Losing Her (The Lexington Series Book 1)

by Belle Winters

  Max grabbed my arm when I was putting him in the chair and said, “I don’t like Dan. He’s trying to take you away from me. It’s not fair.” That broke my heart, it’s true with the time we’ve been spending together I’ve missed some homework dates and dinners with Max. I needed to rectify that.

  “Don’t worry little buddy, nobody can take me away from you.” I reassured him and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

  With that I got up and headed to the door. Dan was standing there waiting for me, I waved him inside.

  He walked in and said, “Hey Lucy. I figured with tomorrow being Christmas, I would like to spend some time with you. Do you think they’d be ok with me coming over? We never hang out here you know, well at least past this part of the house.”

  I wrung my hands together, I didn’t think that would be a good idea at all. Plus this is going to be one of our real first Christmas’s anyway… I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him being here. I wanted it great for Max and well the rest of us. I was looking forward to spending the day with Max, Erica, Nick, and even Landon… since you know, one way or another our parents wouldn’t be hanging around the whole time. We’d open gifts and knowing just what I got Max we’ll be playing with action figures and I was planning on making a nice dinner too. I already picked up everything I needed. “Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea. It is Christmas, and we have a lot of things planned you know?” I told him.

  “What does that mean?” he sighed, “look you don’t have to make up excuses Lucy, if you don’t want to spend time with me then just say that. I mean it’s only Christmas…”

  I was beginning to get a bit frustrated, I mean didn’t he know what Christmas was about, “it’s not that. I’m being serious.” I told him.

  He sighed again, “Ok, babe. That’s fine I get it. So how about tonight?” he asked.

  I shook my head, “No, we’re spending family time together right now.” I told him.

  He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer and kissed me on my lips. He gave me a smile and began to rub my back, “aww babe come on. We’ll have fun do whatever you want.” He tried to persuade me.

  I shook my head and placed my hands on his chest to push him back some. Before I could say anything else I heard Nick, “Hey Lucy you’re missing the movie… Max is looking for you.”

  I could’ve kissed him. I turned towards him to see him leaning in the doorway watching. His expression unreadable. I nodded towards him, and this time Dan let me push him back. “I’m sorry Dan. But I’ll talk to you later before I go to bed. I need to get back.”

  He nodded and gave me another kiss before meeting Nicks stare for a moment. He rubbed my arm and went to the door where I walked him out. I turned and began walking back to the living room. Nick was still standing in the same spot his entire body rigid and his eyes still on the door. I touched his chest lightly and he looked down. I gave him a smile and he exhaled a long breath. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and led me back to the room.

  Christmas morning, and we were all up at the crack of dawn. Max went door to door waking everyone up so we can head down to open presents. After he was successful in waking me up he ran out of my room to get the next person. I got up and brushed my teeth and washed my face and threw on a pair of sleep shorts to go with my t-shirt. I headed downstairs after that where Erica and Landon were looking like they could’ve used 5 more hours and a large cup of coffee. I know I looked the same myself.

  Not thinking about it I plopped down in the empty space on the sofa between Erica and Landon and threw my head on her shoulder. Dean and my mom came in next and sat on the love seat, finally Max came down sitting on Nicks shoulders. These two look like they’ve slept for 24 hours and are bouncing with energy. Nick set him down when they entered, as he announced that he was the gift giver. Which means he dictated the order of which presents are opened and is also responsible for getting them from under the tree and handing them out. Fine by me.

  There was no question about Max going first. He took a seat on the floor by Nick, as he was the self-proclaimed helper… he opened my gifts first at his request. There were a bunch of Marvel character figurines and all different types of cool looking toys I found. Erica had got him much of the same things, but strayed from Marvel once she saw how I loaded up. Nick bought him spider man webs, tons of it, a bunch of race cars and things like that. I noticed the quantities of every type and realized he bought enough so that we can mostly all play with him at the same time. Landon bought him some clothes that he drooled over Spider man backpacks, Superman lunch box, an Xbox One and a bunch of games… and four controllers. Lastly were the gifts from our parents which was a ton of practical designer clothes and shoes which I’m sure was bought by Dean. They bought the necessities and we bought the fun, although in abundance. When Max was done, we were all aware that we will be playing today.

