15

Lexi's POV:

Friday

I walk into the apartment happy and smiling. It's been a good day, Mia and I are pretty much back on track, and I have a nice weekend ahead of me. Mia and I booked an air bnb near some winery, so we are going to have a nice "couple" weekend getaway... it's much needed.

"I'm home." I call out, putting my things on the table.

"Hey." I hear Mia's voice as she rounds the corner, looking tired.

"How was your day?" I ask her, wrapping her in a tight hug and pressing my lips to her forehead.

She squeezes me back and sighs, "it was fine... do you have a sec before you go over to Evan's?" She asks me.

I raise my brows, "uh, yeah. I'm not leaving for another hour and a half, what's up?" I ask her.

She bites her lip and grabs my hand, sitting me down on our couch.

My body instantly heats up, feeling all kinds of pressure and tension wrapping around me. What is she about to say?

"You're freaking me out, babe. What is it?" I laugh.

She looks at me with glossy eyes and I watch her lip start to tremble. "Lexi..."

"What?!" I ask, using my thumb to wipe the newly-fallen tear.

"I-" she takes a deep breath. "I've been thinking a lot this week. About us, about... Evan." She admits.

My eyes roll, thinking this is absolutely ridiculous that we are going through this again.

If anything, I've become even more transparent about my relationship with Evan over the past four days. I told her I was going to Evan's tonight for dinner, and I fill her in on pretty much every conversation I have with Evan at work. I literally tell her everything I can think of.

"Mia- again? I told you there is nothing going on. Why is that so hard for you to-"

"Please, just let me talk." She begs.

I quiet down and Mia wipes her cheeks, "I've been thinking about it all week. I know you're telling me the truth about the relationship you two have. I believe you 100%. But... I just- I see it in your eyes, Lexi. I hear it in the way you talk about her."

I laugh nervously, thinking this is some kind of joke. "What do you see in my eyes, Mia?"

"No matter what I do or say, I will never be her, you know that... don't you?"

My brows furrow and I find myself pulling away from Mia's grip. "This is insane-"

She grabs my hand again, "Lexi, I love you. I care about you so much, and for that reason alone I want you to be happy. When you talk about Evan your eyes light up. You've never looked at me in that way... I think it's because you still love her, Lexi. You clearly still feel something for her."

My head spins at the words coming out of her mouth. No words escape my lips for several seconds. I feel my face heat up, my breathing gets heavy, and my cheeks grow wet with unsolicited tears. "Mia, I don't know what you're talking-" my voice cracks and I stop talking, looking right into Mia's eyes.

She nods her head slowly and allows herself to cry a bit as well. She slowly pulls me into her embrace and I just hold her, still not sure what emotion I am experiencing right now.

The longer I hold Mia, the more frequently tears slip from my ducts. I eventually find myself in a near inconsolable state, gasping for a decent breath with Mia's hand running through my hair.

"Lexi." She whispers, holding back tears of her own. "It's okay." Her touch eventually calms me down, and she continues to speak. "I'm not upset... I'm not angry. I just- I don't want to see you staying here with me if what you really want is her. I may not know the whole story between you two, and maybe it's better that way... but you deserve to be with someone who you can look at the way you look at Evan."

Am I being dumped? I'm so confused. "M-Mia. I didn't even-" I pause and look at her, "I'm sorry."

She gives me a half-broken smile. "It's okay, Lexi."

I scoop her jaw and kiss her lips, then squeeze her tightly. I wait for the spark, but I never find it. It's never really been there. I've not had that feeling with Mia... ever. I had something special with her, but it wasn't the same as what I had with Evan. Evan is different.

Mia wipes my face, "stop crying, okay? It's fine. We're still going to be friends and it'll be fine. I just- we'll both be happier in the long run if we aren't together, Lexi." She reasons.

Her words process in my head and I realize that this isn't some bullshit ploy to make herself feel less guilty about breaking up with me. It's the truth. For the past four days I've been so much more open about my relationship with Evan, and in those four days I guess Mia was able to get a real understanding of what Evan means to me, even if I wasn't ready to accept or admit it myself.

The part of me that loved Evan five years ago never went away, it just got pushed down by what I built with Mia.

And Mia is right... it isn't fair to her if I stay here with her when my heart will always be set on Evan (even if it remained in my subconscious thoughts). I can't do that to her... or myself. It wouldn't be right.

"Mia, I really do hope you know that I love you." I say, my voice sounding congested as hell from bawling. "It might not be the right kind of love to keep us together forever, but I do love you. You changed my life." I confess, truly meaning it. Even if my relationship with Mia doesn't come close to what I had with Evan, it still made a substantial impact on my life.

She smiles and nods her head, "I know you do, Lexi. And I love you too."

I take a moment to compose myself, getting up and pacing around our living area, hardly believing the conversation took place.

Eventually, I look at her and shrug. "So, what do we do?"

She leans back and sighs, "I haven't figured that part out yet."

"Your dad is going to hate me. He's gonna think I did something and he's not going to want to represent Evan anymore. Fuck- this is-" my rambling is cut short.

