Chapter Fifty-Three:
Bryce's POV
"Good morning, birthday boy."
I open my eyes to find Blossom sitting on my abdomen, her palms laying flat on my chest.
She's grinning at me with that adorable smile of hers, her head cocked slightly to the side and her bottom lip between her teeth.
I raise myself up onto my elbows so that I'm closer to Blossom's eye level. "Happy Valentine's Day."
She gives me a strange look. "Happy birthday," she says in tone that makes it seem that she cares a lot more about my birthday than she cares about Valentine's Day.
I stick my tongue out at her. "Happy one year anniversary."
At that, she freezes.
"Wow. That's crazy. One whole year," Blossom whispers incredulously.
I nod at her. "The most incredible year of my life, all because of you, Blossom. You are my everything, and you have helped me more than you'll ever know. I will never be able to repay you for that."
Blossom's eyes fill up with tears. "You've helped me too, Bryce. I was in such an incredibly dark place before you came along, but you helped me be okay again. You're my everything too, Bryce."
I then wrap my arms around her waist and tug her down so that she's laying atop me, her chest pressed against mine. My fingers find the hair at the nape of her neck and I gently guide her mouth to mine, drawing her in for a sweet yet searing kiss.
She holds my face in her dainty hands and I hold her incredibly tight to me, refusing to ever let go. We kiss and kiss and kiss until I'm fairly certain that my lips are going to go numb soon, but even as this thought dawns on me, I continue to kiss Blossom with all that I have.
Somehow, we end up rolling over in bed. Blossom is now on her back, her legs hooked around my waist as I keep her pinned there. She tugs my bottom lip between my teeth, which elicits a groan from the back of my throat and makes me press her harder into the the mattress.
"I love you, Lexi Brooks. So much," I whisper against her mouth.
"I love you too, Bryce Bradshaw. So much," she whispers in response.
🌸🌸🌸
Lexi's POV
"What are you wearing tonight, Lexi? It's your first Valentine's Day as a taken woman," Kennedy asks from where she's sitting down the couch from me.
Her, Knox, and Nathan all came over to hang out for a little bit after school as Bryce isn't going to be home until later, giving him and I just enough time to make our dinner reservation at six o'clock.
Catching up at school has been hard. It's been stressful, and whenever I get home from school at the end of the day, I'm so overwhelmed that I often just have to crawl into bed and cry for a little while.
I can tell that it breaks Bryce's heart to have to see me like this; a complete and total wreck. He's been very supportive, though, and he sits on the couch with me every night as I review my notes. I think it says a lot about how much he cares about me that he would rather help me catch up with school than get his own school work done early.
When we finally go to bed at night, we usually end up passing out as soon as our heads hit the pillows. This means that we haven't had sex since my accident, and therefore, sexual tension has been crackling between us for far too long.
I know that deep down inside, Bryce also just wanted tonight to be extra special, and having sex for the first time in awhile certainly will be something.
I glance towards Knox and Nathan, who are sitting on the leather armchairs next to the couch, before I look to Kennedy again. I can't help but to grin impossibly wide as I tell her, "Bryce bought me a dress. Do you want to come and see it? It's in our closet in the bedroom."
At that, Kennedy shoots up from the couch. "Hell yes, I want to see it! Nate! Knox! Let's go look!" she exclaims, grabbing my hand so that she can yank me up off the couch as well.
Without waiting for Knox and Nathan to follow, we hurry into the bedroom, Kennedy in the lead. She barely gives me enough time to flick on the lights before she's dragging me into the closet, actually taking time to switch on this light.
I know the moment she spots the dress because she drops my hand and claps her own hands together enthusiastically.
The dress isn't anything extravagant, not by any means.
It's made of a silky, cherry red material, no jewels or lace. It's fairly fitted, and it falls just below my knees, with the exception of the long slit up one side that goes all the way up to my thigh. The neckline is plunging, the back is cut fairly low as well, and the straps are simple.
Somehow, it's perfect, though. I was wearing a red dress somewhat similar at the Valentine's Day school dance last year, after all.
"Can I help you get ready? How long do we have until Bryce gets here?" she asks excitedly.
Something about the idea of having Kennedy help me get ready for a date just like when we were still roommates makes my heart feel light.
"We have time before he gets here? Will you help me do my hair?" I ask, all of my own excitement bubbling up.
Kennedy nods and grins. "Of course I will! God, I missed this. You should go get changed first. Then we can start on your hair and makeup."
I smile impossibly wide as Kennedy pulls the dress off of its hanger, draping it over one of her shoulders. She gestures for me to follow her before she exits the closet and heads back into the bedroom.
I shut the lights off and close the door after us. I then follow Kennedy to the centre of the room, where she sets my dress down gingerly on the bed before plopping back on the bed herself.