  They decided that Erica was next. I had taken Max shopping to get gifts the same day I got Erica’s. He was sad he didn’t have money to get everyone something, but I told him I would let him borrow it to get what he wanted them to have and he can pay me back when he’s 21. He thought that was a great idea, he would have enough time to save. I just laughed. He was adamant that everyone gets something from his Marvel world. She opened his gift first. He bought her silk pajamas with the Superwoman print on it. She laughed and gave him a hug. She opened the second gift from him which was a pair of earrings. He got a big kiss for that, I had to really help him with that one. Next she opened Landon’s which was a trip to a spa with the everything package and a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes. Nick got her a surfboard, which I found out she was learning to do while in LA and was really enjoying it. He got her a matching wet suit that was really nice actually. It was time for her to open mine and I got really nervous, I didn’t have the kind of money they did to buy the same kind of gifts. I knew Max wouldn’t care so I was confident, and to be honest a bulk of my money went to that insane amount of toys… well with one exception.

  She opened the box and took out the two bottles. She looked over at me in question I chuckled and explained, “perfume.” The first one was labeled Sugar she opened it and smelled it, and then her eyes rolled back into her head. She smiled and eagerly opened the second, Spice. She sniffed that one next and gave me a huge smile and hugged me.

  “Oh my god these are better than any I’ve ever owned. Who makes this? How have I never come across these before?” she asked her eyes filled with wonder.

  “Well, they’re yours… I mean I had them made especially for you. I had the scents made. They remind me of you, and I thought they’d smell fantastic on you. I can tell you what to get if you ever want more but it’s saved with the store. They’re labeled Everlasting Erica.” I explained. She smiled widely. She hugged me tight again and when she pulled back there were tears I her eyes.

  “That’s so sweet. I love them, I can’t believe you went through all that trouble. These are great.” I can tell she was sincere and my anxiety left. She loved it. I gave her a bright smile in return. Finally she opened her gift from Dean. It was a tennis bracelet threaded with diamonds. It was beautiful and looked extremely expensive. Nick decided he was done waiting and wanted to open his. Max picked out his gifts. The first was from Erica, it was 6 tickets to his favorite basketball team The Golden State Warriors game next week, they were playing here next week and they were awesome fucking seats. He jumped up and tackled her to the couch raining kisses all over her face. When his cheeks must’ve started hurting he stopped his assault and sat back down.

  “Just so you know, we are all going to this game… so that’s 5 tickets spoken for.” Nick stated proudly. “Oh and sweet cheeks, there we go all set.”

  “Can I come too? I’ve never been to a basketball game.” Max asked.

  Nick’s head snapped back and he threw his hands to his chest as if he was appalled. “What do you mean can you come? You were down in the original 5, and you can choose who to sit next to.” He g
ave him a smile, “Me, You, Landon, Lucy, Erica, and you remember Mel right? That’s my sweet cheeks. She can come can’t she?” he asked Max. It wasn’t lost on me that he called Mel his.

  “Yea, I like Mel. She’s nice and she plays with me when she’s here. She hangs out with all of us. Not just Lucy like that stinking Dan.” Max replied.

  Nick and Erica snickered at his Dan dig. I shrugged, he had a point there.

