Chapter 9

The next morning

Jeff drove up to Alexis' house. He was excited to see her again. He hadn't been able to think of anything else. He walked up to the door and knocked. Alexis came out a couple minutes later.

"Hey" Jeff said barely audible.

"Hello" she smiled and they walked to the car. "So, I had a lot of fun last night. That was really amazing. You're friends are extremely nice as well."

"Well, I am glad you had fun last night. It was really nice of you to come. Everyone kept talking about you. So, where are we going to go for breakfast?" Alexis smiled. She gave him directions. Jeff pulled up to the diner. "Wait, don't get out. We aren't eating here." She walked in and about five minutes later she walked back out with a basket and a blanket.

"Okay, so where are we going?" Alexis smiled and buckled up. She gave him some more directions and they ended up driving to a secluded lake. It was a beautiful spot. "Wow, this is amazing Ally. How did you find it?"

"After I found out I was pregnant and Nicole's father left, I just started walking and one day I ended up here. When I am having a hard day or I just need to get away I come here. It is my special spot."

"I use to have one of those, but with everything that happened I don't go there too often anymore."

"Bring back too many memories?"

"Yea, it does. I remember Shannon, Alex, that girl, and I would walk down to this pond by my house and we just sat there for hours. Sometimes we didn't even talk, we just sat. After my mom died I ran over to Alex's house and then we walked over to the pond. We sat there all day and not once did she say anything. For an entire day she sat next to me on this tire swing not saying anything. Finally around five I told her that she didn't have to stay anymore and you know what she said to me?" Alexis knowing exactly what she had said shook her head. "She said, 'Jeff Hardy, if you didn't want me to stay here with you until you went home you wouldn't have come to get me. And now that you've got me here, you aren't going to get rid of me.' I couldn't believe she had said it. It was the first time in a couple days that I had smiled. She always knew how to make me smile. I could never stay mad at her long." Alexis remembered that day well. It was the first time she had seen Jeff cry. "That girl had seen everything when it came to me and my family. She was always there for Shannon and me if we had problems with our families, but never once did she tell us to suck it up. Her family life wasn't that good. It wasn't that her family hit her or anything, but I don't know how she was that strong of a person. She went through a lot having to deal with her family issues. She was completely different than they were and they didn't approve of it. I'm sorry. Alex probably wouldn't appreciate me spilling everything about our relationship and her family life to a person that I just met." Alexis sat there thinking. He was right, she probably wouldn't have been happy if he had done that with someone else, but this was making her a lot more comfortable and it also reminded her why she loved this boy.

"Seeing as all you can do is talk about this girl, tell me a little bit about her." Jeff blushed.

"I'm sorry I keep bringing her up."

"It's okay, but I just want to know more about this person you keep talking about."

"Okay, um, we met on the first day of first grade. She was sitting by herself in the front seat of the bus and Shannon and I asked to sit with her. She wasn't having a good day because when we got on the bus she was crying."

Flashback (15 years)

"Why are you crying?" Jeff asked bluntly. Alexis just looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

"My momma was supposed to bring me to school, but Ms. Hannah said that she had an important meeting to go to. I have never been to school and I am scared because I don't know anyone." Jeff looked at the girl sitting next to him.

"That ain't true. You know me and Shannon. I just went there yesterday with my mom and pop and it isn't scary at all." The bus pulled up to the school a couple minutes later. Shannon and Jeff got off the bus first and waited for Alexis. As soon as she got off the bus they both grabbed her hands and they walked into the school together.

"We were inseparable after that. I am pretty sure her family wasn't too happy about her making friends with us, but it wasn't until we were older that they didn't want us hanging out anymore. The best part about Alex was that she had her own mind and she never cared what anyone thought of her. Well, obviously she cared about what I thought or she wouldn't have left. She was just an amazing person with an amazing heart and an incredible personality." Alexis felt tears welling up in her eyes. She had never known exactly how Jeff had felt. She wanted to tell him that it was her, but she was too scared. She blinked back the tears.

"What did she look like?"

"You saw the picture. She was about 5'7" with short blonde hair. It was really wavy, but you couldn't really tell how wavy because it was always up in a ponytail or a bun. She was sort of a tomboy, but not that extreme. She didn't have a lot of guys eyeing her up, but I thought she was one of the prettiest girls in the school. She was nice to everyone and most people liked her. There was one group of girls that didn't like her, but that was because they thought everyone should have been paying them the attention that Alex was getting. She loved to play softball and she was good at it. She was an amazing shortstop with a great arm and an even better swing. She was set to go play for a Division II school, but she had hurt her knee in her last year of high school. She kept playing after she hurt it and practically annihilated every muscle and tendon in the knee area. She had surgery over the summer and she was told she wouldn't be able to play again. It was probably one of the few times that I had ever seen that girl cry."

"Wow, you must have really loved her."

"Why do you say that?"

"The way you talk about her, the way your face lights up when you think of something to say about her. Your eyes give you away Jeff Hardy."

"Yea, Alex always told me that." They sat in silence for a little bit while they ate, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. For Alexis it brought back so many wonderful memories and for Jeff it brought the realization that he was going to be able to get over Alexis and not have bad memories when he thought about her. They sat around for another hour until Jeff had to head back to the hotel so they could leave for their next stop on the wrestling show circuit. When they got to Alexis' house, they sat in the car for a couple minutes.

"Thanks for everything Jeff. This has been a great 2 days."

"Yea, it has been a lot of fun. Thanks for listening to me go on and on about Alex. It couldn't have been too much fun, but I think I really needed it."

"Jeff, I didn't mind. I like to listen to other people and get to know the types of people they are friends with. If you ever need to talk, just give me a call." She handed him a piece of paper with her cell phone number on it. Before she could get out of the car Jeff grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

"Thank you. It was nice getting to know you. He kissed her on the cheek and handed her a piece of paper with his number on it. She got out of the car and stood in the driveway as Jeff drove away. She grabbed out her cell and dialed his number.

"Hello?" Jeff said.

"I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a bogus number. And you don't have to worry, mine isn't bogus either." With that she hung up the phone and walked inside.