7.

"Hey baby, I've been worried sick. Are you ok?" is the first thing he asks as soon as I answer the phone. About 60 missed calls later. He actually does sound so worried that I feel a bit bad for ignoring him the rest of yesterday. Only just a bit.

"Yeah I'm ok babe." I say to him honestly. I feel a lot better today. My chilled evening with Cody helped me out, it always does.

But also, hearing his voice oddly calms me, despite him being responsible for the bad mood to start with. He doesn't ask why I disappeared like I did yesterday, I know it's because he knows why. This is one of the many conversations we don't have.

It goes alongside the negative effects caused by the privacy of our relationship. We know what it's doing to us but we also know we can't do anything about it. So we ignore it.

"Will I be seeing you tonight?" I've been contemplating whether or not I'll be going to Bruno's house party later. The girls are going and of course they'd asked that I come too.

I don't like going to a party knowing he's going to be there in all honesty.

Ezra is famous, he's also really good-looking. So it shouldn't be shocking that girls like being around him. Yes he doesn't entertain them. He respects me and I appreciate it, but it doesn't stop it from hurting. When I see girls flirting with him, all I want to do is really bad stuff to them.

I also want more than anything to cuddle him and scream to the world that he's mine when I see him, but it sucks that he doesn't want that too. He doesn't want to claim me.

"Yeah I guess." I finally decide. It's not like I have anything planned tonight anyways.

I don't even know why he asks me if I'm going to be there because it's not like we're going to be around each other anyways. He'll be with his friends, and I'll be with mine. We'll also ignore each other's existence, like we always do.

"Ok baby, I'll see you there. I'm going to see Grandma Michaels just now," He then says and I can't help but smile at that. Grandma Michaels is one of the most loving and genuine people you'll ever meet. She's filled with so much warmth that you can't help but want to be around her.

"Really? How's she doing?" I ask him genuinely curious. She's been battling lung cancer for longer than I've known her.

"She's done with her treatment. She misses you." That melts my heart. I know he can sense me smiling because I can sense him smiling too.

I miss her too. A lot.

Everyone back at the old age is now a big fan of Ezra's. Before he became famous we spent a lot of our days there.

We'd go play games and chat with his grandmother and her friends. It was always so fun.

But I had to stop tagging along once he got famous because he didn't want people seeing us together. The old age home always had random people visiting and he didn't want them to recognize him and take pictures of us for the world to see.

I feel my smile turn into a frown and I ignore the familiar pain shooting up my heart before saying, "Tell her I miss her too." He's quiet for a while. I know he hates that I can't be there with him too and he blames himself.

I know grandma Michaels probably scrutinizes him for not bringing me along anymore.

"I love you." He then simply says to me after a while and I welcome the butterflies that flutter in my stomach excitedly. No matter what happens with us, no matter what issues we go through as a couple, I know that when he tells me he loves me, he means it.

"I love you too." I really do. More than he knows.

We talk about our plans for the rest of the day before the party later then hang up after saying our goodbyes.

I'm meeting the girls for lunch in about thirty minutes so I rush to get myself ready then I'm soon in an uber on my way to the mall. I spot the girls as soon as I get to the food court and I hug each one of them once I reach the table.

They all look so lovely, as always.

We talk about nothing in particular as we eat our hamburgers and fries before,

"Did you leave with Bruno the other night?" Olivia asks me bluntly, earning a slight shove from Ashley. I internally roll my eyes because I know they've been talking about it.

"Eww no." I say because it sounds like something I'm expected to say. I don't actually feel that way at all. Bruno is such a cool person I've learned. He's more than just this player he's universally known to be.

"I'm sorry Alex. It's just that everyone saw you guys together for so long then you both just disappeared out of nowhere." Ashley says to me apologetically and I nod my head in understanding. I sure did disappear that evening, but not with him. He clearly disappeared with someone else.

"I got tired and went home. Plus Ms. Lizzy here was nowhere to be found." I say making everyone look at Liz and she looks back at me feigning a shocked expression. Yes I did that on purpose.

"Actually yes, what did happen to you Liz? We barely even saw you before you just weren't there anymore." They'd asked and she beat around the bush, clearly not wanting to tell us what actually happened.

We say our goodbyes a while later as we needed to go back to our homes to get ready for tonight. We agree on the meeting time before we're off.

I look through my closet once I'm home to see what I'll be wearing. I'm in the mood to look really sexy tonight so I decide to go with my little tight short dress. I haven't worn it in forever because it literally exposes each and every curve on my body. It's probably Ezra's least favorite dress but I genuinely don't care today. I need to look good so I can feel good.

I then go downstairs after I feel satisfied with my look for tonight to watch some series to pass time.

When the evening comes, I go back upstairs. Take a shower then put on my outfit for tonight. When I'm done with that I spend a little more time on the mirror than I usually do, working on my face.

I don't like to put a lot of makeup on but today I decide to do a bit of contouring, then I finish my look with a blood red matte lipstick. My long dark hair is in a tight high ponytail and I decide to put on my red Louboutin heels dad got me for Christmas last year.

I soon rush out of the house after realizing it's even passed the time I was supposed to meet up with the girls. I text Liz that I'm on my way before requesting Uber.

When I get there I'm not surprised by the long line of cars parked along the road. The good thing about ubering is that you don't have to worry about parking and it drops you exactly where you need to be.

I can feel the stares as I walk along the paved pathway to make my way into the house. Bruno's house parties usually include about four houses next to each other. He must be really close with his neighbors.

So there are people everywhere. By the street, by the paving, by the grass, and in the houses.

I then make my way into the one that is Bruno's and as I enter, I'm met with the beautiful gray eyes that I see too many times in my dreams. It was like he could sense that I was coming in before I did.

His smile is contagious and so I find myself mimicking it.

We're so caught up in our own little daze that I don't see Bruno making his way to me.

"Wow, Alex. Just wow." He says dramatically and I playfully roll my eyes. "Hi Bruno." I say to him going in for a hug.

He then takes my hand to lead me to where he was sitting with his friends. Where Ezra is also seated looking at us with a look I've never quite seen on him before.

"Y'all. This is Alex.

Alex, this is the dream team." He says introducing me to his friends who give me their most genuine smiles.

Except for one who looks like he wants to kill someone.