king and queen

thirty-five

Alexa's POV

I gave him a look of skepticism.

"Just a suggestion, but give me another chance." He leaned over the counter to face me. He had a stupid cocky grin on his face that made him almost irresistible. "Give me one more chance. Just one! And if things go wrong again, or I do something stupid and fuck up..." He paused. "I'll let you go. Leave you alone. We can be just friends forever. But as of right now, I'm not giving up and I really do mean it when I say I'm gonna wait for you."

He was still leaned over the counter looking me dead in the eye.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

I was still leaned back in my chair with my arms crossed as he had his eyes locked in mine. "You understand where I'm coming from, right?"

He laughed. "Oh, yeah. Entirely. I just don't like it."

I giggled. "Of course you don't."

"So, Lex... whaddya say?"

I sighed and thought for a moment. "Alright, Dal. You got yourself a deal."

"Really?" He asked in shock.

"Yeah. I'm kidding myself if I'm saying that the whole reason I didn't come down here was 'cause of you..." I muttered. "Although, I tried to say it was for me. New opportunities. New adventures. Find some sort of purpose. But I would never have come down here unless it was with you. I mean, when you said you were leaving back in New York, I felt like this physical pain in my chest. Like it really was heartbreaking. So, let's do it."

"Yes!" He said jumping over the counter. He picked me up and spun me around. We laughed as we sat down. He sighed. "You had me fooled. I thought I lost ya." He said with a grin.

I smiled slightly. "You never truly lost me."

He looked at me like a kid looking in a candy store. "You're the best, I ever tell ya that?" He asked.

I laughed. "Maybe once or twice." I looked at the clock. "I better go take a shower. It's gettin' late and I'm already gonna be exhausted tomorrow."

"Can I come?" He pleaded.

I gave him a glare. "Don't you gotta clean up?" I asked.

"I'll do it tomorrow! And I'll be at school by third hour to talk to you!" "Please, please, please." He begged.

I laughed as I thought for a moment. "Fine. But it's gonna be a quick shower."

Before I could finish getting my words out he booked it upstairs and I slowly followed along.

-

I woke up the next morning, exhausted.

I got ready and this was the first time I was nervous to go to school. Like, kinda scared almost?

It was just that I didn't have Dallas there and I know that there was still a lot going on about me.

I walked in and Ponyboy and Johnny walked up to me. "Alexa! Good news!" Ponyboy said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Some girl is pregnant."

I raised an eyebrow. "Uhh... how is that good news?" I asked skeptically.

Johnny spoke up. "It means the student body found something and someone new to talk about. You'll be left alone."

"Oh! Great news." I said with a laugh.

I went through my day and I really had nothing to worry about. Spoiler alert, the real worry came after school.

Dallas showed up at the end of third hour and the day went on as usual. I went back to Buck's for a bit before cheer with Dallas and he went to go get the mail.

"Alexa, there's a letter here for you." I picked up the sealed envelope and I saw my name written on the front with nothing else. I groaned. "What is it?" Dally asked.

"It's dad's handwriting."

He gave me a look of sympathy. "What's it say?" He asked.

I went to open it and I shoved it to the side. "I don't know and I don't care." I sighed. "I want nothing to do with him."

Dallas sat down at the bar. "Lex, maybe you should open it. Maybe he didn't really have bad intentions. He did a real good job at proving for you and it might give you some closure."

"Closure?" I asked. "For what?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. You gotta have some questions for him. Maybe there's answers." I sighed. I knew he was right. I picked up the letter and opened it. "Read it out loud." He said.

I unfolded the paper and started to read. "You were right." I looked at it some more. "That's it?" I asked, more to myself than him.

"You were right? What does that mean?" He asked.

I felt my anger rise. "I know I was right! What does this have to do with anything?"

"Is there an address?"

"No." I looked around some more. "Oh, there's a hotel room on the back. It's for the one downtown."

"I guess he wants to talk to you in person."

"That's so stupid. What if I don't want to see him again?"

"I think that was the point. Forces you to. If you opened it, you clearly wanted answers. You're curious. And now you have that curiosity you're gonna wanna see him."

I groaned. "Whatever. I'm gonna be late to cheer. I'll see you later, Dal."

I walked out the door and down the road to the school. I couldn't get his stupid letter out of my head.

I did want answers.

Why he did what he did.

He came all this way. This might be the last chance I get to talk to him.

Practice went by quicker than ever. Only because I was dreading what came after.

I picked up the pay phone and called the Curtis' number, figuring that's where Dallas would be. "Hello?" He answered.

"Hey, Dal. It's Alexa."

"Hey, Lex. What's up?"

"Umm... I'm gonna head down to that hotel. I'll be home later. Just thought you should know."

"Alright, 'Lexa. Good luck, okay? Call me if ya need anything."

"Alright. See ya."

"Bye."

I put the phone down and made my way to the hotel.