The Good. The Bad. The Girl.

Fifteen: The Tree House

P.o.v Lance

If my eyes could take photos, this one would be at the front of my album.

Picture perfect, like always, Alex was sitting at the front of the boat, her face tilted toward the sky, her eyes closed.

She looked so peaceful. And beautiful.

I continue to row and I don't even break out in a sweat.

I row us around a bend to a wider spot in the river where the trees don't hang over. The sun made a perfect cape of light around the boat as I stop there, and drop a little anchor.

"We're here." I put down the oars.

"I know." she takes one last deep breath, then opens her eyes and turns to face me.

I open the basket and pull out a traditional red and white blanket and lay it in the bottom of the boat. Then I sit on it and lean against the bench behind me. Alex does the same.

Then I pull out two wine glasses and a bottle of champagne. I hand a glass to Alex.

"Ready for the fun part?" I shake the bottle of champagne.

Alex laughs.

I aim for a flower across the bank, then POP! The cork flies lose and off into the water.

"Bad aim, I guess." I wait for the bottle to quit bubbling over before I poor some in her glass and then some in mine.

She takes a sip. "Not bad."

I smile, then grab a small platter of cheese, meat and crackers covered in plastic wrap, out of the basket.

"Ooooo. This is fancy." Alex takes a piece of cheese and pops it into her mouth delicately.

"Mmmm, medium cheddar." She exclaims.

I reach into the basket again and pull out a little radio.

Alex looks surprised. "You brought a radio?"

"It's a musician thing." I look up at her and wink. "As you probably know."

She shrugs, but I see the smile on her face.

I turn on the radio and plug in my iPhone.

I scroll until find "Hold on we're going home" by Drake. I turn the volume down and push play.

"Great song. " Alex immediately says.

"I know." I take a sip of my champagne.

"So, what inspired you to take me out on a fancy date?" She leans forward a little and raises her eyebrows a few times.

"This pretty girl I know."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. She's the inspiration for all my great ideas."

Alex blushes and I smile.

"Well thank you." Her eyes meet mine. "It's beautiful and means a lot to me."

"Don't thank me yet." I make my way over to her side, only rocking the boat slightly.

I sit next to her and wrap my arm around her. She rests her head in the crook of my arm.

"Watch the sky." I whisper in her ear.

We both look up at the sky and I hear her gasp.

"It's so beautiful." She exclaims.

The sky was full if colors as the sun began to set. Reds woven with pinks and purples with bursts of yellows and oranges covered the sky.

We lay there and watch as the yellows, then oranges and reds begin to fade into the pinks and purples.

Then the pinks and purples diss spear until there is only a Navy sky with a scattering of stars.

"It's so beautiful." Alex says again.

"And yet, it gets better." I slowly move back over to my bench and reach under it retrieving two lanterns.

I light them and put one on each end of the boat. Then I pick up the oars and I start rowing again.

✨💫✨💫✨💫✨💫✨💫✨💫✨

P.o.v Alexandria

It gets better? How could this get any better? It was absolutely amazing.

Not that I minded. I didn't want this night to ever end. I liked the stars, water, boat, lanterns and music and food and drink. But I really liked the Guy who did it for me.

Not even a few minutes later, Lance rows the boat up onto the bank. He gets out onto the bank, then helps me out.

He takes my hand in his and I feel a shiver of anticipation at his touch.

We walk, hand in hand, over to a tall, ancient looking tree with boards nailed to it to make ladder steps.

Lance lets go of my hand and begins to climb until he disappears into the foliage.

"You comin'?" I hear him call down to me.

"Yep!" I call up as I take a deep breath and begin the climb.

When I reach the top, my head pops throw the leaves revealing a big, wooden platform with a few toys and boxes.

Lance seems to pop out of know where as he reaches down and pulls me up easily.

We stand facing each other, then Lance smiles and turns in a circle. "What do you think?"

I laugh. " It reminds me of my childhood."

"Well, this was my childhood." He walks over to a big box by a huge branch of the tree.

"But this is so far from your house." I walk over to him.

"Yeah, that's why my brothers and I loved it here." He opens the box and I see Tonka trucks, fake guns and mangled action figures.

"Mainly it was just Xavier and I, but Todd, Matt and Levi played with us here too." Lance closes the box back up.

"We've always lived in the same house ever since Todd, Xavier and I were adopted, but Emerson could drive way before we could, so he drove us down to the river.
We saved our money for two rowboats and then we started rowing farther and farther down the river.

Eventually, we realized that every group of boys had a tree house, so one day we found this huge tree and knew it was the one.

We built a platform for it and argued if it should have walls and a roof or not.

Xavier and I said no walls and roof because then we couldn't see the stars at night and other people will be able to see it and they might wanna use it.

Xavier and I won the argument."

I smile at him. "Typical boys."

He laughs. "Yeah. We were."

So maybe Xavier was a good guy at one point. But now he wasn't. And maybe Lance and him were close. But now they weren't.

I could hear the sorrow in Lances voice as he talked. There was also happiness about all the good times, but the sadness was still there.

Whatever drove them apart must have been big. And then I know what it was.

"Was it Jordan?" I ask softly.

He looks up into my eyes, "Yes."

I nod in sympathy then put my arms around his neck like I always do.

He puts his hands in my back pockets then leans his forehead against mine.

"It will get better someday," I whisper.

"I know." He rests his chin on top of my head and pulls me into his embrace.

We could hear just a hint of the music from the boat, but it was enough for us to start swaying gently to it.

I let out a sigh and think to myself that being held by Lance was just as good as kissing him.