Alexia Kirby

"Wherever you stand, be the soul in that place." -Rumi

Gray places me down on his bed and then pulls a black stool over to the bed, Looking around it's the same colors as the room at his dad's house, but this room is smaller and has a few more cozy touches. The bed is on a higher platform by a big window overlooking the woods.

It's very pretty.

"Why were you two fighting?" Gray asks. I cross my arm over my chest and sigh. "She's a bitch." I state and turn away from him. Gray grabs my face, turning me back to him. "I'm going to need you to elaborate a little bit more." Gray says and I sigh deeply. "We were just playing the game and Nevea said she knew about the kiss and I was like so and then she asked if you were a good kisser and I said why do you wanna know and she said I want to know if kissing him will be worth it because once I leave you are free game. I dropped it and let her be but then she has to ask me if she sent you sexy pictures. Could I overlook them to make sure you liked them and I just punched her." I explain.

"Awww you fought over me." Gray says in a little high-pitched voice. I roll my eyes. "It's not cute, it's stupid to fight over boys." Alexia states. She has a point but I love the fact she did it. "Yeah, but I'm not just any boy plus I only like you and even when you leave we will make this work." Gray explains.

How will we make an across-the-country relationship work and then college? Thinking of it makes me scared. "You are such a softie." I say and turn to the window. It's A very pretty view with the moonlight on the trees and his big window makes it better. "The view is so pretty." I whisper. "You're prettier." Gray says. "Do you say that to everyone?" I ask. Mostly joking. "Only to you."Gray says and leans up and kisses my head.

After we take we both get  ready for bed and I call my mom and ask her if I can stay and she says yes. We watch the Harry Potter movies as we fall asleep and nothing else happens except the girls coming in to check on me. I ask them what's going on and they say Kenan left and he's spending the night at Nevea's apartment.

I feel bad because I feel like I made this awkward between everyone. I could when Raven and Neava started before Kenan and Nevea left.

This is all my fault.

"Hey, wake up." Someone says, shaking me. I feel the light shake and roll over covering myself with the blanket. "Alexia please wake up." I hear Gray's voice. I ignore him, hoping he will go away. "I'm not going to stop." Damnit. "What?" I ask him. "I want to take you somewhere." Gray tells me. I look up to see the clock. "At 6 am?" I ask. "Yes, be ready in ten minutes." Gray says and I feel him stand and walk away.

I cannot believe this.

I get up and shower for five minutes then put my hair up and throw on some of Gray's new boxers and a Hannah  Montana T-shirt Scarlett gave me along with my Converse. I walk out into the hall and see Gray leaning against the wall and waiting for me. "I'm ready." I say, catching his attention. "You look perfect let's go." Gray holds out his hand for me but I just brush past it.

This better be good and I don't even like surprises. "Alright, grumpy." Gray says and begins to follow me. It's running outside as we get into Gray's black Mazda.

I love this car.

Rainy nights are the best, but I'm not a fan of rainy days. While on the way I text Faith since there is early morning practice.

***

We pull up to a music museum that's across the road from Golden Star. I know this place is owned by Golden Star. "Is it open yet?" I ask Gray. "It doesn't need to be open if I have a key." Gray says and holds up a shiny gold key. He tosses me an umbrella and he takes one gets out and opens my door. He unlocks the door for us to walk in.

How did he even get the key?

The lights are all on and it's very beautiful inside. Gray stirs me to the storefront. "What are we doing here?" I ask. "You like Rocky Myers so I brought you to his store and after that, you can pick any books you want from the bookstore." Gray answers. "Why?" I ask. " I like gift-giving." Gray answers.

This place is so pretty that I walk around browsing  and pick out the Rocky Myers collection along with a mini guitar necklace. Gray holds all the bags as we continue walking through the museum.

"Thank you for this." I say. "Don't thank me yet." He tells me. He brings us to a circle room with many famous performers' costumes and he puts the bags down. "Dance with me?" He asks. "To what music?" I ask. Gray pulls out his phone and starts a  song. Ghost of You by 5 Seconds of Summer. He holds out his hand and takes it.

I can't believe I'm dancing in an expensive museum in boxers and a T-shirt. I take his hand and he twirls me around before we are in the dance formation and he leads me into a waltz. "You know you could have told me we were coming here and I would have dressed better." I say to him, looking down. "Why? You look perfect." Gray says.

As the song comes to an end Gray pulls me into him and holds me. "Time for the bookstore." He says.

At the bookstore he lets me buy any books I want and he even buys some of the same for himself so we can so call "buddy read." He doesn't even like to read but he wants to take up some of my hobbies. He says Shawn does it with Zara all the time. This is really sweet of him and I love it. After buying books he takes me to IHOP and we eat breakfast.

The ride home is peaceful, he holds my hand as he drives. I admit it slightly makes me melt inside. I don't want to get my hopes up about anything but I love this feeling. It's so intense, there's everything. Butterflies, adrenaline, and flutters all over my body and I love this. I hope he's feeling the same. I just really don't want to get hurt by leaving soon but hopefully, this will work.

