heart strings♥

chapter three: Accident

They were nine years old~

"Hey, can I come over?" Alex asks. "More like, can I sleep over?"

"I'll ask my mom first," Raysa said. Putting a hand on the phone, she turned and called out to her mother, "Mom, Alex wants to sleep over. He's asking for your permission."

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"She said no," Raysa said.

"Liar," Alex said, "Your mom loves me."

"No she doesn't"

"Oh yes she does," he said confidently, then added, "Only your brother doesn't like me."

"Wimp," Raysa mused, using the word her brother calls him.

"You'll pay for that once I get there," Alex warned.

"Didn't I tell you, mom. said. no," Raysa reasoned, but knows all too well that Alex was not buying it.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm packing my stuff now, I'll be there at five," he said before hanging up.

Ding dong~ Raysa rushes down the stairs just as one of their servants opened it. "Did you invite that wimp again?" her fifteen year old brother said. Brushing his bangs with his hand while he leaned against the wall.

"Brother, please don't be rude. Or else I'll tell mom you invited your sluty girlfriend here. And we both know you can't lie your way out of it if I do," Raysa said sweetly.

Her brother stared at her, his face expressionless, then he shrugged, "Fine, whatever Ysa," he says climbing up the stairs.

"I love you Ray!" Raysa called out sincerely.

"Raymond, could you prepare Alex' room?" their mom calls out.

"Can't we get the maids to do it? Isn't that what we're paying them for?" Ray asks lazily.

"Rayray I love you," Raysa calls again, waiting for his reply.

"Yeah yeah, love you too," Raymond mumbles loud enough for her to be satisfied with.

She opens the door and received a big warm hug. "You're squeezing the life out of me," Raysa said while she laughed.

"Hey, listen to this," Alex says removing an earphone and shoving it in hers.

"Is that...me?" she whispered, face going red.

"Yup. I recorded it last year. You had no idea, did you?" he said proudly.

"Why do you two get along soooo well?" Raymond interrupts boredly. "I mean, do you ever fight?"

The two kids looked at each other, then laughed. "We fight all the time," Alex says.

"Yeah, like last Christmas party, Alex and I were fighting over who's taller. Alex left without me cuz he got mad that I wouldn't admit he's taller. And then I hid his presents along with his guitar before he could leave."
"Turns out he also hid my presents, so we had a truce, Raysa finished.

"*Sigh*, children," Ray mumbles before disappearing to his room.

"Hey big brother, can I play with Alex in your game room?" Raysa asked. But there was no answer.

"Come on. Rayray bought a new game," Raysa says happily as she pulled her best friend.

"But your brother didn't..." he started to say but she interrupted him.

"With Ray, silence means yes."

"Wow!" Alex says, putting down his guitar case and his backpack on the floor. "I keep forgetting that your house is as big as mine." Taking in all the high-tech gaming systems, the giant flat screen TV, the stereo with an advanced recording system beside it, the shelves full of CDs, DVDs, games and cameras.

Alex and Raysa played games for about two hours. They stopped only when a servant came in to bring snacks and beverages. By the time they were done, Alex had won four games against Raysa who only won three. Alex grinned as Raysa stuck her tongue at him. She knew he also had a lot of gaming devices and had a lot of time mastering most of them.

"Hey, what's in there?" Alex asks, standing up and reaching for the closet door. Raysa quickly got up and blocked him from opening it. "Don't do it, trust me. It's really not worth knowing," she said shaking her head, making her long ashy blonde hair tumbling past her shoulders. But just like her, Alex became even more tempted with don't's and can't's, no's and  not's.

He stepped forward, grinning mischievously as he closed the distance between them, urging her to move using his gaze.

Lips curled up into a smile, he buried his gaze into hers. He noticed that his best friend's hair grew longer, her eyes turned lighter, her cheeks still had that pinkish color in them. He guessed that she grew an inch or something but he didn't really know. She stared back at him with those wonderful eyes he had grown fond of, but right now they were full of stubbornnes, and determination of not giving in. Alex' lips curled into an amused smile, and he stepped forward. Charging in the silent battle.

Raysa's response was to step back. Big mistake. That only gave him control. She couldn't back down, but she unconsciously did. As she was lost in his mesmerizing eyes that were playful and up to no good, she now noticed how they where now much darker than she remembered and ...

"Did you grow taller?" she demanded.

"Huh?" Alex blinked, but he still kept advancing.

"You grew!" she accused, still retreating.

"Aww, come on, don't be mad. I would've grown taller than you sooner or later," he said smiling victoriously.

"But..." Raysa started, but her back hit the closet door. It burst open, leaving moments before a stock of old games, pillows, heavy sheets and a couple of boxes to fall on Raysa and Alex.

Alex took hold of Raysa, wrapping the back of her head with his hand and shielding her back using his arm. He was just in time before everything fell on them.

Alex landed on his back with Raysa on top of him. But... what they didn't realize was that their lips were pressed against each other. Both lay frozen in such a position, staring into each other's wide eyes, feeling both of their hearts race, and when they finally came to their senses, they scrambled apart. Their cheeks burning, heart dancing, and thoughts moving in lightning speed. And after the loooong awkward silence, Alex said "Was that a kiss?" He peeked through the corner of his eye to glance at Raysa.

Though she was clearly blushing, she rolled her eyes at him, "No, that was a staring contest with no personal space and our faces should stick together and--- Of course it was a kiss, dummy!"

Alex unconsciously pressed his lips together and unpressed them when he realized that was inappropriate for their current situation. But still, he couldn't help himself, he reached to touch his lips remembering when hers was pressed against them.

"Stop that," Raysa ordered, face fully red.

Seeing his way out of the uncomfortable subject, he said, "You're not the boss of me." And he practically rubbed his lips off of his face.

Raysa giggled, seeing how silly Alex was being lightened the atmosphere. And soon they found themselves acting as if nothing had happened. And when Raysa's mom told them it's time for bed, Raysa led him to his room.

But before she left him, he called out, "Do you still love me?"

She was surprised by his question, remembering how there wasn't a single day that they didn't give an  I love you to each other and how they always took those three wrds lightly. But right now her automatic response still surpassed the unsure voice in her head, "Yup, 'bout you?"

"Same," Alex answered, relieved that he's still important to his best friend even after what happened.