Kade Loves Alex
By Krystal Holder
Text Copyright © 2013 Krystal Holder
All Rights Reserved
This book may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form whole or in part without permission of the author, with the exception of brief quotations for the purpose of review. Thank you for your support.
Published by Krystal Holder Kindle Edition
The Characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover Design and Photography by Richard Holder
[email protected]
For Kayla. Thank you for your unending Support, Encouragement and Love.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 1
Kade
“Why are you crying?!” I say angrily into my phone. Even though I am clenching it tightly in my hand, the thin cell phone still trembles uncontrollably. I wait angrily for a response, but all I hear are sniffles on the other side of the line. I silently wonder how much trouble I would get into for kicking Nathan’s ass bright and early tomorrow morning at Stone Brook High.
I force myself to count to ten slowly, trying to calm myself down. When I reach ten, and I am still clenching my fists, I count some more. I am at twenty three when I hear her speak.
“And then he said (sniffle) that he doesn’t think that he can (sniffle) be with me anymore!”
I feel horrible when I hear her crying noisily into the line. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.” I grumble.
I hang up quickly, grab my keys from my dresser and head through my door. My mom was nice enough to allow me to move into the guest house late last year. I had calmly convinced her that with four younger siblings I would more than likely go insane if I stayed in that house for one more night. I walk to my jeep and drive angrily to Alexandria’s home.
I am usually a very calm guy, a bit reserved – but when it comes to Alex I am overprotective and angered easily when anyone tries to hurt her.
To say that Alex and I are close would be an understatement. She is my best friend.
Alex’s mom, Mrs. Hayes, and my mother were childhood friends who got pregnant around the same time. I popped out a few months earlier than Alex. Alex was born shortly after. We were inseparable – literally from the day that she was born.
Mrs. Hayes and mom did everything together as young mothers - they went to baby classes and went on trips together, toting us along with them everywhere they went.
Their close friendship caused Alex and I to take our first steps and learn our first words side by side. My mom teases me that “Alex” is the first word that ever came out of my mouth. When most kids were crying and screaming the first day of school, Alex and I walked happily, hand in hand into the classroom. We were fine as long as we were together.
As we have grown older, our friendship has never faltered. We have never gone one day without talking. Being with Alex is as easy as breathing. Without her I do not know who or what I would be. There is nothing more amazing than knowing every single day that you are loved, and that someone is thinking about you. She makes me feel that special.
Driving to her home, I know that Alex and her current boyfriend, Nathan, are arguing because of what happened earlier today at the beach. Instead of heading home after school, we had decided last minute to go to the beach to take a swim. Alex had her friends, Kayla and Laura, with her and I brought Jonathan and Ryan with me. It was a beautiful day. The ocean roared near us, lapping closer and closer at our feet.
We were all playing around, laughing and talking about random things. Ryan sat in the middle of the group on top of a large beach towel staring at the girls shaking his head.
“I truly believe,” he began with his right hand placed on his scrawny chest “That girls are stupid.” Ryan was tall – almost as tall as me, but he hadn’t filled out as yet. The one thing he had going for him however was his ability to make girls laugh.
The gasps that came from the girls were hilarious and I chuckled, knowing that these girls would have him buried to his neck in sand in five minutes flat.
He pointed at Alex who sat primly on a beach towel wearing a very tiny purple bikini. “Why come to the beach if you are not planning to go for a swim?”
Her usually wavy hair fell straight down her back and shoulders. Apparently she went to the salon the day before and refused to get it wet.
“You agree with me, right Kade?” Ryan questioned beguilingly.
Alex stared at me with her fiery golden eyes silently daring me to agree with Ryan.
“Hmm…” I replied. “I dunno, but I know that I can get Alex to go for a swim with me – her best buddy.”
“Never,” Alex bluffed turning her eyes from mine. “Do you know how long this took to get straightened? Never. Not in a million years.”
“Not in a million years, huh?” I challenged getting up slowly from my towel.
“Kade?” she warned as I stalked towards her. “Kade!” She screamed when I scooped her up from the towel. The girls echoed her screams and the guys were laughing uncontrollably. She pounded me on my massive back with her tiny fists screaming for me to stop. She was cussing up a storm and threatening me to “put her down … or else”. I ran towards the water, laughing at her angry screams and proceeded to easily dunk her into the gray ocean.
“No, no, no!!” she screamed coming up sputtering. She glared at me angrily as she caught her breath.
“I hate you.”
Soon her fists were beating me on my chest. I laughed at her futile attempt to inflict even a tiny measure of pain on me and hugged her tight so that she could stop hurting her own hands. After a few seconds of struggling to get free, I heard her giggle.
“I really do hate you…” she murmured with a smile, staring up at me. A little more than half of my body is under water, but with her five foot three frame, only her head is above the water. I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I could still hear laughter on the beach, but I kept my eyes on hers until she leaned her head on my shoulders with a sigh, her hair now tangled and wet all over her neck and shoulders.
