Chapter Thirty-Eight:
Bryce's POV
Setting down the last box of Blossom's stuff onto the kitchen counter, I turn to my girl, who is seated on the couch, to tell her, "That's it. You officially live here now. You can't escape anymore."
She giggles, standing up from her seat on the couch. She grins at me as she skips towards me, falling right into my embrace as soon as I open my arms for her. I kiss her hair and squeeze her tight, only releasing her when her phone begins to ring from the living room.
"Sorry," she whispers before scampering back into the living room to pick up the phone.
When she reads the caller ID, she laughs, accepting the call before holding the phone up to her ear. She begins to speak to whoever is on the other side of the line animatedly and so I shake my head lightly at her before grabbing the handles of both of her suitcases, then wheeling them into our bedroom.
Seeing all of Blossom's things packed up made me realise how she doesn't seem to hold on to many items. She only has a few boxes of belongings, one of which being all of her school things, and two suitcases filled with all of her clothes despite the fact that she lives in a completely different country from where she's from, meaning that this really is all of her belongings that she has access to.
I leave her suitcases against the wall by the door to the closet, where I made plenty of room for her in the drawers and also room for her to hang up her dresses.
When I head back into the main living area, I find Blossom straining up on her toes, peering into one of the boxes on the counter. As soon as she hears my footsteps, she turns around to face me, her hands behind her back and a sheepish smile on her face.
"Um . . . You don't have any plans for us for tonight, do you?" she asks timidly.
I stop walking towards her when we're a few feet apart. I then raise an eyebrow at her. "No. I don't. Why?"
She bites her lip, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "I kinda-sorta invited Kennedy, Nathan, and Knox over," she blurts out all at once.
She immediately goes back to biting her lip, and for some peculiar reason, she looks extremely anxious as I make my way towards her. Her hands fall to my forearms when I place one of my hands on either side of the counter beside her, trapping her there.
She flutters her eyelashes at me and I give her hair a quick tug. "You don't want to spend our first night together alone? Am I becoming a boring boyfriend? Because if you'd like, I could get really drunk. I'm sure that would bring you some amusement," I tease her.
She rolls her eyes at me, moving her hands up from my arms. They instead flatten on my chest and she gives me a gentle shove.
"Leave me alone, you bully. If you're going to be whiny than you can carry all of your shit to the bedroom yourself, thank you very much," I tell her, giving her thigh a squeeze before grabbing one of her boxes off the counter and heading back towards the bedroom.
I hear her pick up another one of the boxes before trailing after me, taking quick steps to keep up. Once we enter the bedroom I head towards the desk with my shit for school, placing the box of her school things down beside it.
Turning back to Blossom, I find her shoving the box she had been carrying into the closet. Once she has it tucked away, she turns to me with a timid smile on her face. "This is all just decorative stuff from my dorm. So is the other box in the kitchen. I barely decorated the dorm, though; it never really felt like home."
She stands up from where she was crouched on the floor. She takes several small steps towards me until we're a foot or so apart.
She's wearing a pair of tight black jeans with rips at the knees and thighs as well as a red sweater of mine that I haven't worn in ages. I braided her hair for her before we left for breakfast this morning and it's still braided down her back, though a few strands have come loose and now frame her face.
She's not wearing any makeup, and honestly, I don't remember the last time I've even seen her touch makeup. I mean, there's nothing wrong with makeup and I would never ask her to stop wearing it, but since I know that she used to hide behind makeup, I'm pretty fucking happy that she's stopped wearing it.
"Does this feel like home?" I ask her.
She doesn't even have to consider the question for very long before she nods her head at me. "Yeah. It does."
I smile down at the precious girl in front of me with twinkling hazel eyes and the most beautiful laugh I've ever heard. I reach one hand up to cup her cheek, brushing my thumb against her lips. She carefully reaches for her face as well, her small hand covering mine.
I part her lips with my thumb so that my finger slips inside of her mouth. She gently sucks, staring up at me with wide eyes.
Once I pull my thumb out, she leans her face into my hand. She blinks up at me for a few moments before walking a little bit closer to me. She's so small and she looks so innocent despite the fact that I know that that pretty mouth is capable of wicked things.
"It is okay for my friends to come over though, right? Because I think that they're already on their way," Blossom whispers.
I nod at her, watching as her hands drop to her sides. I take the opportunity to brush my knuckles against her face, stroking her cheekbone softly until her eyes flutter shut and she lets out a mewl.
