I would give it all

Just to show you I'm in love

unedited.

✝ Chapter Twenty Two | Inseparable ✝

I lowered myself onto the corner of my bed and sighed in frustration when I caught a glimpse at the mess of papers scattered all over my bed. I had been meaning to get to my homework, but with all the unbelievable drama lately, I fell behind. Because of my dyslexia, my teachers - by default - had to assign me easier work than the rest of my peers, granted that I had a tutor helping me improve my skills. The tutor I had currently hated me ... so I had to go back to square one.

I wasn't at all bothered by the fact that I'd probably never make it to college, because I've already accepted the fact that I won't be that lucky. As of the moment, my sole purpose was to graduate high school and see where I can go from there.

The status of my grades also had to do with the many distractions I was facing. Most importantly, I had to deal with knowing my best friend was a traitor-slash-pervert-slash-creep. I haven't talked to Adam since I confronted him and I don't plan to, despite his many text messages and missed calls.

I still had to deal with my dad's wedding and the proposal to be a bridesmaid, keeping things good with Jack, and finding ways to get West off my mind.

Since our encounter yesterday, I've been on edge. I was relieved when I found out he went to Brown University, but now he was back and I had no idea why. Surely, he should've forgotten about me by now considering how quickly he forgot about me when he cheated on me.

West Aldrich was back to haunt me, after I had spent so much time pushing him out of my life.

"Hello?" Henri's voice echoed in my ears, making me snap back to reality.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized into the phone pressed to my ear. "I was just thinking."

Henri and I grew an unbelievable bond in the matter of days, and we found ourselves talking twenty-four/seven. He was the only person I could actually trust, with the exception of Jack who was too cool to own a cell phone. With his financial situation, I didn't expect him to.

"Thinking about that cute boy with the amazing teeth?" Henri mused and I didn't need to see him to know he was smiling like a little kid who just stole a cookie from the cookie jar.

"No, Henri," I said sternly. The whole car ride home Henri had questioned me about West, but I didn't tell him much because I didn't want to open old wounds. And because he didn't know the real reason behind my relationship with West, Henri insisted that I liked him - which wasn't exactly the case.

West brought mischief with him everywhere he went, and I knew he was here for something.

Henri let out a long sigh. "Whatever. I'm going to the lake this weekend since we're off on Monday. My mom wants a family getaway before the wedding. You know, a de-stressor. Do you want to come with?"

I thought about it for a moment and almost said yes just because Henri asked, but stopped myself. "With your mom?"

"And our dad," he added.

"Henri..."

"I know you might feel uncomfortable, but I promise my mom isn't a witch. She's really nice and she talks about meeting you all the time. Maybe you should give it a try."

I glanced down at my hands as I picked at my fingernails. "It's not about your mom, Henri. I just don't want to see my dad with anyone else."

"I understand. But if you change your mind, we're leaving at six so you can always meet us at my place. It might help you get away from all that drama. Just a little food for thought and besides, I'll be there so you're guaranteed to have a good time."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, Henri," I said in a mocking voice, but a slight panging noise against my bedroom window pulled my attention away from the conversation. I was vaguely aware of Henri's response as I inched off the bed and peered out the window. To my surprise, Jack stood just two stories below with a plain white tee and jeans, but still managed to look amazing.

When he saw me, a grin stretched onto his face and he threw a small object at the window, creating the same panging noise from before.

I scoffed in awe. "I think Jack is throwing rocks at my window."

"And that's apparently blowing the socks off your feet," Henri retorted in a mocking tone.

My gaze lowered to my bare feet. "It would be, if I was wearing socks ... Look, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay," he replied. "Talk to you later, big sis." And with those words, the line went dead.

I tossed my phone to the bed and unlocked the latches, pushing open the window. I popped my head out and shook my head in disbelief. "You're throwing rocks at my window," I pointed out. "Why?"

Jack merely shrugged. "I thought it'd be romantic!" he shouted back. "You know, Romeo and Juliet stuff."

"Yeah, and what happened to them?"

He hesitated. "Uh, they fell madly in love."

"They died!"

He stared at me like he wasn't sure if I was serious or not. Eventually, he sighed in defeat. "Rapunzel, let down your long hair!"

I couldn't contain my laughter and burst into hysterics. "There's this thing called the front door. You should try it sometime."

"Didn't want to awake the beast!" he countered cleverly.

Leaning against the window frame and raising a provocative brow, I responded, "Well you're in luck, the dragon just left her castle! Come around front, I'll open the door for you."

Jack flashed his confident smile before he dashed out of sight, moving towards the front door. Shaking my head in utter disbelief, I slammed the window shut and locked the latches. I managed to breeze down the stairs and to the door just as he rang the doorbell, but stopped to take a look at my reflection in the hallway mirror. Deciding I looked presentable enough, I grabbed ahold of the doorknob and swung the door open.

