"You want to make this happen?" Rian asks, staring into my eyes.

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's like starting new for me, in a weird way, I guess." I say, not really sure how to put my words together.

"How is it like starting new, Alex?" He asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"I haven't dated anyone since my sophomore year." I admit, and memories of Austin hit me.

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about." He says.

"I'll go more in depth about it sooner or later, just not now." I say and let out a sigh.

"I know, I know. I'll let you figure that out at your own pace." He says gently, and holds both of my hands.

He hesitates for a split second before he kisses my forehead, and I sheepishly smile. My cheeks warm up, and we both let out little laughs. Of course I want to start a relationship with Rian, and although I still hold onto some doubts from the past, I know that I can trust him. He's different from every guy I've known.

"Let's start off slow, okay? Like I said, it's been a while." I say, looking into his perfect eyes.

"Of course, anything that makes you the most comfortable." He says softly.

"In case you didn't know, I'm not very experienced with relationships." I say and laugh.

"Neither am I, Alex." He says and his smile causes his dimples to show.

He walks over to the dresser, and hands me a plate of breakfast. I thank him and we sit next to each other on the bed. We eat and quietly talk, and I know I owe him an apology for how I acted last night. Getting drunk and being rude towards him did absolutely nothing to help his grief.

"Again, I'm sorry about last night. I must've pissed you off to the tenth power." I apologize through a mouth full of toast.

"It's alright, you probably don't remember most of last night. Everything's okay, now." He says, placing a hand on my knee.

After we finish eating breakfast together, we mainly just lay next to each other in the bed. My head rests on his shoulder, and he has his arm wrapped around me. For the most part we've been quiet, only bringing up something occasionally.

"I have school tomorrow." I groan, and I can already feel the stress weighing down on me.

"Do you need a ride? I can drop you off and pick you up, if you want." He offers.

"No, I have a car. It's just... not with me."

"Where is it?" He asks.

"My house." I say, and my mother pops up in my head instantly.

She probably smashed the windshields and slashed my tires by now. There's no way that she's happy about me pretty much running away. Everything that I left there is probably ruined now.

"I can take you to get it if you want." He says.

"Yeah, I really need my car."

"Nice. I couldn't afford my Mercedes at age eighteen. What type of car do you have?" He asks.

"It's a Mustang, and it's bright yellow. My mother obviously wouldn't gift me with such a luxury, I got it from my Grandpa on my seventeenth birthday." I say.

"Nice, nice. My parents taught me to work hard for the things that I want, and they wanted me to remain humble. Just because we were rich didn't mean that they'd hand me everything, so I had to work for my Mercedes and a bunch of other things that I have now. It was 60/40, if that makes sense. Sixty percent of the stuff was given, and the other forty percent was earned." He explains, and I smile.

"That's good that you were raised like that, because if you weren't, you'd probably have no clue on how to live on your own." I say jokingly and he laughs.

"I have to be at the hospital tomorrow." He says in sudden realization.

"You seem to really love your job. You're just so... perfected and extremely skilled." I complement, and he has a wide smile on his face.

"Well thank you. It was one of the many dream professions I had before and during my adolescence, and I was determined to achieve it."

"That's good that you strived to do something and now you are in that profession. I hope I can achieve mine." I say.

"What's your dream job?" He asks curiously.

"For a few years now I've been interested in modeling, and I know that I'm tall enough, just not in the best shape. With how busy modeling is, I don't even know if I'll be going to college." I say and run my finger over my bottom lip.

"I could definitely see you pursuing that career, you're beautiful." He says and I blush.

"Thank you Rian." I say and smile at him.

Later on that night, Rian takes me back to my house to retrieve my car, and luckily my mothers car isn't there. We quickly walk up to the door, and after twisting the doorknob, it cracks open.

I open the door, and I walk in slowly before turning on the light and running up the stairs. I run into my room and search frantically for my car keys.

"Where the hell are they at?" I say under my breath while looking through my copious amount of purses.

While Rian continues searching for my keys, I take down my large luggage bag, and I start stuffing all of my clothes inside, and when I run out of room, I start putting the remaining things in my purses.

"I found them!" Rian shouts.

"Where were they?" I ask.

"On top of your dresser, behind this picture." He says while dangling the keys.

He holds onto them, and once I'm finished gathering the things that I own, we both quietly walk down the stairs, but I hear the faint sound of footsteps behind us, and as soon as I turn around, I see Spencer's tiny little shadow. My heart stops.

