I Want It All

“Do you think Flyzik and the guys ever figured out what the prize is going to be?” Lyle asked as she and Alex made their way back to the hotel.

“I don’t know,” Alex muttered, pulling his phone out of her jacket pocket. “I want a picture of us.”

Lyle stopped walking. “Why?”

Alex shrugged. “Why not?”

She sighed. “Alex—“

“I don’t care if you’re camera shy,” he told her, sliding an arm around her waist to pull her against his chest. “Smile, dammit.”

Lyle knew he wasn’t mad. And, okay, if anyone else had asked, she would have flat out refused. But it was Alex, it wasn’t someone else. So she sucked it up and smiled while he snapped a picture. “You happy now?” she joked.

Alex shoved the phone back into her pocket, sliding his hand down to link their fingers together. “I am now.”

Lyle discreetly tried to pull her hand from his, but Alex wouldn’t let her. It was a gesture that was strikingly intimate. And maybe that was the issue. She and Alex had many interesting encounters throughout the years they had known each other. She was loathe to admit that she had no idea what to make of their relationship since…that night.

“Can we talk later?” Alex asked, glancing down at her as they approached the hotel.

Lyle bit her lip. Maybe it was for the best, but maybe it would be supremely awkward. But she would never know if she avoided it, the way she always tried to avoid serious conversation with Alex. Of course, she was still always thrown off when Alex suggested those conversations, maybe because she just wasn’t used to it. Maybe it was because she still thought of him as the boy from high school and not a mature (well, when he wanted to be) man.

“Lyle?” he prompted.

She nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, we can talk.”

+

“Okay, everyone email your pictures. Alex, email yours to Danny; Jack to Evan; Zack to Vinny and Rian to me,” Flyzik announced as they all met in the lobby. “When you’re done, go change because I can’t take any of you seriously right now.”

Alex smiled. “You’re just jealous you didn’t get to dress up like a cat.”

“A lion,” Jack corrected. “God I knew I should have been the King of Pride Rock.”

“Calm down before I turn you into a throw rug,” Alex joked.

“C’mon, guys, we all know he would’ve been Mickey Mouse if he had the chance,” Lyle said with a smile on her face.

“Hater,” Flyzik muttered.

“Let’s go change,” Erika suggested, grabbing Lyle’s hand and dragging her to the elevator along with Riley and Cass.

“How many did you guys get?” Cass asked, tugging off her hat as she selected the correct floor.

“I have no idea,” Riley admitted. “Zack and I spent more time walking around town than scavenging.”

Erika laughed. “Jack got way too into it—it was ridiculous.”

“Alex was too hyper for his own good, but I think we got close to fifteen, I’m not sure,” Lyle said with a shrug as the elevator jerked to a stop on their floor.

“Alex is always excited,” Cass mentioned.

Lyle laughed lightly. “Good point.”

“Are you two dating?” Riley asked out of the blue.

Lyle dug into her pocket for her room key. “No, we’re not.”

The rest of the girls retreated to their own room, save for Erika.

Lyle rolled her eyes and shut the door behind her after Erika walked in.

“Did you and Alex have fun?”

“Yeah.”

Erika’s eyebrows rose. “That’s it? You flew cost to coast to see him for thirty-six hours and you have no juicy details for me?”

“We’re going to talk tonight,” Lyle told her, going into the bathroom to wash the makeup off of her face.

“Why aren’t you two dating?” Erika asked, changing into a pair of jeans and one of Jack’s shirts.

Lyle sighed. “Erika—“

“No, you guys have been dancing around this since high school.”

“We have not,” she denied, though her heart was not in it. She tied her hair up and changed into some jeans, her boots, and an old Glamour Kills shirt that Alex had given to her months before.

“Do you want to be with him?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Yes, it is. If you can answer that then—“

“It’s not that simple,” Lyle repeated. “I don’t want to talk about this, okay?”

Erika sighed. “Okay, whatever.”