God, he looked even better up close.

His golden locks seemed less disheveled than usual, but it'd be stupid for me to think that it would ever look neat. His dark jeans hung loosely around his waist, giving me a sneak peek of his plaid boxers, and his white t-shirt had several grease smudges smeared across it. The rugged look suited his personality, but there was one soft feature that I'll forever be mesmerized by.

His eyes.

The clearest shade of blue paired with specs of bright yellow managed to knock me off my feet every time. I was secretly glad that I was one of the few people who would get to look at him this close.

"I hope you know you're practically eye-raping me right now," he pointed out, breaking the silence.

I jabbed him in the shoulder playfully. "Guilty as charged." Stepping back into the house, I opened the door wider and allowed Jack to step over the threshold and into the house.

"So," he announced as his eyes surveyed the room and he stuck his hands into his pockets. "How long do we have until the witch returns?"

"About another hour or so."

"Great," he responded almost instantly. "We're going for a drive." With his lips stretched into a confident grin and eyes sparkling with excitement, I found it impossibly hard to say no.

✝ ✝ ✝ ✝

Rayleton's golf club was notorious for its wealthy members who also happen to be the fathers of equally wealthy preppy kids. Everyone knew that these man occupied the golf course during daylight hours and if you didn't, then you didn't live in Rayleton long enough.

So, I was pretty surprised when Jack parked his truck among the fancier vehicles. He didn't make any effort to explain and instead, he slid out of the driver's seat and hauled a black duffle bag over his shoulder that he got from the trunk.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned as soon as I shut the door behind me. "I don't golf."

"Never said you did, princess," he laughed lightly. "No, we're going to have a picnic."

After the reality of our situation dawned on me, I nodded along. "Oh." My brows drew together in a line once I caught sight of the duffle bag. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to use a basket and not that?"

Jack had already gotten a head start and began to take long strides towards an unknown destination, leaving me to trail behind. He glanced over his shoulder to smile condescendingly at me. "Does a duffle bag make it any less romantic?"

"It makes it look creepy. Seriously, it looks like you're going to chop my body into pieces and stuff me in there," I added with a smug grin.

He erupted into laughter, stopping in his tracks to steady himself and regain his composure. "You have a wild imagination, Lexi," he finally said before continuing to walk.

"It's true!" I exclaimed. "Any spectator or witness would agree with me. Especially since you don't look like the picnic kind of guy."

"Ah," he breathed out, nodding along. "So, I look like the serial killer kind of guy?"

I shot him a sideways glare and stifled a laugh. "You know what I mean."

"Oh, yeah, definitely. " Jack continued to tread through the tall grass until he arrived at a hole in the gate surrounding the golf course. Without washing any time, he threw the duffle bag threw the hole and squeezed himself through afterwards.

I was reluctant for a second before following suit. "You know we're not supposed to be sneaking in like this."

There was that grin again. "When I think about you, rule follower isn't exactly what comes to mind." He knelt down to the ground and unzipped the duffle bag, taking out its contents.

"Oh," I said softly as I folded my arms across my chest and gazed down at him. "So you think about me?"

Jack turned his head to look up at me and smiled. "You know what I mean."

I couldn't fight the grin that was making its way onto my face. "Oh, yeah, definitely," I mocked him.

He fell into the freshly-cut grass and reached for two sandwich bags, waving them in the air. "I have PB&J and ham and cheese. Which one do you want?"

Lowering myself to the ground as well, I crossed my legs and folded my hands into my lap. "Surprise me."

He tossed a random sandwich bag in my direction and I caught it in mid-air with my catlike reflexes. Then, he reached into the mystery duffle bag and pulled out a two-liter bottle of soda. "Here you go," he said as he placed a red plastic cup in front of me. "Say when."

I watched as he began to pour the fizzy liquid into my cup, but I found myself staring at him instead. He really was something spectacular.

I've never had a boy treat me this way. Not even West. I knew that had to have meant I was a lucky girl for having Jack in my life. "That's good," I said after a brief moment of silence. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied with a smile as he poured a drink for himself. "So, did you find out who planted that chip in your phone?"

Instantly, Adam popped in my mind and just the thought of him made me cringe. For a second there, I had completely forgotten about the real issue at hand. "Yeah, um-" I tore my baggie open and took a bite out of the sandwich. "-it was Adam."

"Adam?" Jack questioned, raising a curious brow.

"Yeah," I choked out.

"Why?"

Why? I didn't even know why. Sure, he said he just wanted to get me to like him, but that never seemed like a logical reason. Friends would never do that to each other. I would never do that to him.

