Him and I

XXXII

"I'm so stupid." Alexa cried onto my shoulder. "What did she say?" I softly asked, running my hand over her hair. She pulled away from me and wiped her nose with the sleeve of one of her brother's college hoodies.

"She just wanted me to get out and not come back until she made up her mind about us, but first there was this silence that I really couldn't stand." She rambled. "I- She didn't believe me when I told her it was Chris who kissed me, I told her I did kiss back and that that's only cause I've had a crush on him since middle school, not anymore. She looked like she could have just stabbed me right there, I swear to God she's never gonna forgive me. Which, by the way, she should not, I waited way too long with telling her and I don't think I'm being honest to myself. Ugh I'm so fucking-"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "How are you not being honest with yourself?" I asked and she wiped at the tears running down her cheeks. "Chris," She let out. "I'll always be head over heels for him, I just thought I could get over him, you know." She explained, sniffling. "I really do love her, it's just, the back of my mind will always think about Chris, scrap that, my whole brain thinks about him, especially now that he kissed me a month ago."

"Look," I said, taking her hands. "Let Layla think about this all, it's probably not fair of you to not be honest with her, but let her think this through before you hit her with more stuff. About Chris, if you wanna tell him, you totally should." I said and she frowned. "I don't wanna play cupid for anyone, but the way Chris looks at you and Layla, even my sister can't glare like that, and that says a lot." I said and she snickered.

"I do think I should tell Layla about Chris, it's fair enough, I can't keep hiding things from her." She said and I nodded. "If you want to, you totally should, be careful with how you word it. Blurting it out like you just did doesn't seem like a solid plan." I said and she wiped at her eyes again. "I know," She said. "I'll ask her to meet up, somewhere public to talk about it."

"Okay," I said. "I should go, Gabe will be here any second and I really don't need the current hottest guy at our school to see me like this." She said and I shook my head. "You're always gorgeous." I said and she laughed. "I love you, but don't lie to me."

"Am not." I said as we got up, walking downstairs. "Thank you," She said. "I needed that."

"It's no problem," I said, hugging her one last time before guiding her outside. "See you tomorrow." She said, getting into her car. "Bye." I said, waving at her. Another car pulled into my street, driving onto my driveway a few seconds later.

Gabe.

He got out of his black Volkswagen polo 5, his grand dad's old one, I think. He shook his head, his curls waving along. "Waiting for me?" He asked, seeing me stand on the front porch. I shook my head, laughing. "Alexa just left," I said and he grinned. "Bumped I missed that one, she got hot."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Please don't talk about her like that," I said and he frowned. "Sorry." He said and I turned around, making my way to the kitchen. "want something to drink?" I asked and he shook his head. "No, thanks."

I grabbed myself a glass of water. "It's changed a lot around here," He said. "The neighbours did some big renovations to the house, I see." I nodded and leaned against the counter. "Yeah, well, they've been living there for a few years now." I said. "It needed some fixing, they said." I took a sip of my water, just then my Dad walked into the kitchen, late night groceries in his hands. "Oh, damn." My Dad said, stumbling across the kitchen, putting the reusable bags onto the counter. "Sorry," My Dad said as he bumped into me. "Hey, Gabe, long time no see." He said, shaking the boy's hand. "Hi, nice to see you again, sir."

"Oh, Willow, I bumped into Isaac at the grocery store," My Dad said, taking everything out of the bags and putting it where it belongs.

Gabe looked at my Dad intensely, squinting his eyes. "He looked forward to dinner next Saturday, also said to say hi, but I'm sure you'll see him tomorrow, so don't know if that was actually necessary." He said, opening and closing cabinets. "Anyways, I wanted to ask, is he okay? He seemed a bit stressed?" Dad said, his eyes meeting mine for a split second. "He looked perfectly fine at school," Gabe said, softly smiling at my Dad. I looked at him, frowning. "Could be because he was kissing Willow, of course."