For the umpteenth time I thought that I should tell her about how I have been feeling for the past few months. It wasn’t normal to lie in bed at night thinking about how perfectly she fit in my arms, about how soft her lips feel when she kisses me on my cheek every morning at school. It was definitely not normal waiting up every night for her text message that she has sent every night religiously for the past few years.“Night. See you tomorrow. I love you.” She is the only person that would understand and maybe if I get it out, we could talk about it and I can go back to have strictly platonic feelings about her. But how do I tell my best friend that I am falling in love with her? She would quite literally have a fit.
I stared at the thick wet strands tangled around her neck and I fought the urge to move them away and kiss her tanned shoulders. I reminded myself that she had a boyfriend and settled for removing the hair slowly and placing my lips in the curve of her neck as we allowed the water to carry us back to shore.
“What the hell?!?” I jumped when I heard Nathaniel’s angry voice from the shore.
Alex scrambled from out of my arms and walked quickly from the water towards him.
I could hear him shouting at her and Alex was trying to placate him.
“Do I look like a complete idiot to you?!” I heard h
im shout. He was getting too loud and I angrily approached them. Ryan and Jon quickly stepped in front of me. They didn’t want a fight. I pushed them easily aside however when I saw Nathan grab Alex’s arm.
Alex glared angrily at him, grabbing his hand from her arms and pushing him away. My Alex was not a pushover. She sighed heavily as she spoke to him and I found myself once again wanting to pummel Nathan’s face in.
She turned her eyes to mine before gathering up her beach towel, silently pleading for me to let it go and gesturing that she would call me soon. That was three hours ago.
I park outside Alexandria’s house, and ring the door bell. “Come in, Kade!” I hear Mrs. Hayes shout.
“Hi, Mrs. Hayes” I smile in greeting. “How did you know it was me?”
“Hi Sweetie,” she replies from the kitchen. “Who else would Alex call when she is in such a bad mood?” She smiles at me, going to open her oven. Mrs. Hayes was like a second mother – completely loving and dependable.
I don’t think that I have ever seen her in any other part of the house. She always seems so comfortable and happy in her kitchen. She is a tiny woman. Which is where Alex got her build from. She is barely five three, extremely petite, with light brown hair, and hazel eyes. She is the complete opposite of my mom who is extremely tall, with dark hair.
“She’s upstairs,” she says handing me a plate of brownies. “Take these up to her will you? She hasn’t been out of her room since she came home this afternoon. She needs a little treat.”
“No prob!” I say as I walk upstairs to Alex’s bedroom.
“Alex?” I call as I push her bedroom door open and duck into her room but she is nowhere to be found. I look around her lavender bedroom, smiling. She is always painting her room a different color. We have spent many Saturdays moving around furniture, painting her room all the colors in the rainbow (and everything in between). I was surprised that she had kept the lavender wall up for this long. Looking at the wall opposite her bed, I was equally surprised to still see a large dark purple heart that I had drawn on her wall a month or so ago using a magic marker.
In the center of the heart I wrote, “Kade loves Alex”. I drew it on right after we had finished painting the room as a joke and she had yelled at me for five minutes straight saying that she would have to go to the store to buy more paint. Being the neat freak that she is I had assumed that she would have painted it over by now. I set the plate on her bed side table and that’s when I hear a sniffle coming from beneath some covers on her bed. She is so tiny that I didn’t even notice that she was underneath the covers.
“Alexandria?” I ask, sitting down on her large bed. I peel the covers off one by one until I find her face. She is beautiful even after hours of crying. She has light brown eyes – golden and fiery. A cute little nose. Perfect pouty lips and her hair falls golden brown down to her hips. Right now, her eyes are swollen and her hair tied on top of her head in a knot.
She looks up at me with sad eyes and I harden. Before I can start cussing about the douchebag, she begins sniffing.
“Did you bring brownies?”
“Yes, your mom sent them up.” I smile at her excitement. She sits up and I see that she is wearing a pink tank top, underwear … and nothing else. I swallow. I think that sometimes she forgets that I am only human. She leans over me and grabs two of the brownies from the plate. She lays her head on my shoulder and takes a huge bite of the brownie. She sighs.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I question.
“No… I already feel much better.” She begins munching on the second brownie and offers me the last bite. I take it from her fingers. “How does it taste?”
“Like heaven.” I reply.
She grins at me and gives me a chocolatey kiss on my cheek. She lies back down on the bed and opens her arms for me to join her under the covers. I oblige, tucking her into my side and holding her close.
She sighs again then closes her eyes and I know that she will be falling asleep soon. She loves to sleep. I look down at her and close my eyes. And soon I feel my eyes becoming heavy.
