Chapter 33

Lexi

April 6th, 2017 | 3:00 pm

Lexi was walking out of the school towards the parking lot when she turned around to see Josh and Ryan running after her. Lexi knew what they were going to ask her and it made her want to get to Liam's car even sooner. Unfortunately, the boys were faster and caught up to her with ease.

"Hey, Lexi! We were wondering if you were going to prom," Ryan said as they walked.

Lexi didn't answer.

"Because we have an extra ticket, we could all go together if you want," Josh offered.

Lexi didn't quite understand the boys' infatuation with her. She had turned them both down multiple times, yet they were still trying to become more than friends with her, something Lexi had made clear she did not want. It was not like they were pushy or rude enough to make her uncomfortable, but it was still strange. Lexi must have looked apprehensive because Josh quickly tried to dilute her worries.

"We could even go as friends, we're both meeting up with Rachel and Liam before anyway," he said.

Lexi still had her reasons for not wanting to go to the prom, but she gave in, she felt bad. Everyone was making an effort to get her out there again except her.

"Okay," she said, nodding. "But just as friends."

The boy's face lit up. "You got it, see you tomorrow," Ryan said excitedly.

So, tomorrow rolled around and after school, Lexi had to get ready for the prom. Rachel had so kindly offered to come over and get ready with her, but Rachel could easily tell Lexi wasn't that excited to go.

"You don't have to go, you know that right?" Rachel said as Lexi stared at her dress.

"I don't know, I should go, Liam's right I can't just hide from the world."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Even though he is your older brother now, you don't have to listen to him."

Lexi smiled faintly. "It's not just him."

What is it?" she asked softly.

Lexi sighed. "Prom was supposed to be different, I guess in my head I saw it going another way."

"You saw yourself going with Austin," Rachel said, reading her mind perfectly.

Lexi nodded glumly. "He promised me," she said softly. "We were off getting high the night of the junior prom and when we came down the next day, we realized we missed it and he promised he would take me to the senior prom."

Rachel came over and sat down next to Lexi on the bed. "It's okay to miss him, I know Liam is awfully insistent about getting you to move on, but it's normal to miss someone you love."

Lexi ran her fingers gently over the gorgeous dark blue almost black dress Rachel had made her. It was so stunning, it was simple yet tasteful. It was a long dress with some details on the top. Rachel managed to make a dress that suited Lexi perfectly. It felt like such a waste not to wear it. Lexi looked up and smiled at Rachel.

"I do love the dress," she said finally.

Rachel beamed. "Go put it on, just to see," she encouraged.

Lexi went into the bathroom and changed into the dress. She loved the way it fit her. She came back out and Rachel's face lit up.

"You look stunning," she gushed.

Lexi blushed. "Thank you."

Rachel went and changed as well and came back out in her gorgeous dark green dress. The girls did their hair and makeup together, and when they were finally ready, they stood in front of the mirror.

"You look perfect," Lexi said to Rachel.

Rachel smiled and put her arm around her. "You do too," she said. "Don't be scared to dance with Josh or Ryan tonight."

Lexi smiled and shook her head. "We'll see."

The girls made their way downstairs and met up with everyone. The boys, who were all in their suits, Victor and Monica, who excitedly ran for the camera, and Rachel's father, who looked so proud to see his daughter in her magnificently designed dress.

"Oh you girls look so lovely," Monica gushed.

They took dozens of photos. Rachel and Liam, Liam and Lexi, Monica and Victor with the kids, Rachel and Lexi, and by the time they were done, Lexi's face hurt from smiling so much. It had been awhile since she felt so much love. Eventually, they all made their way to the garage and were getting into the cars.

"Bring Rachel home by midnight, okay?" Rachel's father said to Liam.

"Of course, sir," Liam said politely.

"Bring Lexi home by midnight too," Victor said to Ryan and Josh.

Lexi couldn't help but smile. It felt good as cheesy as it was, Victor cared for her like his own daughter. As Monica fixed Lexi's hair for her, Lexi tried not to cry. They weren't sad tears, maybe emotional tears. Relief maybe. She had a family, people that loved her. It felt so good to be supported.

Lexi tried to keep up her smile throughout the night. She was happy, she knew she was. However, she didn't want to be here, not without Austin. It stung so much, it had been almost a year but she was still hurt at the thought of his promise of taking her. When would it not hurt anymore?

"Having fun?"

Lexi turned around and found Maeve standing behind her. She wasn't wearing her typical gothic attire. She was in a soft grey dress instead. Still, Lexi was shocked just to see her standing in front of her at all.

"I'm sorry," Maeve said, immediately apologizing. "I never meant to hurt you, I was just so addicted, I was willing to do anything, even pretend to be friends with you, but I want you to know that I got clean and I have been sober for two weeks now."

Lexi took a moment to process that. She didn't hate Maeve, as much as she wanted to.

"It's okay," Lexi said finally.

"It really wasn't," Maeve said. "But I am not asking for your friendship, I just want you to know how sorry I am."

Lexi nodded. "I think we can manage to be civil."

A small smile crept up on her face. "Thanks Lexi."

"Ladies," Ryan said, coming over to Lexi and Maeve.

"Care to dance?" Josh asked.

Lexi gave in and let Josh lead her to the dance floor as Ryan and Maeve followed. They danced together for a bit to whatever pop song was playing until Lexi managed to find some blonde to dance with Josh. She knew the boy's interest in her wasn't going to last. That was okay. Lexi was over the prom anyway.

