Crash and Burn

8. Ex

Demi's POV

I nodded along with Melissa and watched as Alex got on the starting block. Melissa started her countdown after Alex got into position. A few laps later, Alex was getting frustrated with herself. I watched as she swam to the center of the pool and dived down. "Is she going to stay there long?" I looked over at Melissa and saw that she had a sad smile on. "Maximum of 4 minutes. That's the longest she's been in there. I'm timing her now." I nodded and looked back at Alex, feeling a wave of worry wash over me. Melissa was staring intently at the stopwatch in her hands, watching as every second pass. I just sighed at looked back at Alex, feeling more curious about the girl every second I'm with her.

"Demi, it's been more than 4 minutes." I looked over at Melissa, seeing a worried look on her face. "She trains her lung capacity but 15 seconds each time. It's closing 30." Melissa dropped the stopwatch and the towel draped over her shoulders before running and diving into the pool. I ran to the side of the pool where Alex was and got ready to jump in when the both of them resurfaced. Fuck that, I'm still jumping in. "Wait!" I heard Alex and stopped myself right as I was about to launch. I watched as Melissa and Alex had a small conversation before Alex started slowly swimming towards the starting block again. Melissa crossed the pool dividers and hauled herself up beside me. "Is she okay?" Melissa shrugged and tugged on my hand. "Come on, it'll blow over later. Trust me." I followed Melissa to the starting block. "Can I take your time?" I asked without even thinking. They both looked at me shocked. It took probably 10 seconds before Alex answered. "Sure." Melissa passed the stopwatch to me, a fire of look in her eyes and walked away. "She's probably a little jealous because I only let her take my times in this house." Alex smiled at me and got into position. "Hey Mel, can I have my countdown?" I saw Melissa beam at Alex and walked back over. "Here we go." I smiled and touched her shoulder gently. "Relax, Alex."

I stood at the side and watched as the sisters celebrate Alex beating her personal best. "What are you standing there for? Come over!" Alex beckoned me over when she saw that I was still standing by the side watching them. I walked over to them and hugged Alex. "Congratulations." I whispered into Alex's ear and felt her tense under my touch. "Thank you. I needed to relax and I have, but there's no such thing as too much." I squealed as Alex lifted both Melissa and I and started running to the other pool, throwing us right in. "Bitch!" I came out gasping for air and saw Alex laughing by the side of the pool. She took a few steps back with a devilish smile on her face. "Run." I looked over to Melissa, completely confused. "Cannonball!" I looked over to see Alex making a beeline for the pool and right beside where I was. Before I could react, water was splashed all over me, making my hair cover my face once again.

Alex's POV

We spent another hour in the pool and the hot tub, for me to ease my muscles and the both of them to enjoy the jets, before getting out and heading for a late lunch. We were pulling outside of Joe's, upon Mel's request, and made our way in. "You have a really sweet ride. Do you think I can drive it back later? Give it a shot? You can take my car." I looked over to Demi giving me a hopeful smile and chuckled. "Dream on, Lovato. No way you're laying your fingers on her. Don't you think I know first hand about your fender benders?" Demi's smile faded and a pout took over on her lips. "I'm starved. Let's order." The three of us plopped in the booth and a waiter approached us when my phone started ringing. It was my ex. "Hey Mel, I need to take this. You know what I want. Excuse me for a second." I walked away from the booth and answered the call. "Alex, it's Jessica. I'm outside your place right now because you mentioned coming home for the weekend but you're not here." I frowned and looked over to Demi and Mel. "I'm at Joe's with Mel. We're having a girls' day. What's up?" I heard Jessica sigh. "You left your lyrics in the box of my things that you returned me and they were labelled important. I thought it was left there to fuck me up but the song isn't finished yet and I remembered you had an assignment to write a song." My eyes widened. "Fuck. I'll come right over." I started walking back to the booth to get my keys. "Wait, it's fine. I'll go over. Mel won't do without Joe's." I hesitated and finally stepped in front of the booth. "Are you sure?" I was hesitating not because I didn't want to see my ex, but because Demi was here and I knew that she was a small fan. "Positive." I nodded before realizing that she couldn't see me. "I'll see you soon then." I sighed and hung up. "What's up?" Mel asked as I slid back into the booth. "Jessica is coming." Mel's eyes widened. "What? Why? Is she trying to get back together with you again?" I looked over at Demi and saw hurt flash across her face. "No, she isn't. I left an assignment in the box of her things when I went to return it to her before coming back home." Realization dawned on Demi's face. "That's why you had to drive 3 hours?" I nodded, a forced smile finding it's way to my face. "Anyway Demi, she's a little bit of a fan so I'll just meet her outside when she's here." Mel perked up beside me and an evil smile spread across her face. "Why don't we have some lunch with her? She did drive 6 hours over, didn't she?" I frowned at Melissa but before I could say anything, my phone dinged with a text. "Invite her for lunch, Al."