Holding On (Memories) (4 page)

“Finally legal, Lexy?” He grins.

“Finally!” I laugh.

“And who’s that?” he asks appreciatively, running his eyes over Alec's figure. Alec looks and double-takes.

I giggle. “That's Alec, my boyfriend, so back off, Joe.” I wink.

He sighs dramatically. “Always the good ones!”

“One day you'll find yourself a hot piece of summin' summin', J, I'm sure of it!”

“For that sentence, honey bun, first drinks on the house.” He leans forward and puts his mouth by my ear. “That, and if I give you a free one,
Mr. Hunky there will hang around a little longer.”

I laugh
, and slap his arm. “You're terrible.”

“You love it, Lexy. What are you having?”

“Pint of Carlsberg and a Malibu and cranberry juice, please.”

He winks and turns.

“Um.” Alec coughs. “Who was that?”

“Joe,” I tell him. “The best and gayest bartender the city of London has ever seen. Don't ever ask him for a cocktail. He mixes a mean one.”

Two glasses are put in front of us, and after a salute, Joe turns to serve another customer. Alec blinks at the pint.

“Shit. That was fast.”

“Told ya.” I raise my eyebrows, and have some of the drink. Cheeky sod made it a double.

“Lexy!”
Jayna's voice screams over the music.

“Hey!” I turn to her with a fake smile. “How are you?”

She hugs me. “I missed you! You should have come and seen me before now.”

You could come and see me, you know.

“I've been busy, sorry! I had to help Alec and Jen settle in.”

“
Mmph.” She looks at Alec, running her tongue across her lips in what she thinks is a seductive move. She thinks wrong. “This is Alec?”

If I was a dog, my hackles would be up right about now. “Yep. Alec, this is
Jayna. Jayna, Alec.”

“Nice to meet you.” Alec smiles tightly at her.

“Polite? I don't do polite!” Jayna shrieks, and throws her arms around Alec's neck, rubbing her body against him. His eyes widen, and he gently extracts her from him.

“Apparently,” he says dryly, stepping to me and wrapping an arm around my waist.

I control the smug smile wanting to form on my lips. Jayna purses hers.

“I hope you have time to give me a birthday dance later,” she flirts shamelessly.

“It's not likely,” he says politely. “But I'll keep it in mind.”

“Stop fuckin'
harassin' my sister and her guy, Jayna,” Bing yells. Bing? “Go find yourself another poor shit to annoy.”

She turns to him
, and flicks her hair, pouting. “What about you, Bing? Are you free?”

“About as a free as a guy in jail for life.”

She huffs, and looks at me. “We're in the corner. Come over soon.”

I nod, knowing it's unlikely, and watch her leave. I exhale deeply when she's out of sight.

“Wow. That's your best friend?” Alec asks in surprise.

“Was,” I reply. “She was.”

“She's about as friendly as a fuckin' piranha,” Jen quips, stepping from behind Bing.

Jen?

“Is there some kind of party going down I don't know about that? What are you doing here?” I look between my brother and Jen.

“I thought you could do with a little moral support. I was right.” Jen glances in the direction
Jayna left in. “And I brought Bing with me.”

“I was going out anyway, but she rang the house
, and wangled her way into coming with me to see you,” Bing says tightly.

I smile. “Thanks, guys.”

Alec presses his lips to my temple, and I sigh. “Okay, Princess?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah. I knew it would be bad when I saw her, but wow. Just wow.” I shake my head. “Whatever. I'm not going over to see her. Let's have this drink and go home.”

“Oh hell no! Hell to the fricking no!” Jen exclaims. “I got all dressed up to come party with you, you are not bailing on me! Who needs that pig nosed, well, pig? You and I will take London by storm. Come on. Drink up. We're gonna get us some shots and do this tonight. Let our hair down before uni.”

I open my mouth and close it again.

“Do it,” Bing orders.

I smile wryly. “Since when did you get off telling me what to do?”

“Since your boyfriend is being eyed up by half the girls in this club and has no idea how to deal with a city girl besides you. These girls are vultures.”

“Oh, and I suppose you're the perfect person to show him, right?” Jen raises her eyebrows at Bing
, and gets Joe's attention.

“Don't start, Jennifer!”

“I'm not starting anything, Samuel. Four squashed frogs,” she adds to Joe. “I'm merely saying I don't think you're the best person to teach him to fend off girls. You tend to attract them instead of repelling them.”

“So you're saying I'm a chick magnet?” Bing smirks.

Jen hands me a shot glass, and clinks hers against mine. We both down it and she hands me the other one. We down those, putting the glasses on the bar.

“No,” she replies to Bing, grabbing my hand. “I'm calling you a whore magnet!”

She grins, pulling me off towards the dance floor.

Bing blinks after her for a second, and shakes his head. “Shit.”

I laugh
, and take a long drink of my beer. He wasn't wrong when he said we were being eyed up. I can feel eyes on both of us from every direction, and I'm glad Jen distracted Lexy before she noticed just how many girls are staring at us.

Bing shakes his head a
gain, and looks at me. “I'm sayin' this 'cause I actually like you, which is kinda odd. You followed her here so I know you love her, Alec, okay? But trust doesn't come easy for Lexy. That's my fault. I've spent so long treating girls like shit she thinks that one day someone is gonna come along and do the same to her. I'm a dick for that, believe me, I know.”

“And you're saying she's scared that now we're in London on her territory, I'm surrounded by a bunch of girls I've never met before that I might be attracted to. She's scared I'll run off.”

“Deep down.” He nods. “You just gotta... Prove to her. I know you already did it once but it's different now. Now is when you really gotta prove your love to her.”