"Alex?" Spencer says, and I place my stuff down before walking to the bottom of the staircase.

He runs down the stairs, and I crouch down and give him a tight hug. Of course he doesn't know what's going on, and neither does Caleb. The right thing to do would be to tell them why I'm leaving them so suddenly.

"Where are you going?" He asks, and I nearly start to cry at just how oblivious he is to the whole situation with our mother.

I place both of my hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes before sighing deeply.

"Spencer, I have to leave for a while." I admit, and his face instantly becomes saddened by my statement.

"W-What? Why?" Spencer whines, and I can feel every part of me crumpling at his expression and the desperation in his voice.

"It's really complicated. Mom just doesn't... love me, and she hurts me."

"She hurts you?" Spencer asks, tilting his head.

"That day you asked about my cheek being so red? It was because Mom hit me that day. Mom hits me all the time, and I'm sorry that I never told you or Caleb about this until now."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Spencer asks.

"I didn't want to hurt you guys or make Mom mad at you guys, too." I explain.

He just stays silent for a while, and he wraps his little arms around me. The tears from eyes fall onto my cheeks and roll down, and I squeeze him tightly before looking at him again. I'll miss him, but I can't continue to stay here. It'll destroy me.

"Don't think that this is the last time I'll see you, okay?"

He just nods, and I kiss his cheek before turning away from him and heading towards the door.

I take the keys from Rian's hand and we both leave the house, and I put everything that I've packed in the trunk of my car. I follow behind Rian, and he makes room in his driveway for me to park.

"Thank you." I say appreciatively.

"You're welcome." He replies.

Once we're inside, I take a brief shower after Rian does, and I change into some clean pajamas before crawling into the bed. The blanket is extremely soft, and I can already feel myself drifting into sleep.

"Is it too soon?" Rian asks.

He stands in the doorway, wearing some sweatpants and a loose gray shirt. His hair is messy, and I can tell that he shaved his stubble.

"Too soon for what?" I ask.

"To sleep in the same bed as you." He says.

"No, it isn't." I say.

"I just need your consent so that I know whatever I do doesn't make you uncomfortable." He explains.

"C'mere." I demand, and beckon him to lay down with me.

He walks over to the bed, and I see Bruno follow behind him. Bruno lays on the edge of the bed, and Rian and I look at each other. I can feel myself falling into sleep, but I try to blink the sleep away so I can stay awake.

"Sleep, you need it." He says softly, and his cool minty breath fans my face.

