Kade Loves Alex (2 page)

Alex

My
phone alarm buzzes again and I realize that I can no longer keep pressing
‘snooze’ or else I will be late for school – again. I reluctantly stretch. I
can still smell Kade all over my pillow ... just the way I like it.  It is
strangely comforting.  I feel guilty thinking that I kept him up so late
last night.  I tell myself that I need to stop calling him every time I
have a fight or break up with a boyfriend.  But I know that I won’t. 
I will always call him, and I know that he will always be there.

I
run to the bathroom and take a quick shower.  Glancing at my face in the
mirror a few minutes later, I almost scream.  I look horrid.  My eyes
are swollen, my nose red, my hair flying in every direction. 
Make up,
I
think.
Lots of
make up
.

I
run a large brush through my hair – thankfully my hair is one of my best
features and is easily tamed.  I leave it to flow in waves down my back,
and apply my signature red lipstick and my face immediately brightens. I thank
God every day for creating red lipstick.

I
quickly throw on a loose, black chiffon top, tight dark jeans and black heels –
always a necessity when you are barely 5’ 3’.  I survey myself in the
mirror before rushing to my car. 
Much better.

I
make it to school ten minutes before my first class.  I walk to my locker,
looking for Kade.  I find Kayla and Laura waiting impatiently for me in
front of my locker.

“I
tried calling you all night, Alex!
What the hell?!”
Laura wails.  “I was worried about you.” Laura is slightly taller than me
with pretty green, almond shaped eyes and dark brown hair. She is the most
outspoken of the three of us, but has a heart of gold.  We met two years
ago when she moved from Texas and our personalities meshed well. 

 “I’m
okay guys, really.” I say grabbing a few books from my locker. “We had an hour
long fight.  I am exhausted thinking about it.”  I close my locker
and lean against it.  I see Nathan walking down the hall.  I try to
catch his eyes, but he blatantly ignores me, keeping his head straight.

“Why
is he acting like this?” Kayla asks, looking at Nathan as he walked pass us.
Kayla is the tallest of all three of us.  She has jet black wavy hair that
hangs prettily to her shoulders.  I am much closer to Kayla than I am to
Laura – mostly because she is nonjudgmental and when I am around her, I feel
like I can be myself. “It is not the first time you and Kade have hugged in
front of him.”

“I
think I have a teensy … or rather … large idea why he got so mad,” Laura
whispers mischievously pointing behind my shoulders. I turn and see Kade
walking towards us.    He looks good today.  I love it when
he wears white.  He is flanked on either side by his close friends, Ryan
and Jonathan.  He towers over them, nodding at people who are saying hi as
he walks by.  I don’t think that he realizes how good looking he is. 
I am reminded of this fact constantly especially when random girls approach me
two to three times a day asking me for his number.  His skin is
perpetually tanned, his hair black, his eyes onyx.  His nose, chin and
jawbone strong and he has the widest shoulders that I have ever seen. 

“Hey,”
he says stooping down slightly to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Are you feeling
better?” he questions, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

“Yes,
much better.” I smile. “I feel bad keeping you up so late.”

He
shrugs taking my books from my hands so that I can straighten my book bag over
my shoulder.

“You
know that’s never a problem for …”

 “
Kaaaade
,” I hear a voice calling from behind us and Kade
turns around.  I see that it is Evelyn after peaking around
Kade’s
large frame.

What
does she want?

In
every young girl’s life, there is always one girl who makes her life slightly
miserable.  That girl for me is Evelyn.  She and I have never gotten
along, even though we have been in the same school for years now.  It is
probably because she is pushy.  I am usually a nice person.  I am
upbeat and outgoing.  Kayla even teases me that I am dainty at times, but
I am
not
weak and nobody, boy or girl, can boss me around. 

Evelyn
is also always running behind Kade.  In all my years of being
Kade’s
friend I have only seen him have one serious
girlfriend. Since then he has been single, contentedly flitting from girl to
girl. It seemed to be a good arrangement for everyone – I never saw one girl
complaining and there was never a shortage of girls near Kade. Unfortunately,
of all the girls, Evelyn seemed to be his favorite.  And I could see
why.  She is gorgeous.  She is very tall, with beautiful porcelain
like skin.  Her hair is a glossy black and hangs beautifully down her
back.  Her eyes are a striking blue. 
I hate her.

