31

Does it count as

Saving someone's life

If you just refrain

From killing them?

I wake up with tingling on my cheek. Slowly, I open my eyes and see that Alex is already awake and looking at me. His hand that was stroking my cheek sticks a lure of hair, that fell in front of my face, behind my ear. "Good morning," he says hoarsely when he looks down on me affectionately. "Good morning" I mumble back. My cheeks turn red when I think back to last night. "I'm going to take a shower," I say quickly and wrap the blanket around me before I walk to the bathroom. In the bathroom, I turn on the shower and step under it once the water is warm.

Enjoyingly, I close my eyes and think about everything that happened yesterday. Two hands grabbing my hips scare me. Scared, I want to turn around but Alex pulls me against him. W-what are you doing? I'm n-nude' stuttering as I hide my body. "Princess, there's nothing I didn't see yesterday" he whispers hoarsely in my ear before he puts a kiss on my neck. After a few minutes, his lips leave my neck and he turns me around. "Can I have the shampoo?" he asks. I point to a bottle standing next to him and see him pick it up. Then he tells me to turn around again and he sprays a little shampoo on my hair. His fingers massage my scalp and a satisfied sigh leaves my mouth.

"Lovebirds, we leave within 15 minutes" we hear Aiden shouting. Quickly, he rinses out my hair and now it's my turn to wash his. Laughing because I have to stand on my tips for washing his hair, Alex leans his head on my shoulder. I grab the sprinkler and gently let the shampoo leave his hair. "All done," I say as I rub his hair again. With a lazy smile, he raises his head again and gives me a kiss.

Downstairs everyone is waiting for us and when I see Rayen winking at me my cheeks turn bright red. Alex puts his arm around my waist and plants a kiss on my temple. "The same car distribution as on the way there?" I ask. Everyone nods yes except Britte, 'I want to go with Alex' she says clearly when she looks at him. I stiffen up and Alex reassures me. "I love you" he whispers in my ear. "Okay, so Britte and Lily go with me," Alex says. Britte gets a sour face when she hears my name too. I look at her asking, where's my girlfriend from a couple of weeks ago?

"I take shotgun" she yells. This time I feel Alex freezing and everyone looks at Britte weird. "Sorry Britte, but Lily's sitting next to me.' Says he clearly so the message gets across. Britte looks at me as if she wants to kill me before she shrugs her shoulders, 'Also good' she mumbles.

"I have no idea what's going on with her. She's also been acting weird and mean to me for a couple of weeks.' Whispers Lexi in my ear while the boys put our bags in the car. "I have no idea either, but I don't feel comfortable.' Il whispers back. I say goodbye to everyone and sit in the car next to Alex. Britte is going to sit in the back seat in the middle.

The first half hour it's quiet in the car. The radio plays a country song and I play absent with Alex's fingers. "Hey Lily, did Alex tell you how we met?" Britte breaks the silence. I take a brief look at Alex before I turn to her and shake my head from 'no'. 'It's a funny story. We were 8 years old, I think. I was rocking in the park when a boy with brown hair came up next to me. We became friends right away and for a week we used to swing in the park every day. After a week, and I remember this well, we saw a couple kissing. We were intrigued by it and decided to test it out. It was our first kiss.' She told them proudly as she rubs Alex's hair.

"Out of my hair" he hisses between his teeth. "But Alex, I used to be allowed to touch your hair all the time," she laughs playfully. I sit down in my chair and think back to everything she said. They must have a good bond because you never forget your first kiss. And that she was allowed to touch his hair proves it. I think Alex noticed where my thoughts were going because he grabs my hand in his and brings them to his lips to put a kiss on it.

Britte was quiet for the next half hour until she started an other story again. "When I was 15, I went to my first party. I remember seeing Alex drinking in the kitchen after half an hour. Even though we hadn't spoken since we were 9, I recognized him immediately. I stepped on him and it turned out that this was also his first party. He had already drunk a bit more than I had but that didn't stop him from kissing me again. Together we stumbled up the stairs to one of the rooms. Both of us didn't know what we were doing but I can say that the result was beautiful. In a few minutes we had no more clothes on and he started to kiss me rougher. After that...' Britte is telling us but she is interrupted by Alex growling. "Stop. That's enough.' With those words he puts the car aside and we see Owen's car stop too. Alex gets out of the car and opens Britte's car door, 'Get out' he briefly says. "What?" she asks frightened. "I said out" he raises his voice.

Owen has also got out of the car and looks at Alex confused. Britte sighs and gets out of the car. Before she gets into Owen's car, she turns to me. 'It was our first time for both of them. I remember him saying he loves me.' And with this, she's in the car.

My eyes get cloudy and tears glide past my eyes. I knew I wasn't Alex's first time but to find out that his first time was with my girlfriend, that he never told me anything and to hear it in so much detail breaks my heart. Alex angrily kicks the tire of his car before he gets back in the car and turns towards me. He pulls me on his lap when he sees the tears. 'This may not sound very good but I remembered the kiss, but not the girl. And the first time I was drunk, I didn't know what had happened. It was only when someone came to congratulate me the next day that I knew what I'd done'. He says as he rubs my hair. "I didn't know the two people were the same girl or that girl was British until now.' He goes on.

'I know this isn't nice for you, especially after what we did yesterday but I don't care if she was my first time. I was as nervous as you were, it was my first time with a girl I really love.' He says when he plants a kiss on my cheek. I look up at him and kiss his jaw. We stayed like this for a while, in each other's arms, before we had to drive on.

After another 3 hours of driving, which we filled with singing along songs, we are finally home. As we drive into the driveway we see a taxi driving away. Asking questions I look at Alex but see that he shrugs his shoulders, he doesn't know either. The moment I get out I see two people standing at the door, each with a big bag in their arms. When I step closer I can recognize the two persons and a scream leaves my mouth.