500 Days (32 page)

“
Details
please.”

“
He asked me
out.”

“
And…”

“
And I said
yes.”

She squealed excitedly. “Tell me more.”

“
There’s not much to tell
yet. I just met him.”

“
Wait, who are you talking
about?”

“
Reece, who else would I
be talking about?”

“
Oh,” she said, looking
slightly disappointed. “Good, I’m glad to see you moving on from
the Colby debacle.” Declan quickly shifted into a different topic.
She tended to do this when she was hiding something.

I stifled an eye roll. “That was months ago
and last I heard he was back in L.A.”

“
And he can stay
there.”

“
I’m beat. I’m going to
head to bed.”

“
Goodnight.”

I received a text from Reece in the morning,
making me smile.

Couldn’t wait till the
wknd how about dinner tonight?

I text back.

Sounds perfect.

Gr8 pick u up
@6

I had another text from Casper.

Dinner &
movie?

Crap.

I can’t 2nite have a
date

There was a long pause before he
responded.

????

How the hell do I answer that?

Sorry, rain
check?

Another long pause.

OK

I put down my phone feeling a little guilty
for having to reschedule with Casper, but I really was looking
forward to a date with Reece. I got in the shower and got ready to
meet my brothers. Jacob was finally getting the tattoo Jasper had
promised him and Jack was calling today.

I arrived at the shop just in time. Jasper
had already had the Skype set up and was just waiting for Jack.
When his bright, green eyes appeared on the screen, I sunk down
into the only remaining chair. The boys talked first. Jacob told
him all about school and about him and Jaxson joining the same
fraternity. I wanted to voice how I felt about that, but I knew I
wouldn’t win an argument against all four of them.

Jack’s time was running out so we had to
hurry up the conversation. He wanted to talk to me alone and asked
the boys to leave the room. I was a little nervous as to why he
wanted to talk to just me. All three of them went into the back to
start Jacob’s tattoo, leaving me alone in the front, with Jack’s
face staring back at me through the computer. “Are they gone?” he
asked.

“
Yeah.”

“
I wanted to talk to you
alone because I wanted to know what’s going on with
you.”

“
I already told you Jack.
Everything’s fine.”

“
Alex, you can’t bullshit
me.”

“
Honestly Jack, for once,
everything is pretty good.” I looked over my shoulder to make sure
none of them were lurking around the corner and spying. “I have a
date tonight.”

“
Oh yeah?” Jack instantly
turned into older brother mode. “What’s his name? What does he do?
Where did you meet him?” Jack went on and on.

“
Whoa Jack, take a breath.
I don’t know much about him. We just met last night, but he goes to
school with me. Just transferred and he’s a really nice
guy.”

“
Name,” he said
stern.

I stifled an eye roll. “His name is
Reece.”

“
Last name,” he
pushed.

“
I don’t know it yet. He’s
not a psycho, Jack.” I knew he wanted his full name so he could do
a background check on him.

“
It’s always the ones you
least expect.” This time I did roll my eyes, having heard this
lecture before. “Just be careful and have fun. It’s nice to see you
smile for once. Now, what I really wanted to talk to you about. I’m
not exactly on board with Jacob joining a fraternity. Jaxson’s
smart. He’s always been able to handle himself and make good
choices, but Jacob’s young. He doesn’t think things through and it
makes me nervous. I just need to know he’s going to be okay. So I
need you to keep a close eye on him.”

“
Why do I? Why not
Jaxson?”

“
Because I trust you more
to actually look out for his best interest.”

“
Okay Jack. I promise I’ll
do my best, but you know I’m out numbered here.”

“
I’ll talk to Jasper.” He
paused and I knew he was struggling with what he had to say next.
“Alex…I just want to tell you I’m proud of you. No one has ever
conquered what you had to
,
and I just want to let you know you’re never
alone. You’re the strongest out of all of us. You’re also the one
who keeps this family together. Remember that. We need you just as
much as you need us. We’re just too stubborn to admit
it.”

I laughed. “Stubbornness should be our
family motto.” Jack chuckled. “Thanks Jack and I love you.”

“
I love you too. Always be
brave Alex.”

“
I will.”

“
Get the boys so I can say
goodbye.” I called all three of them out so we could say goodbye to
Jack. With the flick of switch he was gone and now the screen was
blank. Jasper and Jacob walked back to finish Jacob’s tattoo while
Jaxson stayed up front with me.

Jaxson squeezed my shoulder. I covered my
hand with his. “Don’t worry Alex. He’ll be fine.” Being a twin,
Jaxson and I could always sense what was going on with each other.
I can’t explain exactly how, but it helped. We always seemed to
know what the other was thinking and feeling.

“
I know Jax.”

“
You wanna see Jacob cry
like a baby?”

“
No way, he was
crying?”

“
Come on, let’s make fun
of him for being a wuss.”

I nearly jumped out of my chair for the
chance to tease my brother, but when I saw the time I realized I
couldn’t. “Shit, I can’t. I have to go.”

“
What, you got a hot date
or something?” I smiled, grabbing my purse. Jaxson slapped his knee
laughing.

“
What’s so funny?” I
frowned.

“
So he finally asked you
out.” He crossed his arms looking all smug.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you
talking about? I just met Reece last night.” Jaxson’s arms dropped.
I looked at him suspiciously. “Why do I get the strange feeling
you’re hiding something from me?” Jaxson shook his head and
shrugged his shoulders. “Who did you think it was?”

“
No one,” he said
nonchalantly. I knew he was lying.

“
Jaxson.” I stood with my
arms crossed showing him I was serious and that he better tell me
the truth.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to lie to me so
he came up with a distraction. He smiled wickedly and called over
his shoulder. “Hey Jas, guess what?” I heard the buzzing stop.
Jasper’s chair rolled out in to the hall. I gave Jaxson a
threatening look. His grin widened. “Alex has a hot date
tonight.”

