ALEXIS

“AH, THERE YOU ARE. I was about to go up there to make sure you were both still alive,” Dad teased, beaming from ear to ear as Colt and I descended the stairs.

Colton chuckled behind me.

“We’re gonna go next door,” I said, lifting onto my toes to plant a kiss on Daddy’s cheek.

“Sounds good...You two sort everything out?” he asked, a hopeful glint in his eye.

“We’re workin’ on it.”

Colton and I held hands while crossing the yard to his parents’ house in silence. There was so much to say, but neither of us were ready to open that door. My insides were a mess. I wished we could start over right there and pretend that the past few months hadn’t happened, but they had. And the pain of his rejection wasn’t something I could bury and forget about. But I knew that we had to find a way to fix things because loving Colton might hurt, but losing him was unbearable.

“Oh my God!” Mrs. Fowler mumbled, covering her mouth with her hands as we walked through the front door. She was shaking with excitement.

“Surprise!” Colt shouted, releasing my hand to embrace his emotional mother.

“Alexis, did you do this?” she asked when the two of them finally separated.

“No,” I said, clearing my throat. “It was my dad.”

I laughed when her face twisted in confusion. “Really?” she asked, looking to Colton.

His broad shoulders shrugged as he scrubbed at his chin, dipping his head in confirmation.

“How? When? Just yesterday you still had plans to go to Madison’s parent’s house.”

Oh God. Who was Madison? My heart lodged in my throat, and I felt the urge to run. This was never going to work.

Colton went white as a sheet, his eyes holding mine as he answered his mother. “There’s no Madison,” he rushed out. “I made her up so I wouldn’t have to come.” He was answering her but talking to me.

“Why would you do that? Are we so horrible, Colton?”

Colt’s hands fisted into his hair, tugging in frustration. He didn’t want to call me out. He didn’t want to hurt her. He was stuck.

“It wasn’t you. Colton didn’t want to come home because he didn’t want to have to see me,” I spoke up, tired of walking on eggshells.

Mrs. Fowler quit her pacing, her face fraught with confusion. “What?”

It was time to rip off the band-aid. I was so tired of hiding. “Colton and I haven’t spoken since I returned from California.”

“Well, that doesn’t make any sense. You went on and on about how great of a time you two had when you got back.”

Colton stood there, watching our exchange with a look of bewilderment.

“I did, but stuff happened after that.”

Mrs. Fowler advanced on her son, finger pointed. “What. Did. You. Do?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” she shrieked. “I wondered if maybe...but then I thought...There’s no way it had anything to do with you because you are the one person who would never hurt her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She has been a fucking mess, Colton,” she shouted like I wasn’t standing right next to her on the verge of full-blown hysteria. “Look at her.” She waved a hand in my direction, putting me on display. “She doesn’t leave the house, barely eats. She’s failing all her classes. Her mother has been sick with worry...and you’ve been ignoring her all this time?”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Colt muttered, his chest heaving. “Allie left me,” he rasped. The emotion on his face made it clear that he believed what he was saying. “I went to practice that morning with her asleep in my bed and came home to an empty house. She was gone without a word. All of her shit...gone.”

“I left a note.”

“I didn’t get any damn note!” he shouted. “I figured it out on my own that you’d gone back home when I realized you’d taken all of your things, so I called mom to make sure that you were safe and she said you were with him.” Colton’s whole face tightened with anger. “You went running back to him.”

“No,” I cried. “Dean called that morning. His dad was in an accident, and they didn’t think he would make it. So, I...I packed my things and tried to call you, but you’d forgotten your phone, so I left a note.”

“You two,” Mrs. Fowler said, face red and flustered, “better figure this shit out.” She eyed each of us individually. “I’m going next door. My heart can’t handle this.”

The door shut behind her and Colt, and I stood in silence, piecing together the mess that had just unfolded around us. That fucking letter had been the source of so much pain, and he’d never even read it. “I wrote you a letter,” I repeated. “I put it on the nightstand underneath your phone so you’d see it.”

His head moved in a slow nod. “Come here, Allie,” he whispered, beckoning me with his hands.

But I was caught up in my feelings, and there was still one more thing I needed to address. “I called you that night.” My heart raced at the memory. “Lyla answered your phone. You were in the shower.” My voice cracked. “I wasn’t even gone a day, Colton...You didn’t even wait a day.”

“I never found my phone,” he muttered, thinking out loud. “Finn went back to the house to pick it up and let you know we had to stay late, but you weren’t at home. I tried calling and it went to voicemail, so I put it on the bleachers, thinking you must’ve been out with Gertie and your phone had died. When I went back to grab it after practice to try calling you again, my phone was gone. I never found it.”

“I don’t understand what that has to do with you hooking up with Lyla the day I left.”

“I didn’t hook up with Lyla, Alex. I haven’t been with anyone since you,” he said, setting me straight before continuing his story. “Lyla was there, at the gym. She offered to help look for you,” he sneered.

“She took your phone.”

He nodded.

“That fucking bitch.”

Colton and I spent the rest of the day lounging on my parents’ couch, watching old movies. After such a long separation, it felt amazing to relax in the comfort of his arms. Plus, it was a good excuse not to have to talk, and after all the talking we’d done that morning, it was a welcome reprieve.

Occasionally, Colt would place a kiss on the top of my head, but beyond that, we’d done nothing more than cuddle. There was an awkwardness that came with being apart for so long, with being angry for so long, even if that anger was completely misplaced.

“Well, look who decided to show his face,” Mr. Fowler announced, walking into the room.

He eyed the two of us cozied up on the couch together, and his face lit up. “Glad to see the two of you worked things out.”

I whipped my head around, eyes narrowed. “You told your dad?”

“What?” he asked, running a hand through his curls. “You told your dad!” he laughed. “And you told him everything. I only told mine we weren’t getting along.”

My mom came in from the kitchen, having just returned home from work. “What’d I miss?”

“Nothing,” we answered in unison.

“Oh, come on,” she said, “I’m curious about that everything.”

“Me too,” Colt’s mom said, coming up behind her husband. “Does everything entail the four of us becoming grandparents someday?” she asked, brows waggling.

“Hey!” my dad yelled from the kitchen, peeking his head out. “That’s my daughter!”

I buried my face in Colton’s chest, my body shaking from the vibration of his laughter.

Embarrassing and dysfunctional as they may be, those four nut jobs were ours.