Chapter Fourteen

I knocked on Alex's door, then stepped back. I held my breath, fiddling my fingers and trying to get rid of my sudden nerves. What was I going to say if he answered the door? Would he have already moved on from me? Maybe he already had another girl – God knew he had plenty to choose from.

The door opened before I could lose my nerve and the kind face of Alex's mother greeted me. "Hello," she said, giving me a bright smile. "Are you looking for Alex?"

"Uh, yeah, I was wondering if I could talk to him," I replied.

"Well, he's not here at the moment. He should be home soon though, if you want to stick around," she offered.

The disappointment was probably written all over my face, but I quickly hid it behind a smile. "I'll just come back later. I don't want to put you out," I said even as my eyes started to prick from unshed tears. I didn't know why I was so upset. It wasn't like he'd purposefully rejected me. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't here. But at the moment it felt like the whole world was against me and nothing would ever go my way.

"Nonsense, he shouldn't be too long. You can come and help me make cookies," she said with a huge smile. "Don't be too surprised, but I'm actually making them from scratch." I remembered the packet she'd pulled out for us the first time I'd met her and I blinked away my tears.

"Okay, if you don't mind," I told her as I followed her into the kitchen.

We set about making the cookies and talking idly about neighbourhood gossip. Soon, however, we trailed onto the subject of Alex. I felt comfortable with this woman, so I wasn't surprised or upset when she asked me about Alex.

"What's going on with you two? I know it's not really my business, but I can't help being curious," she said. She looked like a gypsy woman with her headscarf and all of her bangles. She was so different to my own mother, but I couldn't help but trust her anyway. Maybe it was because I hadn't really trusted my own mother for so long.

"I did something stupid. I thought I owed it to someone else to stay away from him," I admitted as my cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment. "But it turns out that I don't owe anyone anything except myself. Now I think I've ruined everything."

"I doubt that very much," she said quietly.

"Why? You don't even know me," I said, not unkindly.

"Because I know how he feels about you. Alex has never been interested in a girl like he's been interested in you. Sure, he's had girlfriends and whatnot, but I've never seen him as happy as he is when you're around. I can tell you feel the same way as well. It'll take more than a few missed phone calls to get him to give you up."

I blushed from her words and busied myself by placing the cookie tray into the oven. What she said made my whole body tingle and I felt a spark of hope deep inside my chest. Maybe there was a way to make everything right.

"The cookies shouldn't take too long. You can go and wait for Alex in his room if you'd like," she said with a warm smile.

"Okay. Thankyou," I told her sincerely.

I made my way to his room and sat down in his desk chair. But before long I was lying in his bed, about to fall asleep. I hadn't realised how exhausted I was until I couldn't keep my eyes open for any longer. I could smell cookies and hear Alex's mother humming to herself, so I slowly let myself be lulled to sleep, hoping that Alex wouldn't mind.

I woke up feeling very confused and disorientated. I sat up and remembered that I was in Alex's room. He was sitting on a beanbag, quietly strumming his guitar and watching me.

"Hey," I said groggily as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I had no idea how long I'd been asleep, but I was aware of the cookies sitting on the bedside table.

"Hey," Alex replied as he put his guitar down and stood up. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at me, waiting.

"Uh…" Now that he was actually here, I had no idea what to say. I looked at him – his gorgeous expressive eyes and his beautiful features. He didn't look angry at me. Instead, he looked as if nothing had ever gone wrong between us.

"Mum went out to dinner with some of her friends. She wanted you to take as many cookies as you wanted," Alex said after a minute of silence. I glanced at the plate and couldn't keep the smile from my face. "She must really like you. She never makes cookies for me."

I laughed and pulled my knees up to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees and bit my bottom lip.

"I'm really sorry about what happened the other day and how I've been…um…ignoring you," I finally said. I wrapped my arms around my legs and waited for his reply, trying not to dwell on anything I'd just said.

Alex was smiling. "Rose, all I care about is you. If you're telling me that you want us to be together again, then I'm happy. Please tell me that's what this is about."

"What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?" I asked, and then promptly burst into tears. I couldn't believe how incredible Alex was. I couldn't believe I'd been willing to give up this great guy. I felt the bed shift as he crawled over to sit next to me. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a tight embrace. We sat like that for a while and it felt really nice to be held. I could smell his scent and the warmth of his body was comforting. Even when I was done crying (which I seemed to be doing a lot lately), he still held me.

After a while I turned my face so that my lips met his. Then we were kissing and my arms were wrapped around his neck and he moved so that he was in front of me. Soon we were both lying on the bed, making out, and I felt the happiest I'd been in a long time. I couldn't get enough of this moment.

Soon his hands were under the hem of my shirt and our kiss had become more heated. My heart was thumping a mile a minute and all I wanted was to be like this with him forever. I pulled his shirt off and soon my shirt followed. When I reached for the zipper of his jeans, Alex pulled away and looked down at me. His eyes told me that he thought I was the most beautiful girl in the world, and that made my heart swell.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

No one had ever asked me that question before. This was so much different to all of the drunken sex I was used to. This meant something. He meant something. It felt good to be asked that question and know that this wasn't a one night stand. This was about us.

"I'm sure," I told him, because I had never been surer about anything else in my entire life.

The rest of our clothes disappeared and I let his hands slowly yet surely make their way over my body. For once I was going to be completely in control of myself with a guy. For once I knew exactly what I wanted. So I revelled in every minute that our bodies were combined.

Afterwards, we lay entwined, listening to each other's hearts. I felt like every part of me was alive and filled with new hope and energy. I felt so good that at one stage I wondered if I was dreaming.

Softly, yet with much conviction, Alex said, "I love you."

A smile enveloped my face as I said, "I love you, too."

I knew that from now on my life would be a lot better and happier. We stayed like that, entwined and completely happy, and I knew that I wouldn't trade this feeling for anything in the world.

A/N: One more chapter to go. Tell me what you think. Sorry I'm kind of rushing this story, but I don't have enough time to write a really long story at the moment.