In
the background I can hear Ryan, Jonathon and the girls laughing and flirting
and making plans for the weekend.   I pretend to be listening to
their conversation but my ears are trained on Kade and Evelyn’s conversation.

“Hey,
what’s up?”
Kade questions.

“Nothing
much,” she replies in a low, sexy voice. “I was wondering,” she places her
hands on his arm rubbing her hands over his ever growing biceps --- and I see
red.

I
realize that I need to control myself because I am literally imagining walking
up to her and yanking her hand from his arms.

“Do
you want to go out tonight?  We can watch a movie at my house…” Evelyn
smiles up at him.

No,
witch.
I think to myself.
Tonight is best friends movie
night, not one night stand ... whore night!
I gulp.  It really is our
night.  Every Friday we watch movies all night and cuddle.  This has
been happening every Friday - since the beginning of time!

“No.”
I hear Kade reply.
You better say no.
“I’m actually busy tonight.”
And every Friday night for infinity.

“Okay,”
she says with a fake pout. “What about Saturday?  There’s going to be a
beach party and bonfire.  I want you to take me.” She leans slightly into
him.

“Sure.
Saturday sounds good. I can pick you up around seven.” He replies softly. He
grins sexily down at her.

I
hear myself grumble. Out loud. Like a frickin’ dog.  Kayla looks at me
knowingly and pats my back as I pretend like I am coughing.

“Can
you walk me to class?” Evelyn asks throwing an evil glance at me.

“Yeah,
sure.”
Kade turns to me and kisses me on my cheek. “See
you at lunch, Lex” he says softly before walking with Evelyn to her
class.  Thank God that today is Friday. My emotions are all over the
place.

“So
you and Nathan are officially over?” Kayla asks as we sit down for lunch at our
usual table on campus under a huge tree. 

“Yes,”
I reply.  “It is more than just what happened yesterday, Kay.  I am
exhausted.  He constantly brings up Kade… Like last week he came over and
we were hanging out in my room, and he notices that pictures of Kade and I are
all over my walls. So he goes “
What’s all this about?  I don’t see any
pictures of me in your room and we’ve been dating for months
.”  I
tried to brush it off with a laugh but he kept on saying mean things about
Kade.  And I lost it.  I started yelling.  He started
yelling.  It all went downhill from there.” I sigh.

Kayla
looks at me and shakes her head. “I do not know what you expect, Alex. You and
Kade practically ooze sexual tension.  You are always hugging and kissing
each other.  These guys are intimidated by him … he is also quite large
compared to the lot of them.”

I
avoid her gaze.

“We
do
not
have sexual tension.”

“Uh-huh,
continue lying to yourself, Alexandria.  You need to wake up and smell the
… Kade.”  She laughs at her own lame joke.  I smile too, remembering
that I did in fact wake up smelling my Kade.

I
shrug.  “Kade and I are best friends.  He has been with me my entire
life and has always been there for me.  I will never choose anyone over
him. What do these guys expect me to do? You know that I have had a few
boyfriends, they all get mad when they see how close Kade and I are.  They
expect me to change my feelings towards him.  But I never will.  And
I have been right not to! We always break up, and do you know who is always
there after they leave?
Kade.
  He is like my
brother.” I conclude.

“Yeah,”
she scuffs “A brother you would like to screw.”

I
gasp.
“What?!
Never!”

“I
saw you this morning, Alexandria Hayes.  Your eyes were emerald with
envy!” she teases.

I
feel myself blush.

“When
are you going to realize that you are in love with him?  He is perfect for
you in every way.  I don’t understand what you are so afraid of…” she
trails off. I hear loud laughter close by and I turn to see Kade talking to a
group of three pretty girls.  They are giggling and one of them is playing
with his shirt collar.  He turns to me and his onyx eyes catches
mine.  He jogs over and lopes his arms over my shoulders.

“Why
do you look so serious?” he asks stealing a French fry from my plate.

“Just
tired and ready for the weekend.”
I reply trying to
avoid his gaze. 

“
Mmmhmm
,” he responds.  He always knows when I am
lying.  Before I know it, all my fries and half my burger have disappeared
from my plate, thanks to Kade and his never ending stomach.  I notice him
reaching for the left over brownie that my mom made for me last night, and I
shove his big hand away.

“No!
You already ate more than half of my lunch!” I complain, hiding the brownie
behind my back.

“Fine,”
he huffs, looking away sadly.  I give in and break the brownie in half. He
smiles at me taking his half and eating it in one big bite.