  “Ok Nick next one is from… Dad.” He said handing it over. I guess he was tired of the delay. Dean had got him some football gear that he thanked him for. He opened mine next, the first one was a huge box of condoms. He didn’t take it out of the box thankfully but closed it and laughed so hard it bought tears to his eyes. I noticed everyone’s stares of curiosity but he informed them he will divulge the goods later. The second box was his real gift and it was an authentic jersey to his favorite player Stephen Curry. I got Dean’s help since he sometimes represents celebrities to get it signed by him too. Dean had let me know he actually knew the coach (which didn’t surprise me) and explained that I bought the jersey for him, that Nick had lost his parents and I refused to let Dean pay for anything I wanted these gifts to come from me. But I didn’t have much money to be able to pay anyone off for signatures he called Stephen. He reiterated the story and the next thing I knew he called Dean back and said he had it signed, and that I was an amazing girl. I don’t know the extent of what Dean had told him about us, he was pretty vague but I’m sure he told him a lot more about us and our lives than he let on. Dean picked it up and bought it home to me. Stephen Curry had in fact signed it right at the top of the front of the jersey and the back above the number, but the entire team also signed it.

  As Nick read over the signatures and his eyes went wide. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he met my eyes. “How… ?” was all he could get out. I knew what he meant.

  I shrugged. “I bought the jersey and thought it would be cool you know if you know he signed it.” I waved a hand at it, “and well they all wanted in on the action.” I looked over at Dean and smiled, “but I can’t take all the credit. I had to ask Dean to help me out with getting the signature. He came through.”

  Dean smiled and shook his head. “I didn’t do anything but ask a friend and tell him about you guys. I took the jersey to him and picked it up. That’s all. It was all you guys.” Dean replied.

  Nick gave Dean a glowing smile. His gratefulness was on every inch of his face. He looked back down at the jersey and shook his head in disbelief. He placed it back in the box carefully and closed it. He gave me one last smile. He opened Max’s gift next. Max got him a bunch of pairs of socks since he’s always wearing Mismatch and explains to Max it’s because the dryer ate them. He also got him a black sweater featuring iron man. I’m not going to lie, I thought the sweater was pretty cool, and I think he did too. Lastly, he opened Landon’s. Landon must have coordinated with Erica because he got him VIP passes to meet the team at the game, and a really nice Cartier watch. To say the least, Nick’s basketball dreams have come true this Christmas. He went to move onto Landon when Max stopped him. He found something else with his name on it. It didn’t specify who it was from. It was almost shaped like a large envelope. He opened it and there were papers inside with handwriting. He read it in silence, and we can only see his lips moving. Tears started forming in his eyes and I grew concerned. His hands started to shake. He pulled out some extra papers and only scanned them before setting them down. He dug his hand in the empty looking envelope and pulled out rings and held them in his palm.

  “What’s going on?” Erica asked alerted.

  He swallowed. “That was a letter my parents had with their will. In case anything ever happened to them. Its information about some inheritance I knew nothing about. But,” he opened up his hands to showcase the rings, “they wanted me to have their rings if there was anyway. They want me to reuse them when I… you know fall in love.” He swallowed hard. “These meant so much to them, it was truly a statement of their love and they never took them off. Not for anything.” He clutched them and wiped his eyes. I found my own eyes watering and looked around. Everyone felt the impact. He looked at Dean. “Thanks,” he whispered. “I’m not like this because I’m sad, but that letter… it was them. And they wanted me to have it on a happy day. You chose the perfect time.” Dean nodded, tears also in his eyes. I had no idea what the letter said but it seemed to do something to him. He composed himself and then moved onto Landon.

  He handed over Erica’s gift first. She got Landon a pair of first addition sneakers. I knew nothing about them but from the way his eyes lit up she hit her target. They did look really expensive though. He opened Max’s gift next which was a Spiderman toy hanging from an elastic string. I think it was for a key chain but he explained he wanted Landon to hang in on his car mirror. The second part of his gift was a video game I knew nothing about. I just know the rating said it’s not for his age and he informed me he wasn’t allowed to play it that’s why he didn’t have it. but he wanted Landon to have it so he didn’t have to go to friends house to play.

