Chapter 1: Message

©perfectlyxximperfect

Lexie's POV:

Ring ring ring

Ring ring ring

Who the hell is calling me this early? Its summer, for crying out loud!

I pulled out the pillow from under my head and tried to drown out the incessant ringing by covering my ears.

Ring ring ring.

Aaarghh.

Without taking the pillow off my head, I blindly reached out to my side table and searched for my phone. When I found it, I flipped it open and groaned in answer to the person who disturbed my peaceful slumber.

"Good morning to you too," an amused voice answered. I can just imagine the smirk on his face.

"Mmmmm…" I groaned again.

"Get your ass out of bed, McGuire."

"Nooooo...sleep...good...bed...soooft..." As you can see, I'm not very articulate early in the morning.

I heard a chuckle on the other end. "Dude, don't make me drag you out of bed again." he said jokingly. I heard his footsteps in the background come to a stop and I could hear a door being opened.

Funny, it sounded like someone opened my bedroom door-

"AAAAHHHH!" I screamed as someone pulled my feet and dragged me off the bed.

I landed on my face and hurriedly turned my whole body to face the culprit so I was now lying down on the floor.

There stood the idiot, peering down at me with his hands on his knees with a huge grin on his face, trying his best not to laugh. I wanted to whack his head sooo bad.

"You-...you-...you!" I angrily said. He was standing close enough that I could reach him. Without any warning, I swiped his legs off the floor with my leg and he fell backwards to the floor. He emitted an "ooof" sound.

I laughed as I got up to a sitting position on the floor. Ah, sweet, sweet revenge. A few seconds later, he joined in the laughter while still lying down.

You're probably wondering who this guy is, aren't you?

Well, first let me introduce myself. Lexie Kristen McGuire's the name. And the grinning idiot is my best friend, Lucas Anthony Trevino.

I slowly got up from the floor and plopped myself back to the comfort of my bed.

"Oh, no you don't." Luke said, getting up from the floor himself. "You promised you'd help me baby-sit Chloe today." he whined like a 5 year-old and tugged on my arm.

As if right on cue, I heard tiny footsteps outside the hallway then a little girl with curly blonde hair appeared in the doorway of my bedroom. I leaned on my elbows to see her clearly. Her big blue eyes looked at me and she grinned.

"Wexie!" Chloe screamed happily as she ran towards me and hurriedly climbed the bed. Once she reached me, she hugged my neck tightly with her small arms.

"Hey kiddo." I said as I hugged her back. She let go of my neck then started jumping on the bed.

I was still smiling while watching her when something registered in my mind.

"You left her alone downstairs?" I asked Luke incredulously.

"No..." he paused to think. "You're mom was in the kitchen when I arrived. I asked her if she could watch her for a minute while I wake you up."

My mom, Julie McGuire, and I live alone in our two-floor, average-sized house. Even though she makes enough money to purchase a bigger house, her being a surgeon and all, we were content. My mom was my first best friend. We are really close that I can share all my secrets to her. The man, who was supposedly my dad, left us when I was 2 years old for his slutty secretary. I didn't have many memories about him, but once I was old enough to really understand what happened, well, lets just say I was pissed. And still am. But no need to bring the past back.

That's why Lucas and I are best friends. I guess he filled the void in my life due to the missing man in my life. I know what you're thinking. And NOOOO, I do NOT love him like that. He's like a brother to me. That would be like…incest…-ish. Ew.

I have known Lucas since I was 4, when my mom and I moved to the neighborhood of Bridgeport, at Chicago, Illinois, to start over. Luke's parents and my mom hit it off when they met, and so did Lucas and I. We have been neighbors and best friends since.

"Aunt-Juwie-hewped-me-cwimb-up-the-staiws!" Chloe said one word at a time while jumping up and down. She still had problems pronouncing the L's and R's. "It-was-fuuun!" she added.

Lucas laughed as he sat on the bed. Chloe immediately stopped jumping and instead, climbed on his brother's back. "Piggy-back wide! Piggy-back wiiiide!"

Luke got up from the bed and secured Chloe on his back with his arms. Then he ran around the room while Chloe giggled and made flying noises.

As I watched them, I heard a beeping noise behind me. I remembered my phone that was now lost somewhere in my bed, thanks to my idiot of a best friend. Searching for it, I finally found the little thing and checked the screen.

1 new message

Cole

In the beginning of the summer, I received a text message from an unknown number. Usually, I don't reply to those messages and just delete them after reading, knowing it was just some fake advertisements or pranks from bored people. But this particular one was actually addressed to me.

Unknown: Hey Lexie :) I got your number from a friend of yours. I hope you don't mind.

I know it's dangerous to reply to strangers, but my curiosity got the better of me.

Me: Who are you? I replied bluntly. No need to beat around the bush.

Unknown: If I tell you, then where's the fun in that?

Huh. I got intrigued. Let's tryyy...

Me: Sorry, I don't communicate with strangers. Bye.

Unknown: But I'm not really a stranger to you, you know. We actually go to the same school.

Me: Okay. Who the heck are you?!

