Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4) (15 page)

“Yeah. Yeah, she does. Because of
what happened over at the bar the other night, I um … I told her everything. So, yeah, she knows.”

I clea
r my throat when she briefly glances to her watch, and I see a frown forming deep over her face before she pulls me into her arms. Wrapping my arms around her in return, she strokes my face before resting her cheek against mine, “The only person stopping you from being happy is yourself. If you like her then why don’t you see how things play out?” she asks in a whisper, and I pull away, my eyes widening some. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting those words to come out of her mouth. She’s giving me the go ahead? She thinks that me liking Alexis is okay? I search her eyes and see her shrug her shoulders once. “Okay, listen. I’m going back to the bar. I’ll talk with Layla about giving you your job back. Once I explain where you went the other night then I’m sure she’ll understand.” She backs away, and I follow her over to the door.

“Thanks, Rach.”

“Just think about what I said okay? Nobody expects you to live the rest of your life on your own.” She says with a small smile before heading out through the door.

Once the door fully closes
, I make my way back over to the couch and slump myself down in the seat, resting my feet up on the coffee table while leaning my head back and closing my eyes. I thought she was gonna be upset, but she isn’t. How do I feel about this? I have no idea. Was I planning on always being on my own? Yeah, actually I was.

***

Me
: I think we should try beautiful. X

Why I keep staring at this same message is beyond me. I’m looking at it as though it’s some kinda foreign object or something. It’s five words, that’s all.
Five.
Yeah, you’re right. That sound is my thundering heartbeat. Who sent me this? Nobody. I sent it to Alexis, and you wanna know something else? I sent it just over three hours ago, and she still hasn’t replied. Nothing. Not even an ‘I don’t think so.’ Nada.
Zilch.

You’re probably wondering why I sent that to her in the first place. Well, after Rach left earlier today, I went for a long walk. When I say long, I mean long. Four hours I
was walking around in the rain. I even headed toward Holly’s headstone at one point, but there was something holding me back from walking through the cemetery gates.

On my way back here, I bumped into Neil. You could say that things were left up in the air between me and Alexis before I left her place this morning, and so when Neil invited me over, I took him up on the offer because I thought it would be the perfect way to test the
water, so to speak. But, when we walked inside the dorm, I heard something. Something that made me step back out the door almost as quickly as I’d stepped inside.

Alyssa was practically bouncing up and down on the couch while singing four little words. No, there isn’t a problem with her doing that, of course there isn’t. If you know Alyssa like I know Alyssa then you’ll already be familiar with her eccentric ways. It was the words that came out of her
mouth that threw me and caught me off guard.

Two or three t
imes she said ‘Alex is in love’, and when she and Alexis turned around and saw both me and Neil standing behind them, Alexis completely froze and didn’t seem to know what to do with herself. Was she embarrassed? Yeah. Yeah, she was. I thought she was talking about me. Yeah, go ahead and laugh, but from the way she reacted it appeared that way at the time.

So, anyways, after seeing her there and having that talk with Rach earlier today about moving on, I thought that we could maybe try. Y’know, to see how things go. I mean, it could turn out that we’re totally incompatible, but at least we would’ve given it a shot, right?
Wrong
. On so many levels.

If that were the case then she would’ve responded by now. I haven’t been staring at my cell phone all the time, I’m not that much of a loser, at least, not yet, but I have been checking it a few times throughout the night.

Rye stopped by just after ten o’clock, and we’ve been working on some new material for the guy's band. Honestly? It’s a welcome distraction. If he hadn’t stopped by then it’s most likely that I’d be driving myself completely insane. Sure, the beer is helping some, or at least it was until we ran out just under an hour ago, and that’s where he is now. He headed to the store to grab some more because the way we’ve been progressing with the lyrics tonight, it sure seems as though we’re gonna be working on some new things well into the early hours. There’s not a lot more I can do while he’s gone and—
what in the hell?

My bedroom door swings wide open, and standing on the other side is Alexis.
Huh.
Alright, maybe I was worrying over nothing, “Alexis!” I jump right off of the bed, and head straight over to her. Well, there’s a turnaround. I guess I should’ve been a little more patient. I thought at the most she would’ve messaged me back, I wasn’t expecting her to come over here. “I didn’t, I mean … I wasn’t expecting you to—” Yeah, this is what she does to me. She makes me nervous. I know, crazy, right? But, it’s a good crazy. Yeah, it’s definitely good.

