28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Margot
I wanted to press Alex more on the purple bruise on his pretty face, but he didn’t seem like he was in the mood to share. And as much as I wanted to know what happened between him and Kai, it wasn’t my place to pry. He’ll tell me in his own time.
Alex didn’t come back to campus for the rest of the week. A fact I knew almost against my will but because of the Ask Alex podcast page, almost every comment on our newest episode was #freealex. It’s like his adoring fans can’t go more than one day without a sighting. It’s actually scary.
For me though, it hasn’t gotten much better. I’ve gotten used to the staring as I walk through the quad or the whispers in the hallway. Every once in a while, a bold girl will approach me with some disgusting comment and then walk away snickering with her friends.
On Friday afternoon, one such encounter occurred as I made my usual route from the library to the newsroom, a path that takes me right past the outdoor seating area of the campus food court.
“Hey, podcast girl.” A lovely nickname. “How much you paying him?”
I ignored the comment, as usual, and kept walking. Until I heard her shrieking voice again. “I’ll bet you just give him handies under the table after filming, don’t you?”
“Don’t be ugly, Josie. No one likes rotten leftovers.” Danika’s arm wraps around my shoulders and we keep walking, much to the dismay of the heckler behind us.
“Whatever happened to being a girl’s girl?”
Danika scoffs. “It’s college, babe. Girls at this place only want one thing and that’s your boy.” She flicks my long braid over my shoulder, fluffing out the green ribbon Sydney added to the bottom this morning when she did my hair.
“He’s not my boy,” I protest, knocking her arm off my back and turning to face her. “I hope the real world is better than this…”
“Doubtful,” Dani laughs.
“And what are you two lovely ladies doing on this fine afternoon?”
I hear Alex behind me, but he doesn’t put a hand on me. I feel the lack of contact like a slap to the face. Not that we are any type of exclusive, but there is something going on between us. Something new and different and undeniable. But he’s not my boyfriend. And he’s not touching me in public. So maybe it’s not that special after all.
Danika levels him with a stern look. “Keep your girls in check, Prescott.” She leans over to kiss me on the cheek before walking to her class.
“What is she talking about?”
I refuse to look him in the eye as I continue my walk toward the media building, Alex trailing behind. A firm hand on my shoulder stops me in my tracks.
“Margot, what happened?”
I sigh. “Nothing happened. Just some girl asking me about you, not exactly in a nice way.” I keep going and Alex walks beside me, uncharacteristically quiet. We stay that way until we reach the door of the media building. I know Alex doesn’t have any classes here and is just walking me to be nice.
As I open the door, I look back to see Alex standing behind me, his phone at my eye level, which he quickly shoves into his pocket.
“Did you just take a picture of me?”
Alex squints his eyes and looks at me like I’ve suddenly grown ten heads. “Uh paranoid, much?”
“What?”
“Huh?” Alex answers quickly. “Have a good class, bye.” And he’s gone, leaving me with more questions than I started with.
Halfway through class, a text from Dani comes through with a screenshot of an instagram story.
Oh, he's good
The picture wasn’t clear, no identification of the person. A blurry brunette braid with a green bow. Clearly a picture of the back of my head but only if you knew. Near the bottom, it’s written, “going feral for this bow.”
Still entirely confused, I text Danika back.
I don't get it
Check the name
Looking at the photo again, I see the username at the top left corner. @AlexPrescott . This is Alex’s story. Alex posted a picture of the back of my head? Why?
This, my friend, is called a soft launch
Still completely confused, I ignore the picture and concentrate on the lecture but within the next ten minutes, that seems to be a fruitless effort as DMs start rolling in from people I barely even talk to or don’t know at all. All the messages follow the same theme: “ You and Alex are dating?????? ”
As I leave the building, I feel all wandering eyes on me yet again. The whispers have increased in size and volume. I truly underestimated the status this man has on campus if within one hour everyone has seen and talked about his instagram story.
Now that my classes are over for the day, my mission now is to get off this campus as fast as I can.
“Sunshine!” Not fast enough. Alex comes up from behind me and grabs me by the elbow, pulling me immediately toward his car. “Let’s go.”
The fact that he knows my schedule and knows I’m done with classes today should startle me but it fills me with a warm feeling in my stomach instead.
Without hesitation, I get into the passenger seat as he walks around to the driver’s side. After starting the car, he pulls swiftly out of the parking lot, both of us sitting in comfortable silence.
“So, how was your day?”
I look over at him. “Confusing,” I admit, and Alex cracks a grin.
“Interesting assessment,” he comments but does not elaborate. Before I know it, he’s pulling up in front of my apartment. The whole instagram post left me with more questions than answers and as I open my mouth to ask Alex those questions, I’m immediately cut off.
“Go to dinner with me tonight.”
I close my mouth. Then open it again. “Are you asking or telling?”
Alex hits me with that megawatt smile. “Whichever is going to make you say yes.”
