Always There

Chapter Eighty-Nine

Songs for this chapter:
• Easy - Camila Cabello

Chapter Eighty-Nine:

Lexi's POV

"I'm sad," I whisper.

Bryce raises an eyebrow at me. "Why's that, sweetheart?"

I sigh, because I'm pretty sure the answer is painfully obvious.

Nonetheless, I say, "Because this is my last night staying with you. And I miss you already."

It's the end of August, and it's hot outside. Really hot outside. But, the air conditioning in Bryce's apartment is on full-blast, and so it makes total sense for us to be curled up in bed together under Bryce's heavy duvet and that fluffy grey blanket that I love so much.

We're both naked, but nothing has happened between us. Not tonight, and not all summer. All we've done is kissed and kissed and kissed until our lips have gone numb, but even just kissing Bryce is such a wonderful feeling that I'm certainly not complaining. I seem to have picked up on his habit of sleeping naked, though, and so every time we've shared a bed over the past few months, we've been naked.

I honestly swear that there was no sex, though. I really do. And I certainly would not lie about something like this because God, I really wish that we've been having sex all summer.

But alas, we haven't.

Ugh.

Summer flew by far too quickly. I honestly can't believe that it's over. Though I know it would've been so much better if Bryce was still my boyfriend, I think that this past summer was still somehow the best of my life.

For starters, I got to spend so much time with my family. I loved being back home, and it made me realise just how much I miss Charlie and my parents while living in New York. I was so thankful for all of the time that I was able to spend with them over the summer months, especially because now I know not to take a single moment with them for granted considering that for the next few years while I'm attending Juilliard, I won't be seeing my family nearly as much as I wish I could.

All the days that I didn't spend with my family were spent with the Bradshaws. Sure, I hung out with Jordan, Jasmine, Ryan, and Daniel on some days, but I think I probably spent half my summer at the Bradshaw house.

Every moment with the Bradshaws made me so incredibly happy. I loved watching the love that Leo and Elena have, and I loved all of the days Bryce and I spent playing board games with Mateo and Vanessa. And I especially loved sitting down for dinner at Bryce's side at night, because that's really when I felt like I was part of the family.

I mean, the best part of being at the Bradshaw house is that I got to spend so much time with Bryce. That's sort of obvious, though, because he's Bryce. He's my best friend, he's my soulmate, and he's the one person in the world who really understands me.

So of course the best part of my summer was spending all of those days with him, whether we be curled up in the living room with Vanessa and Mateo or sitting on the dock in his backyard, reminiscing over all of the things that have happened between us there.

Well, we mostly talked about our first kiss. Which just led to us kissing again and again no matter how many times we had the conversation, our feet dipped in the lake water and our hands all over each other's bodies.