Chapter 2
Alex
My phone alarm buzzes again and I realize that I can no longer keep pressing ‘snooze’ or else I will be late for school – again. I reluctantly stretch. I can still smell Kade all over my pillow ... just the way I like it. It is strangely comforting. I feel guilty thinking that I kept him up so late last night. I tell myself that I need to stop calling him every time I have a fight or break up with a boyfriend. But I know that I won’t. I will always call him, and I know that he will always be there.
I run to the bathroom and take a quick shower. Glancing at my face in the mirror a few minutes later, I almost scream. I look horrid. My eyes are swollen, my nose red, my hair flying in every direction. Make up, I think. Lots of make up.
I run a large brush through my hair – thankfully my hair is one of my best features and is easily tamed. I leave it to flow in waves down my back, and apply my signature red lipstick and my face immediately brightens. I thank God every day for creating red lipstick.
I quickly throw on a loose, black chiffon top, tight dark jeans and black heels – always a necessity when you are barely 5’ 3’. I survey myself in the mirror before rushing to my car. Much better.
I make it to school ten minutes before my first class. I walk to my locker, looking for Kade. I find Kayla and Laura waiting impatiently for me in front of my locker.
“I tried calling you all night, Alex! What the hell?!” Laura wails. “I was worried about you.” Laura is slightly taller than me with pretty green, almond shaped eyes and dark brown hair. She is the most outspoken of the three of us, but has a heart of gold. We met two years ago when she moved from Texas and our personalities meshed well.
“I’m okay guys, really.” I say grabbing a few books from my locker. “We had an hour long fight. I am exhausted thinking about it.” I close my locker and lean against it. I see Nathan walking down the hall. I try to catch his eyes, but he blatantly ignores me, keeping his head straight.
“Why is he acting like this?” Kayla asks, looking at Nathan as he walked pass us. Kayla is the tallest of all three of us. She has jet black wavy hair that hangs prettily to her shoulders. I am much closer to Kayla than I am to Laura – mostly because she is nonjudgmental and when I am around her, I feel like I can be myself. “It is not the first time you and Kade have hugged in front of him.”
“I think I have a teensy … or rather … large idea why he got so mad,” Laura whispers mischievously pointing behind my shoulders. I turn and see Kade walking towards us. He looks good today. I love it when he wears white. He is flanked on either side by his close friends, Ryan and Jonathan. He towers over them, nodding at people who are saying hi as he walks by. I don’t think that he realizes how good looking he is. I am reminded of this fact constantly especially when random girls approach me two to three times a day asking me for his number. His skin is perpetually tanned, his hair black, his eyes onyx. His nose, chin and jawbone strong and he has the widest shoulders that I have ever seen.
“Hey,” he says stooping down slightly to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Are you feeling better?” he questions, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.
“Yes, much better.” I smile. “I feel bad keeping you up so late.”
He shrugs taking my books from my hands so that I can straighten my book bag over my shoulder.
“You know that’s never a problem for …”
“Kaaaade,” I hear a voice calling from behind us and Kade turns around. I see that it is Evelyn after peaking around Kade’s large frame.
What does she want?
In every young girl’s life, there is always one girl who makes her life slightly miserable. That girl for me is Evelyn. She and I have never gotten along, even though we have been in the same school for years now. It is probably because she is pushy. I am usually a nice person. I am upbeat and outgoing. Kayla even teases me that I am dainty at times, but
I am not weak and nobody, boy or girl, can boss me around.
Evelyn is also always running behind Kade. In all my years of being Kade’s friend I have only seen him have one serious girlfriend. Since then he has been single, contentedly flitting from girl to girl. It seemed to be a good arrangement for everyone – I never saw one girl complaining and there was never a shortage of girls near Kade. Unfortunately, of all the girls, Evelyn seemed to be his favorite. And I could see why. She is gorgeous. She is very tall, with beautiful porcelain like skin. Her hair is a glossy black and hangs beautifully down her back. Her eyes are a striking blue. I hate her.
In the background I can hear Ryan, Jonathon and the girls laughing and flirting and making plans for the weekend. I pretend to be listening to their conversation but my ears are trained on Kade and Evelyn’s conversation.
“Hey, what’s up?” Kade questions.
“Nothing much,” she replies in a low, sexy voice. “I was wondering,” she places her hands on his arm rubbing her hands over his ever growing biceps --- and I see red.
I realize that I need to control myself because I am literally imagining walking up to her and yanking her hand from his arms.
“Do you want to go out tonight? We can watch a movie at my house…” Evelyn smiles up at him.
No, witch. I think to myself. Tonight is best friends movie night, not one night stand ... whore night! I gulp. It really is our night. Every Friday we watch movies all night and cuddle. This has been happening every Friday - since the beginning of time!
“No.” I hear Kade reply. You better say no. “I’m actually busy tonight.” And every Friday night for infinity.
“Okay,” she says with a fake pout. “What about Saturday? There’s going to be a beach party and bonfire. I want you to take me.” She leans slightly into him.
“Sure. Saturday sounds good. I can pick you up around seven.” He replies softly. He grins sexily down at her.
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