Chapter Fourteen
Lexi
There are two weird things about the situation I currently find myself in. First of all, I don’t normally get scared during horror movies. And second, the movie the guys and I are watching isn’t even a horror. So why am I clutching Brock’s hand like I’m scared the monsters will launch out of the TV and eat me alive?
His hand is so warm. So comforting. It makes me feel very protected.
I sense he’s giving me a promise—that despite the past and all we’ve been through, Brock Hastings is here for me. He will always be here for me. As long as I’m willing to allow him into my heart.
Rubbing my fingers across his knuckles, I give him my own promise. That I’m here for him, too, and I will always be here for him.
“This is sick.” Cooper’s eyes are so wide as he stares at the screen, I bet I can fit Brock’s globe inside. “From now on, Brock chooses the movies.”
Gael motions for him to keep quiet. “You’re ruining this suspenseful scene.”
A hush falls over us as we stay focused on the TV, our heads moving a little closer as the scene continues to build up. Then a sea creature shoots out of the water, causing us all to yelp. Nate actually topples off the bed with a loud thud.
“You okay, Nate?” Brock scrambles off the floor and helps him up.
Rubbing the side of his head, Nate chuckles. “I’m good, thanks. Dudes, that was insane.”
“I know, right? Epic sea monster,” Gael says.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Brock asks Nate. “Did you bump your head? You know, head injuries can be very dangerous. You might not see the signs right away, and then it might be too late.”
Nate slaps his back with a grin. “I’m good, man.” He hops onto the bed. “We need to rewind and see that part again.”
Everyone gets comfortable in their spot, but Brock remains standing near my bed. He’s staring at Nate with a worried expression.
“Brock?” I ask.
He blinks and glances at me. “What? Oh, um. Yeah, I’m coming.”
After he’s sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed, I rewind the movie so we can see that epic sea monster. This time, no one cries out or tumbles off my bed. We marvel and cheer at the special effects because that is one kickbutt monster.
And then, just when the sea creature is about to devour the hero and heroine, the credits roll down the screen.
“What the heck?” Cooper yells.
Brock raises his shoulders. “The sequel should be out next year.”
“Next year?” Theo shoots himself in the head and collapses on my bed.
“Awesome movie choice, man.” Dean fist bumps Brock. “Movie nights are now ten times better than they were before because you’re back with us.”
“Thanks. It’s great to watch movies with all of you again.” Brock pushes some bangs out of his eyes. “I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
“Us, too,” I tell him with a smile. He returns it.
Finn’s phone dings. “It’s my mom. She needs me home to babysit my little brother. You guys want a ride?”
“You were our ride here,” Nate reminds him.
“Unless we all pile onto Brock’s bike,” Theo jokes.
“Heck no,” Brock says.
“If you damage Brock’s bike, all hell will break loose,” Dean says with a laugh. “He loves that thing to death.”
“Hey, I busted my butt getting good grades for it,” Brock says in a humorous tone. “So none of you are coming within one inch of it.”
“Can I touch it?” Theo whispers in a creepy voice.
“No,” Brock responds in the same voice.
We all get up and make our way downstairs and to the front door. After wishing goodbye to my mom, me, and Brock, the six of them get in Finn’s car and drive off.
Brock and I remain standing outside.
In silence.
“So, um—”
“If the movie was too scary—”
“Oh, sorry,” he says. “What were you saying?”
I hold up my hands. “No, you go.”
“Mine’s not important.”
“Neither is mine.”
He rubs the back of his head. Then he stuffs his hands into his pockets. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry if the movie was too scary.”
I scoff. “You know I’m not scared of scary movies. This one was just, er, unexpected, I guess. The special effects make the sea monsters look so realistic. And the story was pretty captivating.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
We stand in silence again. Ugh, why are things so awkward all of a sudden? Is it because we’re both thinking about how he held my hand when he thought I was scared?
“So…I guess I’ll go?” he says.
“You don’t have to.”
“I actually don’t want to.”
“Really? I mean, cool. So what do you want to do?”
