Chapter Twelve:
Lexi's POV
As Bryce hauls an intoxicated Scarlett down the hallway, I continue to bat Anders' hands away he reaches out to try and touch me.
I had assumed that it would take more drinks than I had seen them consume to actually get them this drunk, since I had seen adults consume around the same amount of glasses of alcohol in the past at my parents' Christmas parties. When I brought my concerns up with Bryce, he seemed to be trying extremely hard to not laugh as he explained to me that the percentage of alcohol in white wine is much lower than what Scarlett and Anders had been drinking.
We didn't end up staying out too late. I had a nice time when Bryce and I began dancing together, but I'm still not a big fan of that sort of club environment and so Bryce was more than willing to head home pretty early on in the night.
"You're so pretty, Lexi. What would it take for you to leave Bradshaw for me?" Anders asks, slumping against me as we walk.
I sigh, grabbing his arm as I drag him along to where Scarlett is now leaning against the wall, right beside the door to Bryce's apartment.
"I'm not going to leave Bryce, Anders. Nice try, though," I tell him, which elicits a whine in response.
Bryce rolls his eyes at Anders' behaviour, and I watch as he digs around in his pocket to presumably retrieve his keys.
I release Anders' arm and he immediately stumbles towards Scarlett. She reaches up for his face, and they smile at each other for a minute before he bends down, pressing his lips to hers.
Bryce groans, shoving open the door of his apartment. I take a few steps towards him until I'm close enough to take his hand, but just before we step inside, Bryce has to turn back to Scarlett and Anders to hiss, "Get inside. I don't want to get complaints from my rich ass neighbours about you sex addicts."
We then watch as Anders picks Scarlett up, not removing his lips from hers. He carries her into the apartment, stalking right past Bryce and I.
"Horny motherfuckers," Bryce mumbles, and I smile up at him as I give his hand a tug, gesturing for him to follow me inside as well.
We step into the apartment, locking the door behind us. Bryce has had my phone in his pocket all night and so he hands it to me, tossing his keys into the dish on top of the cabinet in the foyer.
Scarlett and Anders have already made their way into the bedroom, and since they seemed to make the bold decision to leave the bedroom door wide open, Bryce has to call out, "Jesus Christ! Shut the fucking door, Anders!"
Anders had been standing over Scarlett, who is seated at the edge of the bed, but he moves away from her, heading across the room to raise his middle finger to Bryce from the doorway.
Bryce innocently waves at him, and Anders narrows his eyes as he slams the door shut.
"How did they get so drunk so fast? I know that it took even less time for me to get drunk when I drank that one time, but shouldn't they have built up a tolerance?" I ask Bryce, who makes his way across the apartment and towards the kitchen.
He shrugs at me, and I watch as he grabs the kettle from the stove, filling it up with water from the tap before turning on a burner and setting the kettle down on top.
"Tea? I figure that they're going to get loud pretty soon, and so I think that we should probably try and get our asses as far away from them as possible as soon as we can," Bryce asks me, and I give him a small nod as I take a seat down on one of the stools at the island.
"Tea would be great, thank you. Are you going to answer my questions about drinking any time soon?" I ask, and Bryce chuckles.
He slips his jacket off, setting it down on the counter. I greedily watch the muscles of his arms flex as he rolls up his sleeves, then turning away from me to retrieve two mugs from the cupboard.
"They drank a lot at once, and I think that Scarlett has been focusing on school, whether or not she'd like to admit it, and so I assume that she hasn't been drinking much lately. Anders has also been trying to get his shit together, or so he's claimed," Bryce tells me, pulling open a drawer underneath the counter.
Glancing at me over his shoulder, he asks, "Orange pekoe tea?"
"Yes, please," I reply, slipping out of my own jacket before dropping it on top of Bryce's.
Bryce smiles at me, making his way around the counter after placing a tea bag in each mug. He takes a seat down beside me, and I can't help but to smile just as wide as he pulls my stool closer to his.
"Are they together?" I ask Bryce, cocking my head towards the room in which Scarlett and Anders are probably only a few moments away from having sex.
Bryce shrugs, thinks for a moment, and then shakes his head. "Nah. Friends-with-benefits."
"So the same sort of relationship that you had with her?" I question, and Bryce groans.
"Blossom. The key word in that sentence is had. Past tense. Nothing will ever happen between us again," Bryce sighs, taking my hands in his own.
He holds our hands in his lap, brushing his thumb against my ring. I give him a small smile and he bites his lip, amber eyes meeting mine.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up," I apologise, and Bryce just gives me a small shake of his head.
