26. Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Six
Margot
Danika and Sydney follow me into my bedroom where I sit on my bed and pull the pillow into my lap. With a blank expression on my face, I stare ahead, unsure of how to piece together what just happened with Ryan and Alex.
“So…” Danika starts, sitting next to me. Sydney has taken a seat on my desk chair but pulled the chair as close to the bed as she could.
“So,” I reply, still not able to meet anyone’s eyes. “That was something.”
“Definitely something,” Sydney agrees, putting a gentle, reassuring hand on my knee. “What are we thinking about all that ‘something’?”
“I don’t know.” I blink, finally making eye contact with the girls. “Did I make a mistake?”
Danika shakes her head fervently. “No, Margot, you haven’t done anything wrong.”
“But what was Ryan talking about? Is Alex just using me? For what?”
Sydney sighs. “That’s what’s confusing me the most. What could he be using you for? I mean, if anything, you’re using him for the podcast.”
“But what if he’s using you for the prank. What if Ryan was right and Alex was only getting close to you to use it against Ryan in the prank war?” Dani adds.
I’m already shaking my head. “But that doesn’t make sense either. Alex was adamant I stay away from Ryan at first. That wouldn’t help his plot.”
The three of us sit in silence for another few minutes as we try to piece together the puzzle.
“I think Ryan is lying, and Alex is telling the truth,” I say, having come to a realization. “Ryan was planning to use me against Alex. But that doesn’t answer the question of why he would even think that would work. That would mean Alex would have to care about me.”
Danika and Sydney sigh louder than I’ve ever heard.
“Mar, obviously he cares. Alex likes you. It’s written all over his face every time he looks at you,” Sydney says.
“No, he–” my sentence is stopped as I’m shoved back onto my bed.
“Would you just admit it already so we can get to the next episode of this melodrama!” Danika proclaims. “He likes you, you like him! Admit it. Say it. Right now.” Dani is standing on my bed looking down at me while I’m looking up at her in shock.
“Danika, get down—”
“Say it!” She starts jumping and I’m afraid she’s going to take out an eyeball, either mine or hers. There’s only one way to get her to calm down.
“Alright, alright!” I put my hands up and Danika immediately plops down where she’s jumping. Meeting Sydney’s eyes, then Danika’s, I take a deep deep breath in.
“I like Alex.”
Before I can even get the ‘x’ out of my mouth, Sydney and Danika both are jumping up and down on my poor discount mattress. They pull me up so I’m jumping as well. Soon, we’re a fit of giggles and we fall on the pillows in laughter.
“Okay so what are you still doing here?” Danika jumps off the bed and grabs my arms, pulling me off as well. “Go get your man!”
“Dani…” I roll my eyes, glancing at the clock on my laptop. “It’s almost midnight, I can’t go anywhere at this time of night. No, tomorrow I’ll just—”
My words trail off as a loud knock sounds on our apartment door. I already know exactly who it is, and it seems like the girls do too because Sydney gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and Dani winks over her shoulder before they both scamper out of my bedroom.
Taking a deep breath, I smooth out my clothes and go to answer the door.
“Pst,” Dani whispers from her doorway. “You deserve this.”
I grin and then continue my walk toward the door. You deserve this.
The second I open the door, Alex whips by me like the wind, clearly on a mission. I close the door and turn to face him, the blinking light of our foyer making his expression look even more frenzied.
“Look, I know you wanted some time and space but I can’t just leave things like that. I have to explain, I—”
Without a second thought in my head, I grab the front of his t-shirt and pull his body to mine. Our lips connect before he has time to understand what is going on, which was exactly my intention. No thinking, just doing.
Alex lets out a shocked sigh as our lips touch but he doesn’t pull away. There’s a hesitance to his movements. Surprise, more than disinterest but that surprise doesn’t last long.
Within the next second, Alex has backed up us against the door, his kisses becoming deeper, more passionate. This is not the nice kiss that Ryan gave me after the party. This is a desperation I don’t know I’ve ever felt before but would kill to feel again.
My hand releases Alex’s shirt as he leans down to lift me from under my butt, my body held up by Alex’s strength. He doesn’t disconnect our lips as he walks us backward and I put up a silent prayer that he doesn't trip on Danika’s shoes. Alex makes it to my bedroom with no issue and our fervor continues to grow as he kicks the door shut behind us.
His lips find my neck, and I tilt my head to give him more access, my long hair cascading down my back. Alex murmurs against my skin, and I feel goosebumps erupt across my whole body.