Knox and Nathan suddenly appear in the dow, and Kennedy takes one look at them before she says, "I changed my mind. I'm helping Lexi get ready for her date. You have to wait for the grand reveal."
Nathan sighs and heads back into the living room immediately, but Knox gives Kennedy a strange look before he shuts the bedroom door and walks away.
Kennedy laughs a little bit to herself before she turns to look at me again. "Are you going to go put this on? I'm really excited to see."
I'm just about to nod and grab the dress off of the bed before a sudden thought strikes me.
I bite my lip and look at Kennedy. "Yeah. But I need help deciding on something else first."
Kennedy quirks one of her eyebrows up at me and I give her a small smile before I disappear back into the closet, not bothering to flick on the lights as I find what I need.
When I emerge from the closet for good this time, I have a black lingerie set in one hand and a white lingerie set in the other.
Kennedy shoots up in bed, her eyes widening. She sits there and stares at me for a few moments before she stands up and hurries towards me.
"White or black? I can't tell which Bryce'll like more," I say as Kennedy examines the underwear in my arms.
"Where do you buy all this stuff? I don't have any particular reason to buy lingerie because Jules is on a different continent, but you have such a nice collection of underwear, honestly," Kennedy says, crossing her arms over her chest.
I give her a shy smile, suddenly feeling a little bit awkward. "I just shop at regular underwear stores. I just really like fancy, lace things like this. I've never been very confident in my body, but wearing this sort of stuff helps me a lot."
Kennedy's eyebrows suddenly furrow, and she gets a sad look in her eye. Before I even comprehend what's happening, she pulls me into a firm hug and squeezes me tightly before letting go.
"This is a happy day for you. There's no need to be sad. You're perfect, Lexi. I really mean that," Kennedy says to me. "I think you should wear the black. Go get changed so that we don't run out of time."
I take a deep breath and nod at Kennedy. "Okay. You're right. I should be happy. I just genuinely can't believe that Bryce and I have been together for a year already. It feels like yesterday when he told me he loved me for the first time, but it simultaneously feels as though we've been together forever."
Kennedy smiles at me before she turns on her heel, skips towards my bed, picks up my dress, and then hurries back towards me. She yanks the white lingerie out of my arms before she hands me the dress, spins me around by gripping my shoulders, and then ushers me into the bathroom.
"Go change! I want to see!" she exclaims.
I beam at her over my shoulder. "Okay, okay! I will! I'll be quick, I promise."
At that, I disappear into the bathroom, shutting the bedroom door after myself.
I strip completely naked as quickly as possible. I then pull my underwear up my legs until the waist band is snug around my hips before I then fasten on my bra.
It's a little bit longer than a bra, with a little bit of lace underneath the the underwire that wraps around my rib cage. It matches the lace around the waistband of the underwear, but as I'm examining said lace, my eyes are drawn to my scars.
They've begun to fade the slightest bit. It's been so long since I hurt myself that I can't imagine why they hadn't started to fade before now, but I've had the same thin lines across the right side of my abdomen for ages.
I can't help but to raise my hand and gently trace over the scars. The red skin is slightly raised from the rest of my skin, but apart from that, the skin feels the same.
I don't understand how Bryce can kiss these scars and then look me in the eye and tell me how beautiful he thinks I am, but nonetheless, he's managed to make me feel just a little bit more okay with the marks on my body.
Honestly, it almost burns to touch the scars, and so quickly, I retract my hand. I give the scars one more glance before I meet my own eyes in the mirror, take a deep breath in, and reach for my dress.
I unzip the back of the dress before stepping into it, pulling it up my body. I slip my arms through the straps before adjusting the front of my dress so that the dark lace of my underthings is completely concealed.
I zip the back of my dress up as high as I can before I pick up my discarded clothes from the floor. I then head out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom, where I find Kennedy sitting on the bed, her legs crossed underneath herself as she waits impatiently for me to return.
As soon as she sees me, she shoots up from the bed once again. "You look phenomenal."
I feel myself suddenly begin to blush the same colour as my dress. "Thank you. Can you zip up my dress for me?"
Kennedy nods, and I turn around so that my back is facing her. I then pull my hair over one shoulder, which gives Kennedy access to zip up the back of my dress.
She pats me on the shoulders and I turn around to face her, tossing my hair back behind my shoulders. "Do you think we should curl my hair?" I ask.
Kennedy purses her lips together as though she's deep in thought for a few moments before she grins and nods rapidly. "I'll go plug in your curling wand and then we'll get started."
She flounces off into the bathroom and so I grab the white lingerie set off of the bed before heading into the closet, where I place the underwear back in the drawer and then dump my clothes from earlier into the laundry basket.