"Do you want to go change, baby? I'll wait for the water to boil and then I'll shut everything down in here and bring the tea in. Sounds good?" Bryce asks me quietly, and I can practically feel my whole face light up.
I nod, thanking him softly as I slip off of my seat. I give Bryce a brief kiss on the cheek before skipping into the bedroom, closing the door halfway behind myself.
Setting my phone down on one of the bedside tables, I slip off my shoes. I pick them up, dropping them by my suitcases before taking a seat down at the spare desk that Bryce has set up, which I've turned into a makeshift vanity.
Grabbing a scrunchie, I quickly tie my hair back in a ponytail at the nape of my neck. I then move to remove my earrings, unclasp my cherry blossom necklace, and slip my promise ring off of my finger.
Staring at myself in the mirror, I instantly smile at the flush of my cheeks, the twinkle in my eyes. I look so happy, and it makes me even more thankful for Bryce Bradshaw.
I only put on a little bit of makeup tonight. I still enjoy wearing it sometimes and it's still fun for me, but I don't feel the need to wear it everyday to hide all of my insecurities anymore.
Grabbing a makeup wipe, I wipe away the minimal makeup that is on my face. When I look at my reflection once more, I'm surprised to see that I still like the way that I look right now.
Bryce has done so much for me, and he doesn't even realise it. He doesn't get to see the moments I have with myself like this, but they're so important and so mind-blowing considering where my confidence was a year ago.
Standing up from the stool, I head over to take a peak at Bryce's actual desk, I spot that he's kept the lavender scrunchie that he wore on his wrist one time when we were alone during our visit back home.
I love this man. I freaking adore him.
Now wearing a satisfied smile, I move to pull my dress up over my head just as I hear the door creak open.
"So I guess that I was right about you not wearing a bra, huh?" Bryce asks me, shutting the door behind himself.
Although he startled me at first, once I regain my composure I slyly reply, "I guess that you were."
Bryce chuckles, and I watch the way his eyes light up. He's holding a mug of steaming tea in each hand, both of our jackets draped over his right arm. He sets the tea down on the bedside table, along with his phone, before heading back towards me.
He takes my dress from me. "I'll go hang this up, Blossom," he whispers, and I then watch as he disappears into the closet.
I follow him inside, watching as he hangs my dress up. When he catches me staring, he tells me, "You can wear my clothes if you'd like. Take whatever you want."
I nod, turning around to face the drawers lining the walls of the closet. I pull open several until I find where he keeps his sweatpants, grabbing a pair made of the classic grey material.
When I turn around, I find that Bryce has stripped down to just his boxer briefs.
And he looks magnificent.
I can't stop myself from gazing at his toned figure in awe. His body is made of nothing but sharp lines of muscle, the veins in his arms prominent as he folds his arms across his chest.
His tattoos are the perfect touch.
Using the sweatpants to subtly cover my chest, I smile at Bryce, trying to pretend as if I'm not drooling over his body right now.
I backtrack to start conversation, considering we're both nearly naked and I can swear that I feel it getting hotter in here by the moment. "I'm allowed to wear whatever I want?"
Bryce arches an eyebrow at me.
"What's the most expensive thing that you have in here?" I question, and Bryce bursts out laughing.
Although I had meant my request to be a joke, my eyes nearly pop out of my head as I watch Bryce pull open a drawer filled with . . . watches.
"Since when do you have a freaking watch collection?" I exclaim, scampering towards him to stare at the contents of the drawer.
Bryce laughs some more, reaching a hand out to touch one of the watches. It's gold, encrusted with diamonds, and I feel my jaw slack as Bryce traces one of his fingers along the jewels.
"I know this sounds like every stereotypical child of a millionaire, but I guess that it was just . . . an investment? That sounds fucking stupid. I don't know what I'm saying. Nice watches are one of my weaknesses," he says easily, as if this isn't completely crazy.
"You're eighteen! One of those probably costs more than one of my parents makes in a year!" I exclaim, watching as Bryce slowly shuts the drawer.
"They're unnecessarily expensive, Blossom. Don't worry about it," he says to me, wrapping his arm around me as he guides me out of the closet.
I just sigh, nodding as I let him walk me away from all of those diamonds. He shuts off the closet light as well as shutting the door behind us, dropping his arm from around my shoulders.
"Do you want one of my shirts, too?" he asks me, and though I had completely planned on wearing a shirt of his, an idea strikes me.
I shake my head in response to his question. Heading over to my suitcase, I pull on the sweatpants before rummaging through the contents of my bag.
