Behind The Screens

10 | How To Say ILY

Alex

Britten and I couldn't stop laughing. We had a lot to say to each other, and most of it was highly amusing and made me miss her even more. "Wait,
is that a dimple?" I moved my face closer to the screen. My forehead pressed against the camera, causing Britten to laugh. "Yes!" She replied. I sighed and laughed at the same time.

"All the times I've drooled over your face and yet I never saw that dimple." I said. Her laugh was a little softer this time. "Yea..." Britten agreed, smiling. I smiled back. God, I miss her. She was so beautiful. The way her eyes lit up when she smiled made my stomach turn with excitement and when she spoke, it was smooth like melted chocolate.

I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted by ma yelling for us to come eat. I looked up at the door and then back at Britten. "You'll be back?" Britten asked me. "It's lasagna!" Tyler cheered, running in the room. I was immediately filled with excitement. Ma made the best lasagna, so any night that she made it was going to be a good night. Britten laughed at me and smiled. "I'll try," I joked. Then we ended the call.

"Coming!" I shut my laptop closed and came to the table. When I sat down, Ma was smiling at me like she had just witnessed me take my first steps. Tyler and Jack had already started eating. I couldn't help but to smile back. "What?" I asked. She laughed. I sipped my water in confusion.

"You guys are just so cute." She said, finally picking up her fork to eat. I felt redness crawling up my cheeks as I grinned harder at the thought of Britten. "Britten and I?" I asked. She nodded. Jack launched a piece of food across the table and hit Tyler in the forehead.

"Jack!" Tyler and Ma both said in unison. Jack laughed and threw his fork down in front of him. I laughed with him. "No sir," Ma told him. She picked up the fork and gave it back to him.

"So how long have you guys been together?" She asked while trying to wipe the lasagna off of Tyler's head. He kept pushing her off and telling her that he could do it himself. Some things never change in this family.

"Since she left for New York," I told her, reminiscing to that day when she was pulled away from our second goodbye kiss. I started dragging food around my plate.

"When was that?" She asked me. "September twenty-fourth." I replied confidently. I could never forget the day, nor did I ever want to. Sometimes that day would replay over and over in my head, the look we both gave that confirmed us. She grinned. "A while, huh?" I nodded. It was December now. December tenth, actually, and it had been almost three months that we had been together. They were best three months, and yet the hardest because I had her, but hardly ever in my arms. We lived on completely opposite sides of the country, and yet I could hardly stand being in a different room sometimes.

"When are you going to see her again?" Tyler asked me. I shrugged while still moving food around my plate. "Eat, hun." Ma demanded. I obeyed. "You should see her over winter break." Tyler suggested. I shrugged again. "I don't have the money." I said quietly. It wasn't something I liked to say, but they understood.

"What about your job?" Ma asked.  "I thought you'd want me to stay here for Christmas... plus I have to buy presents." I replied. She didn't respond, but instead finished her food in silence. Though she was quiet, I knew she was thinking hard. If she wasn't speaking, she had a lot going on in her head, sometimes good, sometimes bad. But in this case, I wasn't worried about the intensity of her silence- I knew she'd have something worthwhile planned.

After I finished, I excused myself from the table, rinsed my plate, and headed back to the room. I flipped my laptop back open as Ma yelled, "Tell her I said hi!"
"Okay!" I yelled back. When Skype finally rebooted I clicked call on Britten's name... I.heart.cupcakes8. I still laugh at it when I see it. "I was eight!" She'd defend herself.

It only took two seconds for her to pick up. She was sitting in a different place than the last time we talked and had her hair pulled into a bun. "Where are you?" I asked her. "I'm at Mira's." She replied. "Why?"
"I can't be concerned about your safety?" I questioned. She laughed and nodded. "I guess so."

For the few hours we'd been video chatting, I longed to finally tell her that I loved her, but I never knew what the result would be. I was so nervous that I'd be rejected, or maybe she'd get mad because our first I love you's should be in person.

"Hey, Britten?" I said, catching her attention. She looked up with her lips pressed together. Just her in general made me a nervous wreck.
"Yea?" She responded. "I- umm..." She furrowed her brow. "I- was wondering if you've been okay? After your parents left and... yea." I said awkwardly. She shrugged and laughed. "Better with you." She replied and smiled.

I scratched the back of my head and sloppily grinned. I'm such a mess. I thought. It shouldn't have been this hard to tell the girl I love that I love her. "I wanna see you." I said to Britten. "And not just over this... stupid screen." She just couldn't stop smiling. "Me too."

"I hope you can see him with the lights off." Tyler said and shut off the lights. I turned to Tyler. "Um?" I said, pointing at the screen. "Jack and I are watching Disney until we fall asleep." Tyler said while tossing a clearly amused Jack onto the bed, then crawling on himself. "Join if you want, but we're not setting limits for your little Skype date." I rolled my eyes and Britten giggled.

"Well... I guess I should go." I said. "Kiss me." She demanded, pouting. I turned to look at Tyler and Jack. Their eyes were focused on the screen. "Oh, they don't care." She said while laughing. I blushed, thankful that the dark hid me.

"I want your lips not the screen!" I tried to defend myself but she just shook her head and laughed. "Pucker up, pretty boy." She told me. I smiled and kissed the screen just to make her happy. "Yay!" She cheered. "Now do it again." I laughed and shook my head.

"I've gotta go now." I said. She nodded. "Okay... good night." She said. I smiled again. "I, uh- I hope you have a good night too." I stuttered again. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I finally ended the call with Britten and pulled up my blog. I decided to post something for my followers- after all, it had been a while. Over the two months that have passed, I had gained ten thousand more followers. Why? They found out about Britten and I.

So, I'm thinking about changing my blog name... how about PrettyBoy924? :)

I clicked enter then started typing about my day. The Mind of Alex Perez is what my followers crave for the most... that and the gushy, cheesy love posts that Britten and I do. Every now and then, when I decide to skip out on telling my followers about the very few interesting details of my day, Britten and I will come up with something "adorable" to post on my page instead.

When I finished, I shut down my laptop for the night. "Hey," I said, trying to catch Tyler's attention. Half-sleep, he turned over to look at me, his eyes squinting in the dark. "What." He responded, in a groggy voice. "Scoot over or I'll knock you out the bed." I demanded. He flipped me off and moved him and Jack over.

I watched about thirty minutes of The Lion King before my eyes became droopy and, somewhere after Simba and Nala got themselves in trouble with Hyenas, I was knocked out.

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Sorry it was short and boring but next chapter won't be because... Let's just say "winter break." ;) ILY