Unknown: Why don't we just keep my identity a secret? A little mystery won't hurt. Let's just say I'm your 'secret admirer'. Does that work for you? ;)

His forwardness caught me off guard.

Me: Uhhh…

Unknown: Don't freak out or anything. I just want to get to know you, you know? :) Eh. I sound sappy.

Me: Uhh...uhmm...okaaay. Fine. But can you at least tell me who gave you my number?

Unknown: Uhhmm. Okay. My buddy, Luke, did.

Me: Oooh. He is soooo dead!

So that's how the text messaging began. He wasn't creepy or anything and he was actually fun to converse with. But his "buddy" Luke got an earful from me about the dangers of giving away my number to people I don't know. I mean what if he turned out to be a stalker?! Or a murderer?! Okay, that's an exaggeration. But you get my point. Lucas just calmly told me (after shutting me up by covering my mouth with his hand, which I licked after) that the guy was a good friend of his. I just grunted and whacked him on the head. I did ask him a couple of times about who the guy was, if I knew him and whatnot (complete with pouting and whining). But he wouldn't tell me. I even asked for clues!

So about a week after our back and fourth text messaging with the Stranger (as I have named him in my phone), I tried to ask him again.

Me: Can't you just tell me who you are? This mystery thing sucks. :|

Stranger: No. That would take the fun away. ;)

Me: Fine! How about just give me a name. My mom is starting to think I'm weird or something because I'm sending messages to someone named "Stranger".

Stranger: You named me 'stranger'?

Me: Well, what else was I supposed to put!

Stranger: Okaaay. Uhmmm. How about you just call me Cole.

Me: Cole? Huh. But I don't know anyone named Cole in the entire school! (Our high school had a total of 2,056 students. And I think I knew everyone by name.)

Stranger: Woah. You know everyone in school? And anyways, you really think I'd give you my real name? ;)

Me: Then where the hell did you get 'Cole' from then?! And don't try to change the topic!

Stranger: Calm down woman. Jeez. It's still part of my name, but no one knows about it. So, it's no use even if you're gonna ask the entire school who this 'Cole' is.

Me: Damnit.

Stranger:-or Cole: You're funny, you know that?

So all summer long, we have been text messaging each other and sometimes chatted online. (He made a new account just so that I wouldn't know who he was. Wise jerk.) Sometimes he would call too. When he called for the first time, I thought I would finally figure out who he was if I can just recognize his voice. No such luck there.

I was slammed back to reality when something soft hit me on the face. The soft object, which I found out was the pillow, fell down the floor just in front of my feet. I looked up and saw Chloe pointing accusingly at her brother. Lucas had an innocent smile, which turned into a grin after I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You seemed to be in your own world again." he said cheekily.

I was about to retort back when I remembered my phone in my hands.

I opened the message. Good morning sunshine. ;)

I replied back. What's got you so chirpy in the morning?

Moments later, his fast reply came. So you are awake. Damn. I was gonna bother you if you we're still asleep.

Hah. Lucas beat you to it this time. I typed back.

Lucas and Cole took pleasure in disrupting me from my sleep once in a while, since they both knew I'm not really a morning person. Assholes. (Well, Lucas knew it since forever, and Cole found out accidentally when he called me at 7 in the morning and I practically screamed at him and threw my phone across the room. *thank God it didn't break* Who the heck in their right mind wakes up at 7a.m. in summer?!) And being the assholes that they are, found joy in my suffering.

What'd he do this time? He asked.

The idiot dragged me out of bed to the floor!

His fast reply was, Haha. Trust Luke to annoy the hell out you.

Like you don't either. Even though not physically, you're still equally annoying. No wonder you get along so well.

Tsk tsk. Grouchy, aren't we? He replied cheekily. I can imagine him smirking right now.

Ugh. I hate you. I replied jokingly.

Awww. You know you love me. ;)

It's been a month since we started our weird friendship, if I could call it that. I found out many things about my 'secret admirer' and he learned stuff about me too. I was thankful that he was not the type of admirer that blurts out any sweet or sappy line that he could think of, because honestly, I always feel like gagging when I hear those. I don't know why but I just do. Maybe because I don't have much experience when it comes to relationships. I've only had two boyfriends before. My very first, Charles, was like a walking Valentine's Day card. I can't remember one conversation where he didn't yap out something icky, like, "Wow. You're eyes have the most gorgeous color I have ever seen!" or during a supposedly 'fun' banter he blurts out "Take that back or I'll kiss you!" I know it's cute and romantic when we hear it in movies. Maybe it's just me, and I will work on it, but c'mooon! And don't even get me started on Brad (my second boyfriend). If Charles was like a Valentine's Day card, Brad was Cupid himself!

Cole, on the other hand, was actually fun to talk to and we had a lot of things in common. He does say something cheesy once in a while, but I don't really mind it, maybe because he somehow balances it with his fun and witty personality. Even though I haven't met him in person yet, I feel like I'm closer to him than those I have already been acquainted to in school before.

Huh.

Well this is something new.

A/N: What do you think? Reviews we be appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own the neighborhood of Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois. Nor do I own Valentine's Day and Cupid.

All the rest: Mine :)