The Guy Who Gave Up His Jersey (New Version)

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"I wasn't ready to be with someone like you when you liked me, Jules. I was a mess...at times I still am. I promise you though, right now I know what I want."

It's me. Who he wants is me and there isn't even a peep escaping my lips. It was going to take me a minute to put everything together. Why was Alejandro confessing this? Why now? Did it matter though? He confessed it at his own time with his own conditions and there wasn't anyone who pestered him or forced him to expose his feelings. He did it on his own.

I respected him for it.

He got up from the chair and walked over to the edge of the bed. Alejandro hadn't seemed to intimate to me since I was barely starting high school. It had never left my mind how handsome he was and I'm not talking about his physique—his personality, his character, the amount of love he has for everyone.

"I like you." He said again.

"Do you keep saying thinking it's going to get a reaction from me?" I asked curiously.

He shook his head. "No, it feels easier to breathe confessing it."

"Come here." I tugged on his shirt, making him get down towards my face. I'm not a sucker for love nor do I fully trust Alejandro, but it's more of my own personal issue then Alejandro's background. Yet, I don't care.

I cupped Alejandro's face and pressed my lips to his. I want to be able to breathe easily too. "I like you, too."

A wide grin appeared on his face and he kissed me again, this time causing the huge knot in the middle of my stomach disappear. Alejandro wasn't lying, it was easier to breathe now.

He pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat back down keeping his hand on mine.

"We can talk about what happens between us once you get out of the hospital. Let's focus on you getting better."

"Deal." I smiled. All the excitement had caused me to feel drained and as much as I wanted to stay awake to talk to Alejandro, I knocked out.

The rest of my week was spent in the hospital getting MRI's done and antibiotics being purged into my IV line. Greg and his team didn't want to discharge me until they felt comfortable with my healing of my surgery as well as my hearing level.

My mom spent the mornings with me while my dad would come after work to spend the night. Xavier and the girls would take turns spending the afternoons with me, it depended on who had the afternoon free. I'd wish Alejandro would come to spend some time with me more than an hour but with my mom spending the mornings with me at the hospital she goes home to rest and someone needs to keep the cafe functioning. Luckily, Alejandro and Xavier have been keeping it running as smoothly as possible. 

I was flipping through the channels trying to find a decent movie to watch when the door open and Alejandro came in with a bag in his hand. 

"I brought you food from the cafe, chocolate waffles with strawberry topping." He smiled happily. 

"Oh yes, please! The hospital food here is decent but I need outside food!" I turned off the television and position myself on the bed to be able to eat my food. Alejandro grabbed a chair and placed it beside me while I began to eat the waffles.

"You're lucky you are missing two weeks of school with thanksgiving vacation being next week." 

"I don't see it like that, Demi dropped off assignments for me Tuesday and I am still trying to get it done before we go back to school next week. I almost forgot finals are the week after Thanksgiving so I have a lot on my plate." I groaned at the thought of hours I was going to have to invest to finish papers and projects for school. One minute the semester had just started and in a blink of an eye, it was finals. 

"You'll be fine." He assured, leaning back in the chair. 

"Why aren't you in the cafe today anyway?" I asked. 

"Xavier took over my shift and told me to go visit you, I might have told him about my confession to you. On the bright side, I have his blessing if you want to date me." He opened one of his eyes, smirking evilly. 

I had a piece of waffle half-way from entering my mouth as soon as he said it, I shoved the waffle in my mouth. Was this his way of asking me out? He clearly said he wanted to wait until I got discharged from the hospital to figure out what was going to happen between us. I haven't thought about if I want to date him yet, I'm still trying to get over the fact he likes me and I like him. He needed to give me a second to catch up on the while sittuiation circling between us. 

I swallowed hard, feeling the waffle getting stuck in the middle of my throat. "Is this your way of asking me to be your giflriend?" I asked quietly. 

He shook his head. "No, take as a suggestion of you and I become a couple." 

I swallowed again trying to make the waffle go down my throat but the thought of Alejandro and I becoming a couple made my mouth get drier than a dessert. I haven't fantasized about us dating since his confession and the thought of us dating had my heart beating. I was nervous at the thought of becoming his girlfriend because there would be standards for us. It meant putting my heart in his hands and giving him the chance to break me if he wished too. 

Or what if I broke his heart? Holy shit, for once I was thinking about someone else rather than me. If I hurt him I will never forgive myself and if he hurts me I'd never be able to talk to him again. Was it truly worth dating him? 

"What if we don't work out? What if the illusion of us dating is greater than the urge to actually wanting to be together? What if you cheat on me? What if I cheat on you? Dear God...." 

Alejandro straightens himself out to give me an odd look. "Calm down, you're acting as if I asked you to marry me. Although you have valid questions there aren't answers for them. We have to trust each other to not be disrespectful and you have to trust the base we are starting to make our relationship work. A relationship that isn't even established yet." He chuckled, pretty amused by my outburst. 

"You're everything I have wanted, you cannot chuckle out my worries." I found myself blurting out. 

His smile disappeared. "Sorry, I promise you to not hurt you. I really want to be with you and there isn't an illusion of us in my head. I like the relationship we have the way we work. There truly isn't anything I'd change between us." 

"Maybe I am not ready to date you." I confessed, staring down at my plate of food. 

"That's okay too, when you are ready to start a relationship with me, you tell me. I can wait." 

"All of this feels unreal." I heard him get up from the chair and he came over to me, titlting my head up to get me to look at him. 

"I chose you to get to know me-"

"And I said I was a bad listener." I responded stupidly. 

He laughed. "I've been knowing it was you I wanted to open up to, even when you asked me to walk away. I knew when the time was right if you were meant to be with me, life would throw you back my way." 

"You are part of my life there isn't a way for life to divert me anywhere else when you are everywhere I go." 

"Doesn't that make us even more compatible with one another?" 

"Maybe it's chaos waiting to happen," I whispered. 

"I like chaos." He grinned.

****

Well, Alejandro, we like you.