Bryce's POV
When Blossom stands up, she's holding nothing more than a fucking bra.
She wants to fucking torture me tonight, it seems.
It's not even a well-structured bra. It's made of a thin material the same grey as the sweatpants that she's wearing, in the style of a sports bra.
When she stands up, she gives me an innocent smile as I watch her pull the bra down over her head.
"Is something wrong?" she asks me as I remain staring at her, and I shake my head as I continue to eye her body.
She rolls the waistband of the sweatpants a couple times, then heading back towards me. She plants herself directly in front of me, looking up at me with a smile on her face as she asks, "Face mask time?"
Sighing in defeat, realising that I'm going to have to go all night with her looking like this, I nod.
I watch my girl clap her hands together a few times like an adorable kid before she hurries off back towards her suitcase. She rummages around inside her bag until she retrieves a few items, shooting up and practically jogging into the bathroom.
I follow her slowly, watching as she hops up onto the counter, letting her legs dangle over the edge. She drops all of the bottles that she's holding down on the countertop beside her, raising a hand to gesture for me to come close.
She seems to be in the zone right now. She looks so invested in this whole skincare business that I wouldn't dare ruin her fun, deciding that I'll do whatever the hell she asks of me tonight.
Thank fucking God that she's not still upset over being at the club not too long ago.
"Do you wash your face?" she asks me and I nod at her, resting my palms against the counter.
She seems surprised by this answer, and she immediately asks me to show her what I use. I grab the bottle of shit that the internet told me to put on my face, and I watch as Blossom examines it for a few moments before giving me a thumbs-up of approval.
She then insists that I wash my face right then and there, and so I do. She slips off the counter and washes her face as well before grabbing a small black tub of God-knows-what that she had just grabbed from her suitcase.
Blossom takes one brief look at my face before a thought seems to strike her. Promising me that she'll be right back, I watch her dart out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom.
When she returns, she holding that purple scrunchie that I want to keep forever and never to give back to her.
"Your hair kind of falls in your face, and I don't want it to get in the way," she says to me before hopping back up onto the counter.
She's still far shorter than me, but she can comfortably reach my face now, at least. I lean forwards for her a little bit as she gathers the front portion of my hair in her hands before securing it with the scrunchie.
When she pulls back to look at me, she giggles loudly as she examines me. "I love this! You look hot with a man bun," she grins.
I refuse to look at myself in the mirror right now, instead letting her open up the small tub, which turns out to be filled with a thick paste. She scoops some up with her fingertips, and just as she's about to lift her hand to my face she asks me, "Do you have sensitive skin?"
I blink a few times at her. "Uh, I don't think so. What the hell does that mean?"
She sighs, shaking her head to herself. "If you did, I'm sure that you would know by now. If this starts to itch or something, let me know and we can wash it off early."
I nod at her, letting her finally raise her hands to my face. She begins to smooth out the paste, which I can only assume is a face mask, her tongue darting out to rest on her bottom lip in concentration. She looks too fucking cute right now, and as much as I want to watch her work, I give in to the urge to shut my eyes seeing as I feel so damn relaxed right now.
She smoothes out the paste all over my face, eventually pressing a soft kiss to my lips before breathing the words, "All done."
I open up my eyes to find her smiling at me sweetly, not mockingly. She bites her lip momentarily before she stands up from her seat on the counter, turning to face the mirror herself.
She applies the mask to her own face before washing her hands off, drying them on the hand towel. She then reaches for my hand, squeezing firmly before tugging me out of the bathroom.
We end up in bed, Blossom curled up next to me. I try to pull her right against my chest, but she scolds me for nearly ruining ' the face mask experience' as she reaches across me to retrieve her phone.
She sets a timer for ten minutes before dropping the phone down onto the bed beside us with a small smile. I roll my eyes at her enthusiasm, grabbing the TV remote and then switching on the television.
I let Blossom scan through iTunes so that she can choose whatever movie she likes. She seems to have one in mind as she goes straight for the search bar, typing in the title of a movie before handing me the remote to put in my password so that she can rent the film.
She smiles widely as the movie starts up, this time settling into my embrace as I pull her a little closer to me.
I love this so much. I enjoy these intimate moments where we can just lay here in each other's company so damn much: it's a sort of closeness that sex doesn't even give.
It's really special to just be in the company of someone you love, relaxing and enjoying nothing but one another's presence.
As Blossom snuggles in, she rests her head against my shoulder, and when I wrap my arm around her she reaches to hold my hand, her dainty fingers linking through mine.
She's extremely focused on the movie that she's watching, but I'm more interested in watching the beautiful girl in front of me.