He shrugs. “Anything. I always have fun with you.”
Yeah, when things aren’t so awkward.
We head back up to my room. I sit down on my bed, but Brock makes his way to the photos pinned near my mirror. He studies the ones that were taken after he left carefully…like he’s trying to picture what he missed out on?
Then he reaches for one and smiles, making his way back to me and sitting down. “I remember this.” He holds it out to me.
It’s one where he and I sit at his dining room table, working on the 3D tiger shark puzzle. It was taken right after I accidentally dropped it and we had to start all over.
“Ugh, I still cringe at how clumsy I was,” I say.
“I’m glad you dropped it and we had to start from scratch,” he admits.
“What?”
“Because I love working on projects with you.”
My heart flutters. “I love working on projects with you, too.”
“Thanks.” He puts his attention back on the photo and touches our faces. “Look how focused we were. We were determined to let the shark live.”
“And it still lives.”
His head snaps up. “It does?”
“Yeah, I still have it.”
I hurry to my closet, where I stashed a box full of stuff I couldn’t part with. On top of all the other things is the shark. When I return to Brock, his face lights up as he lays eyes on it.
“Wow, it looks like it’s in amazing condition.”
I hand it to him and he studies it, his face growing soft as he takes in all the features. I love watching Brock as he marvels over sharks. He’s so passionate about them, just like I am about all sea creatures. The main reason I clicked with him immediately when we were kids was because he loved sharks. And also because he didn’t try to put bugs or gum in my hair, like some of the other boys at school.
“We did some fun puzzles together, huh?” I say, playfully pushing his shoulder.
“Yeah, we did,” he says, pushing my shoulder back.
“I actually haven’t done a puzzle in a long time—” I suddenly sit up. “Oh my gosh. I totally forgot about it.”
“What?”
The memory flashes in my mind. Oh, wow. I wanted so badly to give Brock a present after he gifted me the blue whale keychain, but nothing seemed good enough. But I may have the perfect thing.
“Come.” I grab his hand and pull him down with me all the way to the basement.
“Oh, your basement.” Brock shivers. “It scared the crap out of me when we were younger.”
“I know. I had to practically bribe you to come down with me,” I tease him.
“We all can’t be brave and fearless like Lexi West.”
“You bet your butt you can’t.”
Still grasping his hand, I lead him downstairs. We mostly use it for storage, though there are a lot less stuff now because Mom and I cleaned it out. I don’t remember seeing the thing I’m looking for, which means it’s somewhere I didn’t search through yet. How the heck am I going to find it?
“So why are we here?” Brock asks.
“I can’t tell you. It’s a surprise.”
I move to the area Mom and I haven’t gone through yet and search for a large item. I hope Mom didn’t throw it away.
“Wow, you have some really old stuff here,” Brock says as he rummages through the boxes. He picks up an ancient-looking doll. “This has definitely lived through a few world wars.”
“I think that was my great-great-grandmother’s first doll or something.” I gently move things around because I don’t want to accidentally damage it.
“Wow, that’s awesome.” He puts it back down and checks out some of the other old stuff we have down here.
I really want to give him this present, so I try to search through everything as fast as I can. I have no idea how much time passes, but it feels like forever. When I look at Brock, I find him sitting on an old rocking chair with a book that looks so old, its pages are yellow and falling out.
“A reader always knows where to find a book, huh?” I say with a wry smile. “It’s like you two are magnets.”
I have no idea if he heard me because he looks very into the book. I’m not crazy about reading novels, but I love how into it he gets.
“Is that book any good?” I ask him.
“Yeah, this is amazing.” He carefully turns the page and soaks in the words like they’re water and he’s parched.
“You know, with all that reading you might actually turn into a book.”
He laughs softly. “I wouldn’t mind.”
I’m about to give up in this area and look somewhere else, but then I catch the words on the box. Score!
I reach for the large box and try to hide it behind my back. It’s kind of hard to do that because it’s so big.
“I found it!” I announce.
