The Couch

Set: Sometime in between Rise and Brand New Life

Alexis

    I groan as Mike’s “Strong Enough to Save” progressively gets louder and harder to ignore, acting as my alarm for the day. I shove my pillow over my head, and when that doesn’t work I beat said head into my mattress.

    Obviously, that doesn’t help either.

    Finally, I can’t take it anymore and throw the pillow across my room, grappling blindly for my phone.

    I end up overreaching and not correcting in time. I’m too tired to realize that I’m falling until I’ve landed on the floor with a soft thud, left to struggle to untangle myself from my mess of blankets. When I’m finally successful, I yank my stupid mobile device off of my nightstand and stop the alarm. It takes everything in my not to hurl the phone instead.

    I freaking hate these dreams. Not only do they suck themselves, more than words can say, but beyond that they make it so I can’t sleep afterwards and am freaking exhausted in the morning. And anyway, I’m scared Colton will find out I’m having them.

    I get to my feet wearily and toss my blankets back onto my bed, making it while I’m at it. And I move to my closet to get a hoodie to cover up my freshly-scarred arms before I head downstairs.

    The minute I open my closet, I feel my heart stop beating. Tie-dye. It’s all tie-dye. I don’t even freaking own any of this stuff!

    And yet that’s literally all that’s in here. Not that all is much. I hoodie, two t-shirts, and a pair of shorts, all in flipping rainbow colors.

    I am going to murder him.

    I almost storm downstairs with my arms bare, but catch myself the moment before I open my door, and grab yesterday’s hoodie from the hamper.

    And I fly down the stairs, storming into the dining room, where Colton is sitting with his coffee and his journal, and stop, my arms crossed and my eyes locked onto him in a fierce glare.

    He looks up with a ready smile. The moment he sees my face, I see amusement wash over his own, but he covers it up quickly.

    “Morning, Lexi.”

    I don’t answer, continuing to stare at him with fire in my eyes.

    He turns back to his journal, but I can tell he’s struggling to hide his laughter. Finally, he can’t take it anymore, and bursts out laughing.

    “The look on your face, Lex,” he chokes out. “I can’t even right now.”

    “Give me back my clothes.”

    I make sure to keep my voice completely level and not let any of the smile I’m fighting back into it.

    He recovers quickly, but smirks when he sees my face. “Laugh,” he challenges me. “Come on, you know you want to.”

    “No, I…” Talking was a mistake, and the smile fights its way out.

    “See!” Colton says triumphantly. “I knew it’d make you smile.”

    Dang it. I’m getting back at him, here and now.

    I turn to the kitchen sharply, calling as I do. “Annie!”

    She walks out, both hands up in innocence. “Whatever he did, I had nothing to do with it.”

    “She totally helped,” Colton puts in. “Come on, Ann, lying isn’t good.”

    She sighs, smiling. “So I may have taken the clothes for him cuz he didn’t want to being a dude and all. But it was all his idea.”

    “Yeah, yeah, I don’t care,” I reply. “I have something to tell you, Ann.”

    She raises her eyebrow. “Yeah?”

    “You know that first night Colton walked me home? Back at the concert?”

    Colton looks up slowly as I speak, a nervous look on his face.

    “Yeah?” Annie repeats, her curiosity obviously peeked.

    “And you know how the guys went after him cuz they had a bad feeling? They used your phone to track him, after all.”

    “Right…” She draws out the word, uncertainty written on her face.

    “Colt almost got shot by three guys who sold drugs to my mom and wanted to get in on her good side by protecting me. The only thing that saved him was the guys waltzing in and pretending their phones were guns.”

    Annie’s face is drained of all of its color by the time I’m done.

    “He didn’t tell you,” I continue, “Because, and I quote, ‘It’s for the greater good,’ and ‘it’s not lying, just not telling the whole truth.”

    There’s a long moment of silence. Colton swallows hard, his eyes locked on his wife, who very slowly looks his way.

    “Michael Colton Dixon,” she says at last, “I am going to kill you!”

    “It wasn’t my fault!” he protests, his voice squeaking. “And it’s not like we actually got shot.”

    “Why didn’t you tell us?” Annie challenges, her hand resting on her hip.

    “It was Cole’s idea,” he replies quickly. “He just thought it would be better if we didn’t give full details to our wives. So you all wouldn’t worry, you know?”

    She lets out all of her pent-up breath in a long sigh, silent for several long seconds. “Horrible reasoning, but I guess it makes sense in the mind of a man.” She hesitates before adding, “You’re still sleeping on the couch for a month, though, Sweetheart.”

    He groans. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He gives me a hard look. “That was low, Alexis.”

    “I know,” I quip back. “Now you gonna give me my clothes back or do I need to figure out something else to tell her?”

    I’ve never seen someone move as fast as he does getting up. “Clothes? Of course. Right this way.”

    I follow him towards the stairs, but he stops at the foot of them, glancing back at Annie. “You know, um, Cole, Mike, John, Joel, and Luke were all there too, and… their wives don’t know either.”

    She smirks. “You don’t wanna be the only one in trouble?”

    He grins back at her. “Precisely.”

    “Well, horrible reasoning…” She hesitates, then laughs. “But you know what? I love hearing Moriah yell at Joel. I’m calling her first.”

    Colton points at her, still grinning. “I love you.”

    She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now go give Lexi’s clothes back. Now.”

    He salutes sharply, turning and flying up the stairs. “Sir, yes sir!”