“Kade!”
I hear one of the girls shouting beckoning for him to rejoin their group. 

I
roll my eyes in annoyance hearing them giggle and waving him over.

“Okay,
well I’ll see you tonight. 
Eight-
ish
at my place.”
He gets up and gives me a soft kiss on my forehead and
returns to the group of giggling girls. 

I
feel Kayla staring at me and I eat my brownie slowly avoiding her stare.

Oh.
My.
God.
Could it be possible?  Could I have
feelings for Kade?

Kade

I
remember exactly when I began falling in love with Alexandria. She was about
eight and I had just turned nine.  That summer, we were learning to roller
skate on the sidewalk outside her house and she was much better at it than I
was.   I remember I kept falling.
Hard.
 
And the kids on her block would laugh and tease me relentlessly.  She was
tinier than most of us – even back then.  I remember running into her
house, embarrassed as they taunted me.  When I peeped through the window,
I saw her yelling angrily at the kids.  They actually looked afraid of her
and they didn’t mess with us for the rest of the summer.  She helped me
practice for weeks afterwards until I was just as good as she was. 
My Alex.
  She always had my back.

“I’m
here!” I hear her singing breaking me out of my reverie. She unlocks the door
with the key that I gave her and makes her way into my house.  “And I
brought the best movie in the world!” she exclaims.

She
is wearing a long blue skirt that falls all the way down to her ankles and a
tight white tank top. Even though she is quite small, she has the most amazing
curves I have ever seen.  She throws off her sandals and makes herself comfortable
on my couch.

“Oh
God,” I mumble grabbing the DVD from her hands.
“Oh God.”
I repeat, seeing the words
‘The Notebook’
sprawled across the cover.

She
grabs the DVD from by hand. “Don’t ‘Oh God’ me. I watched two movies with
nonstop guns and car crashes last weekend.  It’s my turn.”

She
shoves the DVD into the player and puts her feet under her legs leaning sweetly
on my shoulders.  I realize that I really don’t mind watching this
movie.  I get to hold her for two hours.

Within
an hour she is crying.  I laugh at her.

“He
loves her so much,” she sniffles. I laugh harder. 

“Why
can’t love like this happen in real life?” she questions.

“It
can happen…” I reply quietly.

“Well
it sure hasn’t happened to me… I wish that I could find a guy like that…” she
points at the screen.

“Like
what?” I question.

“A
guy that will make me feel like I’m the only girl who could ever have his
heart.”
She stares at me. “Is that so hard to find?”

“No,
it’s not hard to find Alex.  Maybe you’re just looking in all the wrong places.”
I stare at her. 
This is the perfect time to tell her… I’m going to
tell her … in five minutes, maybe ten.
  I suck.

We
go back to watching the last few minutes of the movie and I zone out knowing
that Alex will cry for fifteen minutes after the old people die.

After
drying her eyes she asks, “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I’m
going to the beach party.” I reply, playing with her hair.

“With
who
?” she questions.

“Evelyn…”

Her
eyebrows furrow. “Why do you like her? She is so… so….”

Not
you.

“So
… what?”
I chuckle. “You never like any of the
girls who are interested in me.”

“Ha!
I could say the same thing about you …” she laughs.

“That’s
because you date prissy douche bags.” I defend myself.  Even though I know
that I don’t like them because they are not good enough for her.  No one
is. 

“You
haven’t had a steady girlfriend in a long time.” She says quietly, twisting her
long golden brown hair with her hands over her left shoulder. She always does
this when she is nervous.
“How come?”
She asks.

Because
I am waiting for you.

“Because,”
I say instead, “I haven’t found the right girl yet.” I can feel the tension
between us, something that is barely ever present in our relationship so I say,
“And besides, I like playing the field. I never get bored.”  

She
elbows me in my side, probably hurting her arms more than hurting me. “You are
such a player.” She retorts.

I
sigh, pulling her into my arms and holding her tight.  I wasn’t a
player.  The girls that I dated served one sole purpose – a distraction
from my feelings for Alex.

“I
love you.” I hear myself say. Shocked at myself, I try not to breathe. 
She stiffens in my arms until I hear her giggle.

“I
love you too … you’re the best friend a girl could ever wish for.”  She cuddles
more against my side and kisses me softly on my cheek.  I hold her tight
and wish that I had the balls to tell her how I feel.