"You're allowed to have friends over whenever you'd like, Blossom. Would you be mad if I invited my friends over?" I reply.
She shakes her head at me and so I press a kiss to her forehead before heading out of the room. "I'm going to grab that last box and then we're all done for now."
She gives me a reassuring nod and smile as I head out of the room to retrieve the last box.
Lexi's POV
The curtains in the bedroom are still drawn shut from when we went to sleep last night and so I make my way across the room. I yank the curtains open to reveal the breathtaking view of downtown New York City that he's been lucky enough to wake up to for the past several months.
I feel like I'm the luckiest girl alive right now. I'm currently attending my dream university in my dream city, and I've just moved in with the most perfect boyfriend in the whole entire universe. I'm so lucky to have known my soulmate my entire life and at times like this, I'm thankful that I'll never have to let Bryce go.
I take a look down at my current attire, a cherry red sweatshirt that nearly falls down to my knees and a plain pair of jeans. I don't think that the girl I was last year would feel comfortable walking around dressed so casually, but it seems as though Bryce's clothes have become my preference.
I hear Bryce's footsteps become louder and louder as he enters the room again. I hear the soft thud of the box that he's carrying against the floor before the closet door shuts. When I turn around, he's heading directly towards me.
"Is everything all right? Are you starting to regret this already?" Bryce asks. I can tell that his question is genuine and that he isn't trying to mock me whatsoever.
Rather than giving him a verbal response, I bridge the gap between Bryce and I by pulling him into a firm hug.
My arms wrap around his waist and I bury my face into his chest. He smells like cinnamon and vanilla and home and I've become fairly certain that there's no place in the world that I'd rather be other than in his arms.
"I love you. So much," I whisper.
He chuckles, and I'm unsure as if to why until he whispers back, "We do that a lot, don't we? Saying 'I love you' and then a pause before 'so much'. Maybe 'I love you. So much' should be our always."
I laugh along with him now, as his laughter is just so damn infectious. "You're ridiculous, Bryce Bradshaw."
The doorbell suddenly rings, and so I'm forced to step out of Bryce's arms. He shoots me a grin, telling me, "I love you too. So much," before he follows me out of the room and into the main living area so that we can answer the door.
Another knock sounds and I can't help but to giggle as I scurry into the foyer. I yank the door open to reveal Kennedy, Nathan, and Knox standing in the hallway, Kennedy and Nathan laughing like maniacs at something that Knox must've just said.
As soon as Kennedy's eyes land on me, she exclaims, "I know you said that Bryce's apartment building was nice, but you failed to mention exactly how fancy it is! Everyone in the lobby was wearing suits and carrying briefcases."
I hear Bryce snort from the kitchen, where he seems to have headed, and so I don't get a chance to glare at him before I gesture for my friends to come inside. I lock the door behind them as they take off their shoes and jackets, and when I turn around to face them, Kennedy and Nathan are gaping at the apartment.
"I can't believe you're living here now while the three of us are all stuck in the Juilliard dorms," Kennedy teases, running a fingertip along the countertops in the kitchen, much to Bryce's distaste.
He doesn't bother greeting our guests as he leans against the fridge, sipping from the smoothie that he had made earlier. I give him a look as if to say that he should be more friendly, but Bryce either doesn't understand what I'm attempting to communicate or he's just choosing to ignore me.
I give him a wry smile before turning back to Nathan and Knox. "It feels like it's been so long since we've seen each other! How have you guys been?"
As we speak, we head into the living room. Kennedy takes the hint and so she hurries into the living room from where she's been staring Bryce down. He watches her leave in amusement before he goes back to sipping his smoothie, pulling his phone out of his pocket before beginning to examine something on the screen.
Nathan is the first to respond to my question, taking a seat down on the large leather sofa. "I've been okay, I guess," he begins, sneaking a glance in Kennedy's direction. I know that though they seem to have made amends, there is still a lot of tension between them. "I spent the holiday break at my parents' place, and it was nice to spend so much time with them."
Kennedy crosses her legs uncomfortably, shifting back in the armchair that she's seated in. I'm sure that she's aware of the subtle hints Nathan is giving that he really does miss her.
The two of them make eye contact for merely a second before they both look away. I know that Kennedy loves Jules, but I can tell that a part of her is still holding on to Nathan.
Now turning to Knox, I find that he looks beyond bored at the moment. He seems to be watching my boyfriend, who now somehow has a book in one hand and his smoothie in the other hand, not to mention that he's seated on one of the barstools at the island.
