The Girl With the Half Beating Heart

"Alexander?" Acacia murmurs to Alex as drives, who looks to her with a pout. "What?" She laughs, turning to him.

"I don't like Alexander, hence why I go by Alex." He replies, looking to her quickly before diverting his vision back to the road.

"Why not?" She asks curiously. "I like it, it's fancy.” She adds, putting up her pinky with a smile.

“Exactly,” he laughs, peeking to her for a second time. “Its too posh, or whatever. I’m a 17 year old boy who eats too much frozen pizza, not a prince.” He explains, biting his lip. “Alex, not Alexander.”

“Well when you put it that way…” She trails off, nodding her head. Alex smiles at her, and they continue to drive in silence for a few minutes, until Acacia speaks up again.

“So why do you have a nickname and I don’t?” She asks, turning to face him again.

“I’ve had mine since I was seven,” he explains, “You never told me you had one.”

“I don’t.”

“Well,” he looks to her quickly, smiling. “Do you want one?”

“No shit, sherlock.” She says with a giggle, and he rolls his eyes playfully.

“Okay, give me a moment.” He replies, his eyes returning to the road. The silence returns, as Acacia glances out the window at her surroundings passing by. “Eureka!” He calls out as he grips onto the wheel, causing Acacia to jump slightly.

“Eureka? Really?” She laughs out, and he scoffs.

“Shut up.” He grumbles, trying to hide the smile that’s poking at the corner of his lips.

“Okay, okay,” she giggles, “Whaddya got?” She asks, looking to him as she pushes a chocolate brown curl behind her ear.

“I have a list.”

“Ooh, he’s got a list.”

“Do you want me to tell you?” He laughs, stealing another glance at her.

“Allex!” She whines, pouting.

“Yeah, thought so.” He smirks, before making a turn as he drives.

“What’s on this list?” She questions.

“I’ve got Cay, Cacia, Caci, Cia, and Cass for a stretch.” He answers, glimpsing to her for approval. She scrunches her nose in thought. Alex smiles to himself, noticing how cute she looks when she thinks.

“I like Caci and Cia, but I can’t decide on one.” She replies, turning to face him.

“What if I alternate them?” He asks, peeking at her once more. Its really hard to hold a conversation with someone whilst driving. She gives him a confused look. “Like, sometimes, I’ll call you Caci, and sometimes, I’ll call you Cia.” He explains, and she nods.

“I like that. Okay.” She smiles, and he smiles as well.

“Okay Cia.”

The next few minutes of the ride are fairly quiet, with the faint humming of the car engine, and the wind whisping across the car windows. Acacia looks out the window, thinking of what she wants to say, and how she’s going to say it. Alex drives with concentration, thinking about what she wants to tell him. He’s no longer worried, but its still racking his mind. That’s how most things are, though. He’ll let something get the best of him, when its not even that big of a deal. Its a bad habit he can’t seem to drop no matter how hard he tries.

“Hey Alex?” Acacia says softly, turning to him, and breaking him out of his thoughts, something he really needed.

“Hey Cia.” He answers, his eyes still on the road, but a smile appearing on his lips.

“Where are we going?” She asks. “And don’t you dare say somewhere.”

“A place.” He smirks, and she groans. “What did I tell you about groaning?” He laughs out, turning his head to see her.

“Can you please be more specific?” She begs, pouting once again. “You’re killing me here!”

“Fine,” he laughs again, “I’m on lunch right now, yeah?” She nods. “Well, we’re going for lunch.”

“May I ask where?” She questions, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You know what beau-” He starts, only to be interrupted.

“Alex,” she looks toward him, while he grins mischievously, “I hate you.”

“I know.”

The remainder of the ride is quiet, neither of them talk. They usually have portions of time like such, where they sit in silence, in their own thoughts, usually about one another. One might find it gauche, but the two of them find it comforting. It's nice to be around someone and not always have to talk.

When they arrive at their destination, Alex parks, and takes the key out of the ignition.

“Tada!” He exclaims, waving his hands around.

“Where are we?” She asks, obviously unfamiliar with this place.

“My favorite pizza place, Antonio’s. Now, let’s go.” He jumps out the car, and rushes to the passenger side to get her out. He opens her door, and holds out his hand.

“M’lady?” She grins, and grabs it.

“Thank you, M’lord.” She replies, getting out of the car.

They walk in together, hand in hand, smiling. They find a booth, and plop down in it, across from one another.

“This place is really small, how did you find out about it?” She asks before sipping on the water that was awaiting for them at their table.

