CHAPTER NINE
The remainder of the week went by slower than normal, the snow outside causing the entire city to come to a standstill. Instead of moping around doing nothing like he usually did, Alex had decided to unpack all the boxes still left over from when he'd first moved in almost three months ago.
Before Kalila had left to go home that day, she had offered to help paint the flat whenever he got round to it. He hadn't been planning to take her up on her offer, preferring his place to have a miserable atmosphere to match the way he felt inside. But that was before Lacey barged her way over that Sunday morning, after the snow had finally melted.
"Morning, sunshine!" she chirped, smacking Alex on his shoulder with the spare key he had given her for emergencies. He rubbed his half-open eyes and yawned, kicking the tangled bedsheets off with his feet to reveal bright pink pyjamas.
"What are you doing here so early?" he groaned, pulling himself up at looking at the luminescent figures of the small clock on his bedside cabinet. 9:46am. He grudgingly climbed out of bed and took a few steps towards the bathroom, Lacey skipping behind him.
"Well, to put it bluntly, you're a mess, darling." Her arms were crossed defensively, as though she was daring him to protest. Which he would have done if it weren't for the fact that his mouth was currently full of toothpaste, making him look rather like a rabid chipmunk.
She took advantage of the fact that he couldn't tell her to shut up or complain, and continued. "You haven't gone out anywhere since the accident, you barely talk to anyone anymore and you live like a hobo. Do you really think Alice would be okay with you wasting your life away like this?!"
Alex rinsed his mouth out, turning towards her. "Well, excuse me if I'm not okay with it yet." He spoke quietly but clearly, narrowing his eyes at his way-too-nosy-for-her-own-good best friend.
Lacey stood her ground, knowing she was right, and refusing to back down. Along with the anger in the eyes staring down at her, there was a flash of hurt, and she knew he was putting on a mask to hide it. Her expression softened as she reached out to grab his hand in consolation.
"Hey. I know you're not okay being without her. Neither am I, but Alice was the life of the party all the time. Everything about her was so happy, and you know she'd kick your butt if she could see you now," she said, smiling as his anger subsided. "Especially if she could see how boring this place is; you really need to paint the walls!"
"Ugh, not you as well! Kalila offered to help paint it, butâ"
Lacey squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. "Oh my gosh! She was here? You actually invited a girl over? You never invite anyone over, not even me or Ty. We just waltz right in. That has to mean something! You must like her, aww!"
He rolled his eyes. "Calm your knickers, Lace. We were only doing our art project."
Lacey was too much of a hopeless romantic. Stupid Nicholas Sparks! It was all his fault for giving her, and every other girl on the planet, unrealistic expectations of guys. She constantly played matchmaker in her head and Alex was her latest victim. He hadn't dated anyone since Melissa last year and that was something he'd rather not think about. It wasn't his fault all the girls in school were annoying and treated him like a pet instead of a person.
"Pfft, excuses! Anyway, forget that. C'mon, we're going to Homebase." She pulled some clothes out of his wardrobe and threw them at him, pushing him towards the bathroom to change. There was no way she was allowing him to go out in public in those Disney princess pyjamas again. 'God knows what Alice was thinking when she got him them for their birthday,' she thought, giggling as she remembered the sight.
"What is up with girls walking into my room and picking out clothes for me to wear?" he muttered to himself. Or maybe not quite to himself, since Lacey still managed to hear. She raised her left eyebrow quizzically as though asking him to explain.
"Uhm, well, you see... Actually, never mind. It's a pretty long story." He grinned as he avoided the implied question. He pulled on black jeans and a light green t-shirt on before grabbing a jacket off the floor.
Lacey put her hands on her hips expectantly, waiting for him to finish, but he didn't. 'Stupid boy,' she thought to herself, picking up a pillow and throwing it at him.
"Hey! Okay fine. Basically, the day Kalila came over, I was having a shitty day. She noticed and picked out some random clothes for me to wear before dragging me out to a park in the snow. And we used the pictures we took there for our project. That's it." He winced a little, waiting for it.
"AWWWW! That's so cute!"
"Shut it, Lace, you're bursting my ear drums." He elbowed her as they left his apartment and strolled down his road, walking around the few patches of ice still left on the ground. She had a huge smile on her face, her hazel eyes shining with giddiness. Although Lacey knew he was too dense to realise it, he had a soft spot for the girl.
He was usually so confident around girls, aware of the effect he had on them, and with the amount of bimbos that jumped on him and Tyler daily, she couldn't really blame him. But Kalila was different from them. Despite not knowing anything about her, Lacey knew that she wasn't stuck up or vain like most girls at their school. She talked to Alex like he was an equal, not putting him high up on a pedestal like everyone else seemed to do. And thank God, she was nothing like Melissa â the kind of person that took pleasure in crushing hearts before crawling back and pretending nothing had happened.
Lacey didn't have time to dwell on this however, as they soon arrived at Homebase, the closest DIY hardware store. She dragged him by the collars of his navy jacket towards the paint aisle, marvelling at the myriad of colours stacked in front of them. "Any ideas?" she asked, slightly intimidated by all the choices.
"Uhm, I want blue for my room, monochrome for the living room, I think, and grey and red for the kitchen, but I dunno what shades. And I have no idea for the rest," he answered sheepishly. He hadn't really thought about it, preferring to sulk between the plain cream walls in peace.
Lacey muttered something about him being useless and picked up a bunch of blue colour swatches, overwhelmed by all the different shades.
Caribbean Coast. Lost Lake. Cloudy. Niagara Falls. Luna Landscape. Honolulu Sky. Twilight. Surf. Atlantic. Sapphire.
She handed them over to Alex, who scrutinised them, trying to differentiate between the variety of blues. He couldn't help thinking how interesting it was that he had never realised how many shades there were of one colour until faced with them all. Green-blue, purple-blue, grey-blue, white-blue and all the hues in between. Lacey had given up by this time, looking around for a customer assistant to help them since she had no idea which shade would look best with the furniture he had.
"Hi, do you need any help?" Alex heard a familiar voice speak from behind him.
He turned around to find Emma with a bright green Homebase polo shirt on. Her eyes widened when she recognised him, and he was glad Tyler wasn't with them. Last time, she had practically fangirled like crazy when she had caught just a tiny glimpse of him.
"Oh, hi, Emma. I didn't know you worked here." Lacey had also recognised her from a few classes they shared.
"Yeah, I just started last month. Looking for anything specific?" she asked, shoving the pen she was clutching into her pocket as she stepped forward to look at the samples they were holding up in front of them. Alex had narrowed down the search to six different shades but couldn't make up his mind between them.
"Which of these do you think would go best with pine furniture?" Lacey asked, brandishing the few Alex liked.
A few hours later, they finally had finished picking out all the paints he needed for the entire flat and were trudging home, grateful that their purchases would be dropped off the following day instead of them having to break their arms carrying them. Alex had finally decided on the perfect blue for his bedroom. It was a pale grey-blue with almost a slight shimmer to it.
Oceanside Mist.
Once they were back, Lacey became even more enthusiastic about the painting and vowed to drag Tyler to help them. They next Friday was a teacher training day, and Monday was a bank holiday, so perhaps they would get it all done over the extended weekend. 'Too bad Lacey's gonna be bugging me the entire week about getting Kalila to help us,' Alex thought to himself, rolling his eyes a little.
"And maybe you could invite Kalila over, too. After all, she did offer to help, right?" She winked, nudging him with her elbow harshly to force him to agree.
Alex groaned.