“Obviously.” 
Whoa.
What the fuck? Her eyes are wide and her lips tight. Wait. She doesn’t look so happy to be here. What was I expecting? Well, maybe a hello or a smile, but the way she’s scowling at me isn’t making me feel so good about this.

“What’s wrong?” I take a step forward as I ask, and I can see her checking me out already. Wait a second. Her face is starting to twist.  I briefly glance down to make sure that I’m not the one who’s offending her. Nope. Alright, so maybe I haven’t got a shirt on, and my pants are hanging low, but there’s nothing different about me today than any other day I’ve caught her doing it.

“You couldn’t just give me a couple of hours? I needed a couple of hours, Brandon, that’s all!”
Well, she had like three.
I don’t follow. She’s angry with me? Was I supposed to call her or something? It’s been a while since I’ve done this kinda thing.
Huh
. Maybe I shouldn’t have said what I did over a message. Yeah, that’s most likely the reason. Too impersonal. I get it.

She’s still glaring at me as I lift my hand up to toward her, but she instantly pushes me away before threading her fingers through her hair and turning away. Alright, something’s going on here, and it doesn’t seem likely that it has anything to do with the message I sent to her, “Alexis, I wanted to call, but …”

“You didn’t call because you were too busy shoving your dick down Lisa’s fucking throat!”
Whoa! What the fuck did she just say?
Yeah, my eyes are wider now. I was shoving my dick where? Lisa? Not fucking likely. Is she kidding?

“Lisa? Alexis, what the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, and place my hands on her shoulders, spinning her round until she’s fully facing me before gripping her by the waist
, so she can’t turn away again. “You think that I …?” I can’t even say it.

“I just saw her in the fucking hall!” she’s screaming now, her hands on my chest, pushing me back. “I thought that you and I could … I wanted to make sure that … I wanted time to make sure I was going to be what you needed, what you wanted.” She leans against the wall and closes her eyes. I have absolutely no idea what the hell’s going on here, but there’s gotta be some kinda mistake.

I take a step closer, and she opens her eyes back up until I can see directly into them, “Listen, I really have no idea what you’re talking about, I was …”

“You know, that’s exactly what Matt said to me,” she reaches for the handle
, and pushes by me to open the door back up. “I’m done, Brandon. Go and find someone else to mess around with!” She thinks that I was with Lisa? No. No, that’s not possible. She knows how hard it was for me to admit my feelings for her. She can’t seriously think that I—
wow
. She didn’t believe a goddamn word that I said to her, did she? She thinks I’m playing some kinda game. I know we don’t know a lot about each other, but I thought that after everything I told her she’d understand. But, she doesn’t. She shrugs her shoulders at me before turning away, but she can’t leave yet, not until I’ve tried to talk to her.

I grab her by the arm to stop her from leaving, but when I see the look in her eyes, I can already tell that it’s no use. She’s already drawn her own conclusions over this. If she didn’t believe me this morning then she’s not gonna believe me now, “You’re so wrong, Alexis,” I shake my head, let my hand fall from her arm, and take a step back. “You’re so fucking wrong.” I turn away, close my eyes, and a couple of seconds pass by before I hear t
he door slam closed behind me. 

Taking a seat back on my bed, I turn to my left and see the photograph of Holly staring right back at me.
I’m sorry you had to witness that, Holls.

I should’ve listened to Neil. When he first found out about what happened between me and Alexis, he told me that it would only get messy. He’d said that it's pretty clear that I'm not over Holly
, and that getting involved with somebody else would have disastrous consequences. Okay, so maybe it’s not quite that bad, but it feels pretty damn close. I thought she heard me, but she didn’t at all.

“Hey man, sorry it took so long,” Rye says when he steps back in my room, carrying a case of beer under his left
arm. “The store just outside campus closed early so I had to venture a little further afield.” Maybe that’s a good thing, At least he didn’t witness what went down in here about ten minutes ago.

“That’s
cool, bro,” I sit forward, and take a hold of the beer that he’s offering over to me. “I didn’t get anything done while you were gone so we’re still at this part.” I point over to the notepad that’s sitting in the middle of the bed, and rest back against the pillows. He pulls up the desk chair, turns it around, and sits down back to front a huge grin spreading over his entire face. “What’s so funny?”