Her eyelashes are so fucking long and her eyes are so goddamn pretty. I love the way her cheeks are slightly pink, a small smile never leaving her face as she clings to my hand.
She's so damn tiny but I really love it. I feel like it makes me even more protective of her.
We watch the movie for the whole ten minutes that the timer was set for, drinking our tea as we watch. I'm having a much nicer time staring at Blossom, watching the way that she giggles and smiles whenever a joke is made, than actually watching the movie, but that's beside the point.
When the timer does go off, I don't know why I'm even surprised that the ringtone is the title song from The Phantom of the Opera. It seems to startle her though as she jumps a little in her seat, nearly spilling hot tea all over herself.
Sighing, I take the mug away from her before setting both of our cups back on the bedside table. She scrambles to shut off the alarm as I pause the movie, and once the obnoxiously loud music quiets down, she turns to me with a small smile on her face.
"Do we have to wash this shit off now?" I ask, to which she laughs.
As soon as she nods I scoop her up into my arms. She squeals, wrapping her legs tight around my waist as I carry her back to the bathroom.
She uses a damp face cloth to wipe the mask off of my face before straining up to peck me on the cheek. She then washes the mask off of her own face, wringing the water out from the cloth before she slides off from the countertop, where she was sitting once more.
"All good?" I ask her and she nods at me, taking my hand once more.
We head back to the bedroom, and just as Blossom gets settled back in bed, she reaches for her tea again before pausing to ask, "Can I go get a glass of water?"
Raising my eyebrows at her, I reply, "Of course you can go get a glass of water. I've told you countless times to make yourself at home."
She beams at me, standing up off the bed. I watch her from my seat at the edge of the bed as she heads out of the bedroom and into the living area.
She pauses once she gets the door halfway open, spinning around to face me with a distressed expression on her face.
Sighing, I make my way over towards her. Peering over her shoulder I'm able to see that Anders and Scarlett have completed whatever sexual conquest they had just been on as they're now back in the kitchen.
Scarlett is seated on the counter, her legs crossed underneath her. She's wearing a T-shirt that is probably Anders', her hair up in a bun as she runs her fingernails up and down the marble counter top beside her.
Anders is standing in front of her, his hands on her thighs. He's wearing boxers and nothing else, and this sight seems to really disturb Blossom as she tries to turn around and head right back into the bedroom.
I grab her by her shoulders, halting her. "It's fine, sweetheart. They're not going to hurt you."
Not physically, at least.
Minus that little incident with Scarlett yesterday.
She rolls her eyes at me, walking away from me and into the kitchen.
She breezes right past Anders and Scarlett, not even giving them a second glance as she jumps up onto the counter so that she can reach the glasses in the cupboard.
"Put some clothes on," Anders blurts out, and Blossom narrows her eyes at him as she fills up her glass with the water dispenser built in to the front of fridge door.
"I'm wearing clothes," she retorts, and Anders scoffs.
"You're not wearing a shirt and you're distracting me," he responds dryly, and Blossom raises an eyebrow at him.
"Learn to control yourself, then," she says blankly, taking a sip from her water.
Anders chuckles as Blossom walks back past him and Scarlett.
Except she's stopped by Scarlett, who grabs her arm as she's walking by the counter.
Blossom spins around to glare at Scarlett. "Don't touch me," she hisses.
Scarlett mutters something under her breath in Mandarin that I'm not able to make out, but she slowly retracts her hand away from Blossom.
"Why are you telling Andy to 'control himself' when your own boyfriend has absolutely no control himself?" Scarlett slurs, but there's something not quite right about the way her words come out: it doesn't sound like the typical way a drunk person would speak.
Oh fuck.
"What do you mean?" Blossom asks quietly, raising an eyebrow as her gaze darts between Scarlett and I.
Scarlett laughs some more upon realising that Blossom has absolutely not clue what she could be referring.
"I'm talking about when he got bored of you and came running to me straight away. Remember when you had that pregnancy scare, Lexi?" Scarlett smiles sweetly.
I feel all of the air get sucked out of my fucking lungs as Blossom turns to me with a heartbroken expression on her face.
A/N: This chapter is almost 4k words! I'm so proud of myself!
How do you think Lexi is going to react to what Scarlett has told her? Do you think she'll be mad at Bryce, Scarlett, or both of them? Perhaps she'll go running to Anders for support ;) I wonder how that could turn out...
I also want to clarify that Scarlett has long, red acrylic nails. She doesn't have grossly long natural nails that are red for some odd reason, lol.