Holding On (Memories)

between my brother and Jen.
    “I thought you could do with a little moral support. I was right.” Jen glances in the direction Jayna left in. “And I brought Bing with me.”
    “I was going out anyway, but she rang the house, and wangled her way into coming with me to see you,” Bing says tightly.
    I smile. “Thanks, guys.”
    Alec presses his lips to my temple, and I sigh. “Okay, Princess?” he asks.
    I nod. “Yeah. I knew it would be bad when I saw her, but wow. Just wow.” I shake my head. “Whatever. I'm not going over to see her. Let's have this drink and go home.”
    “Oh hell no! Hell to the fricking no!” Jen exclaims. “I got all dressed up to come party with you, you are not bailing on me! Who needs that pig nosed, well, pig? You and I will take London by storm. Come on. Drink up. We're gonna get us some shots and do this tonight. Let our hair down before uni.”
    I open my mouth and close it again.
    “Do it,” Bing orders.
    I smile wryly. “Since when did you get off telling me what to do?”
    “Since your boyfriend is being eyed up by half the girls in this club and has no idea how to deal with a city girl besides you. These girls are vultures.”
    “Oh, and I suppose you're the perfect person to show him, right?” Jen raises her eyebrows at Bing, and gets Joe's attention.
    “Don't start, Jennifer!”
    “I'm not starting anything, Samuel. Four squashed frogs,” she adds to Joe. “I'm merely saying I don't think you're the best person to teach him to fend off girls. You tend to attract them instead of repelling them.”
    “So you're saying I'm a chick magnet?” Bing smirks.
    Jen hands me a shot glass, and clinks hers against mine. We both down it and she hands me the other one. We down those, putting the glasses on the bar.
    “No,” she replies to Bing, grabbing my hand. “I'm calling you a whore magnet!”
    She grins, pulling me off towards the dance floor.

ALEC

    Bing blinks after her for a second, and shakes his head. “Shit.”
    I laugh, and take a long drink of my beer. He wasn't wrong when he said we were being eyed up. I can feel eyes on both of us from every direction, and I'm glad Jen distracted Lexy before she noticed just how many girls are staring at us.
    Bing shakes his head again, and looks at me. “I'm sayin' this 'cause I actually like you, which is kinda odd. You followed her here so I know you love her, Alec, okay? But trust doesn't come easy for Lexy. That's my fault. I've spent so long treating girls like shit she thinks that one day someone is gonna come along and do the same to her. I'm a dick for that, believe me, I know.”
    “And you're saying she's scared that now we're in London on her territory, I'm surrounded by a bunch of girls I've never met before that I might be attracted to. She's scared I'll run off.”
    “Deep down.” He nods. “You just gotta... Prove to her. I know you already did it once but it's different now. Now is when you really gotta prove your love to her.”
    I blow out a breath. “I've only gotta settle in and start a new job. Now I have to do this too?” I shake my head. “This is bullshit.”
    “So you're back to Devon then?” Bing's eyebrows rise in challenge.
    “Not a fucking chance,” I say firmly, looking him dead on. “You haven't found her yet, Bing, but when you do, you'll know. When you meet the person you wanna be with for the rest of your life, you know. Your sister is the person I wanna be with, so it doesn't matter how many girls bat their eyelashes, flick their hair, or stick their chests out at me. It'll always come back to Lexy, because no other girl can compare to her. Lexy has nothing to worry about, because it's always gonna be her. It's been her since I met her and it'll be her until I die. That's something I can't control. And when you meet the girl you wanna be with forever, you'll understand that.”
    Bing stares at me. He nods and looks back out to the crowd, drinking his beer slowly.
    I really wish I was in his head.

    ~

    I find Lexy in my kitchen in a strap top and shorts, running her finger round the inside of a yoghurt pot.
    “What are you doing?” I smirk, and lean against the door frame.
    She looks up, and sucks the yoghurt off her finger. I shift slightly.
    “I'm finishing my yoghurt,” she replies. “What?”
    “Most people don't run their finger round the inside of the pot, Princess.”
    She shrugs a shoulder. “I'm not most people.” She throws the pot in the bin.
    I