“I witnessed a sex show out in the hallway when I
was heading out. I would say that I was surprised by what I saw, but I wasn’t,” he’s starting to laugh, and I narrow my eyes on him as I sit forward again. “That Lisa chick was deep throating your roomie. Y’know, they didn’t even notice that I was there. I only watched for a couple of minutes. It wasn’t that great. I’ve seen better.” He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, and takes a sip of his beer, shaking his head while reaching over to grab the pencil from off of the nightstand.

Huh, so that’s what Alexis was talking about. I would say that I understand now, but I don’t. She got it wrong. Totally wrong. Alright, so I know I have some kinda reputation
around here, but you and I both know that this information isn’t true. Back in Olympia it was the same, but since Holly I've looked at life a whole lot more differently. I’ve hooked up with one girl like that since her.
One
. It seems that Alexis is just like the rest of them after all, and what’s a relationship without trust? Yeah, a relationship not worth wasting any time over
.

You know what? I don’t need the drama that c
omes along with all that shit. I don’t. I don’t need any of it.

All things considered, this past week has been pretty quiet.

Layla called the day after she fire
d me to offer me my job back, and to say that I was relieved to see her name flashing on my cell phone screen would be an understatement. Rach told her everything. What happened back in Olympia; why I’m in Seattle; what happened the night I disappeared from my shift. The bad news? She’s already covered my shifts for the next few days, so I’m not due back to work until next weekend. That gives me a whole week to do pretty much nothing at all.

I haven’t heard anything from Brad
since the guys went over to Olympia, and Rach hasn’t heard anything else from any of her contacts. But, I did hear from one particular person. Yeah.
Alexis.
She seemed to realize her mistake pretty quickly, but last week I decided that what happened back in my room was a sign. We wouldn’t work out because she has insecurities of her own after what that fuckface did to her, and I’d always be trying to prove her wrong. No relationship should be like that. Am I happy this happened? Well, do I sound happy? No. No, I don’t.

I’ve seen
her a few times since the night she accused me of being with that Lisa chick, mainly at her place when I’ve been over to see the guys about the upcoming college show. We said hi to each other, but that was about it. She didn’t stay in the room for longer than five minutes at a time while I was there, and it was hard because, yeah, I like her.
I like her
a lot.

She wanted to speak with me
the day after she walked out of my room, but I lied and told her that the guilt was too much. Honestly? It’s actually become a whole lot more bearable since I admitted my feelings to her, Rach,
and to myself.

Rye noticed the atmosphere between the two of us, and wouldn’t stop harassing me until I told him what happened. You wanna know what he thinks about the whole thing? He thinks that we’re both being ridiculous. He admitted that at first he didn’t like the idea of me and Alexis, but he’s since changed his mind. He knows that I like her, and he also knows that she likes me. He doesn’t seem to understand the issues
surrounding the two of us, though.

I get that Matt hurt her, and I suppose I understand why she went off at me the way she did, but she could’ve at least believed that I’m not the same as him. I know I’m not
like him because if I had a girl like her by my side then I sure as hell wouldn’t feel the need to fool around with some skank who likely has at least two hundred notches against her bedpost.

I
went to sit by the lake for a while earlier, because even though my mind should be a lot clearer now that we both know where we stand, it isn’t. In fact, I’d even go as far to say that it’s more screwed up now than it was before.

When I was sitting on the steps to the small building
earlier today, Alexis showed up. No, she hadn’t followed me, but I guess she also uses that place as her place to think. She was upset, because although she passed her auditions, she didn’t get picked to star in the college arts show.

It felt good to actually say more tha
n one or two words to one another, and she told me that she misses me. What did I say? Well, in my mind I said the same thing back, but out loud I didn’t say anything. It started to rain not long after she showed up, and we headed back toward our own buildings. Then? Well, then I got a message from Rye. He told me that Alyssa has managed to persuade Alexis to head to Corey’s house party tonight, and he told me that I should try and be there. Am I gonna be there? Well, I just knocked on Corey’s front door so I guess I am.

