Chapter 13

ALEXANDRIA

I woke up today and I wasn't in Paul's arms like I usually am. I was in my own room with Kelly in the next bed. I still remember the events of yesterday and how it played out. I remember not wanting to talk to Randy and Paul yesterday at all. Paul was going to spend time with me after his meeting, but I was so mad at him that I didn't want to. So I didn't. He kept calling me and sending me text messages and voice mails but I didn't respond. I didn't even look or listen to some of the messages that he left. My heart wanted to answer, but my head said not to. I got out of bed to start getting ready for my flight to go back home, which means that I would have to deal with Randy if he was going to be home the same time as me. He, as well, left some messages letting me know that he wanted to talk to me. But I didn't call back either. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I barely ate yesterday which made Kelly worry. I didn't blame her at all for being worried. When I got out of the shower, I had my phone on the charger and I heard it ring. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Paul. I figured that I put him through enough trouble as it is yesterday. But I was still mad at him. I reluctantly picked up the phone.

"Yes?"

"You still mad at me?" he asked.

"Is that why you called me?"

"I want to talk to you. I know you're going back home today. Just let me talk to you."

"Why should I? I'm still mad at you."

"And I understand that. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you upset. I just wanted you to fix things with your brother."

"And I will fix them on my own time. Not when someone tells me to. Is that clear?"

"Does that mean you'll forgive me?"

"I don't like being mad at anyone I love." I said without thinking about the last part of it.

There was silence until he spoke up. "I don't like it when we fight. It's not fun."

"I know." I replied barely above a whisper.

"I guess I'll see you next week then."

"Okay."

I hung up without caring if he had to say anything else. After getting everything ready and saying bye to a few people, Kelly and I went to the airport together. I was going to try to think positive today. When we were there, I saw Randy. He surprisingly didn't say anything to me. He just said hi. I then saw Paul. I felt sad when I saw him He had this sad look on his face. I hated it so much when he's sad. I always like to make him smile. But before I could go up to him to talk to him, I heard my flight being called. Come to find out that my seat was right next to Randy's. He let me take the seat next to the window knowing how much I like the window seat. There was an awkward silence until the plane took off.

"Happy to go home?" he asked.

"Yeah. I need some down time before going back out on the road."

"I really am sorry, you know. I didn't mean what I said about you being dead to me. I don't want to lose you."

As I watched him say these things, I saw that he was being honest. He wasn't lying about anything thing. Let's see how the next couple of days go.

THE NEXT DAY

Randy, Dad, and myself met up for lunch and to catch up on some things with Dad.

"What is this I hear about you two not speaking to each other?" asked Dad.

"It's my fault." replied Randy. "I said something to her that I shouldn't have out of anger. Now I regret it more than anything."

"Alexandria?"

"Yeah. I still haven't forgotten about that. I don't know if I ever will, if I ever do. I'm sorry that I reacted the way that I did the day before yesterday. But sometimes, it is hard for me to get over things. Especially when I hold a grudge."

"I know how well you can hold a grudge. It isn't the first time you hole one against me. Vice verse. I do love you. A lot. I don't want to lose what we have over something that shouldn't even be coming in between us. I want our relationship to be as strong as it used to be."

"Me too."

"I want you guys to go this lady that I know. She's very good at working with people with your situation. Especially with anger issues which is something that the two of you need to desperately work on. She's willing to start as early as tomorrow morning if that is what you want."

"I'll go if Alex goes." said Randy.

"I'll go. But he has to come with me. No ifs, ands, or buts about it." I replied.

"Deal. Can we shake on it?" asked Randy.

"Deal."

We went to shake hands but ended up doing the shake that we used to do growing up. Didn't think that I still remembered it.

RANDY

Alexandria and I went to the lady that Dad recommended yesterday to us. I think that this could be a good idea to help Alexandria and me to get things right between us.

"Hi. My name is Melanie Robinson. You father told me a bit about you guys. Would you mind telling me why you're here?"

"I think that we're here because of the fact that things between my sister and I haven't been the best these past couple of months."