When Knox turns back to face me, he asks, "Remind why you're dating that arsehole, little one?"
I can't help but to giggle at his thick British accent and the lack of interest in the tone of his voice. When his piercing blue eyes meet mine, I feel as though he's staring right into the deepest depths of my soul, and so all I can do at first to respond to his question is shrug my shoulders.
"He's a fantastic guy, thank you very much. It's not like I have to justify my relationship to you anyway," I retort, sticking my tongue out at Knox.
Knox rolls his eyes at me and sticks his tongue back out at me in return. When I turn back to Bryce, I find him watching us with his eyebrows furrowed, his smoothie discarded but a book still in his hand.
"Come be social," I call out to him.
His eyebrows remain furrowed but he slips a bookmark into his book before shutting it. He sets the book down on the counter and then stands from his seat. He takes his time making his way into the living room, walking straight past Kennedy, Nathan, and Knox before taking a seat down on the loveseat beside me.
"You usually have so much to say. Why aren't you talking today?" Kennedy chirps, cocking her head to the side at Bryce.
His brows finally unfurrow as he blinks at her. "I'm just thinking about some shit."
He lifts an arm to drape around my shoulders and so I lean into his embrace, letting my cheek rest against his chest. He kisses me on the head and I let my hand drop to his thigh, giving him a quick squeeze.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask him in a hushed tone.
He stares down at me for a moment, his lips pursed together as though he's currently deep in thought. His amber eyes don't have their typical twinkle, and instead, they almost seem a tad bit dull. To my surprise, he never breaks eye contact, even as he reaches his free hand up to my face.
"Yeah, baby. I'm better than okay. I'm fucking fantastic. You make me so happy that I can barely put it into words. Scarlett has just been texting me a lot recently about our old lives in Florida, and it's annoying the fuck out of me," he whispers in response, a wry smile on his face.
I lean upwards as best as I can to press a soft kiss to Bryce's lips. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Glancing back towards my three friends, Knox and Nathan on the couch and Kennedy on one of the plush chairs, I know that I won't be able to have a conversation with Bryce about this right now.
"Not really. It isn't a big deal, and besides, I wouldn't want to ruin your fun. She's just being fucking dramatic, per usual," he mutters. I can hear a hint of bitterness in his tone.
Though I know that he's keeping something from me that he shouldn't be, I decide that for now, I should let this go. My day has been nothing short of lovely so far, and so there is no way in hell that I'm letting one of Bryce's old friends ruin it for me.
Instead, I squeeze Bryce's thigh once more before turning back to face Knox. "How was your Christmas? What were you up to?" I ask him.
He gives me a warm smile that is so unlike the Knox that I had first met that day when there was a false alarm and we were all forced to leave the dorm building because of a 'fire'. I know that I've grown a fair bit as a person since then as well, and so I don't know why I'm surprised by how different Knox is.
"My Christmas was fine, I suppose. I wish I could have gone home to visit my family back in England. It was a bit of a blessing to have stayed here, though, as I met a really hot girl at the bar one night. I'm meeting up with her later today, actually. You guys should meet her sometime. Her name is Jane," he says with a hint of mischief in his eyes.
Kennedy and I make eye contact across the room before we both burst out into a fit of giggles.
"Knox is in love," Kennedy says in a sing-song voice, which somehow just manages to make me laugh even harder.
Knox's cheeks suddenly look to be painted red as he stares down at his feet. When I glance to Nathan, I find that he's smiling like a maniac as well.
"I am not in love with a girl I met two weeks ago, Kennedy!" Knox hisses, and to my complete and utter delight, Bryce begins to chuckle as well.
He uses the arm that he has around my shoulders to instead lift me up into his lap. I let out a soft squeal that seems to make Bryce happy judging by the way that he presses his lips to my cheek, hugging me to his chest.
In this moment, it becomes so unbelievably easy to forget about every single one of my worries. All I want to do now is relax into Bryce's arms and kiss him until I'm dizzy.
Bryce: my boyfriend, my best friend, my soulmate, and now, my roommate.
When I look back into his eyes again, their usual twinkle has returned.
And so I make the decision to just forget whatever he was talking to Scarlett about.
A/N: Jane will be making a return later in the series. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? You'll have to wait and find out ;)
And Scarlett's text messages to Bryce will also be brought up again.
Soon.
And it will not be a happy situation.
(Somebody stop me from spoiling my own books please!)