“
Alex, come here.” I
punched Jaxson in the shoulder and then quickly took
off.

“
Sorry Jas, got to go,” I
yelled, bolting for the exit. Jasper got up out of his chair and
followed me outside, but I was in my car and took off before he had
the chance to reach me. Jasper was just as bad as Jack, sometimes
worse. It was hard for me to date. My brothers always tended to
scare off my boyfriends.

I wasn’t in the mood to sit through another
inquisition. He would demand a picture, name, address, phone
number, where we were going, and while he was at it probably his
social security number. Jasper was an ass, but he was just as
overprotective as Jack. That is one of the many things that sucked
about being the only girl in a family of four boys. Jack at least
gave me some breathing room, but Jasper still couldn’t grasp the
fact that I wasn’t a naive and dumb little girl. I hated how I had
to constantly prove that I could take care of myself, but at the
same time loved putting Jasper in his place. Jaxson once told me
Jasper just hounded me to have an extra sense of security and that
he knew I could take care of myself. And he also liked to torture
me.

When I got home I got ready for my date with
Reece. He never said where we were going so I wasn’t sure what I
should wear. I decided to go with something in the middle. I wore
dark jeans and a nice, long sleeve shirt with boots. I straightened
my hair and put on just a touch of makeup and by the time I was
done Reece was there. I opened the door to let him in. He surprised
me with a bouquet of daisies. “Thank you,” I said, inviting him in.
He had on a bright, yellow, polo shirt and jeans. “Just let me put
these in some water and then we can go.”

“
No rush.” He walked
around the living room, checking things out.

I put the flowers in a vase and set them on
the counter and then locked Lucky in my room. When not monitored he
broke things and Declan already threatened to take him to the
humane society if I didn’t lock him up when we weren’t there.
“Okay, ready.” I closed my bedroom door and walked down the hall.
He smiled and extended an arm for me. “So, where are we going?”

“
It’s kind of a surprise.”
I felt a small pang of nervousness in my chest, but trusted
Reece.

When we pulled into the small strip mall, I
looked at him quizzically. “I wanted to try something different,”
he said, getting out of the car. He jogged around to my side and
opened the door for me. I stepped out, still wondering what we were
doing here. He took my hand and led me down to the brightly lit
marquee at the end of the strip.

“
An arcade?”

“
There’s a great pizza
place next
door. I know it seems kind of
childish, but I thought this would be more fun and a little easier
to relax than some stingy restaurant.” I bit my lip. “You think
it’s stupid, don’t you? I can take you somewhere else?”

“
No, I like it.” I
actually did think it was kind of clever. He was right. This would
be better than sitting in some restaurant and trying to fill an
awkward silence when you get to the point when there’s nothing left
to say.

We sat down to eat first. Reece told me all
about himself. He was an only child from Missouri. His dad works in
the music business and his mom owns a flower shop back home. He
wants to study to become a veterinarian, but of course his dad was
hoping he would follow in his footsteps and work in the music
industry. Reece said he loved both, but his real dream was to one
day own his own animal clinic. I told him all about my brothers,
skipping over the part of my parents, and then we just talked about
everything from movies, music, and school. He was a real easy
person to talk to and the more I got to know him the more I
liked.

After we finished eating, we headed over to
the arcade. I felt like a little kid again. All the sounds of
music, bright flashing lights, and children running everywhere took
me back to when Jack took Jaxson and me to the arcade for the day.
He rewarded me for standing up for myself to some bully. He told me
how proud of me he was, but at the same time trying to explain to
me that fighting was not always the answer. “You okay?” Reece
asked, pulling me from my daze.

“
Yeah,” I
smiled.

“
What do you want to play
first?” I looked around. My eyes lit up when I found the skee ball.
I pulled him
over in that direction. Reece
was either a horrible skee ball player or he was letting me win,
but either way I didn’t care. I was having too much fun. We moved
on to air hockey next, and then pinball, and any video game with
two players. Turns out Reece was a real talker so the conversation
never lacked or got boring. We ended up staying until the arcade
closed and then Reece drove me home.

“
I had a really great time
tonight.”

“
Me too,” I blushed, not
ready for the night to end. “Do you want to come in?”

“
I can’t. I have an early
class tomorrow and,” he looked at his watch. “It’s almost
twelve.”

I grabbed his wrist and doubled checked the
time. “Wow, is it really?”

He nodded. His face was only inches from
mine and I so wanted him to kiss me. “I would really like to go out
with you again.”

“
I’d like that
too.”

“
How about tomorrow night
then?”

I giggled, actually giggled something I
never thought I was actually capable of doing. “Three days in a
row. I don’t know, you might get sick of me,” I teased.

“
I highly doubt that’s
possible.”

“
Well, I would love to,
but, I promised a friend we’d hang out tomorrow. How about
Wednesday?”

He pretended to think it over for a minute.
“I think I can work that.” I hit him playfully in the chest. He
grabbed my hand before I could pull it away and tugged me closer,
leaning down, and pressing the softest and sweetest kiss to my
lips. I could feel my cheeks flush hot when I pulled back.
“Goodnight Alex.”

“
Bye,” I waved. I unlocked
my door and stepped inside. I skipped down the hall feeling like a
giddy school girl. When I opened the door to my room I jumped back
in surprise. “Casper, Jesus, what the hell are you doing
here?”

“
I bought a new toy for
Lucky.” He held up the long colorful stick that had multiple
strings and feathers attached to the end. “And I wanted to see him.
Declan let me in and told me I could hang out for bit.”