  He ruffled Max’s hair and gave him a hug. Next he opened Nick’s. I noticed my gift had been on the top, but he’s been purposely ignoring it. Nick got him an electric guitar since Landon, as Nick so eloquently put it, has been bitching and moaning about learning. It was a really cool one with all the trimmings. Dean got him a rented cabin for a long weekend that’s coming up at some skiing area, because apparently the boys loved to ski. It’s all expenses paid for up to 4 people. It includes food, all ski gear, snow mobile rentals, etc. He actually looked a bit excited about it. Last was mine. Over the last few weeks I had learned that Landon has a liking for The Weeknd’s music. I had one of their songs playing one day while I was cooking and Landon was sitting with Max in the kitchen. I heard him humming the song and turned around and asked if he liked him. Max chimed in and informed me loves him, he listens to him all the time. I looked him up online and found that he’s on tour and he’s going to be in our area in a few weeks. I had to spend hours online doing biddings to be able to afford to get enough tickets and decent seats to his show. When Nick passed over the envelope he looked over at me with a questioning look. Landon’s eyes met mine for a second before he opened it, revealing 5 tickets to The Weeknds show. He looked back at me with wide surprised eyes.

  “How did you know?” he murmured.

  “That day in the kitchen, when a song came on. Max said you liked them.” I explained.

  “You remembered that?” he was still talking low and kept my eyes held by his. I nodded in response and held his gaze. After a beat he looked back down at them and flipped them over in his hand and whispered, “Thanks.” I think he said angel too but I couldn’t be sure.

  Nick decided my mom was next. He had organized everyone’s stuff so they were all together by person and he knew where they were. He grabbed my gift first. I didn’t think she deserved anything at all but it was Christmas. I won’t like and say that I actually put any thought or effort into hers, at least I thought about her. She opened it eagerly. I got her a simple hat, glove, and scarf set. It was pretty to me. She pulled the pieces out and forced a smile on her face. So much for being grateful. She set it aside and started bouncing in her seat. I caught small glimpses of her out of the corner of my eye as other’s were opening their stuff. With all the tickets, trips, and expensive stuff she was practically drooling. She saw dollar signs and all I saw was the thought put into each one. Next Nick handed her Dean’s gift. It was two tickets for a one week cruise that is stopping at a bunch of places she apparently said she wanted to visit. She leaned over and gave him a big kiss. Max’s gift was next; he got her a t-shirt that had a bunch of the different characters on it. He didn’t put much thought or effort either, like me I think he just felt obligated. Again she had a strained smile, although his gift to everyone else was very much the same.

  Nick grabbed the next gift and pushed it their way. I recog
nized it because I got it, but it wasn’t for her. She reached for it when Nick spoke up, “Oh sorry, you’re done. That’s for Dean from Lucy.”

  Her face dropped as she looked around and at the gifts still left. She handed it to Dean. Nick was containing a grin, and it made me think he did that on purpose. Dean opened it and smiled. I got him one of those fancy handheld planners. He’s always forgetting about meetings and things until his assistant calls and reminds him. This way he can sync it and be a little more in the know of what his schedule is like. Of course there were plenty of better ones and more expensive, but he seemed genuine when he thanked me. Next was Landon’s gift. He got his father a new laptop; he kind of sabotaged his last one when he knocked it to the floor by mistake. We all laughed at that one and he shrugged sheepishly. Dean opened Nick’s gift next. There was a card that he handed over first that Dean read and got teary eyed over. No one asked what is said, but he smiled up at Nick when he was done reading. He opened the package and inside was a framed painting. I couldn’t see it from where I was sitting but his eyes flew back and forth from Nick to the painting.

  “Nick, I can’t believe… you’re giving this to me?” Dean asked him. Nick nodded. “But it’s priceless and they cherished this. It began their love.” Again Nick nodded. “Why?”

  Nick shrugged, “Because they loved that painting for bringing them together as much as they loved their rings that signified the vows they honored every day. But they loved me more. And you took me into your home without a second thought, and I know I’m a handful. I know you loved them too as much as they loved you. That’s why they wouldn’t have trusted anyone else to care for me. Don’t you think you deserve to also have something of theirs to help you remember all of it? I want you to still be surrounded by their love. You can hang it in your room so it can be yours.”