+

“I can’t believe Jack won the scavenger hunt,” Alex muttered as he and Lyle wlaked through the hotel lobby.

“I mean, all he won was a free dinner so it’s not a huge deal,” Lyle assured him.

Alex pouted. “If we had only found a damn hula hoop…”

Lyle rolled her eyes.

“I mean, we got the same amount! How in the hell did he win?!”

“Maybe he looked better in the dress than you did,” she commented with a shrug.

Alex paused, staring at her in shock. “How dare you say something so cruel, so vile—“

“It’s a good thing!” she protested. “Girls don’t dig guys who look good in dresses.”

“I don’t care if girls dig me,” he said with a careless shrug.

“Right,” she scoffed, her eyebrows raising in a wordless questioning of clarification.

“Just one girl,” he amended softly.

“But—“

“Jack’s so much hairier than me!” Alex exclaimed. “I looked better than he did, okay?”

Lyle smiled. “Okay. I believe you.”

Alex pouted. “No, you don’t.”

“I do, I promise.”

“It’s all words,” he said with a shake of his head.

“If you cheer up, I’ll buy you some ice-cream,” she promised.

Alex glanced at her through the corner of his eye. “Promise?”

“Of course.”

He smiled. “Where do you want to eat dinner?”

She shrugged. “Wherever.”

Alex scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“What?!”

“You are the pickiest eater that I know! You always have an opinion on food—“

“I do not!”

“If you don’t make a decision, then I’m taking you to a Chinese restaurant—“

Lyle gagged. “Oh please no.”

Alex smiled. “Well?”

She sighed. “Fine. Italian.”

“You and your pasta,” he muttered.

“It’s delicious and you’re jealous.”

“Why would I be jealous? I’m delicious, too,” he told her with a wink.

Lyle scoffed.

“Hater,” he accused before reaching for her hand.

+

Lyle didn’t even get halfway through her salad before Alex brought it up. That awkward topic, the awkward conversation that she wanted to avoid. She knew she couldn’t forever but, well, she wanted to try.

“Why did things get so out of control after we slept together?” he asked, taking a sip of his water.

“They didn’t—“

“They did,” Alex interrupted before she could protest. “You avoided me, you ignored me, you snapped at me—“

“It was awkward,” Lyle interjected. “You’re my best friend—“

“You knew how I felt about you. I wasn’t subtle.”

“I knew how you felt in high school. I had no idea—“

“I told you—“

“You told me that you felt it in high school—“

“My feelings never changed, Lyle, they only grew stronger.”

Lyle sighed. “I thought you would regret it.”

“Why?”

“I expected it. I mean, out of all of the girls, why would I be different? I thought you were drunk—“

“I wasn’t,” he said softly. “And you’re different from all the other girls.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know why,” Alex admitted. “You can’t explain why you love someone, why they’re special to you—you just do, they just…are.”

Lyle bit her lip.

Alex shrugged again after a minute without a reply. “So…”

“Do you…remember the day after the procedure? When you asked me if it would have been different if we were together?”

Alex’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah.”

“I think it would’ve been,” she said softly. “But we weren’t ready either way.”

“I agree.”

Lyle shrugged next. It felt so odd to have things out in the open. Odd, yet right. She couldn’t explain it.

“Maybe in a few years.”

She paused. “What?”

“I think we’d make a pretty rad kid, don’t you?”

Lyle laughed softly. “Not anytime soon—we aren’t even dating—“

“Do you want to date me?”

“I don’t know?”

“I mean, if I pay for dinner, you don’t have a choice because that’s basically a date. And one date is a precursor to actually dating.”

Lyle smiled. “Your logic—“

“Is amazing,” he interrupted. “So. How about we just cut to the chase and, instead of you arguing with me for hours before giving in, you just give in and agree to be my damn girlfriend,” Alex suggested.

Lyle bit the inside of her cheek. “You’re a child—an infant, even.”

Alex leaned over the table, resting his elbows upon the tablecloth and he pressed his lips against hers.