Chapter 6: KRYSTAL
I returned home from the grocery store, completely in a daze. I had no clue as to what was coming over me.
When I woke up this morning, nothing could keep me from thinking about Roger. It was as if everything that had happened in the past three months, everything that had changed drastically in my life, had come to haunt me all at once. I woke up frenzied and completely out of it. I thought going out for a run would ease my mind and get my endorphins going, but it just made me more unhappy because it reminded me of my home with Roger. As I ran through a park close to my apartment, I couldn't help but think of the beautiful neighborhood, of Mrs. Sylvia and her yapping dog, of my previous naivety. When I realized running was of no help, I gave up trying to brighten my mood and went grocery shopping.
If I couldn't release my pain through exercise, I could at least do it through food.
I was just about done with the day as soon as I entered the grocery store. The store was huge and actually quite fantastic; the store near Roger and I's old home wasn't even this nice. However it was filled to the brim with people who didn't know how to move out of the way and mean, old cougars who gave me deathly glares as I passed by them. I wasn't even doing anything wrong and some fifty-something year old woman came up to me out of nowhere while in the dairy section and told me to stay away from her man. I was confused out of my mind until I turned around and saw a twenty-year-old guy winking at me. To say the least...
It creeped me the fuck out.
I am rather short, standing at a mere five-foot-three-inches, and couldn't see any of the signs directing me where to go, so that became a problem as well. I nearly had a mental breakdown in the middle of the store when I was stuck in a packed isle for ten minutes with a crying baby in the vicinity.
Throughout all of this, I constantly had Roger on my mind. There even came a point in which I contemplated calling him. I didn't know why, nor could I have explained why I felt the need to hear his voice or talk to him. I was distracted by this thought as I was leaving the store when I felt a thud from the front of my cart.
Of course. I would be the person to nearly kill someone with a grocery cart.
I had immediately panicked , and ran to see the death I had caused. I was thankful when I realized I was being over-dramatic and that no one died, but I felt really bad when I saw a leg being clutched as someone hissed in pain. I didn't even look at the person; my diarrhea of the mouth went into overdrive and I couldn't stop it. I felt so bad, especially because the colliding of my cart with the person's leg sounded extremely hard and painful, and I was surprised I didn't break anything. I wouldn't stop apologizing until I heard the sound of a sweet, sexy voice escape from my victim's lips. I looked up and saw Alex with an amused yet somewhat confused look on his face, and I silently took in his beauty once more. His black, tousled hair that looked so touchable, his perfect teeth and kissable lips, his rosy cheeks and his clean shaven skin. And of course, those piercing green eyes that looked absolutely gorgeous paired with the teal, short-sleeved shirt he was wearing.
When I had realized I had been staring at him, I greeted him before apologizing for always running into him. We conversed for a short while before exchanging numbers, and ever since then, I haven't been able to wipe this stupid smile off of my face.
I laughed lightly at myself before taking a gallon of milk out of a grocery bag and putting it into my fridge. When I closed my refridgerator door, I turned and saw that Alex had been standing behind it.
"...Alex? How did yo-"
"Shhhh," he put his fingers to my lips to quiet me, but his touch was so gentle I could barely feel it. "No questions. Just answers, okay?" I was confused by what he meant by this, but I nodded my head anyway. His hands made their way around my waist and he pulled me into him, without any distance between us, our lips just barely kissing as he asked, "Will you gladly fuck me?" I was startled by his bluntness, but couldn't help but to stay in his grasp. "Krys, answer me? Krys? Krys?"
"YESSSSSS!!!!" I closed my eyes and threw my hands up in joy, exclaiming at the tip of my lungs, but when I opened my eyes again, I was greeted by Nicole and Eithan looking at me as if I had completely lost my mind.
"Yep, she was daydreaming again," Nicole said as she set her purse down on the kitchen island. "What, did you think I was saying your name to tell you you won the lottery or something? You seem a bit too excited." She laughed, taunting me as I rolled my eyes, realizing that my latest "Sexcapade" was really all just in my imagination.
"No but really, are you okay? You've been really distracted lately. It's as if you're stuck in your own little world in your mind. Remember what I told you?" Nicole came and embraced me in a side hug, looking at me tenderly as she spoke. "Don't let everything overwhelm you, okay? Try to put your mind at ease. Eithan had the smart idea of bringing you your favorite cake, so..." she walked over to where Eithan was standing, taking the box he had been holding and placing it in front of me, amongst the groceries remaining on the island. "...here is your very own sheet of marble-blend vanilla and italian chocolate cake with creamy vanilla frosting!" She smiled as she opened the box, revealing a beautifully decorated italian cake, with an intricate floral design and the words "To Krystal HATHAWAY", "Hathaway" having been bolded with extra icing. That was my original last name, my maiden name, as opposed to the "Krystal Stevenson", the name I had went by for the past three years. I smiled up at Nicole, having known her intentions were nice, although the reminder that I was no longer married weighed heavily on me again. I hugged and thanked her and Eithan for the cake before putting the rest of my groceries away. Nicole went to a drawer on the opposite side of my kitchen to get out the cake cutter while Eithan grabbed three plates out of one of my cabinets.