"What makes you say that?"

"Ever since I found out that she was dating this guy that we work with, it hasn't been the same."

"In what way?"

"She started hanging out with someone more often and with me less. At first I thought that it was because she was making new friends and wanting to hang out with them. But then when I found out that she was dating someone, I got upset."

"Is there a problem between you and this guy that has you upset about the situation?"

"We don't like each other. I can't explain why. We just do."

"Alexandria, how do you feel about this?"she asked.

"I don't like it one bit." She replied. "I know that they don't like each other. I don't expect them to. But at least try to get along and respect each other. If they can't do it for themselves, then do it for me."

"What do you think the reason is that you feel that he doesn't want to accept your relationship with this guy that you're with?" she asked Alexandria

"Because he doesn't like my boyfriend. I don't know what to do. I'm tired of being the mediator between these two trying to talk to them to get them to like each other. One of these days I'm just going to stop playing that role because of how tired I am of playing it."

"Randy, did you ever think about how you and her boyfriend are to each other, could be hurting your sister? Because I can tell that it's pretty bothersome to her."

"I never did. We've both been stubborn and hard headed our whole life. Then you add the fact that we both have a bad temper. I never stopped to really think about how she feels about the situation and how she feels about him." I replied.

"How do you feel about him Alexandria?"

"I'm in love with him. I don't want to lose him because they can't get along with each other."

"You hear that Randy?"

"Loud and clear."

"Did she ever say that to you before?"

"I've never heard her say that she's in love with someone. Now that I actually hear it, it's kinda weird. But we can't help who we fall for."

"I see that you're wearing a wedding ring. How long have you been married?" she asked.

"Four years." I replied.

"And how did she react when you and your wife started dating?"

"Not good. She didn't like her. Thought that she was taking me away from her."

"Do you think that that is how you are feeling? That her boyfriend could be taking her away from you, causing you to react the way that you are towards their relationship?" she asked.

Now that I thought about it, it made some sense.

"If that's the case, then why didn't you talk to me about it?" asked Alex. "Like I did when I was in that situation."

We talked for about half an hour more before we left for lunch.

"It went pretty well." I said breaking the silence.

"It did. I just hope that things go right between us from here on out." she replied.

"Me too. I want us to be close again like we used to. I think that if we go to a couple more of these meetings or whatever, then I think that it can help us."

"It could. I hope it does."

"So have you told him that you love him?" I asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I always freak out when I think that it's the right time to say something." she replied.

"It'll be easier once you say it. Then you won't have to freak out about saying it again and again."

PAUL

It's been about a week since Alexandria and I have talked to each other. The last time that we talked, it was clear to me that she was still upset with me. I didn't want to bother her at all or make her think that i want to push her to do something that she doesn't want to do.

"Come in." I said when I heard a knock on my door.

"Hi."

I looked up and it was Alexandria.

"Alex. Hey."

I instantly got up and hugged her. I really did miss her.

"Sorry I didn't call or anything these past couple of days. I've been working on some things." she told me.

"That's okay. Me too."

"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit."

But then we heard a knock on the door. When I opened it, it was Stephanie.

"What do you want Steph?"

"I just wanted to tell you that we have a meeting. Like right now."

"Again, people don't tell me this earlier?" I asked.

"Then again, better for me. I wanted to see you."

"Now's not the time. Not interested anyways."

She looked inside and saw Alex. "Oh. I see. Well, meeting. Now."

I looked back when I noticed Alexandria walking up to me.

"That's okay. I'll talk to you another time."

Alex left my office and I couldn't help but walk after her.

"Hey." I said as I put my arm around her waist."Meet me after your match. We'll go hang out, that way we could talk if you still want to."

"Alright. See you later."

1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES LATER

"Ready to go?" I heard someone ask behind me. I looked back and saw Alex.

I smiled. "Yeah. Come on."

