❦𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮❦

Oliver is being held in jail. We saw an article posted about it the next day. Looks like the case is going to be followed by the paper because he tried to flee and ended up crashing into someone's home.

No one was killed, but I'm sure the people will press charges. It looks like he has a lot stacking up in him, if he walks free it will be no short of a miracle.

He hasn't tried to bring me down with him. Isaiah said he probably won't because if I testify that he forced me to deal, he would end up in even more trouble.

Blake held me as I cried myself to sleep that night, everything was so overwhelming.

For the first time I was able to sleep without the lingering feeling that Oliver could show up at any moment. He was behind bars, and not only that, but Blake made it clear to him that he'd be a dead man if he tried anything again.

Blake had a long discussion with me the next day, he wasn't mean or angry at me like I thought he'd be. He calmly explained how me not trusting him hurts him, and that he respects that I may not want to tell him everything in my life.

But that doesn't mean it's ok to keep things like what happened with Oliver a secret from him. I promised I wouldn't do that again, and this time I mean it.

Looking back I realized I could have handled it way better, and I should have told him the moment I got that letter.

Blake just got back from the gym, he's taking a shower to freshen up and then we're going over to Olivia's for dinner. I'm flipping through channels on the TV when I hear a crash from outside followed by a girl huffing.

I peek out the window and almost burst out laughing when I see a girl sprawled out on a recliner in front of our door. Her face is red and a bead of sweat rolls down her forehead.

"Two more apartments, Bella. Then you only have like fifty more things to carry." She groans.

She gets up off the chair, puts both hands on it and starts pushing it across the floor.

"I thought I was strong, now I know I'm weak." She grumbles.

The chair is hardly moving, she looks absolutely exhausted. I throw my shoes on and run out the door.

"Would you like some help?" I offer. She turns to me, hunched over with one hand on her side.

"That," she huffs, placing a hand on my shoulder. "would be very much so appreciated." She grimaces trying to catch her breath.

"One second." She wheezes. "Do you want some water?" I ask, worried.

She replies with a nod.

By the time I returned with water she was able to catch her breath again.

"Thank you." She chugs the water. "It was too big to fit in the elevator!" She grunts, kicking the chair. "Had to drag it up all those stairs." She groans with horror in her eyes.

We live on the third floor, and that chair looks like it weighs a ton. I'm surprised she managed to get it up here by herself.

"Ready? It's going in the door down there that's open already." She nods to the apartment that's been empty for the last week.

Once we get it inside I see she already painted the walls.

"I like the color you picked." I say pointing to the velvet slipper color she painted on a wall in the living room.

"Thank you, I was trying to decide between three different colors. I put patches of the colors up, blindfolded myself, spun in a circle and threw a dart. That's the one I hit first." She laughs.

I offered to help unload the rest of the truck and she accepted. On the way back up I ran in and grabbed cookies I made for Olivia's tonight.

"What did you put in these? They're so good!" She gasps.

"I can give you the recipe if you want?" I smile, I'm really happy she likes them.

"Yes, please!" She grabs another cookie off the plate and takes a huge bite.

"I like you. We should be friends." She snaps her finger and points at me like the idea just popped into her head.

"You want to be friends with me?" I ask in disbelief.

"Of course, who wouldn't want to. You're sweet and make amazing cookies, I think we'd get along well." She smiles.

"What do ya say? Feel free to decline." She leans against the wall munching on a cookie as she waits for my answer.

"Yeah, of course. Lets be friends!" A wide grin spreads across my face.

I have a girl friend now, and she thinks I'm really good at baking cookies.

My phone rings in my pocket, I pull it out of my pocket and see Blake's name flashing on the screen.

I quickly answered, realizing I left without telling him.

"Hello?"

"Where are you? Are you ok?" His worried voice travels through the phone.

"I'm sorry, I'm ok, I promise. I'm two doors down helping our new neighbor." I explain.

I hear him sigh of relief. "Thank God. Can I come or did you want to be alone?" He asks.

Blake really tries to make sure that he's not being overbearing. I push my palm to the phone. "Is it ok if my boyfriend comes over here?" I ask Bella. She nods her head yes as she places items away in the kitchen.

"Yeah you can come over, doors open." I smile into the phone.

"You called me your boyfriend." His voice is airy. "I like it, but that means I get to tell everyone you're my girlfriend now." He says then hangs up leaving me staring at the phone.

I didn't even realize I said that, it just felt so natural to call him that.

"Hello, girlfriend." Blake winks at me when he steps into the apartment. My face flushes pink and Bella laughs from the kitchen.

Jerks.

"Hi, I'm Bella." She introduced herself.

"This sweet thing saved my butt while I was trying to move that disgrace of a chair up here." She ruffles my hair.

"I'm Blake." He laughs at my pout as I try to tame the hair Bella just poofed up.

"She still has stuff to unload. Can we help until it's time to go?" I ask hopefully. We still have an hour until we are supposed to be at Olivia's. We could help move most of her stuff by then.

"Yeah, where's the truck at?" He asks, walking towards the door. Ok, I guess we're starting now.

"Follow me." Bella runs out the door. Somehow she got all her energy back. It was probably the cookies.

We ended up being late to Olivia's, Blake refused to leave before we finished unloading Bella's truck. One of the many reasons I like him so much.

Mary is back from visiting family so she was at the dinner. When we were left at the table alone she went in on me, explaining how annoying I am and how nobody would truly want to be my friend.

For the first time I was able to smile through it, I knew that I just made a friend hours ago who even likes my baking. And she even invited me over tomorrow to help paint her bathroom.

She said she'll buy snacks and drinks and we can jam out to music while we paint. I'm really excited.

