I was being a creep.
I had been staring at Alexandra sleeping next to me for the past few minutes since I didn't want to leave the place or wake her up. I had no idea how we ended up in her bed last night since we had been watching a Disney movie, again.
I have never watched this many Disney movies before in my life. And I wouldn't admit it to her but I was actually looking forward for our next movie night.
She was peaceful sleeping at my chest while I was drawing circles at her forearm. I had no idea how to wake her up because for some reason I didn't want to ruin this moment. I could wait for her to wake up for hours because it felt amazing to just be here. I don't know what this feeling is, I am having lately but I am not complaining.
"Hey sleepy head." She looks up, letting me see her brown eyes stare at me. She still was tired but the way her eyes lit up because I am still here made my whole day. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to let you sleep here for so long. You probably have somewhere better to go and I kept you here by laying on your chest like a bag of cement." I roll my eyes at her, making a little smile form on her face. She had taken of her make-up last night, her hair was all over the place but she looked breath-taking.
She looked perfect.
"You do know that you literally don't weight anything for me. I work out all the time so I am sure that I can pick you up to. I even thought that I had shown you that when I did all the work the other time. You know in my bathroom." I could practically see her roll her eyes at me again.
"I am sure that you enjoyed it way more than you are acting right now. You even wanted a second time last night and that doesn't happen often." She has been more sure around me and it felt amazing to be with her.
"Nathaniel Crawford. Where are you? You are twenty minutes late and you know how much your dad hates that." My mom her voice on the other side of the call made me realise that I had once again forgotten about showing up for breakfast. "I am currently in the car on my way. I will be there in ten minutes. Love you mom."
Before she could say anything else or do her usual rant, I hang up the phone and look at Alex who had placed her hands at my chest. I didn't want to leave this place at all but I knew that I had to or my mom was going to kill me for forgetting her and the family gathering that we do once a month.
"I am so sorry for doing this but I really have to go right now or my mom will kill me." Alex could only stare at me putting on the clothes I had worn yesterday. "Do you want to come with me? If you don't, I totally get you for that." I see a smile forming on her face while I am searching for my car keys.
"I would love to come but I don't know if your parents are going to love that. I mean what are they going to think of me?" I pull her out of the bed holding one of the hoodies I had found at the ground for her. "My parents are going to love you so no need to worry about that. Please make my day by coming with me because it is going to be a lot of boring talk and I do not know how I am going to survive that. Not without you."
That is all it took for Alex to take some clothes out of her closet since she didn't want to wear the hoodie I had found on the floor after smelling the alcohol on it. "I am going to put these on in five seconds and then we are good to go. You also don't have to search for your keys since I drove to here last night. We can take my car." I catch the keys with ease while Alex was going to the bathroom to change into something more presentable.
I had no idea what to expect when walking out of Alex her bedroom but I did not expect to see Olivia laying in the couch with some random dude both naked. Sure they were covered with some blanket that they had found but I had no idea how to act around them. I had seen naked people before but it felt so wrong to see the best friend of the girl I like, naked.
"I am ready to go. Should I bring something with me for your parents? I think I have some wine or something around for them." I shake my head at Alex who hadn't even noticed the two naked people at her couch. Or either she did and she didn't say anything about it because she was used to seeing that happen at her place.
"I think you should keep that wine for the next time because I told my parents we would be there in like five minutes. It is not a long ride but I do not need my mom to call me back, we both don't want that to happen." Alex takes her bag of the kitchen counter and makes her way to the door, seeing Liv turn around in the couch while the guy was hugging her tight as if he knew this was going to be a onetime thing.
"I am sorry that you have to see this. I am getting used to seeing it happen that I just ignore it." I get behind the steering wheel, seeing Alex her whole outfit for the first time. "You look gorgeous little one." I slowly place my hand at her thigh making her cheeks become red. I had never seen her this cute before in my life.
The whole car ride I had been thinking about what to tell my parents because I had no idea what we were. I didn't want to make Alex uncomfortable at my parents their place but I also didn't want to ask her to be my girlfriend right now. I don't need her to say no to me because that would be very awkward at my parents then.
"You do know that I am going to meet your parents right? You are acting so normal about it while I am practically stressing out here. How can you be so calm about this?" I squeeze her thigh but that didn't make her less nervous about this. "I am just sure that my parents are going to love you. It is not that hard to do."
My mom stood in front of the door pointing at her watch as if I didn't already knew I was late. She didn't have to tell me about that again because it was making me more nervous than I already am. I had no idea how my parents are going to react to the fact I have a girl that actually can stand me with me. But she is also a girl that I see a future with and that is for the first time in forever.
"Nathaniel you know that I love you a lot but being late is not something that we love here and you know that." Before I could respond to her, I saw my mom staring at Alex who stood behind me like a lost puppy. "Oh my god! You brought a girl with you without telling me. If I had known I would have put on something else." My mom pushes me aside and stares at Alex as if it was the first time she saw a girl before.
"Guys you should come over right now. Nathaniel has brought a girl over for the first time." I saw the look at Alex her face into something different, she looked so happy when she heard those words. She was the first girl that had ever met my parents before since I knew that nothing could happen between the others so I didn't bother letting them meet my parents in the first place.
"Mom are you seeing a ghost or something? I don't think that Nate knows what a proper girl looks like." I stare at Alex who was still smiling at me. I had no idea what today was going to be like but I had not expect this to happen at all. "Wait you are a real girl. Did he pay you for coming with him? If so please blink twice so I can rescue you." My older sister Brianna was staring at me as if again I did the weirdest thing ever in my life.
