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-Chapter Forty Three-

          The next morning, I woke up on a couch. How come I’m not in my bed…? I heard a heartbeat thudding into my ear. Is that mine? I didn’t notice where I was at all. Who’s house was this? Where am I? Then, the memories came to mind.

          The party. Jake coming here. Brent getting beaten up. Jake and I getting into a huge fight… breaking up with him.

          I was still in Austin’s house, then.

          I remembered it all. I still haven’t completely recovered from it all either. I don’t think I would be able to get over it in just one night. I wasn’t exactly going to drown in my own tears over Jake either… not like I did with Christian.

          Crap, that made it even worse. Yes, I was completely over Christian, but then I remembered when Jake said that he would never break my heart. That’s what Christian said, too.

          I’d be better off without boys in my life at this point. Seriously.

          Then, I noticed that my head wasn’t on a pillow either. It was on a smooth, warm-ish, surface… what was it?

          Groggily, I turned over and looked at what was under my head. Brent. He was shirtless, and my head was resting on his broad chest. I let out a little yelp. I took in his features. His hair was literally a hot mess. He was sleeping peacefully as his chest steadily rose and fell. Bruises covered his face. My heart clenched, knowing that Jake was the one that did this to him.

          I began to pull myself away from him, slowly and carefully. I didn’t want to wake him up. As I was pulling a warm cover off of us, Brent’s abdomen came into view. Six pack. Of course. Is it just me, or does every boy in California have a six pack?

          His eyes slowly opened. A sleepy smile stretched over his lips when he looked at me. “Good morning.” I had to pry my eyes away from his body before he noticed I was staring.

          “H-hi, Brent,” I said awkwardly. “Do you know why we’re still at Austin’s house?”

          “You said you were really tired and didn’t want to go home. Plus, I wouldn’t leave you here if you didn’t want to go.”

          “Aw that was so sweet!” I wanted to say. Instead, I said, “Oh, thanks, I guess.”

          “So did you sleep well?” he questioned.

          “Yeah, I guess,” I replied lazily. “I didn’t even notice I was lying on a couch… or on you, for that matter.”

          “I guess I’m pretty comfortable then.”

          I laughed. “Uh, I guess we should be getting up now.”

          “Sounds like a good idea.”

          I just looked into his blue-green eyes, waiting for him to get off the couch. Then, I realized that in order for him to get off, I kind of had to get off first. Duh.

          I got off the couch and stood up. Brent followed suit and sat up straight. I yawned, stretching out my back as I raised my hands up in the air.

          “Can you hand me my shirt?”

          Seeing Brent’s shirt on the ground, I picked it up and tossed it to him. “Here you go.” I frowned as he pulled the shirt over his head. I guess that means no more eye candy for today.

          I reached into my pocket in search of my phone, wondering if I had any new texts or missed calls. I didn’t feel it in any of my pockets. Where the heck―Jake has it.

          I cursed under my breath. “What’s wrong?” Brent asked.

          “Jake has my phone.” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “But I don’t want to see him.”

          “Is that how he knew that we kissed? He read our texts?”

          “Yeah… I didn’t tell him, if that’s what you thought.”

          “Oh… Well, how are you going to get it back? I could go get it for you if you want me to.”

          I sighed, shaking my head. “No, it’s fine. You’ve done enough for me already. I’ll get it later.”

          “Are you sure?” I nodded yes. “Okay… Well what do you want to do now?”

          “I don’t know,” I told him. I didn’t particularly have any plans for today.

          “You want to go back to my place and hang out there for a while?”

          “If you’re trying to get me to sleep with you, then no.”

          “Dang it.”

          I slapped his arm and glared at him playfully, knowing he was kidding. “Shut up.”

          He laughed. “No, I’m not trying to get you to sleep with me. I just don’t want to stop hanging out with you yet.”

          “Oh, well in that case, sure,” I replied with a smile on my lips.

          A grin spread across his face. “Alright, let’s go.”

~*~

          “You really have your own place?” I asked as Brent unlocked the front door of his apartment.

          “Yeah, you like it?” He opened the door wide enough for me to see the inside. My mouth dropped in awe. It was almost as luxurious as Vicki’s house, just a lot smaller. “My parents are always working and what not, so they didn’t really mind if I moved out. They pay for this place.”

          “Do I like it? Yes!” I stepped inside and took in the area. There was a kitchen to my right with marble counter tops and stainless steel appliances and tiled flooring. There was a small area to my right with a desk and a few book shelves. A study area, I guess. Then, the living room was straight ahead. Large flat screen TV, two loveseats that sat parallel from each other, and a stereo system against the wall with a large window behind it.

          “There’s two bedrooms. One is my room, and I turned the other one into a gaming room. I first followed Brent to his room, looking at the pictures that hung on the walls. His room had a king sized bed pressed against the long wall on the left. A TV was connected to the wall directly across from his bed with a dark colored, wooden dresser under it. He had a small walk in closet on the left of his bed, and a bathroom on the right. Another large window was on the farthest wall from me with a small balcony behind it.