With the sound of his deep calming voice, my eyes finally close and I fall into a deep slumber.

~~~

My alarm wakes me up, and my body jerks and almost falls off of the bed, but I wouldn't fall due to the fact that Rian's arm is wrapped around me.

I rub my eyes and walk downstairs and eat a kiwi with a granola bar before showering and brushing my teeth. I open my luggage and choose a pair of boots and leggings with a knit sweater. I take my hair and put it into a ponytail before grabbing my bag, and driving to school.

At school, after I go to my locker, I go to talk to the cheer coach.

"Hello Alex," The coach says, looking pleased to see me. "How's your knee?"

"It's doing better," I reply. "I came to talk to you about cheer."

"I've figured everything out, Alex. After this severe injury, your knee definitely cannot handle as much stress as it could before, so you won't be doing as many stunts as before. You'll do an occasional flip here and there, but not as many as the other girls. Okay?" She says, and I nod in agreement.

"This doesn't affect my position whatsoever?" I ask, just making sure.

"No, it doesn't. You just won't be doing as many flips and stunts like before, just to avoid a nasty fall like that." She says.

"Okay, see ya, Coach!" I say, and I wave goodbye to her.

"I'll see you at practice!" She says.

I walk out of the gym, and I go to the next class.

I think about Rian all throughout my day, barely paying attention to the lessons in class or to what Savannah or Xiu have been saying to me. Just absentmindedly nodding in agreement and just bull-shitting the assignments because I didn't want to ask for help.

It's lunch time now, and I keep my phone on the table, and when it vibrates, I instantly reach for it.

Unknown number: hey

Alex: who's this?

Unknown number: it's Rian 😂

Alex: oh! I didn't know, we never really exchanged numbers 😁

Rian: it's okay 😊

Alex: how's your day going?

Rian: pretty good, the hospital is very busy today. Lots of people in the ER

Alex: well they have the best doctor to depend on 😊

Rian: thanks 😊

"Okay, you've been little miss sunshine all day. What's up?" Savannah asks.

"Rian," I say and smile.

"Who's Rian?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"My doctor. Do you remember him now?" I say.

"Oh! Wait...why are you happy because of him?" She asks, still puzzled at my happiness.

"Xiu knows, well, not all of it." I indicate.

"I want to hear the whole story from you." Savannah insists.

"Well, the night that you guys took me to the club, there was this Italian dude named Fabiano. I was already hammered drunk when he came up to me, and we were flirting with each other for a while. I even told him to take me to his place, but we didn't because Rian was there. He punched Fabiano and took me back to his flat. In the morning, we kind of got into an argument about how irresponsible it was for me to leave and after we apologized, he told me something pretty personal, and he confided in me. We just kind of stared at each other before we-," I pause.

"Don't scream at the top of your lungs when I tell you this next part, okay?" I say.

"Umm...okay?" Savannah says.

"He kissed me." I say and a smile spreads across my face while I think about it.

A loud screech comes from Xiu and Savannah, and lots of people glare at them. My cheeks flame, and then I start laughing.

"I said not to scream!" I exclaim.

"He kissed you! That's worthy of the feels!" Xiu says happily.

"He kissed me and then we talked, and now we're starting this off slow." I say, and the both of them start giggling like school girls.

"Wow, you started dating your hot doctor! Maybe I should dislocate my knee and find myself one." Savannah says jokingly and I laugh.

"There's more to the story," I say and smirk. "You wanna hear it?"

"Yes, yes! Oh, my god!" Xiu says inquisitively.

I launch into story mode about how I had caught him on the couch, to to everything that happened in the hospital when they weren't visiting. They both are squealing and I can't stop laughing at their reactions.

At the end of the day, I split from Xiu and Savannah and I make my way over to the gym for cheer practice.

"Alex!" Chelsea exclaims and runs over to me with opened arms.

She pulls me into a tight hug, and I smile while wrapping my arms around her. The rest of the team forms a group hug, warmly welcoming me back.

"Alright, alright! Let's get practicing!" The coach shouts, and we all run to the locker rooms to get changed.

After changing into some work out clothes, I'm practicing our dance routine with Chelsea, Phoebe, Shannon, Morgan, and Zaria. While LuLu, Skylar, Naya, Jordan, Olivia, and Raechel are tumbling and doing back hand springs that they'll perform while we dance.

"Good job girls, keep it up! I'll be right back!" The coach shouts.

While the girls and I take a short break, we all gossip about random things that's happened recently at school. The coach comes back in, and she automatically turns up the music full blast, and it scares the life out of all of us.

"Girls, dance!" She demands.

We all run to our positions, and we break into the vigorous dance routine when the beat drops, and we don't stop until the song is over.

"Great job! Great job! Definitely the best you've performed this choreography, that's excellent." The coach says, commending us.

"Let's take a break!" The coach says, and everyone sighs of relief.

"Who's that?" Zaria whispers under her breath.

"He's cute!" Shannon whispers in agreement.

I look over, and I can feel my heart fluttering. It's Rian.

How long has he been here?

Almost all of the girls are talking about him, and I slowly depart from the group and walk over to the bleachers.

"Hey, how long have you been here?" I ask breathlessly.

"A little bit," He says and smiles. "You're a pretty good dancer."

"Thank you, it's our routine that we have to do." I explain.

"You're the best in the team." He says, causing me to blush.

"Stop." I say bashfully.

He steps down from where he's sitting, and he grabs me by the waist.

"Rian, no. I'm a sweaty mess." I say, playfully shoving his hands away.

"So, I'm a doctor, Alex. It's a bodily function that's totally normal." He says.

He places his hands on my waist, and he softly kisses my lips and placed one on my cheek. I smile and exhale happily after he does this, and I gaze intently at him.

"I think you're about to start practicing again." He says, and I turn around and see all of the girls getting into position.

I run back over, and some of the girls give me dirty looks. Not dirty as in mean, but as in sexual dirty looks.

Once again, we dance, and when practice is finally over, Rian stands up and starts clapping.

My cheeks flame as I walk over to him.

"You ready to go?" He asks.

"Yeah, let's go." I say.

He smiles at me, and we walk out of the school, hand in hand.