The metal is cold and smooth against my back but I'm hot inside as Alex presses his body against mine. I wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips harder against his. They're absolutely intoxicating but I love them. I love them so much. He smiles against my lips and I break away to smile up at him.

"Oh, great. The couple are making out." I hear Cole tease and Alex moves out the way to reveal Cole and Christina standing a few feet away from us.

"No reason why the two of you can't do it," Alex winks and Christina's nose scrunches up in disgust.

"Sorry Cole but that can't happen. You're like my brother."

Cole merely shrugs but Alex chuckles. "Where's the problem in that?" Alex smirks and Christina fake gags.

"Say, where are Nina and Martin?" Cole asks. Alex shrugs as Cole slips out his phone to call them.

"Hey, man, where are you?... We have go to the mall in the next twenty minutes or we'll miss the movie... okay... yeah... bye." He cuts the call, pulling it away from his ear and staring down at it with a frown.

"What?" Christina asks him.

"Martin sounded weird," he shrugs, slipping his phone into his pocket.

"Probably smoking pot for all we know." Christina giggles. After five minutes, the two of them come rushing to us. However, they don't seem to be in their normal state. They pant heavily in front of us, Nina clutching her knees. We all stare at them in surprise due to their appearance while Martin looks at all of us in confusion.

"What?" He asks, unaware of how they look. His crinkled shirt and disheveled hair says a lot more than he thinks it does. When Nina finally stands up straight, I can't help but guffaw at the sight before me. They made what they were doing so incredibly obvious that I can't hide my amusement at all.
Nina gives me a "what-the-hell-are-you-laughing-about-face" which is when Alex packs out laughing along with Cole.

"Your shirt is on inside-out," I whisper to her and her eyes widen. "And you got a little something there," I try to hold back a smile as I point at her smudged lipstick that no longer sticks to her lips. Nina's cheeks burn bright with embarrassment and Alex slowly moves his eyes to Martin. Martin squirms uncomfortably, his jeans seeming a bit too... tight.

Alex smirks and Christina scrunches her face up in disgust. "Please don't tell me you were doing it in the janitor's closet," She shivers.

"We weren't doing anything," Nina mumbles and Alex snorts.

"Sure," Alex winks.

Martin smirks but doesn't say anything.

"Oh don't act innocent, Alex. You and Sophie were probably sucking face right here in the hallway." Nina rolls her eyes. It's my turn to burn with embarrassment now.

"But we weren't getting it on," he counters and Nina huffs.

"We weren't doing anything like that." She grumbles.

Alex laughs, "Both your shirts were off and I can bet you right now that Cole interrupted Martin from unbuckling his pants when he phoned." Nina somehow turns an even brighter red, only confirming that what Alex has said is true but she still leans over and punches him on the shoulder making him let out a loud hoot. I stifle my giggles behind my hand and Nina glares at all of us.

"Can we get going?" She asks in annoyance. We all laugh as we start to make our way down to the parking lot. Just as we climb down the stairs to the now mostly empty parking lot, we hear shouting.

"Guys! Wait up!"

I turn around to see Thalia jogging over to us. We all look at her in surprise due to the simple fact that she's ignored us this whole week. Up close, I can see how stressed she looks. Her nose is red from what I assume is crying, her eyes decorated with blue bags beneath them and a new pimple on her forehead. Her shoulders are slumped and her hair that's usually down and pin straight is up in a bun. All in all, she looks exhausted; completely out of her character. Maybe that's why we all stop and look at her expectantly.

That's when I remember the first decent conversation we ever had; the one in the library. She said she loved Dylan and she sounded utterly sincere but then I find out that Courtney loved him too, and has a child with him. I realize that the tired smile she has on her face is one of heartbreak. Thalia genuinely loves Dylan but I don't think he reciprocates those feelings. Thalia was with him for a coverup but in the end she had real feelings towards him. Of course, I could be completely wrong right now but I feel as if I've just hit the nail on the head. Suddenly, I feel a wave of sympathy crash over me as I think about how terrible that must feel. If Alex didn't feel the same way about me as I do about him, I have no idea what I would do. Alex has been the light in my life and without him, I could have very well still being an Elite. Thalia said that her relationship with Dylan was more than what we saw, and she didn't just mean it in the sense that he had a child but rather that there were real and false feelings involved. That's why she's like this; distraught. I give her a small but encouraging smile.