We walk into The Fortress and Gray gets taken away by Charlie and I decide to join Scarlett on the sofa. "How was your morning?" She asks. "Fantastic." I reply. "And what does fantastic include?" Scarlett asks, turning her body to face me. I can tell by the look on her face she's thinking something totally inappropriate. "Nothing like that, it was completely wholesome." I say. "Like?" She questions. "Well he took me to the music museum across from Golden Star and bought me the Rocky Myers collection, we danced in there, then we went to a bookstore and he bought me all the books I wanted and he even got some of the same so we could buddy read." I tell her. "He doesn't like reading." Scarlett states, "I know but that makes it more special." I smile.

I lean back into the couch, on a high of this amazing morning, I feel so happy. I don't want to get too happy though because something is totally going to come along and crash this but right now  I'm loving it. I can't believe he did all of this for me.  What do I do for him in return? Should I get him something too? A  card? Too simple. This is why I hate big expensive gifts, you can never repay them.

"Zara this is good." Someone says, and I blink my eyes open to find Zara walking in dressed in lavender and black ballet clothes with Shawn and Kenan following her in. "No this isn't." She says, tossing her arms up. "What happened?" Scarlett asks. "She got the lead in Swan Lake." Kenan says and takes a seat in the chair that's shaped like a hand. "That's amazing!" Scarlett cheers. "Tell her that." Shawn says, grabbing the bag Zara dropped and going upstairs. "She seems to dread getting this roll." Kenan says. "We will talk to her." Scarlett says, pulling me up and to the kitchen.

I do not understand why this is bad. Isn't getting a lead a happy thing? I mean I was happy when I got center flyer. The only thing that she coils be frantic over is if someone else threatened her not to get the roll. 

We enter the kitchen to Zara  gulping down some Fuji water leaning over the counter while Charlie and Grayson are on the other side of the kitchen in the seating area throwing candy corn back and forth. "Okay Z talk." Scarlett says, going on one side of her so I stay on the right side. "I can't get the lead." Zara looks at me and her skin is blotchy red like she's going to cry. "Why?" I touch her shoulder. " She's going to be so mad." Zara whispers. "Who?" Scarlett asks. "My cousin." She replies. "The only good thing is I won't be dancing Odette and Odile because Madam Lynette wants to give out more rolls so my cousin got the roll of Odile."

"Zara, your cousin should be proud of you." Scarlett says. " What if I'm not good enough, I'm so nervous." She begins to rock on her heels. "You are an amazing dancer. I've never seen but to get a lead I assume you are fantastic and I can't wait to see the show." I say, placing my hand on her shoulder. As I finish my sentence I feel something hard hit me. "What the hell!" I say. "Stop throwing candy, you idiots." Shawn says, walking in. Charlie just throws some at him and Shawn gets them all up before launching them at him. "We're just having fun." Charlie says, trying to block the candies. "You are not fun." Shawn grits out in annoyance. "I like to think I'm loads of fun." Charlie smiles and Shawn just walks away to the fridge from the grinning boy.

I roll my eyes at their interaction and look around to find the candy that hit me to see it landed in my bra. "You must be joking." I whisper to myself and I pick it out.

I toss the candy corn away and leave the kitchen.

I sit on Gray's bed just finishing up a song I've entitled "Never Thought" and I've finally finished it. After getting back from shooting today inspiration just hit and I've been able to just play and write the song. It's the first time I've finished a sign since coming to LA and I've even started a new one and I'm naming it Spring Break. I think they are both about Gray in a way. I'm really happy with them and I sent a few voice clips to Faith.

As I continue to play the guitar Gray lets me use my phone rings out so I look over and see Faith is Facetiming me so I answer and prop her up on a pillow. "Lex, those are amazing!" She says, excitedly. "Thank you. I just finished the first one and the second is still in the works." I tell her. "Well, I already know they will be hits. You are an amazing songwriter." Faith says. "Thank you, Fai." I say. "Also I miss you. You need to hurry and come home." She says. "I miss you too." I say.

Back home me and Faith live right next to each other and our rooms are even connected by the treehouse. Being this far away not being able to run over and just tell her everything is hard and I hate not being able to talk to her as much as I like but I'm trying to make it work, somehow. I miss her and the cheer gym. I miss flying and going to class and even stupid class debates with Mallard. I just miss things about being home but somehow this place isn't feeling so bad. I could see myself living here and I don't like this feeling normal.

I miss home and I need to go back. Then everything will be normal again.

