Always There

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three

The thought of weddings and Valentine's Day, which is also coincidentally Bryce's birthday, makes me ask: "Do you think Bryce and I could ever work out in the long run?"

When my uncle turns to look at me, one of his eyebrows is raised quizzically. "Do you want the two of you to work out long-term?"

I nod my head. "More than anything."

"You want my honest opinion?"

I nod again.

"Well, I'm surprised you two haven't already settled down together permanently. When I heard the news that you had broken up, I didn't expect it to be more than a few weeks before you made up. You two have been inseparable since you were four years old, and if your tiny toddler brains could even comprehend what love is, I'm sure you were in love with each other even then. I know your relationship had problems in the past, but do you think you both have changed since then?"

One final time, I nod. "I do. He was a compulsive liar, and he hid so much from me. He thought he was protecting me, but it just made it impossible for me to trust him. He's grown so much, Uncle Mike. I'm so proud of him. The thought of him spending his life with anyone other than me makes me feel sick."

Uncle Mike smiles, and the wrinkles beside his eyes are somehow identical to my dad's. "Then I can't imagine why you two won't be able to live a very long, very happy life together."

"What? Are Lexi and Bryce back together?"

The sound of either Adriana or Addison's shrill voice in my ear makes me jump. I can't help but to wince when I look up to find both of them looming over me and their dad.

I shrink back into the cold hospital wall. Now that the girls are eighteen years old and several inches taller than me, I've begun to grow a little bit afraid of them. "Um, yes. We are."

The girls snap their heads around to look each other directly in the eyes, and then, in perfect unison, they exclaim, "Dammit, we missed our chance again!"

I grimace. My God, twins are creepy.

Miraculously, my phone begins to ring from within my pocket, and so I have an excuse to hurry away from the twins and Uncle Michael and duck around a corner of the winding hallway for some privacy.

I retrieve my phone from a pocket of the sweatpants I'm wearing—Bryce's, of course—and sure enough, it's Bryce's name and contact photo lighting up my screen with a request for a FaceTime call.

I find myself a quiet little alcove of the hospital and take a seat on the floor. I accept the call, and a ridiculous, giddy smile makes its way onto my face at the sight of my beautiful Bryce staring back at me.

"Hi, baby. I made a new friend at the hospital today, and she wanted to meet you," Bryce says with a cheesy smile on his face.

He hands the phone over to someone else, and the face of a small, pale teenage girl fills my screen. Her dark hair is pulled back in two long French braids, and dark circles shadow her eyes. Despite this, a big smile is lighting up her face, and she waves enthusiastically at me.

"I'm Macy! It's so nice to meet you! I'm Bryce's biggest fan, and when he told me he finally had a girlfriend for real, I really wanted to meet you. Lexi, right?" Macy says with the sweetest, cheeriest voice that I have ever heard.

I give her my best smile, pushing all my own worries aside. "Yep, I'm Lexi. Bryce calls me Blossom, but I bet you could've guessed that on your own. How old are you, Macy?"

"I'm seventeen," she chirps. "I've been in the hospital for Leukaemia treatment for the past two years. Not many good things have happened to me during treatment, but meeting Bryce Bradshaw is definitely one of them."