Blake was grinning from ear to ear when she asked me, he saw the way I leaned ever so slightly on my tippy toes. He knows that means I'm internally bursting with happiness.

When Mary realized I was on cloud nine and didn't care what she was saying, she about lost it. She was getting ready to ponce across the table when Isaiah came back in the room, she flipped the switch and went back to her sugar sweet self.

I didn't care, I was too busy trying to imagine what color Bella picked for her bathroom. I plan on baking her a ton of cookies as a housewarming gift. I even convinced Blake to let me give the leftovers Olivia gave us to Bella so she didn't have to cook or order out.

She invited me in and I ended up eating a second dinner with her. I fell asleep with a full stomach and a smile on my face once I got home.

Blake was in a super good mood as well, he was happily watching a documentary when I got back. I was greeted with a huge smile when I walked in the door, it made me smile bigger and my heart feel light.

He's happy because I'm happy, I'm happy because he's happy and Bella's happy because she didn't have to carry her couch up the stairs. Everyone's happy and I love it.

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"What do you think?" Bella asks as she opens up the can of paint and pours some into a tray. The color is named pale pistachio green, and I love it.

"It's perfect!" I yell giggling.

"Man, I sure did score on renting this apartment. They should've advertised that I would be getting the best freaking neighbor as well." She bumps my shoulder.

It sends me into a fit of giggles. I woke up super early even though I wasn't supposed to meet up with her until the afternoon. My excitement has been building all day and now that I'm here I can hardly contain myself.

"I wanted to ask you a question, let me know if I'm overstepping." She says handing me a roller.

"Ok." I feel my eyebrows frown at the serious tone in her voice.

"Last night you said something that sounded off. I wasn't sure if I should say something, so I thought about it for the night." She explains. Her roller starts to cover the white wall with stains on it with a thick coat of pale pistachio green.

"In the middle of one of your sentences, you said that even what Mary said didn't hurt you this time." She turns her head to look at me.

"What does she say to you?" She already knows that Mary is Isaiah's girlfriend. I gave her the rundown while I was telling her about the food I brought over.

But I didn't even realize I said that.

I sigh, I guess the cats are out of the bag now. It would be nice to talk to someone about it anyway.

"She's just really mean. She doesn't like that Isaiah and I are friends so she takes it out on me when we're alone." I ramble.

Bella stopped painting so she could fully pay attention to me. "She says that no one really wants to be my friend and I'm worthless, stuff like that. Everytime we're alone she verbally attacks me but then as soon as someone else is within hearing distance she pretends to be my best friend." I continue.

"I see." Bella shakes her head in disapproval.

"Yeah, she even ruined my sketchbook by pouring water on it then said that I did it by accident!" I explain throwing my hands up.

"Have you told Isaiah, or even Blake about it?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

"No," I sigh. "Isaiah likes her so much and I don't want to come between them."

Bella tisks at me. "Babe, Isaiah isn't seeing the real her. She isn't just that way with you and one day she'll probably start treating him poorly as well." She points out.

"I understand that you would be hesitant to bring it up with him. But please, at least start sticking up for yourself when she picks on you. If Isaiah gets mad at you for that you need to drop him as a friend. You deserve better than that." She's right and I know it, but it's still scary.

Isaiah is my friend, I don't want to see him hurt or lose him. But one thing I didn't think about was the fact that she might start being cruel to him too.

"Thank you. I really needed that." I say jumping off the counter.

"No problem. Now let's get painting!" She hollers, turning the volume up on the speakers. She'll probably get a noise complaint, but I don't think she's the type of person who would care. It is before the quiet hours start for our apartments after all.

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"You're covered in paint." Blake laughs as I waddle in the door.

There was an accident, Bella climbed on the counter with the can of paint to get the last corner.

She tripped, luckily caught herself, but then the can of paint fell upside-down on top of my head leaving me covered in green paint.

Her apologies turned into laughter when she realized I wasn't mad about it.

"Really? Where? I don't see any." I say sarcastically. I cleaned myself off enough at Bella's so that I'm not trailing paint into our apartment.

"Can I borrow some clothes? This was my last clean set and I'm going to have to throw them out." I frown.

"Yeah, grab anything you want from the drawers." He grins. He likes me in his clothes, I know he does.

Everytime I have to borrow them he has an adorable grin on his face the rest of the day. Sometimes I "forget" to wash my clothes so I have to ask to borrow his. Not only are they comfortable, but he looks so cute walking around the house all triumphantly.

I start to walk off but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back to him.

"You look good in green." He whispers, his eyes flicking from my eyes to my lips. My cheeks heat up and my heart beats fast.

"Can I kiss you?" He asks. Kiss me now? While I'm covered in paint? The intensity in his eyes make my legs go weak, I realize just how badly I want that kiss to happen.

I nod my head, looking up at him, nervous, scared but also excited. He leans in, caressing my cheek with his hand.

The moment his lips touch mine I feel sparks, his soft lips brush against mine. I'm too dazed to remember I need to kiss back, but then I do and it feels incredible.

He pulls away, leaving the kiss short and sweet. Then leans in again, kissing my forehead.

"You're irresistibly cute." He murmurs against my forehead, I close my eyes as it sends a shiver down my neck. "But you should probably go shower before that paint dries in your hair." He adds, making my eyes snap open.

I rush to the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. My face is smeared with paint that I tried to wipe off with paper towels at Bella's.

Hair completely saturated, clothes no better. Did I really just have my first kiss looking like a paint store threw up on me?

My lips still tingle and I realize I don't care that I'm covered in paint, Blake kissed me and I feel like a million bucks.