Smile

Chapter 9

Alexia’s POV

I woke up to the sound of Max singing while opening my window. I’ve mentioned on multiple occasions that he has a nice voice but he doesn’t believe me. He’s only let me and Jason ever listen to him sing before.

“Hey Alex. How’d you sleep? Are you ready for what’s in store for today?” Max said.

I faced the direction of his voice confused of what he meant for what we have in store for today. I heard him chuckle at my reaction until realization hit me. After the power went out and Jason and Olivia took me out to the porch swing everyone soon came to join us and had a bonfire with marshmallows. Sofia mentioned how she wanted all of us to head to the mall and then head to the beach. Everyone had agreed except Max and I but knowing Bella and Sofia we were basically going to be dragged along.

“Get up, Raindrop. Don’t want Bella coming in here and dragging us out.” Max said.

I nodded as I got up. Heading to the bathroom I heard Max walking out and closing the door behind him. I brushed my teeth and headed back to my room after. Just as I was about to sit on my bed and put on my slippers both Sofia and Bella bursted through the door.

“Time to get you ready.” Both Sofia and Bella said with excitement as they approached me and walked me to my closet. I stood there awkwardly waiting for them to hand me something to wear because I knew I wouldn’t be able to wear something I want too. Two against one. I’m outnumbered. Maybe if I get Max in here I could win.... 

“Here” they handed me what felt like a knitted top and shorts.

“It’s a pink tank top with white shorts and here a cream colored cardigan.” Emma said while handing me the cardigan. 

As I got dressed I heard them moving around my room probably getting their things ready. Once I was dressed I headed towards where my shoes were in my closet to get some.

“Nuh uh” Sofia said. I felt a pair of hands grab my arm and pull me towards my bed. 

“Here take these.” Sofia said. “They’re your white converse”   

I grabbed them and started to put them on while I heard someone knock on my bedroom door and Bella’s “come in”.

“Max sent me to ask if you girls are ready to go” Alexander said.

“Yup” Both Bella and Sofia said at the same time while nodding. I got up and felt a pair of eyes on me the whole time as I made my way towards my night stand where I kept my phone. I managed to make it to my night stand without bumping into anything but had to feel around for my phone.

“Alright...Let's go.” I heard Alexander say before I heard his footsteps walking out of my room. I started walking towards the door as Bella came next to me and hooked her arm with mine. Sofia closed the door to my room on the way out and followed us down the stairs to the living room. 

As my feet hit the last step of the stairs I felt two pairs of eyes on me before I heard someone get up from the couch and walk towards us. 

“Sofi. Bella. Why is she showing so much skin?” Max whispered as he got closer to us.

“She is not showing too much skin.” Bella said.

“Wait until we get her a bathing suit and head to the beach and if you think this is still showing too much skin.” Sofia whispered only loud enough for Bella and me to hear.

“What was that?” Max asked.

“Nothing,” Sofia said while pulling me out the door and towards a car.

After Bella and Sofia helped me into the car Max and Alexander joined us soon after. With Bella and Sofia sitting in front with Sofia driving I was stuck between Max and Alexander. As soon as Sofia started driving and I knew Bella and her wouldn’t be looking behind them I turned towards Max and started signing.

“Woah slow down Alex” Max whispered while grabbing both my hands. “Calm down. Breathe okay. Count to ten.” 

I did as he told me, taking a deep breath then letting it out and counting to ten. I started signing again but slower this time. Help me. Don’t let me go with them. I don’t want to wear a bathing suit and you know why. It was one of the many reasons why I didn’t want to come to the beach in the first place.    

I felt Max grab my hands as he told me he would think of something to get me out of being with them. 

☀️ ☀️ ☀️

Walking into the mall I thought it would have been more crowded but it was surprisingly not. Holding onto Max’s arm as we made it through the entrance doors I could hear Bella and Sofia talking about the kind of bikinis they would be buying and which stores to head to first.

As Bella and Sofia walked infront of us Max decided it’d be best to take a right dragging me with him without warning thus making me almost trip and fall face first. With the quiet chuckles behind us I assumed Alexander decided to leave Bella and Sofia and follow us and found amusement with me being dragged by my brother.

Regaining my balance we continued walking until we reached what I believe is the food court with all the delicious smelling food. I was proven correct when Max guided me towards a table and helped me sit down and asked me what I’d like to eat. 

I had completely forgotten about Alexander until he sat right next to me. I was starting to feel uncomfortable with him sitting next to me because all I felt him doing was staring at me while I played with my hands in my lap. 

Alexander cleared his throat to try and get my attention but I knew better than to look up in his direction. I kept my head down towards my hands and continued to play with them. Where is Max? He better hurry up.

I felt a rough but soft hand grabbing my chin and making me face up. I could feel the person’s eyes on my face. I felt my cheeks heating up from their staring.

“I know you from somewhere before but from where. I swear I’ve seen those eyes before.” Alexander whispered only loud enough for me to hear.

I tried to get you off his grip while shaking my head but he didn’t budge at all. I decided to give up after a while and just sat there waiting for Max to come back while he kept staring at me. I couldn’t help but feel my face heat up even more if that were possible.

What felt like forever Alexander finally let go of me and I went back to staring at my lap. Soon after Max came back with my food and his. After he handed me my food and he sat down I glared in his direction and I could feel his confused gaze on me.

“Why are you glaring at me? You should be smiling since I bought you food.” Max said.

I was still glaring at him when I took a bite from my food but once it hit my taste buds I stopped glaring at him and continued to enjoy my food until I was done.

While waiting for both Max and Alexander to finish eating I could feel Alexander’s gaze on me since Max got back until now. 

“Look what we have here.” Sofia said.

“You guys seriously thought we wouldn’t notice you left us and we wouldn’t find you. Like come on we didn’t even have to look somewhere else. We knew you guys would be here.” Bella said.

“We didn’t leave you guys, you left us. You guys wandered off and we were looking for you guys until we gave up and decided to get food.” Max said.

“Uh Huh. Yeah right.” Bella said.

“Yes now if we are done here. We should start heading to the beach to meet up with everyone else.” Alexander said.

“Okay but we need to make one more stop,” Sofia said.

“Which is?” Max asked.

“We need to get snacks, of course,” Sofia said.

We all started to head back to the car and got in. We made a stop at the grocery store where everyone got off except me and Max. After a while they got back to the car with 8 different bags full of god knows what kind of snacks. Now we were heading to the beach to meet up with everyone else and spend the rest of the day there.