You wanna know why I’ve changed my mind? Well,
I’ve come to realize that I know better than anyone that life’s far too short to hold any regrets. I don’t wanna miss an opportunity when it’s right in front of me. I want her. There. Are you happy now? Yeah, I thought you might be.

Putting
everything aside, I’ve tried to stay away, but it’s impossible for me to do that anymore. I was worried what Rach and her parents would think, but Rach has already assured me that she, her mom, and her dad, won’t think any less of me. Does this mean I’m gonna forget about Holls? Hell no. She’s still my main priority and focus, but I guess you could say that me being with Alexis is right up there with her now.

It’s coming up to ten o’clock already as I make my way t
hrough to the main room. Mark and another guy from the bar are over in the far corner by the speakers, so I head straight over to them while scanning the room to see if she’s here yet.
Man, I hope she doesn’t change her mind about coming here tonight.

“Hey, man!” Mark says when I approach him and Nathan. “Pretty cool party, huh?”
I turn and glance around.

“Yeah, it sure looks that way,” I call back so he’ll hear me over the loud music that’s blaring out from the speakers. “So, do you kn
ow Corey or are you crashing this party?” I ask, raising my brow. He throws me a wink, and I shake my head as I watch him walk up behind some unsuspecting brunette before he grinds himself against her. I inwardly count to three, and laugh along with Nathan when she turns around, and slaps him hard across the cheek.
Ouch
.

He hold
s one of his hands up to his face while gesturing that he’s gonna grab some beers. There must be at least twenty people in here, and most of them are dancing in the middle of the room. Not one of them is Alexis, though. Why am I getting the feeling of déjà vu here?
Huh.

Mark weaves his way through the crowd
a couple of minutes later, handing over a bottle of beer to the two of us as I scan the room again. He nudges my arm to grab my attention, “I hear Layla’s taking you back?” Why don’t I answer him? Well, that’s an easy one. I just saw her. Alexis, that is. Yep, she’s here, and she looks fucking incredible, even if she is pretty much dirty dancing with two guys and a girl. Y’know what, though? I’m not jealous. No, really, I’m not. The girl I have no problem with because it’s Alyssa, and I know they’re not gonna be going home together in that sense at the end of the night. But, the guys? Yep, I think she’s pretty safe with them. She’s dancing with Corey and Dylan. That’s cool, I mean, they’re a couple, and I know they’re not interested in hooking up with Alexis, so I’m not gonna be needing to charge over there and tell them to back the hell away. Yeah, that’s right. Corey and Dylan are dating. But, they’re keeping it quiet because of all the narrow-minded people around this place. I know this better than anyone, and I don’t blame them in the slightest for wanting to be left the hell alone.

I lean up against the back wall, keeping my eyes on her the whole time. Damn, she’s sexy. If you don’t agree with me then you’re obviously not seeing what I am. Her dress is short, and if I’m gonna be honest here, I’m appreciating that a lot. But, what I’m not liking so much right now is the fact that fuckface has decided to go hit on her. Yeah, I think it’s time I headed over to say hi—
okay, maybe not
. It seems Alexis can handle herself tonight. If I’m reading this correctly then she’s just basically told Matt where to go, and I feel a smile grow wide over my mouth when I see him walk out the room with his tail firmly strapped between his legs.

I think Mark’s given up trying to talk to me anymore.
There’s no way I can keep my eyes off of her even if I wanted to. She’s smoking hot, no word of a lie, and she’s just thrown me a small smile over her shoulder.

Alright, maybe I’ll go over and say hi if she has no intention
of coming over here. Did I expect her to? Well, kinda, but I guess I’m the one who should make the first move tonight. After all, I did make it clear to her that I wasn’t interested in there being an ‘
us’
, but, that was before I had the time to think things through some more.

I
went to visit Holls this afternoon, and I told her about Alexis. It was a hard thing to do because I had to break my promise, but you wanna know what happened while I was there? Now, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I swear the sun began to shine when I told her that I met somebody. Yeah, it probably wasn’t anything. I guess I just wish she could let me know that she’s okay with what I’ve decided, that’s all.

My eyes won’t leave Alexis, and I’m tempted to go and follow her when I see her heading toward the open door. Okay, I’ll go and see—“Brandon!”
Or maybe I won’t.