I remember when I said that I almost disliked her as much as I did about Courtney however, I have to disagree with myself now. Thalia was stuck in something just as much as I was. In a sense, we were both in the same boat.

She hitches her bag up further on her shoulder and switches her weight from one foot to the other nervously. She looks at all of us, chewing on her lip in thought.
"Do you guys mind if I join?" She asks hopefully. Nobody says anything at first as we all look at one another. That is until Alex cracks a grin in her direction.

"Sure, why not?" He asks. Thalia's face lights up and she lets out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," she says and we all laugh. She belongs here, I think.

Alex wraps his arms around me as Christina links her arm with Thalia's. Alex smirks at Thalia, his eyes gleaming in mischievousness.

"Once a Rebel, always a Rebel." He winks.

****

"I will never understand the fascination that boys have with cars," I mumble. Alex looks up from where he's busy working on his car and gives me a mock glare. I laugh at his reaction but hold my hands up in surrender anyway. He wipes his hands that are covered in car oil on the old rugged jeans he wears. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the sight. In fact, I'm probably thankful the car is giving him problems because this way, I can stare at his muscles flex in the sweat shirt he wears.

He sighs and closes the hood of his car with a bang.
"This car is doing some other shit." He complains.

For the past week, Alex's car has being starting with a completely unnatural sound. Basically, it sounded like it was on the verge of dying. Instead of Alex taking his car straight to the mechanic, he wanted to see if he could do it himself. Clearly he couldn't. I stand up and dust my bum off. I walk towards him and rub his shoulder comfortingly as he stares at the car in disdain.
"Take it to the mechanics and if they can't do anything then get a new one." I answer him in what I hope is a reassuring tone. Alex shrugs.

"I hope they can because I can't give her away," he tells me as he leans his hand against the side of his car. I rest my hip against the car as I cross my arms against my chest. I raise an eyebrow at him, confused as to why that is. If he sells this one, he can simply buy another with that money- not that he needs the money though.

"Why not?" I ask. Alex turns to face me, an admiring look in his eyes and a small smile quirking up one side of his mouth.

"Because it was in this car that I realized I loved you." He confides and my mouth falls agape as I think about how sweet that is. I never realized Alex had an exact place where he realized he loved me. I think I knew I loved him all along I just never thought about it long enough to realize it.

I give Alex a wide smile. "That's so sweet, Alex." He wraps his arms around me and I try to ignore the fact that they're dirty.

"Not as sweet as your lips," he mumbles breathlessly and I find myself wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Well, there's a new flavor available." I start cheekily "Do you want to taste?"

Alex smirks. "Don't mind if I do." He presses his lips against mine and I reel in the feeling of it. How is that one simple touch can make me feel so invincible? I smile against his lips and pull back with an affectionate smile that Alex pecks quickly before letting me go and running a hand through his hair.

"How do you feel about going on a picnic?" He asks me and I pat my stomach.

"Don't mind if I do." I repeat his words.

He laughs at me as we head inside his house and he makes his way up to his bathroom.
"I'm going for a shower, want to join?" He smirks and I roll my eyes as I plonk myself down on the couch.

"Keep dreaming pretty boy." I call out dismissively. I hear him chuckle before he shouts back:
"Oh, trust me! I will!"

I roll my eyes at him but don't drop the smile from my face. Alex is the one for me. The one and only.

****

"How about a glass of champagne?" Alex winks at me. I giggle at him as he digs in the picnic basket to pull out the bottle of bubbly goodness. Since we agreed to go for an evening picnic, we stopped at the nearest store and bought a bunch of things to nibble and scoff down when we got to our destination. Our destination turned out to be a cute little park that looks over a small river that catches the sun's rays perfectly. It's beautiful in a subtle and very calming way.

