried to make a move on him because that would be the weirdest shit ever.
"He's doing great, Carly. He has a girlfriend who he plans to propose to very soon," I say with a sweet smile, watching Scarlett let out a groan.
"Really? Right before I turn eighteen? I've been into that man for so long," she pouts before turning to Blossom to say, "You'll be fucking lucky if Bryce ages as well as Leo does. Leo is one fine man, don't you think?"
Blossom's face turns white, and she turns to me with her eyebrows raised in distress.
"Just ignore her," I tell my girl, who turns back in her seat to glare at Scarlett
She just stares at the daunting girl in front of her for a minute before eventually whispering, "There are a lot more things wrong with you than I had thought."
Scarlett's jaw slacks, and she stops scratching at Anders' arm long enough to slam her hand down on the table before hissing, "You little bitch!"
Our waitress decides to finally make an appearance, and judging by the way that she awkwardly approaches the table, I can only assume that she must've heard that exchange between Blossom and Scarlett.
"What can I get you four to drink?" she asks nervously, looking to Anders first.
He turns to Scarlett, asking, "Are you going to start drinking yet?"
I feel Blossom's whole body go rigid beside me, her posture only relaxing the faintest bit when Scarlett finishes contemplating the question by answering, "Nah. We'll start later."
Anders and Scarlett then order Coke to drink, and them being the immature idiots that they are, they snicker to each other as I'm sure the word 'Coke' has them thinking about cocaine.
Blossom is still staring blankly at Scarlett and Anders, and so I lean down to ask her what she wants to drink, to which she mouthes the word 'water', before I turn to the waitress to say, "We'll just have water, thanks."
She nods to me before hurrying off in the direction that she had just came in, and I watch as Blossom immediately asks, "How the heck would you guys drink? Both of you are underage, and you, Scarlett, are literally seventeen!"
Scarlett chooses to ignore Blossom's question at first, instead looking to me to ask, "Did she seriously just say 'heck'?"
I roll my eyes at the stupid question, and when she realises that I don't intend on answering her, she turns back to Blossom.
She eyes my girlfriend wearily before reaching into her pocket and retrieving her ID.
She hands it to Blossom, who reads the text closely as Scarlett says, "This says I'm twenty-one. I can drink wherever the fuck I want."
Blossom drops the fake ID onto the table in disgust. Scarlett smirks at this reaction and I watch as she reaches for the ID, slipping it back into her pocket.
Blossom just shakes her head, staring down at her lap. She folds her hands awkwardly, and once she finally looks up again she just opens up her menu and begins reading.
Anders leans forwards in his seat and towards me, whispering, "She's seriously never seen a fake ID before?"
I give him yet another warning glance, but Scarlett doesn't seem to get the message as she turns back to Blossom to state, "Your boyfriend has one too. What do you think we all did on the weekends when we got bored of house parties?"
Blossom now looks up to stare at me, and I could've sworn that for a moment, nothing but hurt flickered in her eyes.
"Baby, I know that you made better decisions than I did when we were younger, but I can't reverse anything. Can't you just accept it and know that I'll do better moving forward?" I say softly, and Blossom's brows furrow.
"I'm not mad at you. I just . . . don't get it. My brother and Jasmine used to do the same thing, but his nineteenth birthday is in a month and so I guess he'll be able to legally drink soon enough. It's just so strange to me because everyone is growing up and I can't process things fast enough and I feel like I don't have a place in this world yet," she sniffles, and my heart immediately breaks for her.
Looking back at Anders and Scarlett, they seem to find this whole situation amusing. They finally get my message as I narrow my eyes at them, and I watch as they carefully engage in quiet conversation with each other.
Wrapping one arm around Blossom's shoulder, I use my other hand to tilt her chin up. Once her eyes meet mine all I see is hurt on her face, and so I softly whisper, "That's all right. You're only eighteen. You don't have to have your shit figured out right now."
She gives me a small, grateful smile in response, snuggling up against my side as she resumes browsing the menu.
And as Scarlett and Anders act heartless, staring at her as if this is all some sick joke, I look between the people that I used to spend my time with and the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with, knowing that I made the right damn decision.
A/N: Sorry for any issues people had with this chapter! Let me know if they're resolved.
This update was supposed to come last night, but I'm really sick and so I was trying to get some sleep <3
Just a little disclaimer: I don't condone sexual relationships between an adult and a minor. Scarlett's 'crush' on Leo is just a bit of a joke, and I promise that nothing will happen between them even after Scarlett turns eighteen.