          Then, there was the game room. There was another TV that was connected to the wall with four black and blue bean-bag chairs making a semi-circle around it. A Playstation 3, a Wii, and an Xbox 360 sat neatly on a TV stand with multiple games around them. On the other side of the room were a foosball table, a pool table, and an air hockey table. Fatheads (the live-like wall stickers) of famous football players and basketball players were all over the room.

          Are his parents loaded or something?

          “This is so awesome!” I exclaimed, looking at the room in awe.

          “What do you want to do first? How about a game of pool?” Brent suggested.

          As if on cue, my stomach growled. I felt a blush spread up my neck in embarrassment. “I guess I’d rather eat than do anything at the moment.”

          He chuckled. “I’m pretty hungry myself. The last thing I ate was a s’more from the bonfire last night. Want me to make breakfast?”

          “You can cook?”

          “Eh. I’m quite a chef, if I do say so myself,” he stated confidently.

          “I didn’t know,” I replied.

          “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.”

          “I guess I’ll just have to learn, then.”

          Brent held my gaze for a few moments, neither of us saying a word.

          After some seconds, he said in a low voice, “I guess I should do the same.”

          I felt a small smile form on my lips but I didn’t say anything. I walked out of the gaming room and into the kitchen. “Breakfast won’t cook itself!” I called in a sing-song voice when I realized he didn’t follow me out.

          He came into view and was pulling a new, clean shirt over his head. “Sorry, I was changing,” he apologized.

          My cheeks flushed. “Okay.”

          I watched as Brent went to work in the kitchen, pulling whatever stuff he needed out of the cabinets. He went to the fridge, pulling out eggs, bacon, milk, onions, tomatoes, and green bell peppers. I could already tell this was going to be a good breakfast.

          “What are you going to make?”

          “Food,” he said, earning an eyeroll from me. He chuckled at my response. “It’s a surprise.”

          That’s what Jake always said―It’s a surprise.

          I sat down on one of the marble counter tops and swung my feet back and forth. “Okay.” I began to wonder aloud after a few minutes as I watched Brent’s back muscles move as he cooked. “You do know... that we never really, uhm... had that kiss?”

          I saw him stiffen. “What kiss?”

          “You know, the experimental one?” I told him, saying it like he should know what I was talking about. He should. I mean, it was his idea in the first place.

          “Oh, that one.” He sent me a sideways glance, a smirk on his face. “You’re still interested in that?”

          “Yeah… Aren’t you? Did you really forget about it that easily?”

          “No, not necessarily.”

          I knitted my eyebrows together in confusion even though he couldn’t see me. “Why do men always speak in riddles,” I muttered.

          “Fine then, yes.”

          “Yes to what?” I asked him.

          “You said ‘why do men always speak in riddles’ so I gave you a straight answer. Yes, I am still interested in that kiss.”

          My cheeks heated up as he turned around and locked his eyes on mine. I automatically licked my lips. Was he going to kiss me?

          Brent walked up to me and stood in between my legs. I was still on the counter top. “So, you still want that kiss, then?” he whispered as he placed his hands on my bare thighs. I was still wearing my shorts from yesterday. His hot breath tickled my face.

          I nodded, my eyes focusing on his pink lips. Brent took one of his hands and weaved it into my hair. I somehow felt like I needed to kiss him. It felt like I was somehow desperate to kiss him again. I knew that too since last night in Austin’s kitchen when we almost kissed.

          “Okay, then.” Those were the last few words that came out of his mouth before our lips made contact with each other.

          I don’t know why, but this felt right. I wasn’t tied to Jake anymore, and I could kiss Brent without the guilt. But why was it still there? Was it too soon to be kissing other people? It didn’t really feel like it. I just focused on this. On this moment. On Brent.

          I immediately responded, kissing him back. My eyes fluttered closed. Our lips moved together in sync and without knowing it, I felt my body move closer to his until there was no space between us.

          Wrapping my arms around his neck, Brent put his other arm around my waist and kept his other hand tangled in my hair. He licked my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I granted him permission and let him deepen the kiss.

          Our tongues battled against each other in a sweet bliss. My knees went weak and I felt my toes curl. I played with his hair at the nip of his neck.

          We pulled back from each other, but truthfully, I kind of didn’t want it to end so soon… at least it seemed ‘soon.’

          “Alex,” Brent breathed out, resting his forehead against mine; his breath fanned my face. We were both breathing hard, and a sloppy grin was on his face. “I've come to a conclusion…”

          “Yeah, what’s that?” I inquired, just as breathily.

          He opened his amazing eyes, and I saw that there was something new about them. They seemed brighter. “I am really, really attracted to you.”

          So much for me being “done with boys.”

Author's Note: Hey, okay, yes, I know, this was a quick update! xD You can be mad at me for this chapter, especially if you’re on team Jalex. But I wanted to add some Bralex time in, so you could all see that Alex is kind of in this weird position. I don’t know. Okay, I hope you liked it! Tell me what you thought about this. First person to comment gets a dedication. And do you think I could get  175+ before I update next? ;)

      ~Storylover11~