Before I can do anything else, I am dropped from the air onto my bed, my butt bouncing against the disheveled pillows and blankets. Alex is across the room, pacing a hole into the floor with his hands racking through his hair.
“Woah,” he breathes.
“Yeah.”
“We just kissed.”
“We did,” I reply, a small grin forming.
“You and Me. Kissed.”
“Mhm,” I murmur, holding back a chuckle.
“Alex and Margot. Kissing.”
The laugh breaks free. “Are you going to keep saying it or would you like to continue it?”
Alex stops his pacing to look at me. “What the hell happened in the last ten minutes because I’m having trouble connecting the dots here.”
“In the last ten minutes, I came to a realization.”
Alex is still looking at me like a deer caught in headlines, but at least he’s stopped walking. His hands have dropped from his hair as well. All good signs.
“What realization?”
Taking a deep breath, I let myself have what I want. “I’ve realized that the feelings I thought I might’ve been feeling for Ryan were really suppressed feelings I have for you.”
“Me?” He squeaks out and I’d make fun of him for it if my heart wasn’t in my throat.
“You, Alex. I like you .”
I watch from the bed as Alex takes in one, two, three very deep breaths. The time that passes causes me to panic. I’m about to take back everything I’ve said and blame sleep deprivation until Alex cracks a smile the likes of which angels could surely sing about and saunters over to me. Yes, this time, he actually manages to saunter.
He takes two large steps and kneels in front of me, wedging himself between my bent knees. Gripping my waist in his large hands, he pulls my torso against his.
“Thank fucking god,” he says and that’s it. There’s no going back. Alex claims my mouth in a way that I’ll never be able to replicate with anyone else. And I don’t want to. His hand moves to grip the back of my head and against our faces together; as if I’d ever let anything break us apart. My hands reach down to the hem of his t-shirt and I tease the bare skin underneath with my fingertips.
Alex smiles against my lips but doesn’t break the hold as he allows me to push the t-shirt up toward his armpits. In a flash, the shirt is pulled clean over his head and his lips have found mine yet again, his tongue teasing its way through my pouty lips.
With a strength I had no idea he had (but should’ve guessed with how much time he spends at the gym), Alex picks me up again, linking my legs around his waist. My feet hit his butt and I drag my hands down the back of his head to hold onto his neck for stability. I know he’d never drop me and the weightless feeling is the sexiest thing I’ve ever experienced.
With my foot by his firm ass, I feel Alex’s phone vibrate in his pocket a few times to indicate either a phone call or texts coming in rapid fire.
“Do you want to get that?” I ask, in between kisses on the neck and earlobe.
“Absolutely fucking not,” Alex replies breathlessly, pulling my neck back toward his face to connect our lips. He’s a man starved, and I’m his own personal buffet. I smile and allow him to continue traveling down my body with his hands. He’s moved his knees onto the bed and laid me down on the pillow.
Before I can disconnect my linked feet from his waist, I feel the vibrations again.
“Fuck,” Alex groans in exasperation and pulls back to grab his phone. Looking at the screen, he mutters the profanity again but this time, it’s more worrisome.
“Everything okay?” I ask, feeling suddenly self-conscious even though I’m still entirely clothed.
“Yeah, I just…fuck,” he pockets his phone again and looks down at me, his expression completely distraught. “I’m so sorry, sunshine, but I have to go.”
With a sigh, he pulls himself up off the bed and grabs his shirt off the floor.
“What’s going on?” I ask from the bed, still laying down in shock of the sudden change of emotion.
“I’m not sure. Something I need to handle at the frat house.” His expression is guarded, and I know he’s keeping something from me but it won’t do me any good to ask him to elaborate. Grabbing the door handle, he turns it and I feel a sudden empty feeling take over my entire body.
Until he turns around and rushes back toward the bed, grabbing my face in both hands, he kisses me like there was never an interruption at all. Like he isn’t about to leave my apartment and go ‘take care’ of some mystery problem.
Breaking the kiss, he rests his forehead against mine. “Don’t overthink it. This is a good thing.” I know he’s talking about what transpired between us. And the fact that he knows my brain is immediately going to jetpack into overthinking mode the minute he leaves.
“Sunshine,” he calls, bringing my eyes to his. “Promise me you won’t overthink it.”
“I promise,” I whisper.
Alex smiles and kisses me again. “Liar.” With a kiss on my forehead, Alex leaves my room, leaves my apartment, and leaves me alone with an ever pounding heart.