"We have to have a sleepover when you get back!" Faith cheers and she twirls in the phone camera. "Of course we do." I agree. "Grumpy." Gray says, knocking on his own door. "Yes, popstar?" I answer. He comes around the door holding 3-D  light-up letters that spell out PROM with a purple teddy bear that is holding a little red heart. He even has a small bouquet of roses.  "What is this for?" I ask, confused. "What's what for?" Faith asks. I pick up my phone and show her. "Did you tell him when prom was?" She asks. "No." I state. "It's not for yours, Shawn is asking Zara for hers which she did not tell him about and it's in two days  so he's surprising her tomorrow at school by asking her and the band is performing at the school, so will you be my date to the prom?" He asks.

Awww, that's so cute for Shawn to surprise Zara with this. "If you don't say yes I will." Faith chimes. "Yeah, I'll be your date popstar." I agree. "Yay, now we have to go dress shopping!" Emerson runs in and hugs me. When did she get here? "I got that all on video." Charlie says. "Do I have to dress up really big for this?" I ask. "You Can do as much as you please." Gray says. "I better get pictures." Faith says.

The rest of the day is filled with shopping after all the excitement is over and we make a plan with Shawn. Tomorrow during her lunch period we will do it and we talked to the principal already and he's okay with this. Me and Gray are matching for the dance. We are wearing red and black. My dress is this off-the-shoulder black body-fitting dress that has this red glitter sparkles all over. I'm wearing a dress with red heels.

It's all really exciting. I'm very excited to see Zara's reaction to this.

***

It's about an hour before Gray has to take me home and I'm packing up my bookbag as he walks in holding something. "Did you have fun today?" he asks me. "I bought a dress, does that sound fun to you?" I glare at him. " I don't think I could live in a world where I wasn't your constant punching bag." Gray sighs. "I wouldn't want it any other way." I reply. "How did talking to your mom and Bea go?" '

Since the video went out Bea has stayed with her mom to be safe and because of the video some things have come into place and Mr.Archer has to prove he can house Beatrix in his home. So far Oliver Archer hasn't  done anything wrong. He went to work and went home. Of course, he only stayed locked up overnight due to his connections.

"Good, Beatrix is enjoying school and the break from working and loves training for cheer and dad he's angry and he plans to get his get back but right now his hands are tied." Gray answers. "At least you're in the clear right now." I say, trying to be positive. It doesn't help much. He just gives me a blank look. I know his dad will eventually come up with something.

"But before you leave I don't wanna talk about my crazy life after that video, I want to do something else." Gray looks at me. I give him a skeptical look. "How do you feel about an exercise to build trust?" he asks and pulls out a bag of candy corn. "Explain." I say. "Well we take turns blindfolding each other and then place candies on exposed parts of the body and eat them off." He explains. "And that does what?" I ask. I don't get the point of doing this. "It helps with trust. This way we can slowly build trust in each other and it could be fun." He answers. "Fine. I agree but don't pull anything weird." I say.

"Deal. Now lay down for me."

"God I hate you." I say, pushing myself up on the bed. "That's very sweet of you to say." Gray replies.

I lay flat on his bed in a SOUR T-shirt and some Nike Pros that I originally had some black jeans over but I took them off a little bit ago to be more comfortable. I'm starting to regret that now. I am not prepared for this. I hope I smell good. Do I smell good? Yeah, I just cleaned up about forty-five minutes ago. I should be good.

"You ready?" Gray asks, standing at the end of the bed. I nod lightly. " I promise not to do anything you don't want. All you have to do is say stop." Gray says holding up a black scarf. "I trust you." I say.

Do I trust him? For the most part, but he's going to be really close to my body. What if something goes wrong?

Gray sits the candy aside and rolls up the sleeves of his long sleeve green shirt. He's wearing basic gray shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Gray crawls over me and lightly lifts up my head and ties the soft scarf around my eyes. "Is it too tight?" He asks.

"No."

"Good. Just tell me when to start."

I let out a few beats releasing some built-up nerves. I've never done anything like this. I mean sure I've kissed people. But my first kiss was like two seconds and an accident. My second kiss was horrible and we don't talk about the other one. I've never let a boy this close to me before. I'm surprised I haven't freaked out yet.

"You can start."

I hear him move around and then something is placed on my thigh. He places them along my thighs first before I feel his breath come over them. Due to now being able to see my sense of hearing and touch is  heightened and shivers and heat overtake my body as his mouth connects with my flesh as he flicks the tiny candy up into his mouth.

So far the feeling is pretty decent but feeling good but as he gets closer to my shorts there's a deep feeling growing in my lower stomach and then he switches to the other side and grips the thigh that is now clean of candy causing me to gasp. I think I may be a little overstimulated. As he goes up the left thigh it's a lot wetter because of his mouth and the sensation is better causing my skin to prickle a little. The hand that is on my right thigh rises to my shirt and he grabs my waist and I react and lift off the bed a little. "You're doing so good, but I need you to stay still." Gray's voice fills my ears as his mouth gets closer to my shorts again.

I feel dazed. The adrenaline and fear pumping through me as my heart races hearing his voice, feeling his hands, and mouth on me and it all feels too good.