Alex pops the bottle and pours some for me in a glass and after clinking our glasses together, I chug it down. If there was one alcoholic drink that I could say I genuinely enjoyed it would definitely be champagne.

Alex chuckles at me before he leans back on his hands. I cross my legs and look out across the lake, appreciating the moment wholeheartedly. I remember my mom once told me that the most amazing thing about one day ending and a new one beginning is that you have a second chance; a clean slate since you haven't made any mistakes yet. I think that we often don't realise that we get second chances all the time. We don't want to believe it.

My stomach lets out a grumble and I look at Alex with a sheepish smile. He shakes his head with a smile and pulls out the food we brought. I catch sight of a carton of salad and I find myself frowning slightly. He pulls out a few other things like chicken nuggets, potato wedges and mini cheese sausages, too.

"Alright," Alex sits up properly, rubbing his hands in anticipation to eat the food. "Dig in." He winks at me. I chuckle.

"You like salad?" I ask as I pick a little bit of everything and put it on my plate. Alex snorts.

"No. But I know you do. That's why I got it." He shrugs. I give him a grateful smile and he winks at me. We eat in between our conversation of trivial things but Alex manages to make me laugh anyway. I nearly choke on a cucumber but that only makes me laugh harder. After we've finished all the edible goods we brought with us, Alex and I decide to get comfortable and watch the sunset.
Now, as I sit in his arms and he rubs his hand up and down the length of my torso, I can't help but wonder what life has install for us.

I trace circles on Alex's chest and I can hear his heat beating erratically. I smirk at that. I have an effect on him.

"You know," he says, the sun slowly hiding it's smile behind the mass of land. "I'm sorry I was such a dick to you in the beginning."

I shrug. "I don't ever think of that so you shouldn't apologise."

He kisses my head. "Still. I shouldn't have done that."

I smile at the fact that he still thinks about the first time we really met. "What did you think when you officially met me?"

Alex is quiet for a moment. "That day when I messed paints all over your boots," I giggle as I remember that moment. "all I was thinking was shit, I have to work with an Elite. How am I going to do that? But then I saw how you were with the kids and I had a feeling that I was judging you way too quickly, but how could I not? I always saw you with them so I automatically classed you like them; which, once again, I was wrong. However, if we're talking about when I really met you then I'll probably say I was left speechless. All I was thinking was how can you be so beautiful, kind and talented? I was thinking about how wrong I was. I think that's where I changed how I really felt about you."

I smile at his answer and sit up to peck his lips quickly. "You know," I start while sitting up straighter. "I don't ever think I thanked you for beating that bouncer up at the club."

Alex's eyebrows raise in surprise. "You know about that?" He ask me. I chuckle and scratch the back of my neck. "I noticed you and the guys' injuries so I may or may not have asked Martin." I look at him sheepishly. Alex gapes at me before laughing with a shake of his head. His brown hair flops into his eyes and I reach out to push it back. Alex stops laughing and stares at me intently before grabbing my hand and pressing a kiss to it.

"He deserved it, Princess. I would do anything to protect you." He whispers with so much emotion that I'm taken aback. I lean forward to press a kiss against his jaw and I feel him inhale sharply. He rests his hands on my waist and he holds onto me tightly as I pepper his faces with kisses. I feel him smile which makes my heart swarm with happiness.

"Fuck," he whispers hoarsely. "I love you so much." I stop peppering him with kisses and look down at his gorgeous face, our eyes never breaking contact. He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. I rub the pad of my thumb over his cheek as I whisper:

"I love you too."

So Thalia is slowly reuniting with the Rebels. I'm super happy about that because I think she belongs with them. This chapter was short and sweet and I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter is the last before the Epilogue and the bonus chapters. I'm so emotional but it's okay :)

I love you all! Let me know what you think.

Vote♡Comment♡Share