I Love A Challenge (Alex Babinski Fanfic)

Chapter Fourteen

I stood in front of the kitchen counter, passing out bowls and boxes of cereal to Brian and our four sleepy houseguests. The living room still showed the evidence of last night's festivities; beer bottles and red solo cups littered the table and there was a half open bag of chips spilling onto the couch. Alexa and Lynn were significantly hungover, I was lucky enough to feel completely fine and everyone else ended up somewhere in the middle.

After our midmorning cereal and cleaning up the living room Alexa and Lynn went home to sleep off the rest of their alcohol, and Jenn left to go try to make herself presentable before she had to deal with work.

I went upstairs to change out of last night's party clothes and I could hear Brian talking to Alex as he got his things to leave. "Last night was fun man, this is a good group, we should do this again," Alex's laugh drifted into my bedroom.

"This is a good group?" Brian chuckled. "Or you like dancing with my sister?"

Oh no, I already didn't like where this conversation was going. I stood at the edge of my bedroom door, just out of sight of the boys, and prayed that Alex changed the subject.

"Both," I heard Alex say. I swallowed hard; that was not what he was supposed to say. "But seriously, you know I'm not gonna hurt Blaire. Stop getting so paranoid every time we look at each other."

This was not good, this was not good at all. This was the exact opposite of changing the subject. We were supposed to lay low, not bring even more attention to Brian's suspicions.

There was a loud sigh followed by a laugh from Brian. "I know, I'm paranoid," I heard Brian say. "It's just that she's my sister and I gotta protect her you know? I'm probably doing way too much work though, she'd never be interested in you anyway." I knew it hurt Alex to hear that, it hurt me to hear that. Whether it was intentional or not Brian had yet again pointed out that he didn't like how Alex used to treat women and that I would never want to date someone who treats women like that. Brian had no idea how much Alex had changed already, and I knew it killed Alex that Brian hadn't noticed such a drastic shift in behavior. "But just, promise my 'paranoid ass' that there's nothing going on between you two."

There was no response, only silence; an uncomfortably long silence. "Blaire," I heard Alex called my name and I felt my stomach drop. "Can you come down here for a minute?"

Making my way down the the stairs slowly I tried to look casual, but I feared my white knuckle grip on the railing of the stairs was giving me away.

"Am I missing something?" Brian said slowly. "What's going on?"

After what felt like an eternity I reached the bottom of the stairs and stood against the railing, in between Alex and Brian.

Alex turned to me and gave me a pained look, "I'm sorry, give me the chance to explain myself later." Before I could ask what he was talking about he turned to Brian, "Blaire and I have been dating behind your back for over 3 months."

Before Alex was able to continue or I was able to provide any type of explanation Brian's head whipped to face me. "Tell me he's kidding."

"Brian I can explain-" I began.

"Tell me he's kidding," Brian said, his voice growing louder, jaw clenched.

"He's not," I squeaked.

"What?!" Brian roared.

I froze, taken aback by his sudden yelling. "I know we should have told you sooner but please let me explain this to you." I tried to remain calm, hoping that would make the conversation easier.

"There will be no explaining," Brian spat. "You're never seeing him again. Alex how dare you make my sister one of your toys," he lunged at Alex, pushing him into the wall.