Chapter 87

The next time Lexi and I had a sleep-over, I was back at her house.

It was kind of amusing to me because while I'd been the one before, being slightly on edge, trying to not even be in a room alone with Lexi for longer than necessary, now it was the opposite.

Lexi was practically sprinting away from me. Her father was eyeing her the whole evening. She looked pretty darn sketchy. At one point, she actually implied that she was going to go for a walk alone. On a cold winter evening. With the snow. In the dark.

Honestly, it was more amusing than anything. She should have made a lot more fun of me if I had been acting like her before.

When we eventually went to bed, she actually had the audacity of wanting to leave the door of her room open, so there would apparently be nothing to hide.

I shut the door by pushing her back against it, trapping her between the door and my body.

She jumped a little bit in surprise, looking up in my eyes, while I bent my head slightly, getting our lips closer, with a smirk.

"You know what? Now that you're the one worried about getting caught by your dad, I feel bolder," I told her softly, leaning closer, my arms on both side of her head.

"What the fuck?" she gapped, pressing her hands against my chest to push me away.

There was no force in the push though.

It amused me greatly.

"I just think we generally need one responsible person in the relationship, and since you're doing it right now, I don't have to."

She narrowed her eyes at me. She still wasn't pushing me away. Her hands on my chest felt more like they were groping rather than shoving me away, really. "What are you saying?"

"Wanna break the no fornication rule?" I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

"Get away from me!" She said, and slipped under my arms, escaping from me. I turned around and she gave a few kicks that didn't land. I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

"But aren't I irresistible?" I asked, still smirking at her, while she stepped around her bed to keep it in between us.

"In your room, far away from my father, yeah. Otherwise, very very resistible," she replied, looking ready to fight.

I loved my feisty Pumpkin.

"Should we test that theory?"

My girlfriend scoffed. "Absolutely not."

I chuckled. "This is really amusing me though. Where is my bold Lexi?" As I asked that, I made my way to the other side of the bed, but then Lexi jumped on it, and went to where I'd been standing ten seconds ago.

It was like playing tag. And I unfortunately wasn't winning.

"Your bold Lexi is back in your house. You'll find her there if you want to see her again. Otherwise, this Lexi is considering taking her vows."

"What vows? To have and to hold?" I asked. I made the right intonations so she wouldn't miss what I meant.

"No having. No holding," Lexi warned me sternly, pointing at my face.

"But the having was so nice," I teased her.

"No, no."

I gasped. "It wasn't?"

She didn't reply, and instead just said, "You're sleeping on the ground!"

I took a step closer to her. "I can't. I have such a weak constitution. My poor body. I can't sleep on hard surfaces. And I can't sleep with a shirt either,"

"You're wearing a shirt."

"Not possible."

"Make it possible immediately."

"But if I'm wearing a shirt, how are you supposed to lick it?"

"I'm the one that's going to sleep on the ground if you keep this shit up," she scolded me. I was impressed. She wasn't usually able to resist my chest.

Maybe I was losing my touch. I hadn't been training as much as I did during football season. Was my chest not up to Lexi's standards?

I pouted at my girlfriend. "Can I at least have a kiss? To help me through these trying times?"

"You're not getting shit. I don't trust you," my Pumpkin replied with narrowed eyes.

"What?" I pressed a hand to my chest. "You don't trust your amazing boyfriend?"

She made an x with her arms. "No kissing. No tempting naked chest."

"Fiiiiiiine," I whined, throwing my head back, but then chuckled. "I'll go cry in the bathroom then."

We did our usual little bedtime routines after that.

Once we were both in bed, with the lights turned off and I was trying to find the perfect pick-up line to win over my girlfriend, Lexi spoke first. "My mother called."

That kinda stopped all my scheming.

"You know, you should have told me that before I started to act like a perv," I said, wrapping my arm around her, bringin her head to the crook of my neck.

"But I like pervy-Blake," Lexi breathed. I could feel the sadness even in her teasing tone.

We didn't talk about her mother often. I understood why.

"I should have recorded that, for prosperity." I paused. "Did you talk to her?"

"I let it go to voicemail. But... I almost answered. One or two more rings and I think I would have answered."

I ran my hand through Lexi's hair, trying to soothe her as we continued whispering in the dark. "To listen to what she has to say? Or to tell her something?"

"I don't really know. It's just so weird. She's my mother, you know. She wasn't perfect when I was younger, but I always loved her. It's weird to try to reconcile the new her with the old her. I loved the old her. It's hard to stop loving someone. I don't think you're ever truly able to stop loving someone, especially a parent."

"I think even parents can cross a line that you can't get over though."

"But being angry at someone, or hating someone doesn't mean you stop loving them either, or at least what they were before," Lexi said.

"Do you want to call her?"

"No... but I think I might answer the phone eventually. And I kinda hate it, because it's like I'm letting her win. She destroyed our family, and I'll still talk to her? Regardless of what happened? I hate it."

I gave my girlfriend a little squeeze, trying to give her strength.

"But you also have no idea what might happen tomorrow or next week, or next month. You don't want regrets either."

"I want her to pay and suffer for what she did. But I also miss my mom, you know?" She sighed and then added, after choking up a bit, "I really miss my mom."

"Oh, Pumpkin," I said, my heart breaking and squeezed her in my arms.

I hated that she felt this way, and that there was no perfect solution, nothing I could do to magically fix everything.

It felt awful to be powerless when the woman you loved was in pain.

"Sorry," Lexi eventually said, after crying in my arms.

"Don't apologize," I told her kissing the top of her head.

She ran a hand over her eyes, wiping tears, and then said, trying to lighten her voice, "Maybe we really should have been fornicating. This whole talking about our feeling shit is so overrated."

I kissed her temple this time. "It's one of the many reasons why I love you, you know? The fact that we can be open about everything together. That I can tell you about my feelings and I know you won't judge me. So, I hope you know I'll always do the same for you."

Lexi snuggled more in my arms, pressing a kiss to the corner of my jaw. "I love you Blake Eaton."

"I love you Lexi Grayson."

"Still not fornicating though."

I laughed, leaning my head back. "Coooome on," and as I said that, I slipped a hand at the back of her shirt, hand running over her skin.

Lexi slapped my hand. "Keep this shit up and the door is going to open."

"Fine. Keeping my hands and lips to myself."

"Good boy," Lexi said, patting me on the chest, and got comfortable in my arms, getting ready to sleep.

"I hate this," I said, kissing the top of her head one last time.

But I didn't. I really didn't hate this.

I loved it. 

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Happy Monday my little Pumpkins! <3

Sorry, I thought this was scheduled, but apparently it was not.

Enjooooooy. Going to try to sleep for another two hours, before I go to work, so I have nothing witty to say. Also, my brain is kind of rotting after the shit-show of a week it's been here. :') I think I need to just focus on writing because that brings me joy, because everything else right now? Kinda ew.

I still owe you a Friday upload. I need to finish it up and I'll upload it this week. It's Family Crown.

Alrighty.

Byyyyyye! See you all next week!