A million memories flashback in Alex’s mind. His dad used to take him and his brother here all the time, just them. It was their special place, just for the guys. He came here for several of his birthdays, along with other occasions. Sometimes, they’d just come to come without a specific reason.

“My dad used to bring me here. Me and my brother, Tom.” He replies quietly, looking down at his fingers on the table.

“Oh.” Acacia mummers, sipping on her drink again. “I’m sorry.”

“Its okay, you don’t have to be sorry.” He says, looking up at her. “I brought you here because I like this place, and I like you. So, here we are!” He tries to hide his emotions with a fake smile, which unfortunately, Acacia sees right through. She doesn’t let him notice this, though. She smiles, and places her hand on the table, inching closer to his. She grabs his hand, and he grabs hers.

After ordering their pizza, and eating half of it over laughs and miscellaneous things that come into conversation, Alex speaks up.

“Hey Acacia?”

“I thought it was Cia,” she mumbles, her mouth full of pizza, “Or Caci.”

“Right,” he smirks, “My bad. Hey Cia?”

“Hey Alex.”

“How did Hillridge know we’re ‘just friends?’ I never told her about you.” He says, picking up his soda and taking a sip. Acacia swallows the rest of her pizza before speaking.

“Because I told her we were.” She answers with a gulp. “When I told her and Matt that I was there to see you, she said, ‘I didn’t know he had a girlfriend!’ So,” she takes another swig of her drink, “I told her we’re just friends.” She finishes looking up at him. “I mean we are, yeah?” She questions, pushing a curl behind her ear. Alex bites his bottom lip slightly before answering. He doesn’t like the way that sounds. Sure, despite the fact that they admitted their reciprocated feelings, and kiss each other from time to time, they never really defined their relationship beyond a friendship.

“Uh, yeah,” He replies, “We are.” His voice seems a bit hollow, no longer containing the excitement and happiness it did earlier.

‘Damn,’ Acacia scolds herself. She didn’t mean that she didn’t have feeling for him, because she did. It was just, complicated.

"It's just, I," she begins, only to sigh. "I just think this, us, we," she stammers out, her words clumsily tripping over one another as she tries to relay her message.

"Acacia," Alex says gingerly, his deep russet brown eyes widening in anxiety. He shuts them, and opens them just as quickly. His breathing starts to quicken, but he tries his best to suppress his oncoming emotions, just to listen to what she has to say. He knows that he can’t have an anxiety attack. Not right now.

“Calm down, and say what you have to say. I’m listening.” He reassures with a smile, gripping onto her hand. She grips his back, and returns the smile.

“Okay.” She sighs. “It’s just, you know I like you, I told you. And I know you like me, because you told me. And I mean, our kisses are pretty, well they’re pretty great.” She says with a slight giggle, causing Alex to chuckle. “But, I don’t want to mess this up, Alex.” Her tone becomes serious as she grips onto his hand. “We’ve got a great thing going here, and I don’t want to mess it up so quickly with labels and what not. I don’t want to have to define our relationship.” She explains as she scrunches her nose in thought. “And that’s what so amazing about our relationship, when I’m with you, I don’t feel like I have to do anything, except be myself. Which is something I’ve never had before.” She says dreamily with a smile, causing Alex to grin. “And even though all of this is spectacular, we haven’t known each other for that long, you know? And my parents don’t even know I talk to you, and yeah. It was just easier to tell Alexandria that we’re just friends, then explain all of that to her.” She sighs. “I just don’t want to rush anything, okay? I would love to be with you someday, but for now, can we keep it just like this? Please?” She asks, looking into his dark eyes. He wears a wide grin on his face. He understands what she meant now.

“Just like this?” He questions, now with a smirk on his lips.

“Well, a little more kisses wouldn’t hurt.” She says playfully with a shrug, causing Alex to laugh again.

“Get over here.” He whispers, leaning forward, and grabbing her face. She leaned into him as well, and kissed him softly on the lips.

When they separate, Acacia leans back into her seat, flustered.

“I understand, and I agree with you. I’m perfectly fine with keeping things how they are.” Alex replies, causing Acacia to smile.

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

Acacia gets up from her seat, and throws herself on top of Alex.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” She chimes, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissing his cheeks.

“Woah, no problem.” He laughs again, smiling down at her. She looks up at him as she grins. “Why the kissing attack?”

“I dunno,” she shrugs, “I just felt like that’d be a hard message to relay. But now, we’re both on the same page, and it makes me really happy.” She responds. “You make me really happy.”

Alex pushes her hair out of her eyes, his smile growing even wider.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” He whispers, leaning down. He brushes his nose against hers slightly, making her giggle.

“I know.” She whispers in return, before grabbing his neck and kissing him once more.