Brianna was five years older than me, making her act like she was my second mother the whole time. She had her life all figured out by being engaged to the guy she had met in college at her first year by one of the groupwork she had to do with him. She loved to tell that story because she thought that one day I would find a girl like that to, little did she know I found it in a very different way. She is the only one of my family that knows how I really am at college and even to she is not proud of it, she does still love me for being me.
"Aye caramba. Nate has found a girl that could actually stand his ass. I didn't know it was possible until right now. I thought I had to die to see him find someone." I slap her shoulder knowing that she is going to tell all her friends that her younger brother finally is settling down.
"I am going to make sure none of my friends will hit on you next time because this girl is a gem. If you are going to mess it up with her, I will kill you." Brianna gets out of my hug, letting me stare at Alex who was just chatting with my mom as if it was the most normal thing in her life. She didn't even notice the way I was looking at her the whole time, she was too busy being the perfect person ever.
I follow the three women talking to each other as if they know each other for a life time. I had never seen my mom laughing that much with someone until she met Alex. She had taken away Alex of me since the moment she had seen her behind me. I didn't even bother trying to get her attention because my mom made sure she was not looking at me at all. She wanted to know everything about the girl.
"I am studying international business but I do take art as an extra subject since I actually like doing that." I get behind who was drinking my mom her self-made orange juice. "She is being very shy about it but mom she is one of the most insanely artists I have ever seen in my life." I wrap one arm around her waist pulling her closer to me while my head was laying at her shoulder.
"It is just something that I have been doing since I was a little child because I went to the office with my parents all the time and that is all I had. Papers and pencils to not be bored all the time." I could sense the sadness of that sentence so I made a mental note to not mention her parents again. "You should really show me some of your pieces, I have always loved art. It also would mean a lot to see a painting of my son his girlfriend." I tense up hearing that one word leaving my mom her lips, I haven't asked her to be my girlfriend so this was not the best moment to bring it up.
"I can show you some of the work I have done. Just let me find my phone to show you." Alex starts to search for her phone in her bag, letting my eyes scan all the stuff she has in her bag. "I am not the best one but I try to be." I see a folder filled with all kind of paintings, more than I have seen last night when I was in her room.
I had never liked art in the first place but it was satisfying to see all kind of stuff she had made. It was nice to see what kind of mood she was in when looking at a painting she had done. For the first time in ever I actually could feel something when I was staring at something. Alex had some kind of talent because all the paintings had all kind of details on it. Every single spot of the person she had drawn looked so real that I could picture the person in front of me. For a second I even thought that I had seen myself blowing a kiss to someone in the bleachers or maybe that is what my head was imagining it to be.
"You are insanely good Alexandra. Do you sell them or not?" I see Alex starting to smile while my mom was handing her phone back. I saw a message being showed at the screen of some guy named Cedric with a lot of emojis making me want to become the jealous kind of person right now.
"I don't sell the paintings or I never really thought about that but you can have some if you want. Tell me which one you like the most and I will come over and bring them over to you. You don't have to pay for something that I made." Alex closes her phone, ignoring the text message that should make me worried but for some reason she was acting normal about it. She had her attention on me and my family right now without thinking more about that message.
It felt good to be liked by someone.
"I am going to pay for it anyway. Those are amazing and I am going to show them to all my friends so be prepared for more of them to be bought." I place a little kiss at Alex her shoulder making her smile but she also was kind of embarrassed that I did that in front of my mom and sister who couldn't contain their smiles right now. They had no idea what I had to do to make this girl stay with me for longer than one day. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done but it was all worth it.
"You really don't have to do that miss Crawford. I am just some amateur trying to paint in her free time." I roll my eyes without letting her see it because she was more than just an amateur. I had never seen so much talent in someone than in Alex. I could see the passion in all the paintings and drawings because her room was covered with all the paintings she had done but also with some of the famous kinds of paintings.
"Where is that special girl that you guys are talking about? Is my son really going to settle down anytime soon." I let go of Alex seeing my dad stand there with his phone in his hands. He probably had been calling with some of his colleagues earlier because he wanted to stay home for the next few weeks.
My parents had a secret between the two of them but I knew about it, I found out about it one day when I came home earlier than expected. I went straight home after practice because I didn't see the good in changing into something else. So I went to my parents who were fighting in the kitchen over something little I thought, just as they did when we were younger.
But it was different this time, they were screaming to each other while the tears were rolling down my mother her face. I wanted to shout at them to stop but then those words came out of my dad his mouth and I didn't know what else to do than act like nothing had happened.
"Hi I am Alex. It is nice to meet you sir." I see Alex shaking my dad his hand who was wearing one of his suits that my mom had bought for him. I had seen my dad in nothing else than that in my life. I grew up with him being dressed like that so it would be weird to see him in something else than a suit. "You can call me Eric."
Alex had been smiling at me for the past few minutes while staring at the place where my father once stood. My father had only one weak spot and that was my mother. I had heard their story so much that I could practically tell it on my own because they love telling it to me. My dad was once me and I am pretty sure that Alex is my mother, the girl that he would love to change for. The one who made sure that I am doing okay because she cares about me and what is going on in my head.
I had found the one in Alex.
"So Alex do you like burgers? I had no idea that you would come so I am sorry if you don't like them. I can try to make something else if you want that." Alex shakes her head and starts to take some of the bowls that my mom had made, whenever she was cooking she made food for the whole year or something.
The table was full of food for only five people.
"Alex loves food so no need to worry about that mom. She can eat more than I can, if you are wondering that." I see my mom squeezing her eyes for a second and the words once again came into my mind.
You have cancer Carol. How am I supposed to act like nothing is going on in our life. I can lose my wife because of some stupid disease so no, don't tell me to be calm right now. I don't want to lose you because you are the love of my life and I can't imagine a life without you.