𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐬 ✓

45

"Hey," Lexi greets me, somewhat breathlessly. I look behind her to see that her apartment looks like a small tornado had blown through.

"Hello there. You almost ready?" I ask her, stepping in and closing the door behind me. She looks down sheepishly.

"Not quite. Do you want to pack some snacks? I won't be too long." She asks and I nod, watching her walk into her room to continue packing. Her long brown hair is straight and shiny, reflecting the light cast by the ceiling lights and I find myself admiring it. I snap myself out of my daze and laugh as I make us sandwiches and raid the pantry.

Admiring her hair? Wow. What are you going to do with her hair Chase?

I realize that the reason I'm so eager to meet her parents is because she has never once mentioned them. If she hadn't said anything, I would have imagined them as amazing people to have raised someone like Lexi. I've noticed over the past couple months that she has many more good qualities than bad, and I wish to know where she gets them from.

I want to know everything about her.

Like where she gets her dark features from. I glance back to see her packing some things into a small suitcase with her thick, dark eyebrows furrowed and her olive skin somehow not looking washed out in this unflattering lighting; Faye and I both have fair skin and I can't say the same for either of us.

Lexi's brown eyes aren't an odd mutation for someone with her skin and features, but freckles paired with her olive skin are. She's unique, that's for sure. The mystery drives me crazy. "What?" I hear and when I zone back in, I realize that Lexi is standing directly in front of me and that I had been analyzing her features with zero obscurity.

"Just admiring you." I tell her honestly. She blushes and looks down which makes me smile. The secret that is Lexi is unraveling like a spool of thread and I can't wait for every fibre of who she is to be laid out in front of me.

"Thanks," She says shyly and picks up her bag by her feet, about to bring it to the door before I swoop in and grab it for her.

"Ready to go?" I ask her.

"Yeah, but I can take tha—"

"I know you can, but you won't be carrying your bags when I have two perfectly capable hands." I use my free hand to grab hers gently. "See? I'm only taking the important things with me." I say with a grin and pull her out of the door, letting go of her hand until she locks it, immediately holding my hand again as we walk down the stairs together.

I open the passenger side door of her car without complaint from her, and put her bag in the trunk along with my own. Rounding the hood, I sit in the driver's seat with a smirk, admiring the wheel.

"You like?" Lexi questions from beside me as she crosses her seatbelt over her chest. She's wearing a comfortable looking cotton sundress with thin straps and she has the bag of snacks I'd collected in her lap.

"I love," I purr as I turn the key in the ignition and listen to the classic car hum. Lexi laughs and I look at her with my smile still planted on my face.

"Are you turned on or something?" She continues laughing and I shake my head, placing my hand on her headrest and leaning over to look over my shoulder as I back out of the parking space. I look down briefly and see Lexi's hands fisting the material of her dress, drawing the corner of my lips up into a smirk. Placing my hand on the gearshift, I thank God that her car is a manual because when I pull out onto the road, Lexi's eyes are glued to my right hand as if something is forcing them to stay there.

A little while later, I watch as Lexi's hand comes up to turn the radio down a bit and she looks out the windshield. "I should warn you, my parents aren't kind people." She says and my eyebrows furrow, but I don't speak, sensing that she's going to continue. "They're going to ask a lot of questions, and they will be condescending." She bites her lip and looks out the window.

I place my right hand on her thigh and draw her gaze to me quickly. "Angel, I can handle it. A little interrogation doesn't bother me. I don't need their approval." I tell her honestly. The approval of a family who hasn't earned their daughter's trust doesn't deserve the right to offer validation.

"Thank you, but that's not what I meant. They're going to be disrespectful towards me. I can handle it, I have my entire life, but I know how protective you can be and they thrive on opposition. If you speak up, they'll see it as a challenge." She grimaces and looks at me apologetically.

I take a deep breath in and keep my thoughts to myself. Had they always been that way? How did Lexi turn out the way she did if she was mistreated like that? I don't know where I would be without my family as my support system.

"Okay, I'll keep my arguments to myself, answer questions, and look pretty," I smirk at her and she lets out a relieved sigh. I wouldn't do anything to purposefully make this experience worse for her. They obviously didn't part on good terms and it's obviously taking a lot of courage for her to show up there.

"Ready, Angel?"