The Boy Next Door (Kian Lawley)

Chapter 8:

«A l e x i s ' s P o v»

I really don't know what's been going on with me the past few days. I can't decide whether I like people or not. I mean, I'm mad at Jc, for being rude to me, but he's my brother and he was just trying to knock some sense into me. And Kennedy really pissed me off by telling the boys how long my 'Collin' problems have been active. And Kian.

Kian.

That delinquent is really messing up my head. One moment he's sweet and caring, and the next he says something totally irrelevant and offensive. Maybe I blew it out of proportion, maybe he really didn't mean to hurt my feelings. I don't know why I care so much anyways. My conscience is telling me that I like him, but is that even possible?

I look at the digital clock beside my bed and see that it's almost eleven in the morning. I groan as I look at how many notifications I have on my phone, then I just toss it aside. I'll deal with them later. I pull out the drawer on my nightstand and grab a pen and a my journal.

Pros and Cons of Kian Lawley:
Cons: Used to hate each other, my brothers best friend, still healing from Collin...
Pros: He's changing his attitude, he can help me learn to trust boys again, maybe Jc will be happy if I'm with someone he knows and trusts, Kennedy has always bet on it, and let's face it, he's hot af.

Someone knocked on my door and I quickly closed my journal and pushed it under my pillow. "Come in!" I semi-yelled.

Well, what do you know? In walks the delinquent himself. What's wrong with me? I literally just made a list of reasons I should be with him. I really needed to get my emotions in check.

"Hey..." He said awkwardly. "Mind if I sit?"

"Well, as long as you plan on keeping the irrelevant words to yourself and only saying logical things, go ahead." I motion for him to sit next to me. The bed sinks and he scratches the back of his neck with his hand.

"So...uh...I-I wanted to apologize for last night." He said, without making eye contact.

"Don't. It's not necessary." I said. He looked up at me and smiled. "I over reacted. It's just a girl thing."

"Well, I'm just happy you're not mad at me." He chucked lightly, and I did the same before he continued. "Because, the reason I didn't tell you anything last night–"

"Kian, you don't have to tell me."

"No, I want–I need to." He assured. I sense the awkwardness so I look away. I let my mind focus on my balcony and see that it's raining outside. I've always liked the rain. It's comforting to think about the fact that the sky can't always be sunshine. It has some bad days. "Did you hear me?"

He snapped me out of my thoughts. "I'm sorry, what? I get distracted easily." I said embarrassed. He laughed.

"I was saying that the reason I sent that picture to Kennedy was because–"

"Wait, what picture?"

"The one of Collin and that girl."

"What!" I yell. "Kian, why would you try to ruin things between me and him!?"

"Because, I–"

"Do you realize that everything was fine until you did that? That's what messed everything up!"

"Alexis, I did it to help. Because I knew there was something off about him and I–"

"You what! You wanted to pull another one of your stupid pranks on me? Don't you realize how much damage you caused!"

"Alexis, I wasn't trying to pull some prank! And that 'damage' was already in the relationship, it was best for you to find out. I did it for you! Because I–"

"Save it! You did it for yourself." I got up and stormed downstairs and out of the house. I didn't have shoes on, or a jacket, and I didn't know where I was going but I wanted to get away from him. I was walking down the middle of the street when I heard running footsteps.

"Because I like you!" I heard someone yell from at least ten feet behind me. I turned around to see Kian standing in the middle of the street with me, and on the porch behind him I saw Jc, Ken, and Sam.

"You what?"

"I like you, Alexis." He took one step towards me. "And I have since the day I met you. Before you went through puberty, before you made friends here," another step. "That's why I've always been a dick to you. At first I thought I'd always done it as a joke and a way of flirting, but now I realize I did it because I was scared. I didn't want to let there be any possibility of you liking me because I knew I didn't deserve you." The steps became constant, but slow. "Because you're gorgeous, funny, smart, kind. You're the whole damn package, and you can do way better than me. You deserve way better than me, or anyone you've ever been with." By this time he was just inches away from me.

"Kian, I–"

"Don't say anything," He said. So I didn't, instead I focused on the rain dripping down his face, and soaking his hair and his shirt. "Because I don't want to be embarrassed." He put his hands up to my cheeks and I felt my heartbeat increase rapidly. "I know that it's raining, and that I just confessed my feelings to you, and that this is the most cheesy and cliche thing I could possibly do right now. But I don't think I'm ever going to get another chance. So, I'm going to kiss you–"

I cut him off by pulling my hands up to his neck and pulling him closer to me, so our foreheads were now touching. He gasped, then immediately smiled. I felt his hands move from my cheeks down to my waist.

"Hey buddy! Keep your hands North of the equator!" I heard Jc yell behind him. We both chucked and he moved his hands up a bit. "Hey, not that far North!"

"Jc, leave them alone! I've been waiting for this for five years!" Kennedy yelled. Kian and I laughed and for the first time in a while, I felt pretty good.

"So, what were you going to do again?" I whispered. He smiled even bigger before leaning down more to meet his lips with mine. Everything bad that's happened in the past few days suddenly disappeared. I wasn't angry and anyone anymore, and I certainly didn't care about Collin. All I cared about was the way electricity flowed through our connected lips. Every part of my body that was touching Kian vibrated. My sides from his hands, my hands from his neck. It wasn't anything like when I kissed Collin. This felt so much more emotional.

The kiss lasted a few seconds, but  we pulled away once we heard the boys and Ken whistling and hollering. Kian opened his eyes and smiled.

"I like you too, Kian." I smiled up at him. "But if we do this, I think we should take it slow. I don't want to jump into a relationship when I just got out of one. As hard as it is to admit, I really liked Collin and it's going to take a while to get over him."

"I understand that."

"I'm sorry," I sighed.

"Don't be." He put both of his hands on my cheeks and kissed my forehead causing me to smile. "We can take things slow. Maybe that's a good idea considering you hated me until about a week ago." He chuckled.

"I didn't exactly hate you." I pouted.

"Yeah, okay." He laughed. "What I mean is, we didn't exactly get along so this is all very new. We can start as friends."

"Thank you Kian."

"I just have one question," He began and I nodded. "Can friends kiss every once in a while?" He asked and I started laughing.

"I suppose there's nothing wrong with that. Just take it slow, I know we just kissed outside but that was kind of an in-the-moment decision for me."

"I get that." He said as he stood up. "Well I don't want to bother you while you've got work to catch up on, I'll talk to you later." He smiles reaching for the door. "And I am sorry about the whole picture thing Lex."

"It's alright." I smile as he leaves. Maybe it was for the better.

I couldn't believe it, I was actually friends with Kian Lawley. The one person I couldn't stand for the past seven years. Before I had more tome to think about it Kennedy bursted into my room with a big grin on her face.

"Tell, me, everything."