Chapter 16:
"You okay?" Alexa asked later that evening while she and Taylor walked the few blocks back to their apartment from the train.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said as he continued to watch the ground in front of him while he walked.
"Okay, I just wanted to make sure. You've been really quiet since we left the park."
"To be honest, I'm just trying to figure out how to process what just happened. When I ran into Zac awhile ago, I expected it - I knew my brothers would come after me. But I never expected to see Mel...never in a million years."
"What did she say?" Alexa dared to ask. She didn't know if they were in a place that he would divulge that kind of information to her, but figured she'd try anyway.
"I guess she heard that I had run away and basically blocked everyone out of my life. She wanted to check up on me and make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid. Basically, she said that she still cares about me and wanted to see for herself that I was okay," he said.
He looked up at Alexa, silently asking her for her thoughts on the matter. He barely even knew it, but he was searching for some sort of assistance in decoding his ex-wife's words and actions.
"Does that surprise you? That she would make that kind of effort to come all the way out here just to check on you?"
"Well yeah," he said. "I don't understand how you can screw someone over like that but still claim to care about them enough to travel across the country to see them. I mean, she does have family in New York, but she's never been one to just fly out here to visit on a whim."
The two of them turned the corner onto their street and finished the short walk to their building in silence. Once inside, Taylor flopped down onto the couch, kicking his feet up on the coffee table and laying his head back, staring at the ceiling. Alexa sat gingerly down beside him, her hesitant closeness seeming to imply that she was there for him if he wanted or needed to talk.
"I just don't get it," Taylor eventually said into the silent room. Frustration was edging into his voice.
"Do you think..." Alexa began, pausing slightly before continuing, "Do you think that maybe she's starting to regret her decision?"
"Don't think that hasn't crossed my mind, but it's irrelevant...it's not like I would ever go back."
The words shocked Taylor as they left his mouth. It was oddly refreshing how being around Alexa sparked an honesty he didn't even know he was capable of.
"You wouldn't?"
She tucked her legs beneath her and stared at him questioningly.
"No, she hurt me too badly. I don't think I can trust her again," he said, finally lifting his head up and looking at Alexa. "Things are different now, anyway. I can't say that I've totally moved on yet, but I've started to and I don't want to destroy the progress I've already made."
"Well, I wouldn't let her get to you then. While it may be confusing to see that she still cares, at least you know where you stand with her. I mean, would it make a difference if she did come all the way out here to say that she messed up and she still loves you and wants to be with you?"
"I don't think it would," Taylor said, chuckling softly at the irony of it all. Just a short time ago, if she'd asked him that exact question, his answer would've been vastly different. He would've gladly run back and resumed his married life in a heartbeat.
"Then pass it all off as a run-in with an old acquaintance and continue on with your life."
"You're probably right."
"Of course I'm right," Alexa laughed.
Taylor couldn't help but smile at her confidence. "Let's make some dinner."
Alexa groaned playfully. "Why do you always want to make food?"
Taylor laughed at her faux dramatic response. Cooking their own dinner mostly consisted of Taylor preparing the food and Alexa sitting on the counter drinking wine, helping stir something on occasion. Despite Alexa's unwillingness to actually cook, the task was enjoyable for both of them. It was at once domestic yet intimate. Taylor was constantly reaching around her for ingredients or utensils, putting them in very close proximity to each other, but it felt totally normal and natural, like they had been close friends for years.
"How do you know when it's done?" Alexa asked as she stirred the chicken fettuccini alfredo that Taylor had made.
Taylor smirked. "Are you really this blonde in the kitchen?"
"I told you a long time ago that I can't cook to save my life. I'm so beyond clueless," she admitted with a laugh.
"It's done once the sauce thickens a bit more and becomes creamy," he said, grabbing two plates out of the cabinet.
Alexa hopped off of the counter and, in the process, caught the edge of the pot that was on the stove, sending it toppling over the side. A generous portion of steaming hot noodles splashed out and connected with her bare leg. She screamed out in excruciating pain as she grabbed the closest dish towel and wiped the hot food off of her.
"Motherfucker!" Alexa wailed, true tears filling her eyes as her leg continued to throb from the contact with the scalding food.
"Shit! Are you okay?" Taylor wasted no time in jumping over the steaming mess on the floor, crouching down beside her.
"No! It burned the fuck out of my leg!"
She pulled the towel off her leg to show the already bright red marks seared into her skin.
"Come here," he said, lifting her back up onto the counter with surprising ease. In a few seconds, he had grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and returned to her side. "This might hurt, but it's going to hopefully ease any blistering or swelling."
Taylor removed Alexa's hand and gently placed the frozen bag on her leg. Alexa cried out in pain again. He applied pressure with the cold compress while she regained her composure and took several deep breaths. A few stray tears escaped from her eyes, rolling slowly down her cheeks. Taylor lifted the bag to examine her burns, happy to see that they didn't seem to be getting much worse.
"I think you're gonna live," he joked as he gingerly replaced the bag. Alexa winced but tried to smile through the pain.
"God, that hurt so much," she pouted.
Taylor looked at her and reached up to wipe a lingering tear off her cheek. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "I'll survive."
They stayed there for a minute, Taylor holding the cold bag on her leg, and Alexa still slowly recovering from her injury.
"Oh shit, I ruined the food!" Alexa said, her eyes wide and apologetic. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't even worry about it," Taylor replied.
"But you worked so hard on that, and my stupid klutz self ruined it!"
"Seriously, its fine," Taylor reassured her, removing the cold bag from her leg once again. He placed his hand on her leg and gently ran his thumb over the fresh marks. His touch so high up on her thigh made Alexa shiver, and he felt a similar tremor pulse through him at the contact. "I don't think it's going to blister anymore. Do you guys have gauze pads and some tape or bandages?"
"Yeah, on the top shelf of the closet down the hall."
Taylor headed out of the kitchen to get the first aid supplies and returned moments later with his arms full.
"We just want to keep the wounds clean and dry," he explained, placing a large gauze pad over the blisters before beginning to tape her thigh with careful precision.
"You know how to cook and you know first aid. What weird breed of male are you?" Alexa joked.
He laughed. "I grew up in a big family. There was always someone wanting food, and always someone falling down and getting hurt." Taylor finished taping up her leg and leaned back to admire his work. "There - all better."
"Thank you," Alexa smiled.
The two of them froze where they were as their eyes met. Taylor's hand was still resting on her thigh and their faces were just inches from each other. Taylor searched Alexa's eyes for some sort of sign of how she was feeling, unable to stop thinking about what he had read in her journal on that reckless drunken night. She'd written that she was falling for him, and every second he spent with her, he thought he was falling for her too. He wanted to see it, though; he wanted to feel it through her actions instead of her words. He wanted it to be real.
And then, there it was. Tucked back behind the confusion and the fear of betraying Mason, deep in her eyes, Taylor could see it. Alexa really did have feelings for him. Unable to pull himself away from her, Taylor actually found himself leaning in.
Their lips barely brushed against each others as they fell into a soft embrace. The kiss was gentle but filled with so much electricity and emotion.
"What's going on between us, Tay?" Alexa asked quietly when they finally parted, her eyes still closed.
Taylor took a deep breath and slowly drew away from her. "I don't know."