Sure it had been fun, but it was bittersweet for her. In more ways than one. After sending a quick text to Liam, she left the school and walked to her house. Not her new home with Liam, but her old home. She missed her parents so badly tonight and she wanted to remember them. When Lexi finally made it, she pulled out the key she had secretly kept and unlocked the door.

The house looked cleaner than she remembered, maybe Monica and Victor had cleaned up when she was packing to move in with them. Lexi noticed the television had been fixed, who had done that? She went over and ran her hand over the sides. Her father's glued pieces were still there. It was a touching memory of him.

Lexi walked into her old bedroom. It was like a distant memory. Most of her clothes and books were in her new bedroom, but this room still held a past version of Lexi. She found an old hoodie and some sweatpants and changed out of her dress. She picked up her clutch and was rummaging through it when she glanced at the bed, her eyebrows furrowed. The side of the bed she usually slept on was made and neat but the other side was messy. It looked like someone had slept there.

Suddenly, she heard someone open the front door. Lexi was on high alert now, they hadn't lived in the safest part of town. She peaked into the hallway with nothing but the clutch in her hand. Suddenly she felt like an idiot. What was going to do? Throw the purse at the burglar? She inched forward around the wall and found none other than Austin.

"Jeez, Austin you scared me," Lexi said, breathing a sigh of relief that it was him and not a burglar.

Austin looked equally as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What am I doing here?" Lexi asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Austin ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed. He glanced over at the bed, particularly the side that he usually slept on that wasn't made. Lexi raised an eyebrow and waited for an answer. Finally, he spoke.

"I've been staying here," he admitted as he came over and leaned against one of the bedroom walls. "I've been hiding from Rick."

Why?" Lexi asked as she sat down on the bed. "I thought he was your best friend?"

Austin grimaced. "Who he is now," Austin shook his head and sighed. "Well he isn't my friend."

"How long have you been hiding here?" she asked.

Austin shrugged. "A couple of weeks now."

"Well how long do you plan on hiding here?"

"Until the cops arrest Uriah."

"The man you met that day at the old drug house?" Lexi asked.

Austin nodded grimly. "I've been working with the police, but there isn't enough evidence yet."

Lexi took a deep breath, what had Austin gotten himself into? Why had it taken this kind of extreme to get him to talk to her?

"How was your prom?" he asked with a tight voice glancing at the dress on the bed.

Lexi shrugged. "I left early."

"I didn't even go."

"I wasn't going to go either," Lexi admitted. "I kept thinking about last year."

Austin glanced up at her with his big blue eyes. "You remember?"

"Of course I do," she said softly.

"I'm sorry I ruined your night," he said quietly.

"You didn't," she said quickly. "How could you?"

"Because as much as I try not to, I always end up hurting you."

"Austin, not everything is your fault," she said quietly. "You aren't to blame for all my problems."

They stared at each other for a moment, his blue eyes into her brown ones.

"Well that truly was a special moment wasn't it?" A voice said from the hallway. "Unfortunately, I have to interject."

Lexi's head immediately turned to the door where Rick was standing, with a gun in his hand. He looked deranged, his eyes were red and bloodshot, and his skin was sickly pale. This was not the same boy who used to skateboard with her and Austin. The Rick she had once known was far gone. Austin immediately moved away from the wall and toward Lexi. He stood in front of her protectively.

"How did you even find me here?" Austin asked angrily.

"Oh, I just followed the girl who never stopped loving you," Rick said with a wave of the gun.

Lexi tried not to think about the gun positioned at them, she tried to think about where her phone was. Could she reach it without Rick seeing?

"What do you want?" Austin asked as Lexi managed to dig through her bag for her phone behind him.

"What happened to brothers for life?" he asked too upset at Austin to notice what Lexi was up to.

Austin's expression turned cold. "We're not brothers," he said stiffly. "Not after everything that has happened."

She managed to keep the phone out of sight as she dialed the police, finally she pressed call.

Rick looked angry. "You said you would sell the drugs with me, you're the one in the wrong here, you broke your promise."

"Brothers are supposed to take care of each other and you made me sell drugs with you and now you have a gun aimed at me," Austin pointed out.

Rick stepped to the side. "The bullet isn't for you," he said to Austin.

Lexi's heart skipped a beat, she was praying the police were listening and could understand what was going on.

"What does Lexi have to do with this?" Austin asked while moving once again keeping Lexi behind him.

"She has everything to do with this," Rick said angrily. "I watched you mope over her and stare at her longingly ever since she came back from rehab, she's the reason you turned against me."

Lexi glanced at Austin who refused to look back at her. She knew he still cared. Priorities, Lexi thought to herself. She had to get the police to understand what was going on.

"So you thought you would just follow me home and kill me?" Lexi asked boldly.

"Then it's just us, Austin," Rick said waving the gun between them. "Family remember?"

"You're sick," Austin said in disgust.

Rick didn't seem to mind the insult, the gun was aimed at Lexi again.

"Don't," Austin said.

"Why not?" Rick asked. "It would solve everything, you can stop selling drugs, I'll get you off the hook with Uriah, you can go back to your old life and we can be brothers again."

Lexi felt sick, Austin still stood in front of her. Certainly, Rick wouldn't shoot, not with him in front of her. Lexi could barely think, when would the police be here? Were they already here? Lexi couldn't process what was going on. Everything happened so fast. One moment, everything was still. Austin was standing close to her, Rick had the gun in his hand, and Lexi gripped the phone tightly through her clutch behind her back. Then, she heard the sound of footsteps out in the hallway, the look of panic in Rick's eyes, the door opening, the guns going off, and two bodies collapsing onto the floor.