"It's no wonder she was daydreaming. I happened to make a quick stop by the grocery store earlier and on my way out, I saw her chatting it up with some guy." From the way Eithan said this, he sounded kind of annoyed, but when I glanced at him, he gave me a humerous smile. Nicole instantly stopped cutting a slice out of the cake, her mouth wide open as she stared at me for confirmation.
"What?" I asked her as I continued putting groceries away.
"Krystal, what do you mean 'what'? You've been holding out information on me!" She made a gesture between her and Eithan. "On us! Why didn't you tell me you found some man-candy?! How old is he? Is he cute? Like on a scale from one-to-ten, what do you think I would rate him as if I saw him with you? What does he look like? Please don't tell me he has child-"
"Nicki! Calm down!" I said, finally done with my groceries. Man, Eithan sure has changed her. Before she met Eithan, if I would've told Nicole about a guy, she would've been asking questions like "Does he have good credit?" or "Is he a criminal". Nicole only ever asked questions of morality and responsibilty, not if he "was cute". It was strange to see my friend not like herself, but I have to remember that Nicole hasn't had a boyfriend since high school.
"Nicole, it's not like I've been dating behind your back. The guy I was talking to is Alex...Jennings..yeah, I think that is his last name..." I pondered on his name for a moment. I'm pretty sure that's what his last name was, and I tried to think back to my wedding when I had first heard of him.
An entire crowd of Roger's friends had surrounded him, and I saw them all cracking up over something Roger was saying. I couldn't make out what he was saying as I watched my beautiful husband from afar, but I'm sure it was something balancing grace and charm from the looks of admiration on all of his friends' faces. Roger reached out towards a boy, putting him into a seemingly playful headlock while ruffing up his hair. The boy was rather skinny and he looked as though he was the same height as me. He had huge glasses that took up almost half of his face, but his face was already hard enough to see with all of the hair he had covering it. Roger's headlock began to look painful, and the boy struggled against Roger to be released, but to no avail. Roger eventually let him go and began laughing about something else, although the boy was not laughing with him. He looked rather upset, and I instantly wanted to go cheer him up. I didn't really know how to do that, so I approached the crowd before greeting the boy. From up close, his hair still covered his face, but I could now make out his shining, sparkling green eyes that were extremely breathtaking.
"I just came to say hello." I said, casting him a welcoming smile. I didn't want him to feel out of place at my wedding reception. I wanted to make him smile. I didn't know why, but I did. I reached out my hand for him to shake as I said, "I'm Krystal, but you can call my Krys. Thanks so much for coming to my wedding."
The boy was about to take my hand in his, and opened his braced mouth to say something, but Roger grabbed my waist and turned me around, walking me in the opposite direction.
"Oh don't worry about him. He's just my cousin, he had no choice but to come to this wedding." Roger chuckled lightly. "His name is Alex Jennings, but he's not all that important."
"Roger," I stopped walking then, looking up at my husband, "don't say that. He's your family, and now mine too. It looked as if you were troubling him." Roger gave me the most adorable pout at my comment.
"No honey, I was not "troubling" him. I was just picking fun, but he can be a bit sensitive at times." He moved in close to me then, wrapping his right arm around my waist as he took my right hand in his left and began waltzing slowly. He moved close to my ear, whispering "But what's of more importance right now is how sensitive I'm going to leave you feeling after tonight." He looked at me then, smirking sensually as I felt a warm shiver move down my spine.
I felt a similar shiver now, although it was cold and remorseful and I was suddenly mad at myself for having thought back to such times with Roger. I was snapped out of my daze, once again, by Nicole's voice.
"WHAT?! You don't even know the last name of the man you're sleeping with! This is out-of-hand Krys! I know I told you to try and find yourself some..." she whispered the next part so as to keep Eithan from hearing her, "...sexy time...but come on now!" She threw her hands up in disbelief.
"Nicole, I am not, I repeat, I AM NOT sleeping with this man! Where did you even get that idea from?!" Nicole just blinked at me then, her face completely blank as if her entire reality had been shattered by my statement. Seriously, what was up with her?
"Alex is Roger's cousin. I met him at my wedding. We just happened to run into each other and had a short conversation. That's all." I took the cake cutter that had remained in her hand from her and began cutting my own slice of cake before sitting down in a stool at the island to eat.