I thought about weather I should hold her hand or not, until I decided to hold her hand. We intertwined our fingers together and walked to our cars. I followed her to the hotel room so we could both put our things down and get ourselves together. I walked out of my room and saw the guy coming with the food that I ordered. I went and picked it up, gave the guy the money and made my way to Alexandria's room. I knocked on the door and she answered quickly after. She was wearing a grey, tank top, with black short shorts. She moved aside to let me in. Her room was really neat and smelled really good. It was obvious that she was rooming by herself since there was only one bed in the room and her things were the only things in the room. No one else's.

"So how you been?" She asked as we got some plates and other things to eat. I ordered some chinese food, remembering how much she likes to eat it.

"I've been okay. Tried to keep myself busy this week. Went to the gym a lot and hung out with my friends."

"Me too. But Randy and I also went to this lady that Dad suggested that we go to. Said she could help us get past the problem that we were going through and to see if she could help us with our temper and our anger and stuff like that."

"How'd it go?"

"It actually went pretty good. Me and him are getting better. She gave us some new techniques that we could apply to help us with our anger."

"That's good." I replied as we both sat down at the table in the room.

"I'm trying to deal with my anger. I know I have anger issues and a really bad temper. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone not want anything to do with me because of it."

"You're not going to lose anyone. I see that something's different about you. You don't seem as if you're ready to fight. You seem like you're very relaxed."

"Like I said, I'm trying. I'm sorry for getting so mad at you."

"It's okay. I have a bit of a bad temper myself. I know what it's like to be so upset."

"No. It's not okay. It wasn't right. I try to be cool, calm and collective. But it's hard for me sometimes. Sometimes it's hard for me to just keep it together and not explode. So I usually try to walk away and be by myself so that I wouldn't have to lose my temper. But I still come across as having major anger problems. So it doesn't help either way. It makes it hard for me because I don't want to lose anyone that I care about."

"You're not going to lose me, Alex. I'm going to stick right by you and help you get through this."

"So you don't hate me?" she asked.

"No. I can't hate you. I love you." I admitted to her.

"Yeah?" she whispered.

"Yeah. I'm in love with you."

"I love you, too."

I felt such a weight lift off my shoulder when I finally told her that. To know that she feels the same way about me, makes it even better. No it wasn't romantic and we were coming off the heel of an argument. But at least I told her and I let it be known to her how I felt. I got it off my chest. We spent the next two hours talking and watching t.v. I decided to go back to my room for the night.

"I love you." I told her before walking out the door.

"I love you, too."

I gave her a kiss and felt her kiss back sweetly.

"Good night."

"Night."

ALEXANDRIA

Paul just left my room to go back to his and I'm glad that he came to my room. We ate and we talked and had a good time. He also told me that he loved me. It made me really happy to know that he feels that way towards me and that he really wants to be with me. I brushed my teeth and went back to watching television in hopes that I can eventually get some sleep. I heard a knock on my door about an hour later and wondered who it could be. I thought that it would be Randy because of how we used to talk to each other late at night, growing up.

"Paul?" He was standing at my door with nothing but sweats and his slippers. His hair was loose, but neat. How sexy he looked right now made me want to jump in his arms.

Keep yourself calm.

"Hey, I know that it's probably late, but I just wanted to come over."

"Come in. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. I just...uh..."

I sat down on my bed and turned off the television to give him my full attention.

"I uh..."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You'll probably think that this is corny, but I just liked the way it felt when I told you I love you, so I came back to tell you because I didn't want to say it over the phone."

I looked at him confused.

"I know it's probably sounding dumb right now. You know when I realized that I love you?"

"When?"

"When you came with me to Connecticut for the first time. I didn't start admitting it to people until you took me to meet your parents. I know that seems like a long time ago, and I know I'm not making any sense right now at all, what so ever. But..."

"Hey" I said interrupting him. "Come closer."

He leaned down and put his arms on each of my side.

"Relax. I love you."

He nodded slightly and kissed me. I laid down and let him hover over me. I moved up in bed and let him get more comfortable. I felt his hand go underneath my shirt as we kissed. I don't think he's leaving my room tonight.