I blow out a breath. “I've only
gotta settle in and start a new job. Now I have to do this too?” I shake my head. “This is bullshit.”

“So you're back to Devon then?” Bing's eyebrows rise in challenge.

“Not a fucking chance,” I say firmly, looking him dead on. “You haven't found her yet, Bing, but when you do, you'll know. When you meet the person you wanna be with for the rest of your life, you know. Your sister is the person I wanna be with, so it doesn't matter how many girls bat their eyelashes, flick their hair, or stick their chests out at me. It'll always come back to Lexy, because no other girl can compare to her. Lexy has nothing to worry about, because it's always gonna be her. It's been her since I met her and it'll be her until I die. That's something I can't control. And when you meet the girl you wanna be with forever, you'll understand that.”

Bing stares at me. He nods and looks back out to the crowd, drinking his beer slowly.

I really wish I was in his head.

~

I find Lexy in my kitchen in a strap top and shorts, running her finger round the inside of a yoghurt pot.

“What are you doing?” I smirk, and lean against the door frame.

She looks up, and sucks the yoghurt off her finger. I shift slightly.

“I'm finishing my yoghurt,” she replies. “What?”

“Most people don't run their finger round the inside of the pot, Princess.”

She shrugs a shoulder. “I'm not most people.” She throws the pot in the bin.

I cross the room, and hug her from behind, resting my chin on her shoulder. She sighs.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head and flicks the kettle on. “Something.”

“Talk to me.” I spin her round and lean back against the counter, holding her to me. She sighs again and rests her hands on my chest. Her eyebrows draw together in a small frown, and I nudge her.

“Remember how Grammy used to tease me about not having a boyfriend until we met?” she asks. I nod. “Well, I used to reply that I didn't want one, and if I did I had plenty of admirers.”

My fingers twitch. “Mm.”

Her brown eyes snap up to mine. “Don't go getting all caveman on me, Alec, or I'm not telling you.”

“Caveman stored away,” I grind out. “Carry on.”

“Damn jealous males,” she mutters. “Anyway. I saw one of them out last night. I've known Ade since we were about twelve – we went to secondary school together – and he's tried convincing me a few times over the last year to go out with him. He's one of my friends so I said no. I don't go out with friends.”

“So we were never friends?” I smirk a little.

She shakes her head. “No, we were never friends. You were always the one. Friendship was never an option.”

I relax slightly, and press my lips to her forehead. Her arms slide around my waist, and she rests her cheek against my chest.

“Carry on,” I tell her.

“Well, like I said, I saw him out last night. We spoke for a few minutes on the dance floor. He asked
about Devon and that, and when Jen mentioned your name, he did this puffing chest out thing, and got kinda pissed. He stormed off.”

“Wait, what does he look like?”

“Blonde hair, about your height, not as muscular.”

“You think I'm muscular?” I tease.

She laughs, pulls back, and squeezes my arm. “Very.”

I wink. “He was giving me a death look half the night last night. I'm guessing he knew who I was because I was with Bing.”

She nods thoughtfully. “Well, that's Adrian. I don't think he'll do anything, more than likely just try to get under your skin. I don't think he's got big enough balls to do anything else. He's scared of Bing.”

“He's scared of your brother?” I raise an eyebrow. “I can't imagine why.”

She blinks. “He threatened to break your legs, too, didn't he?”

“Yep. I told him if I hurt you, he could.” I kiss her quickly.

“Huh.” Lexy's head tilts to the side. “No wonder he actually likes you.”

I look around. “Good to know.” I laugh.

She grins, and I'm glad to see the worry and annoyance removed from her face. “So yeah. Just... Ignore him, okay? He's a good guy but he's also kind of an asshole.”

“That seems to be a trend amongst your friends.”

“You're probably right there.”

~

“Mum? Are you in?” I drop my bag by the door.

“I'm just popping out, Lexy. What's up?” She appears from the front room, buttoning her mac.

“Nothing. I was just wondering if you were here.” I smile, and kiss her cheek.

“Did you have a good night?”

“It was... Okay, I guess.” I shrug a shoulder and pass through into the large kitchen.

“That doesn't sound good. Would you like to talk about it?”

I sigh. “Maybe.”

“I'm going to the park, to the stream,” Mum says hesitantly. Grammy's favourite spot in London.

“Is that where you've been disappearing to lately?” I peer at her over my shoulder. She nods.

“It helps me to feel close to her when I'm so far away. I just... Go there to think. Remember.” Mum smiles weakly.

“I don't want to ruin your time, Mum.”

“If you want to, Lexy, I'd love you to come with me. Maybe we could remember together?”

I see the face of the old woman I love so much in my mind, and I nod. “I'd love to, Mum.”

I pass into the hallway, blinking back some tears
, and grab my jacket.

Mum opens the door. “Let's go, then.”

~

A gentle autumn breeze teases my hair as I lean against the railings of the small bridge.

“So what happened last night?” Mum asks me, gazing at the water running under us.

“I discovered that two months is a long time,” I reply. “And people really do change more than you thought.”

“I thought you learnt that in Devon.”

“I did. Mum, will you be honest?” I look at her, and she turns her face to me. Her hair falls down and her beautiful eyes blink at me.

“Of course.”

“Last night, all
Jayna cared about was herself. No questions asked about how I was feeling, none about the family or anything. She was only bothered about getting drunk and who she could take home. She even tried it with Alec before he told her it wasn't gonna happen. She felt like a stranger. I guess I wanna know...Was I really that horrible before we left?” I look away from her, unable to handle what I'm scared she'll say. Silence stretches between us, and I chew on my lip.