“Nice.” He puts the book aside and looks at me. His brows rise. “Are you trying to hide that puzzle box behind your back?”
“Ugh!” I groan. “You’re ruining your surprise. Close your eyes.”
“Okay.”
After he does that, I move closer and hold out the box. “Open them!”
His eyes slowly open and focus on the box in my arms. His jaw falls open. “Is that a 3D puzzle of the Golden Gate Bridge?”
“Yes! And it has one hundred pieces. Look how cool it looks.” I pass him the box.
He smiles as he studies it. “It’s really cool.” His fingertips brush over the plastic on the box. “It’s not open. You haven’t done it?”
I shift to my other foot. “It wasn’t for me.”
He raises confused eyes at me.
“It was supposed to be a present for you.”
“Supposed to be…?”
“You kinda, um, left before I could give it to you.”
Understanding enters his eyes. I wanted to give this to him after Andy died, to make him feel better. But he left before I could.
“Do you want to do it?” he asks.
“If you’re okay with that,” I say. “Because if you’re not, that’s totally fine. You don’t have to accept it if you don’t want to. I won’t be offended.”
He doesn’t say anything, and I’m worried I hurt him. The last, last thing I want to do is cause him even a small amount of pain. Maybe I should have thought this through. Did I make all the bad memories come crashing down on him?
He puts the box down on a nearby table and gathers me in his arms. “Please don’t ever apologize for being the amazing person that you are, Lexi,” he murmurs in my ear.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” Tears prick my eyes.
“You’re not,” he continues to murmur, his breath warm on my cheek. “Being your friend is the best thing to have happened to me. I’m so sorry for the way I treated you.”
“It’s okay. You already apologized. And you have nothing to be sorry about. I understand everything. I mean, I can’t understand what you’ve been through, but I understand that it was very hard and painful.”
“What did I do to deserve such an amazing friend like you?”
“What can I say? I’m just awesome,” I joke, then mentally kick myself. Is it appropriate to joke at a time like this?
His chest rumbles with a laugh. “There’s no one like Lexi West. She’s one in a million.”
“Thanks. You’re one in a million, too. And being your friend is the best thing to happen to me, too.”
We remain in each other’s arms for some time. Then we reluctantly pull apart and go up to start the puzzle. We decide to do it in Skylar’s room, since her desk is currently empty and there’s enough room to put all the pieces.
“I can’t believe how neat this is,” he gushes as he lays everything out. “Zoey bought me a 3D puzzle of a well from historic Edenbury. Her class went two years ago.”
“Yeah, I remember. Our whole grade was jealous. Maybe we’ll go this year, too.”
“I hope so. The well was insanely awesome, and I didn’t think anything could top it. But this bridge might just do it.”
“As long as a certain girl doesn’t drop it,” I say with a laugh.
“If that happens, we’ll just start over again. It’s a good life lesson, don’t you think? If your life feels like it’s breaking apart, you need to be strong and pick up all the pieces.”
I nod as I choose a piece. “It’s a great lesson.” I discard that piece and choose another. “You know, Brock, I think you’re very strong.”
“Me, strong? Nah, you were always the strong one.”
“I…never mind.”
“It’s okay. You can say it.”
“Are you sure? I really don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’ll let you know if it’s too much.”
“Okay, thanks.” I try to put two pieces together, but they don’t fit. “I just don’t think I would be able to handle it,” I admit. “Losing a best friend.”
He’s quiet as he successfully fits two puzzle pieces together.
“Sorry, was that too much?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “No, you’re good. I was just thinking…You don’t really know what you’re capable of until you’re put in a situation. You may surprise yourself and learn that you’re much stronger than you thought.”
I can tell he’s battling tears. I scoot over and wrap my arms around him. “I admire you so much, Brock Hastings.”
He rests his head against mine. “Thanks. And thanks so much for being such a good friend.”
“Always.”
The puzzle is so complex that there’s no way we can finish it in one sitting. Brock promises he’ll come by another day to continue to work on it.
I make sure to give him a super hug before he leaves, letting him know how much he means to me.