Looking over at him, I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Alex Prescott is asking me on a date. Alex, the guy I’ve been quickly getting to know and even quicker starting to admire and care about. Alex, the guy who defended my honor, helped me out in my time of need and always puts me at ease. Alex, the guy who hasn’t steered me in any direction except “right” since the moment I met him. I would be a fool to say no, and it’s that thought alone that has me responding, “Pick me up at seven,” before whipping the car door open and running inside without so much as a glance back at the laughing Adonis behind me.
“Explain it to me again.”
Dani rolls her eyes as she swipes some blush on my cheek. “It’s like he’s letting the public know that he’s with someone without the label or even saying who it is.” Danika instructs me to close my eyes as she continues talking. “That’s why it’s soft . A hard launch is full-on girlfriend label under a picture of you two riding off into the sunset.”
Sydney laughs from her spot on Danika’s bed.
“I don’t see that happening,” I scoff.
“You’re going on a date with him tonight, Mar, I don’t think it’s that far off,” Sydney says, grabbing the outfit we decided I’d wear from Danika’s closet.
While I’m excited to go to dinner with Alex, I’m refusing to let myself get too excited. I know all too well about his reputation on campus. I have no interest in being another notch on his bedpost. But I do think he knows me well enough by now to know I’m not that girl. Hopefully…
“Plus you kissed,” Danika raises her eyebrows at me suggestively. “Multiple times.”
I roll my eyes, immediately regretting telling them anything about what happened between Alex and me.
“He kisses a lot of girls. We’ve seen him kiss girls before.”
“You’re different,” Danika says confidently. She steps back to admire her handiwork. “Gorgeous, as usual. Now get dressed. You’ve only got two minutes before he’s supposed to be here.”
Looking at my phone for the time, I can’t believe they distracted me enough this whole time so that I wasn’t completely freaking out. Underneath the time, there’s a message from Alex from four minutes ago.
See you soon, sunshine
The brief message causes the dormant butterflies to erupt in my stomach. The silly part of this whole thing is that Alex and I have spent many, many hours alone together but this is so different, I want to puke.
Grabbing the clothes my roommates picked out for me, I run into my room to change. By the time I’m pulling my last shoe on, a hard knock sounds on the door.
“What a gentleman, actually coming to the door,” Sydney says, raising her eyebrows to her hairline. She grabs my sweater from the hook and wraps it around my shoulders. “You’re gonna have a blast.”
“And we’ll see you at the party after! We’ll be the drunk idiots waiting very impatiently for every single minute detail of the evening,” Danika winks and I roll my eyes but I can’t wipe the silly grin from my face.
Facing the door, I take a deep breath, willing myself to calm the hell down. I stand staring at the door, waiting for who knows what but my feet decide that now’s the time to take a stand and not move.
The knock sounds again, a little louder this time and a rough shove of two hands on my back catapults me toward the door. I open the door a smidge before pulling it wider when all I can see is a bundle of sunflowers. Alex’s lowers the bouquet and greets me with a smile.
“Sunshine,” he says as a greeting, handing me the flowers.
I take the stems. “Thank you, these are really pretty.” Putting my nose near the top, I take a big whiff. They smell amazing. Like summer and sunshine.
Danika is behind me almost instantly, a mom hovering before junior prom. I’m surprised she didn’t make us take a picture.
“I’ll put these in water for you.” She snakes the flowers out of my hand. “Good move, lover boy,” she says, giving me another not as gentle push into the hallway and closing the door quickly behind me. I let out a nervous giggle and meet Alex’s eyes briefly before looking away.
Snap out of it. He’s just Frat Boy.
I turn to walk down the hall when a firm hand grasps my wrist, pulling me back toward the door. Alex places his hand under my chin and forces my eyes to meet his.
“Sunshine,” he says again. His tone is more questioning this time. His eyes travel back and forth between mine a few times before landing on my lips.
“Hi,” I say, a smile forming on my face. Alex kisses me ever so lightly and the rest of my nervousness melts away. He’s not like this with other girls .
Alex smiles against my lips before pulling back, removing the hand from around my wrist and instead sliding his palm against mine, connecting our fingers. We walk down the hallway like this. We walk down the stairs like this. We even leave the building like this, shuttling our way single-file through the door.
“I hope you’re wearing comfortable shoes because I was thinking we could walk for a bit,” Alex says as we meander past his parked car in front of my building.
A grip his hand a little tighter. “Walking sounds nice. It’s a beautiful night.”
Alex murmurs his agreement and I can feel his gaze on me.
Together we make our way toward the end of my block, which leads to a huge park. I don’t get much time to wander around here but I always want to. It gives some beautiful views of Northeastern foliage.
“You know, I used to come to this park with my mom and dad, and my baby brother,” Alex says as we stroll the tree lined path. “I don’t have many memories of it but I do have one in particular that’s coming to me right now.”