"...so I don't have to worry about you banging some random guy to let your feelings out..?" she asked timidly, and although she sounded bashful, I could tell she was holding in a laugh. As soon as I looked at her and we made eye contact, we both burst out laughing, and we only laughed harder when we looked to see Eithan just standing there awkwardly, looking uncomfortable. They each cut their pieces of cake before joining me in stools, Eithan sitting next to me and Nicole sitting across from me. Every once in awhile she would lean over the island to feed cake to Eithan, and I couldn't get over how adorable they were. When they noticed me staring, Eithan smirked at me and made Nicole stop.
"You know I don't mind you guys. As long as you're not making babies in front of me, unharmful PDA doesn't matter to me. You guys are cute." I smiled at the both of them. Nicole grinned and went to go feed Eithan another bite, but he refused it.
"I think that's enough cake for me. I'm going to go; I promised the boys I would hang out with them tonight, but I'll be back later if you want?" Eithan mainly positioned this question towards me, although I felt he should've been asking Nicole. I looked at Nicole for an answer as she made her way around the island, kissing Eithan goodbye.
"Sure my love," she said to him. "I'll stay here and have a girls' night with Krystal and then you can swing by and take me home." She leaned in to kiss him again but he turned his head and she kissed him on the cheek instead.
"Well, I guess I should get going." Eithan stood up and hugged Nicole before turning around and embracing me into a tight hug. He let go and he smirked at me again, as if he knew something, a secret of mine and I couldn't help but to blush thinking about Alex again. I think maybe Eithan thinks I really am sleeping with Alex, but he doesn't want to say anything around Nicole. I'll have to talk to him later and clear things up with him so he can stop acting so...weird.
________
"Krystal...can I ask you something?"
I looked over at Nicole who was laying on the couch in my living room as we watched "Mean Girls". She was laying with one hand behind her head, the other in a bowl of popcorn that she had sitting on her stomach. She didn't look at me as she asked this. I was sitting on the floor, painting my nails, but I stopped when she asked and even paused the movie before turning to her.
"Yes. What is it?" I asked, looking at her face to see what she was thinking, and her face suddenly filled with excitement as she sat up.
"I know you said you weren't sleeping with him and all but...tell me about Alex. Is that who you were daydreaming about? When we came into the apartment, your face was lit up with a huge smile I haven't seen since...since you were still with ...you know. And Eithan seemed to mention this Alex guy and you in a way as if you two were hitting it off today or something. I just want to know about the possible boy-action in my bestie's life!" She was practically cheesing now. I didn't really know what to tell her though. There was no "boy-action" in my life.
"Nicki, I already told you. Alex is just Roger's cousin. I accidentally ran into him with my cart on my way out of the store this morning and once we recognized each other, we caught up for a short time before leaving."
"So nothing else happened, between you?" Nicole asked inquiringly.
"I mean, I've talked to him before if that's what you're asking. I met him at the wedding reception but it was only for like two seconds, and then I saw him again a few months ago at Roger's birthday party. You should know since you sent out the invitations. Then we ran into each other again today at the store and-"
"OHHHH, SO YOU MEAN THAT ALEX JENNINGS!!! MR. ALEXANDER SEXIEST-MAN-ALIVE JENNINGS!!!" She exclaimed and jumped up off of the couch. I didn't really understand her sudden excitement. "I remember that hottie now! You're talking about the extremely tall guy with the most gorgeous body known to mankind and bright green eyes and black gorgeous hair and just an all around aura of sexiness?!!!"
Yep. That's the one.
"Uh..yeah. That sounds like him."
"OMIGOSH GIRL ASK HIM ON A DATE!" Was she serious?
"Nicole, sit down. Do you not hear yourself right now? He's RELATED to Roger. I can't date him."
"Why the hell not? Yes, we can all agree Roger was a pig-headed, lying, cheating, ugly-ass bastard of a lawyer with a bitch for a mistress, but let's not pin Alex as guilty-by-association! He is FINE! Plus, he seemed really chivalrous when he arrived for the party. He was an absolute sweetheart, and now that you mention him, I'm awfully glad. I remember making a mental note in my mind that night to get you to talk to him. He's a true man, unlike Roger..."
"Nick, I don't know... He's probably not even single. You've seen him. You've seen how absolutely perfect he looks. And his personality matches that perfection. He's extremely sweet and kind and humble and-"
"So you do like him?" Nicole began smirking to herself, as if coming up with a plan. "Wait, do you have his number?"
"No.." I said out of instinct before remembering that we had exchanged numbers earlier that day. "...yes." Nicole's smirk turned evil as she stared at me before suddenly pouncing at the table to grab my phone and run away.
