Change is Good - 10. Chapter 10 - I Will Always Find You

Chapter 10: I Will Always Find You

*Alex*

At last, Summer! Jumping on my bed I pull out my Laptop to send Shawn a quick email, it was hard not seeing him as he left with his family last week for their summer European vacation. They had invited me to go but, I had just got accepted into an internship program at the local Aquarium and I couldn’t turn it down. “Hope you miss me as much as I miss you.” I close my laptop and lay back thinking of Shawn when the doorbell rings, which strikes me as odd seeing as no one rings my doorbell, they more or less just waltz in.

Opening the door I could hardly believe my eyes “Jason? What are you doing here, how do you know where I live?” I could hardly believe it, the last time I saw him was when he left me for all of his so-called friends pounded me to a pulp. I didn’t know how to feel, all I could do was stand there and then everything went dark.

“Hey wake up, can you hear me?” I awoke finding myself back in my bed, confused and disoriented. I was taken aback when I realized it wasn’t a dream and Jason was here, sitting at the end of my bed.

“What are you doing here?”

“Is that the only thing that you can say?”

“It’s a valid question considering, I’m in a new place with the primary goal of getting away from you and your group of cronies.” Jason looked at the floor with what appeared to be a frown on his face.

“I really liked you.”

“Well, you had a real screwed up way of showing it.” Getting my bearings straight I got up and made my way to the kitchen with Jason closed behind me. “How did you even find me and for what purpose why did you even come here?”

“I came to apologize and give you this.” Before I knew what was happening I found myself lip locked with Jason, the memories of the times we spent together flooding back into my mind. Coming to my senses I pushed him off of me.

“You can’t just waltz in here out of the blue and expect everything to be ok, maybe you forgot but there was a reason that I moved away.” He once again looked down at the ground this time fidgeting with his fingers. This wasn’t the confident, out going Jason that I had known, but that was a long time ago and I have Shawn now.

“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked still not looking up at me.

“Not that it’s really any of your business, but yes I’m seeing someone.”

“Is that why you pushed me away?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, was he implying that if I did not have Shawn that I would have enjoyed that kiss.

“Are you serious, you talk as if nothing happened between us, I think it would be best for you to leave now.” Jason finally raised his head to face me with a look of shock across his face. “Look what do you expect after what you did to me. You may not have been the one who did the actual damage, but you were just as paid for being there and not doing anything to stop it. That is something that I could never forgive you for and I don’t intend to.”

“I still have feelings for you Lex, and I was hoping that we could make things right.” The was one name that I couldn’t stand when people used it, he was the only one that I let get away with that, but here and now it made me sick to my stomach and angry at the same time.

“You lost the right to any of that when you stood by and did nothing, if you had cared even a little about me you would have done what you could have to prevent it.” I opened my front door no longer able to stand the sight of the person in front of me. “Now I would appreciate it if you left and leave me alone.” I watched as Jason slowly climbed into his truck before looking back over at me once last time, starting his truck and driving off.

*Shawn*

Europe is great we have been all over the place and seen so much, I can’t remember the last time we vacationed as a true family and I was enjoying every minute of it. I missed Alex terribly and couldn’t wait to get back to him, with the summer being here I planned to spend as much time as possible with him when we got back. Stopping at a small café on the side of the street I ordered two coffees for my parents and breakfast crepe for myself. That’s when I saw him sitting at our table talking to my folks, Mark.

“Honey look who we ran into, we haven’t seen you in ages since we moved out of town.” My parents had adored Mark, we were practically inseparable growing up as his folks and mine were in the same social circles and we often enjoyed each others company at the more uninteresting events.”

“Hey Shawn long time no see, how have you been?”

“I’ve been good, never better.” putting on a fake smile in front of my parents, I resented the person in front of me. We had been through so much together and were always there for each other until that day he and Austin betrayed me.

“Mark you must come by the house when you get the chance and you may even get to meet Shawn’s phantom boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?!”

“Yes dear, I haven’t had the pleasure of being properly introduced yet, outside of coming home to the surprise of my house sounding like an adult studio.” I was mortified; I can’t believe she just said that.

“Mom, really was that necessary?” It was a mix between totally embarrassed, and upset that my mom gave out those personal details about my life. In her defense she was more than a little clueless about the whole reason that Mark and I stopped hanging around. I think she just figured we would work whatever it was out and things would go back to normal, oh how wrong she was.

“Yes, I will have to do that, and meet the new man that is stealing my brother away and keeping him from answering any of my phone calls and emails.” he said with a smile. I can’t believe that this is actually happening there is no way that I wanted him anywhere near Alex, he didn’t deserve to know who was special in my life, not anymore.

*Alex*

“I can’t believe he actually came all this way, and I still don’t know how he even knew where I was.” I was at the local dinner with Tiffany after my encounter with Jason.

“That’s completely off the wall, you must have put a real spell on this Jason guy if he is still after you. After everything that you told me about him, how do you feel about him now?”

“How could you even ask that question, I want nothing more then to never have to see him again, any feelings I had for him died that night after what they did. How could I hold on to any sort of feelings for someone like that?” Not looking back at her I bit into my burger wishing Shawn would hurry and come back home. I missed him, and want to just lay in his arms and not think about all of this crap.