"Lexi, stop. I'm not trying to paint you out as the bad guy. You're not. We just... reached a mutual decision and realized we are better as friends, nothing more. My dad is still going to represent Evan because you paid him." Mia reminds me.

My head nods, "so what about everything else? This apartment... phone plans? We have that trip this weekend-"

Mia laughs quietly, "we can figure it out, Lexi. I'm not just going to cut you out of my life entirely. It might be best if we both take a little bit of space for a few days... but we are still going to be present in each other's lives. You are my best friend, and that's not changing."

I pull my hands over my face and shut my eyes, thinking. I don't know what to think.

"Stop trying to plan it all out, Lexi. Here's what's going to happen right now... I'm going to go to a friend's house for drinks and dinner, and I'm going to sleep there tonight. You're going to go to Evan's, then come back home and have the apartment to yourself. We can figure out tomorrow when the time comes." Mia assures me, handling the situation with much more grace than I could ever imagine.

I nod my head slowly, and she wraps me in a hug once again, "it's all going to be good, Lexi."

I repeat her words in my head over and over again like a mantra.

It's all going to be good, it's all going to be good.

Is it though?

* * *

Evan's POV:

The doorbell echoes through the house loudly. "Grace, see if that is Lexi!!" I yell from the kitchen, hands busy.

I hear the door open followed by the familiar sound of Lexi's voice. She appears in my kitchen and I smile, "you're early."

She gives half a grin, "trying to get into the habit of that. One of my teacher-friends told me it was important."

I smirk at the comment. "Sounds like a smart friend."

Lexi smiles and is bombarded with questions, conversations, and overall attention from all three of my kids.

They were super excited when I picked them up, and thank God I didn't even have to face Scott today.

I listen to the conversations between the kids and Lexi, giggling to myself at her responses.

Eventually, the pizza finishes cooking and I get everyone's plate set up. Mason and the girl's waste no time digging in, but Lexi is much more hesitant. She takes tiny bites and pushing the slice around the plate several times.

The kids don't notice because they're just excited to have the company. But I do.

I cut my eyes at Lexi, "you okay?" I mouth.

She nods quickly, too quickly.

"Lexi, after dinner we can make a new bracelet. Mom bought us new colors and beads, so we can make different ones now." Ava informs.

Grace nods right along with her and the two of them eat dinner faster than ever before, clearly having one thing on their minds.

Lexi happily accompanies the two eleven year olds to their room to make bracelets while I clean up the kitchen.

After about half an hour, I wander down the hall and find Lexi sitting in the floor, watching in silence as the girls design her latest piece of jewelry.

"You guys can finish that up, right? I need Lexi's help for a minute." I say, leaning against the doorframe.

Both girls nod and Lexi gets up, following me back to the kitchen.

Once I'm confident we are alone, I start my interrogation. "You aren't supposed to lie to me."

"I didn't." She lies again.

I laugh and fold my arms over my chest, "yeah, right. And the sky isn't blue. Nice try, Lex. Spill it."

She shakes her head and shrugs.

"Come on, tell me. You know this is not how we operate..." I push, reaching out and poking her rib cage. She flinches and I grin, doing it again.

"Ev, quit." She fights a giggle and I continue, doing it in innocence.

Her tone changes and the small smile fades as she makes her confession. "Mia and I broke up."

My smile too fades and I just stare at her. Did she say broke up?

"Lexi... what?" I ask.

She sighs and pushes her hand through her hair, "we broke up."

I'm dumbfounded. I did not see that coming... not in a million years. "Lexi, oh my god. What are you- you could have cancelled. What the hell are you doing here?!" I ask.

I approach her and wrap my arms around her shoulders, squeezing her tightly. I hold her head and lay my cheek against it. They broke up?

She clears her throat and pulls out of my grip, "it's- yeah. I don't know."

"I'm so sorry." I whisper. "Can I help?"

She shakes her head no and I'm left with a million unanswered questions... the main one being why the hell did they break up?

"If it's cool with you, I'm gonna go finish my bracelet... I'd hate to miss out on that." She smiles.

I nod slowly and watch her walk out of the room, baffled.

What in the world is going on? I'm no expert on human emotion, but that is not how someone who just got out of a serious relationship would typically act.

A.N.:

Usually I would not even address things like this, but this is bothering me.

I've had a lot of "complaints" on the past few chapters about the length of the chapters and the content not being "interesting" enough for some readers. All I am going to say about it is this:

Writing takes time, which I do not have an abundance of. I'm a college student and I have a job, so I do what I can (which is also why I can't update every day). Secondly, if you do not like the story or how slow and/or quickly it progresses... no one is forcing you to read it. I greatly appreciate feedback, but there is a difference between actual constructive feedback and someone complaining because they don't like they way I chose to write my story.

Anyway, the next few chapters have some twists and turns following the events in this chapter. Thank you to those of you who continue to read/support this story! I greatly appreciate you all, and I'll update again in a couple of days.

xxG