"NICOLE, YOU BETTER NOT!" I got up, my nails still wet and my toes still divided in the separators I had put on in order to paint my nails. I tried my best to chase her without ruining my nails. "I am never giving you my passcode again! NIKI DO NOT CALL HI-"
"Shhhh! It's ringing!" Nicole said as she pressed the phone against her ear with one hand and held up an umbrella she had taken from my coat closet with the other to keep me away. I stopped chasing her then, standing in absolute horror as I prayed that he would not pick up the phone.
Please let it go to voicemail, please let it go to voicemail, oh please-
"Hello?" I could hear his husky, sexy voice from the phone without it even being on speaker and I instantly swooned.
"Hello?" Nicki replied, a huge grin on her face as she began pacing. "Hi, is this Alex?"
"...Yes, this is he?...This isn't Krystal, is it?" Nicole gave me a look that read 'Wow, he recognizes your number and voice by now?' and I shuddered. Please do not embarass me Nicole. I'm counting on you.
"No, this isn't her. This is actually Nicole Crosby, her best friend. I'm the party planner that invited you to Roger's party." She moved farther away from me and I slowly followed, although I could no longer hear Alex's responses.
"Oh, of course! Why should I delay you without having explained!" Oh gosh, what was she going on about? "I am calling to invite you to an upcoming baseball game, not to watch, but to play in...Yes, my boyfriend Eithan likes to hold game days with friends in which he gets guys together to play sports and usually the girls come and watch but he's having his next game be co-ed... I assure you, you wouldn't be alone or left out. Eithan needs more players and I instantly thought to invite one of Krys' friends...she's in the shower right now, so I thought I'd just invite you myself...no,no I'm sure she'd be glad if you came...she's playing too...you can even bring a friend...no, not at all. The more the merrier... okay, sounds great! I'll be sure to let everyone know! I can tell Krys if you want, unless...oh, you'll call her later?" Nicole gave me yet another humored glance. "Great!....Oh wait, I have one more question Alex....Alex, are you sing-"
At that point I had done enough listening and was just about ready to strangle Nicole. I grabbed the phone from her before she could get her question out, and it was much easier taking it back since she wasn't expecting my attack.
"...Hello? ...Nicole? Are you still there?"
"..He-Hello?" My voice quivered a little out of embarassment. "Alex, this is me, Krystal."
"Oh, hi Krystal, I hope I'm not bothering you by being on the phone." Damn it.
His voice was ten times more attractive on the phone.
"Oh..uhm, no, you're hot-I MEAN not bothering me at all. I'm sorry if Nicole startled you with this phone call. I had no clue she was calling you." I turned to glare at Nicole then, but she just giggled silently to herself.
"No, Nicole's not a problem. In fact, she just invited me to a baseball game of your friend's. I hope you don't mind if I come, do you? I wouldn't want to put a burden on anyone." Why is he so polite and just.. perfect?
"I'd love it if you came! Especially because I pretty much suck at all things dealing with bats and balls..." What am I saying, I sound like such a dork right now. "Like I have no clue how to properly handle balls, I'd probably only be able to hold them...Like catching them, I mean...Uhm, I mean..I'm just really bad at baseball and I'll probably need help and you seem like you'd be really great at sports especially because you're really fine- wait did I say fine? I meant FIT and you're really sexy and... omigosh what am I saying I probably sound like a total creep right now I am so sorry I didn't mean to be weird but of course I didn't mean to be I mean who means to be weird intentionally and now you probably hate me and I wouldn't blame yo-"
Someone get me Pepto for my mouth. Seriously.
"Krystal..." I suddenly stopped once I heard his voice again and I could faintly hear him chuckle on the other end of the line. "Krystal, I'd be glad to help you deal with your ...sucking at bats and balls" he laughed at this again and I felt my face redden. "It'll be fun." Wow. It's like he didn't hear any of my other comments. I silently thanked him for having bull-dozed right over a possible moment of embarassment.
"..G-great. I can't wait to see you there. Do you want the details now or-"
"Well, I was heading in the shower right before Nicole called, so if you don't mind, could I call you later? You can give me the rest of the information then, if you'd like."
"Sure. Yes, that'll work." I realized I was trembling but I didn't know why.
"Okay, great. I'll call you later then Krystal. Take care. Goodbye."
"Bye." I looked at the phone, half expecting to see that he already had hung up, but he had waited long enough for my reply before saying goodbye once more and hanging up. I stood there, still trembling, but smiling at my phone.
"Well, if I wasn't too mistaken, it looks as if you do, in fact, like him." I looked up at Nicole to see her smiling genuinely at me. I found myself thinking about her comment for the rest of the night.
I couldn't like him. There was no way...Was there?♥