“I know what you need. Why don’t you come along to the beach with me and Justin, to get your mind off of this whole thing and it will keep you from thinking about Shawn too much.”

“Sure why not, I could use the fresh air, when are we going?”

“We will pick you up tomorrow morning, we are taking Justin’s car out to the beach since it can fit all of our stuff.”

“And you would be damned if we got sand in your car.” laughing as Tiff visibly fumed at my comment, throwing a handful of fries my way.

“You’re lucky I love you, or you would be so dead right now. Well go and get your butt going, I have to get home and get things ready for tomorrow.”

Arriving home I greeted my parents before heading straight to my room, physically and mentally exhausted I fell right to sleep thinking about what Jason’s motive could be for showing up.

Sleep didn’t come easy with everything going on. Jason showing up out of the blue and not having Shawn to lean on has caused my stress levels to rise. I couldn’t have been sleep for very long when I was roused from my sleep by being tossed off my bed. Hearing that obnoxious laugh I knew exactly who it was. “What the hell Tiffany can’t you just wake me up like a normal person?”

“Aww, what would be the fun in that, besides your lazy butt was supposed to be up, ready, and outside before we got here. Of course you seem to have the up and ready part covered.” Feeling my face heat up I grabbed my clothes and rushed off to the bathroom. I picked out one of the new swimsuits Tiffany added to my wardrobe that I had to admit showed off my assets quite nicely. After one last check in the mirror I was ready to go out and enjoy myself on the beach.

“You know I really hate you sometimes.” I said to Tiffany as I grabbed the last of my things before I was ready to head out the door.

“And I love you too, now hurry your little butt up we want to get a good spot out on the beach.”

“All right I’ve got everything I need we can leave princess.” Flipping her the finger as I ran out the door to Justin’s car.

The ride out to the beach was nothing spectacular with Tiff doing all of the talking with Justin and I getting in the occasionally response. I think she could honestly carry on a conversation all on her own, but than that would make her seem weird so we are the unfortunate victims. Lying out on the beach I was actually finding myself relaxing, Tiffany and Justin had gone off to mess about in the waves as I lay out in the sun. I must have dozed off for a good twenty minutes when felt a presence standing over me, looking up I found myself staring up at Jason feeling instantly exposed and uncomfortable, I reached for my shirt and shorts to cover up my small swim suit. “Is there something that I can help you with? If not you are sort of standing in the way if you don’t mind.”

“I just came over to talk to you, and before you ask, no I wasn’t following you. I come here from time to time to clear my head and just think. To answer your question, yes I live around the area although I’m a lot closer to the beach than you are. I’ve seen you around a few times but you are usually with that girl out there and I have also seen you here with another guy who I don’t see around today.”

Well that answered a few questions that were sticking out in my mind, but I was really in no mood to deal with him. After all, I had come to the beach to get away from him and focus on other things. “Really Jason what do you want? I have a boyfriend, I have moved on with my life and for the first time I’m finding myself truly happy, so really what could you possibly want that is so important that we have to cross paths again?”

“I want another chance Alex, I know what I did to you was wrong, but you have to know that I’m so sorry for what happened and I want to make it up to you.”

“You don’t need to do any such thing. As I have told you, I have moved on from all of that, there is nothing here for you, unfortunately I guess I’ll be seeing you around whether I like it or not.” I gathered the rest of my things and headed back to the car. After everything was going so well, this really is something that I’m going to have to deal with.

*Shawn*

The plane ride home was a bittersweet adventure, I was happy to head home because it meant I get to hold Alex again, but knowing that Mark would be showing his face sometime in the near future left me disturbed.

“Why the long face dear?”

“Nothing just ready to be back home.”

“You miss him don’t you? Well you make sure you invite Alex over for dinner, that way we can be properly introduced and he can meet Mark and his parents as well.”

The knot that had already formed in my stomach just got tighter, not only was Mark coming back into the picture sooner than I was prepared for, but now he is also going to involve himself in my personal life. That’s just the type of person Mark is and all of a sudden I wasn’t so overjoyed to be coming back home.

“Hi babe I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for at least another week.” an excited Alex greeted me.

“Yea we had to come back sooner than expected. They needed Dad back at work ASAP, but also there is another reason for me calling, my parents want you to come around for dinner tomorrow night so they can meet you properly, at least that’s what my mom keeps saying.”

“That sounds great, do I need to dress up or bring anything?”

“No just bring yourself and dress casual, its nothing fancy, but there is something else. Mark and his folks will be there too.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“No, not really, but the fact is that our parents are really close and don’t know about the whole Austin thing. If you would rather not come, I understand and can make up something to tell my parents.”

“No, you don’t have to do that, I’ll be with you every step of the way through dinner, besides I haven’t gotten the chance to meet your parents yet, so this is an opportunity I won’t pass up.”

I was incredibly relieved for Alex to say that, I didn’t know if I would be able to keep my emotions in check if he wasn’t there by my side. “Hey if you don’t have to work tomorrow, why don’t you come spend the night with me, then we can spend the day together and you would already be here for dinner?”

“That sounds good to me, I’ll head over after I get back from hanging with Tiff and Justin.”