“Hey, Tessa,” I give her a tight lipped smile
while keeping watch on Alexis. She’s headed toward the back of the house, so at least I know she’s not leaving. She’s likely going to use the bathroom or something.

“Are you having a good time?”
Tessa asks, and I grab a hold of her arm, moving the both of us away from the two guys on our left who’ve decided that it would be a great idea if they were to start throwing drinks over each other.

“I haven’t been here long, but so far so good,” I answer, and she nods her head a couple of times before leaning in closer so I can hear what she’s trying to say.

We spend a little time talking about different things, from work to college, and what Mark apparently did to her and the rest of the bartenders when they closed the bar down a couple of nights ago. He supposedly thought that it would be hilarious to lock both her and Layla in the basement while he and the other guys indulged in tequila shots back in the bar. What happened next? Well, I’m not so sure because I’ve been paying far too much attention on Alexis to hear anything else Tessa was trying to tell me. Alexis isn’t looking so happy about something, but I hear Tessa laughing at whatever she just said, and she’s just tapped my arm a couple of times to try and grab my attention back, but it’s really no use. Alexis looks upset, and I wanna know what’s going on.

I make my way through the crowd, and when I’m close enough I lift my hand out, gently placing it on her left shoulder as I go to lean in, “Hey, where are you going?” She stops walking, and turns right around until she’s facing me. There’s a smile over her face, but her eyes are in no way smiling along with her.

“I was …” she goes to answer, but stops, and that’s when I see Tessa making her way by us, throwing me a smile on her way out the room. When I focus my attention back on Alexis, she’s no longer smiling, and she instantly turns back away from me.
Not yet, beautiful
. I place my other hand on her right shoulder which makes her stop again, but this time I walk around her, blocking her escape. Is she trying to get away from me? Yeah, I think she is. “I should go.”

Her eyes are
big; huge in fact. And, yeah, I get what’s going on in that head of hers, “You thought that I was gonna take her home, didn’t you?” Yeah, she really did.

“No, I just didn’t like what I felt inside when I saw you smiling at her. It was the same way you smiled at me not so long ago.”
She drops her gaze until we no longer have any eye contact, and I’m kinda bummed that she feels like this. No, tonight is the night that I’m gonna set her straight. Make her see it’s her that I want, nobody else.

“There’s no way I looked at her, or any other woman come to mention it, the way I looked and still
look at you, Alexis,” I lean in closer, brushing my lips across her forehead before taking a hold of her hand in mine, and leading her back into the room. “Dance with me.” I say over my shoulder, not giving her a chance to decline my invitation.

I
pull her up close to me, so that our bodies are only inches apart from one another’s. I glide my fingers slowly up and down her back, my dick instantly twitching in my pants from having her this close to me again.
Man, I’ve missed being able to touch her
. She’s watching me, and I’m watching her.

When her breasts are pushing up against my chest, I grind myself against her
some more, gripping at her hips, and loving the fact that she has her whole body against mine.

I
rest my face in the crook of her neck, and start brushing my teeth over her skin, my dick instantly standing to attention when I hear her moan. Yep, I need her closer. I want her to know exactly what she does to me, and so I roll my hips against her. Now, this could be a smart move, or she could totally freak out and—
nope
. It was a smart move because now she’s pressing herself hard up against me in return.

I
grip her waist, firmer this time, and she keeps pushing herself against me …
there.
Yep, those things you’re hearing right now? Those are my heavy breaths because I swear I don’t think I’ve been this sexually excited in a very long time,
if ever.

She grabs fistfuls of my hair, her eyes staring directly into mine, and I know I’m not gonna be able to control myself if we stay in here any longer. No. Unless I want the room full of people to see me strip her down naked, and run my tongue all over her body, I think it’s time for us to leave
, “Let’s get outta here.”
Please say yes. One word, that’s all I need
. My heart’s thrashing inside my chest from knowing that if she agrees to come with me, then we’re no longer gonna be just friends. But, if I’m gonna be completely honest here, being friends with this girl has never been an option. I want more. I’ve always wanted more. When she nods, I swallow, hard, before taking a hold of her hand and leading her toward the front door. Am I smiling? Oh, you can bet your sweet ass I’m smiling. I keep my eyes boring deeply into hers when I go to speak again, because there’s really only one more thing left for me to ask. “Your place or mine, beautiful?”