Always There

Chapter Forty-Six

Songs for this chapter:
• You Are The Reason - Calum Scott

Chapter Forty-Six:

Lexi's POV

When I let my legs dangle over the side of the dock, my feet dip into the cool water. Truthfully, the lake's water is a little bit too chilly for this to be comfortable, and so I soon begin to lose feeling in my toes. Nonetheless, I let my feet remain submerged in the chilly water because today feels as though it's been going on for ages and so I couldn't care less about the lack of feeling in my feet.

I hear the back door open in the distance and immediately knowing who's looking for me. I cross my arms and turn my face away from the house. I suppose that it isn't very fair for me to be mad at him for coming to look for me, considering this is his house, after all, but he's the last person on the face of the earth that I want to speak to right about now.

"Are you still sulking? I can't believe that you've managed to avoid me all day. It really is impressive," he calls out across the vast backyard. I can tell that he's making his way towards me by the way that his voice gradually gets louder as he speaks.

I remain completely silent, even as he reaches the dock that I'm seated upon. I huff as he approaches me, halting his long strides when we're a foot or so apart before taking a seat down on the edge of the dock as well.
Refusing to make eye contact with him still, I kick my feet around in the water, watching how it ripples around me.

"Really? You still won't speak to me? I don't appreciate this level of bullying, Blossom," he huffs, nudging me in the arm with his elbow.

My immediate reaction is to yank my arm away from him, finally turning to look at his face only to meet his gaze and scowl. "My name is Lexi. Stop using that weird nickname until you give me back my necklace."

"What necklace? I have no clue what you're talking about," he teases, but when I narrow my eyes at him, he continues on by saying, "All right, all right. I'll leave you alone. But I'm never ever going to stop using the nickname; you just don't understand because you don't have a nickname for me."

"Whatever, Bryce," I mumble.

He chuckles and I just continue to scowl at him. My sour expression only lifts when I watch Bryce reach into his pocket to finally pull out my necklace, the one he had stolen from me at school this morning and had somehow managed to keep hidden from me all day.

I snatch the necklace right out of his hand without a second thought. I wear it every single day, and it's the most beautiful necklace that I've ever seen. The delicate chain is thin and silver and the pendant is a pink glass cherry blossom.

It is the reason for the nickname, Blossom, that he's had for me ever since we were kids, after all.

Well, I guess that we still are kids, but now that we're twelve, it feels like we're just a little bit more like teenagers.

I clasp the necklace back around my neck, and for some reason, the slight weight is extremely reassuring. I reach up to touch the dainty glass pendant, running my fingertip along the curves of the flower petals.

Glancing back to Bryce, I find him watching me intently, but with a sad sort of glimmer in his usually-bright amber eyes. "Is everything okay, Bryce? Why did you take the necklace, anyway?"

His cheeks blush a deep shade of red and he looks down at the water, still rippling from my feet swinging back and forth. He shrugs his shoulders before whispering, "Um . . . I just felt like you were ignoring me, and I wanted to get your attention. You didn't say good morning to me today, but you always say good morning to me."