"I don't know," I mumbled softly as I brought the cup of soda to my lips.

He let a brush of silence settle between us but when he realized I wasn't going to say much more, he asked, "Want me to do something about it?"

I considered it for a moment, but decided against it. Even though Adam hurt me, I wasn't going to hurt him back. I was famous for revenge, but Adam was different. Fighting with him would be useless and a waste of time, and I wasn't going to give Jack a reason to get another black eye. "No," I said softly. "It's my problem, not yours."

He nodded. "Okay."

The conversation grew silent after that. The only sound came from the brief gusts of wind and the distant shouts of men playing golf.

I looked over to Jack, who was playing with a loose string on his shirt. My gaze narrowed once I saw the faint white lines running across his wrist. I didn't need to ask, I knew.

"I have dyslexia," I blurted out.

"What?" Jack questioned as he brought his eyes to mine.

"I have dyslexia," I repeated. "I feel bad that I know your whole life story - and a tragic one that is, but you don't know anything about me. Well, nothing big."

He pressed his lips together. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing to be sorry about," I commented, laughing a little. "I'm still normal, I guess. I just can't really read all that great or write like I want to. It sucks sometimes and I hate feeling handicapped because of it, so that's why I don't tell anyone."

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Lexi." He reached out and rested a hand on my knee as he gave me a reassuring smile. "We all have problems."

"Stephanie and my parents are the only ones who know. And Stephanie pretty much hates me now. I thought we were on the road to some sort of friendship, but that ... website .... ruined it."

A worried look cast itself on his face as he leaned back. "Stephanie resigned as president," he notified me. "The school's going to be holding elections for anyone who wants to fill in the spot, but Stephanie's taking this very seriously."

I glanced down at my hands and let out a dry laugh. "I don't blame her. Being president was the only thing that she really cared about. It meant everything to her."

Jack sat up straight. "Why do you think people haven't tried to put an end to that website? It's tearing everyone apart."

"Probably because they haven't pinned it down on one person," I proposed. "I'll ask Gregory about it and see what he thinks."

"Gregory?"

I released a sigh and combed my fingers through my straight, blonde hair. "Gregory is my mom's boyfriend, and my history teacher."

He grimaced. "Gross!"

"Tell me about it!" I rolled my eyes as fell back onto the floor and stared absentmindedly at the clear, blue sky. "Not only do I have to deal with a history teacher making moves on my mother, but I also have to worry about a dirty old skank making moves on my dad."

Jack crawled toward me until he was hovering above me, blocking my view of the sky. "Do explain," he implored with his thick, velvety voice.

"My dad is getting remarried to some bimbo, and Henri - my step brother - wants me to go on a family trip with them. How lame."

Jack leaned in closer so that his lips were just inches away from mine. "I think you should go." His gaze flickered from my eyes down to my lips.

"And why is that?"

"It might help get your mind of things, and it might help you get on good terms with your dad." He didn't give me time to respond and dove into the crook of my neck, kissing the skin there. "And it might get me away from the addicting drug they call Lexus Lennon."

"I've heard that one before," I teased playfully, though I didn't mind the flirtatious jokes.

He trailed kisses across my collarbone, up my neck and all over my face, avoiding the place where I wanted him to kiss me the most. "Go," he urged as he leaned against me and brushed my hair back, staring deep into my eyes. "You might end up liking it, and if you don't, then you get to tell me I told you so."

"Will it make you shut up and kiss me?" I inquired.

He shrugged. "Possibly."

"Fine," I groaned. "I'll go."

A sly smile played at his lips. "Thanks, princess." He crashed his lips on mine, kissing me slowly at first and allowing me to savor the taste of mint Chapstick on his lips. His hands trailed up my arms and he interlocked my fingers with his own, kissing me more feverishly. Every moment that we spent together I didn't want to imagine spending with anyone else.

I really was a lucky girl.

✝

A/N: So I've been searching and searching for the perfect person to play Henri, and the only person who came close to how I envisioned him is young Andy Biersack. There's a gif off to the side if you're wondering how he looks. The only difference is, he has blue eyes! But hey, we can all pretend right?

And so, the question of the chapter is ... Does Jack and Lexi's relationship give you the feels?

Again, I'm not sure when the next chapter will come out but I'm hoping sometime soon. Just so you guys have a heads up, the next chapter will show more of Lexi and Henri's relationship when they go to the lake and some more family bonding .... with some guest appearances. So, stay tuned.

I am really looking forward to see how the rest of this book pans out. There'll be lots of laughs, lots of drama (as if there isn't enough already) and lots of broken hearts.

Thanks for taking your sweet time to read this chapter, and to show my gratitude I will be responding to every comment.

Reminder: Dedications go out to random commenters!