I stay silent, urging him to continue. Alex hasn’t opened up to me about his family at all. All I know is what he said during public speaking class. So I’ve been dying to hear more but I didn’t want to pry.
“One time, it was my birthday. I think my fourth,” he starts. “We were having a picnic and my mom packed all my favorite foods, which at the time was probably beef jerky and string cheese.”
“A very refined palette for a four-year-old,” I laugh.
Alex chuckles. “Totally.” He squeezes my hand a little tighter as we keep walking. “There was really nothing special about that day. But I swear, it’s the last vivid memory I have of all of us together. Happy.”
I want to console him. I want to do something but I have no idea what to do. Or what he needs. Alex can be so independent and the very last thing I want is for him to think I’m pitying him. I just have this ache in my heart for the little boy who deserved a perfect family and ended up with a mentally ill mother and abusive father. At least he has his brother.
“Tell me more about Drew.”
A ghost of a smile creeps onto his face. “Drew’s a good kid. He’s annoying as hell. Mouthy, rude, addicted to video games. But he’s also smart and innovative. He’s caring even though he pretends not to be.”
“Sounds like you raised him well,” I say looking up at him. Alex looks down at me and I can see the look of deep affection in his eyes.
“I tried my best.” I feel so lucky that he’s opening up to me. It’s making me want to do the same for him.
We walk a little further into the park until we come across a parking lot with picnic benches and six different food trucks. “Figured I’d let you choose the cuisine tonight,” Alex says, his voice already a little bit lighter than just moments ago.
“Tacos!” I shout, spotting the Mexican truck immediately. Alex laughs as I pull him toward the smell of cumin and chili pepper. He orders us six tacos–one of every kind on the menu–then finds us a table to sit and spread out our dinner. As we eat, Alex tells me more about growing up with Drew and I tell him a few stories about my older brother, Arden. We share a laugh over the time I convinced Arden to jump off the neighbor’s roof into their inground pool and he lost his bottoms as soon as he hit the water.
“Does your brother visit often?” He asks, taking the last bite of the tilapia taco.
“Not so much, I mostly just go home to see the family.”
Looking up, I meet his soft gaze. He takes my hand and kisses my palm before gathering up our garbage to throw away.
“We should probably head to the party now, huh,” I ask. Alex nods, grabbing my hand. We walk for a few minutes in silence until Alex speaks again.
“You haven't talked much about your own family,” he says as we start walking back toward the way we came.
“There’s not a whole lot to say. I live with my dad, my memaw and my older brother. My brother works at the factory where my dad used to work. He got injured on the job and now he’s home but I worry sometimes about Arden there.”
“That sounds stressful.”
I nod. “It can be. But he’s capable and strong. He’ll be okay.”
“I’m sure they’re so proud of you for coming out here and chasing your dreams.”
I can’t resist the sigh that escapes me. “I hope so.” Alex squeezes my hand in reassurance.
“What about your mom?”
I reply matter-of-factly. “My mom left us right after she had me so I don’t really know anything about her. All I know is that my parents were very young when they had Arden and still too young when they had me.” I haven’t thought much about my mom. My dad and Memaw did an amazing job raising Arden and I that I never once felt any emptiness that mother might fill. They made my childhood in South Carolina as amazing as I could’ve hoped for and I’ll always be grateful to them for that.
“And I’m not sad about that, so don’t worry about bringing it up,” I say reassuringly. Alex seems like he wants to ask follow up questions but I’m grateful that he doesn’t. Not that I wouldn’t mind talking about my mom, I just don’t think there’s anything more to say.
“I’d like to meet them, too. Your family,” Alex says.
Looking up at him, I see nothing but contentment in his eyes. I only nod, unable to voice how happy it would make me to bring him down to South Carolina, watch him at the dinner table across from my dad, playing games with my memaw on a Saturday morning. Yeah, I’d like that very much.
We walk again in comfortable silence for a few minutes.
“Sunshine?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s a ‘memaw’?”
Laughter bursts out of me and I gaze up at Alex with a twinkle in my eye. “That’s what I call my grandma,” I giggle.
“Ah, gotcha,” Alex replies, laughing too.
“What do you call your grandparents?”
Alex shrugs. “I dunno. Never had any.” That thought made my heart ache but I didn’t press him on it either. Tonight is about good memories, not drudging up old, sad memories.
We near the edge of the park and I can see my block ahead of us. Suddenly, Alex stops us, pulling me off the path a bit. He gazes down with a fierce look of determination on his handsome face. It makes him look all the more beautiful. “I want you to know, sunshine, I’m really really happy with the way things are turning out between us.”
My breath catches. “You are?”
“I am,” he says and my heart grows to an impossibly large size.
“I am, too.”
Alex sighs in relief and leans down to place a brief, chaste kiss on my lips.
“Good,” he says, leaning his forehead against mine. After a moment, Alex puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. We walk like this the entire way to his house and I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier in my whole life.