I grab a pair of plain, nude heels from the shelf before I head into the bathroom, where Kennedy has already plugged in the curling wand. We end up curling my hair in loose, bouncy waves before Kennedy quickly moves on to doing my makeup.
I let her curl my eyelashes and comb my eyebrows, but that's as much as I really want to do. I've grown to be perfectly happy with my appearance without makeup, and so after applying a little bit of tinted lip balm, Kennedy unplugs the curling iron and we then head out of the bathroom.
I slip my feet into my heels, and with that being the final touch, I turn to look at myself in the full-length mirror.
Of course, I look like I always do; long brown hair, hazel eyes, short and fairly pale.
But as I look at myself, wearing a red dress that my boyfriend of one whole year, Bryce Bradshaw. picked out for me, I'm suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.
I smooth the slight fold in my dress out, allowing my hands to skim down my body. I feel so incredibly beautiful right now.
Kennedy appears behind me. "Do you think he bought you anything?"
I shrug at her, blinking back the tears that are threatening to emerge. "I hope not. It's his birthday, not mine. He really didn't want me to buy him a present, but I still have something to give him that I've been meaning to give him for awhile."
Kennedy looks intrigued. "Like what?"
🌸🌸🌸
Kennedy, Knox, and Nathan left about half an hour ago. Bryce should've been home by now, but he isn't, which has me slightly worried.
I bite down on my lower lip, nearly hard enough to draw blood.
I'm standing in front of the mirror again, examining my appearance. I don't usually feel pretty, but somehow, right now, I feel beautiful.
The front door opens, and my heart skips a beat.
"Honey, I'm home!" Bryce calls out from the foyer.
I can't help but to giggle. "I'm in the bedroom, Bryce."
I hear the door slam shut, the thud of Bryce dropping his backpack onto the ground, and then his hurried footsteps as he makes his way through the apartment and towards me.
The bedroom door is about halfway open, and so when Bryce pushes it, it nearly flies off it's hinges.
"Hi, baby. I've been missing you all day," he says excitedly, closing the door shut after himself.
He freezes the moment his eyes land on me.
"Damn, you look beautiful," he says under his breath.
I grin and twirl around for him to see. "You like the dress?"
He's silent as he takes a few steps towards me. His hands grip my hips as he says, "I like you. And I like you in the dress. God, you really are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. I'm not worthy of you."
I take a little step closer to Bryce. "I feel pretty, Bryce," I whisper. "For the first time in my life, I genuinely feel pretty."
At that, Bryce lifts me up into the air by the waist and spins me around in a few circles. "That's my girl," he says under his breath.
When he makes a move to set me back down on the ground, I wrap my legs around his waist and bury my face into the crook of his neck.
Bryce chuckles and holds me tightly in his arms as he makes his way across the room and into the closet.
"You know that you're going to have to detach from me so that I can get changed, right, sweetheart?" he then says against my ear.
I let out a laugh. "I missed you today too, you know."
I feel Bryce smile against my neck.
🌸🌸🌸
"So, tell me about yourself," Bryce says, cocking his head to the side with a grin.
It doesn't go over my head that he's using the same line as he did when we went on our very first date.
I roll my eyes at him. "Well, my name is Lexi, and I'm eighteen years old. I go to Juilliard and I'm a singer. I have a wonderful boyfriend named Bryce, and he's very handsome."
At this, Bryce's interest peeks. "Very handsome, you say? Please tell me more about this dashing young man."
Now, my eyebrows fly up out of pure and utter shock. I clear my throat. "It's actually his birthday today. He's nineteen, by some miracle, considering that he's always acting like a damn child."
Bryce smiles, and it's a boyish sort of grin that is capable of making me melt in no time at all. "He sounds wonderful."
I scowl.
"And I'm sure he loves his girlfriend very much. He would be stupid not too. She's just so lovely," Bryce adds.
As simply as that, he has me blushing all over again.
"You're an idiot, Bryce Bradshaw. But you're my idiot. And that's all that matters," I say.
Bryce beams at this. "I love you too, Blossom."
I stick my tongue out at him and then take a sip of my water. "Do you have any plans for after we eat dinner?" I ask.
Casually, he reaches up to fiddle with his tie for a moment before he looks right into my eyes and tells me, "Maybe we can try and come up with some uses for this tie, tonight. Something other than a blindfold would be fun."
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day!!! It's also the one year anniversary since I started Something There!!!! Woooooooh!!!
What a crazy year, guys. It's been life-changing. Thank you. So much.
And, of course, happy birthday to Bryce Bradshaw, the love of my life.
I wrote this all today and I wish I could have condensed all of the Valentine's Day festivities into one chapter, but I just got home from a musical audition and so I didn't have enough time to write more. Part two will be coming ASAP <3