"And yes I did bring your Nutella before you start crying all over again," Zach said and plopped down on the couch.

"You're the best Zach," I gave him a flying kiss and he pretended to catch it as Mr. Rhodes sat there looking at us and our childish behaviour.

"Mommy said I had to come back before eight," Livy sadly said and hung her head low.

"Aww, it's okay honey. You can come back tomorrow morning, alright?" I sat down in front of her and her face brightened up once again.

"Really?"

"Yes really," I nodded my head as she jumped down from the couch and gave me a hug before pressing a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Bye Princess," she waved at me and made her way towards the door before turning around and waving at Mr. Rhodes as well.

"Bye friend!" she said and ran off towards the door as Zach stood up from the couch.

"I'll make sure she goes straight home," Zach followed her outside and I nodded.

Now there were the two of us left yet again and just thinking about the moments that happened between us not more than twenty minutes ago made my face turn beet root red.

I heard Mr. Rhodes stand up from the chair and I closed my eyes and waited for his next move.

"I should probably leave now," he said and my eyes fluttered open as disappointment made its way in my expressions.

"Oh. Yes of course," I stood up from the couch too and faced him as he watched my each and every move with a calculating gaze.

"Alright then. See you around," he said and for a second I thought he was about to leave when he turned towards me again and held my face in his hands.

He smiled and pressed a kiss on my forehead as I closed my eyes and drowned myself in his scent. A few moments passed like this before he stepped back and gave me a small wave as he walked out of the door and I watched him leave.

*************

"So tell me, since when did you and Mr. Rhodes become best pals, again?" I cocked an eyebrow at Zach when he came and laid down beside me on the bed.

"Erm...since the day he took your phone with him?" he replied and coughed nervously as I narrowed my eyes at him and thought about what he could possibly be hiding from me.

"But don't worry Belle, he's all yours. I promise," Zach made a heart with both of his hands and I rolled my eyes and threw a pillow at his face.

"How's Jake?" I changed the topic and tried not to think about all the things that happened in the kitchen today.

"Oh he's fine. Just misses me a lot considering you know how awesome I am and all," he bragged and I gave him an eye roll for the trillionth time before snatching the remote from his hands and browsing through Netflix.

"When's he coming to States?" I asked and settled on watching Five Feet Apart for the seventy-third time because I felt like crying.

"Don't know. Probably next month some time. Not sure," he shrugged and I nodded before turning the volume up and resting my head on Zach's shoulder as we fell into a round of comfortable silence.

Somewhere halfway through the movie, Zach spoke up,

"Hey Belle?"

"Hm?"

"Do you like him?" his question caught me off guard and the fact that I knew exactly who was he talking about made me want to hate my feelings even more.

"I don't know," I groaned and buried my head in his shoulder as he lightly ran his fingers though my hair.

I was still not sure about my feelings for him. I mean there was no denying that he was absolutely hot and every girl out there would want him to take them right there and then but I wasn't sure if my feelings ran deeper than just a mere attraction towards him and his looks.

This was one of those topics that I avoided thinking about because they led me to think about a hundred other things that I would rather leave untouched.

I was attracted to him and no matter how hard did I try not to think about it, maybe he was attracted to me too, but the question was, did all this run deeper than just a mere attraction between two adults or did it have roots so deep to lead to something bigger that would far outstand any other wall that stood between us.

And the main thing was........could I trust him not to break my already shattered heart?

**********

The doorbell rung again and I buried my head in the pillow and waited for whoever it was at the door to go away. I still wasn't in a mood to interact with people and the way they offered their condolences just made me angrier knowing that they knew nothing about my pain.

Clearly the person didn't get the hint so I dragged myself up from the couch and towards the door. The main issue was that Zach wasn't here and he wasn't supposed to be back till later tonight so handling whoever was at the door all alone made me want to lay down on the floor and cry.

I opened the door with an annoyed expression but what I saw made me want to jump on that person and crush the living daylights out of him.

"Alex!" I squealed as I stared at the basket full of Kit Kat, Toblerone, Cheetos, Nutella, Dorritos and what not.

"Hi Jelly Belly," he casually said and entered as he hugged me and I acted on my plan to crush the living daylights out of him.

"Easy there love, you don't wanna kill the only person who brings you candy," Alex chuckled as he rested his head atop mine.

"I needed this," I whispered. I wasn't sure if I was talking about the candies or his presence.

"I know," he said and let go of me as we both made our way towards the living room.

He plopped himself down on the couch and I took a seat beside him.

"You don't want anything to drink or eat, right? Right?" I batted my eyelashes at him and he laughed.

"Yeah yeah, not like you're get gonna me anything anyway," he lightly shook his head and I smiled and tore open the packet of Toblerone.

We ate and talked for a little while and fell into a comfortable silence when Alex spoke again,

"So.... how have you been holding up?"

"I'm fine," I reassuringly nodded my head at him and he passed me a sad smile.

"Look at you, lying and expecting me to fall for that bull," he shook his head in a disappointed manner and I rolled my eyes.

"What else am I supposed to say, huh?"

"Well you can start by telling me about those tear stains on your cheeks," he sweetly smiled and I lifted my hand up to rub my cheek.

"Fuck off, Alex," I said and moved my head to the other side, trying not to talk about the only thing I was trying to avoid.

"Ace told me he visited," Alex took the hint that I clearly wasn't in a mood to talk about it so he changed the topic.

"Yep. Two days ago," I nodded my head.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. You know I wasn't in States," he scratched his neck with a guilty look on his face and I smiled at him.

"It's okay, I had a lot of people here," I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah.....like Ace," he said after a few moments and wiggled his eyebrows at me and I knew I was starting to get the stupid blush once again.

"Yeah. He took care of me...."I trailed off, not sure why was I getting so worked up just by talking about him.

"He was really nervous and confused you know. He was calling me over and over again because he didn't exactly know how to condole someone," Alex chuckled richly and somehow his words brought this weird feeling to me.

Just thinking about Mr. Rhodes getting all worried and worked up because of me made me smile.

Stupid heart.

***************

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