Understand Me

Alexa’s POV:

3am

Today I was leaving it all behind and moving out of my hometown of Dallas Texas, I would be leaving behind my twin brother Nolan and my best friends, for a fresh start in Virginia, I had met Anth and he offered me a way out of Texas away from the hell I went through yesterday. It was going to take me 17 hours and 32 mins to get there, not including stops and a rest stop when I reached Memphis Tennessee, leaving me with 7 hour and 32 more minutes of driving after sleeping for 8 hours. I had a whole plan for the road, being alone was going to suck, Anth almost helped me with the drive, but he knew I needed this, I’ll explain my back story now.

I arrived at my house, my boyfriend Todd’s car was in my driveway along with a familiar looking car, getting home from work, I’m a dance teacher at Dallas Dance Studio, things seemed okay at first, until I realized he was drunk already, and I could hear a females voice calling out,

“Todd baby get back here! I’m ready for round two!”

Todd spotted me, I was pissed, he could tell, he instantly got mad,

“The fuck you doing home so early Alexa?” He spits at me.

“Um, it’s nearly fucking midnight dipshit! I’m late not early! Who the fuck is in my bed?” I scream at him.

“Oh no one,” he replies as Ashley comes from our bedroom, in her lingerie.

“You fucking bitch!” I yelled and went after her.

I grabbed her and slammed her into the wall, then angry took over and I beat the shit out of her. Until Todd pulled me off and started to hit me, he grabbed me by my throat as I heard sirens, he didn’t even budge as they got louder, then a few minutes later there were loud knocks at the door, I tried to fight him off, kicking him, he dropped me I screamed, he came at me as I was on the ground and began to hit my face, that’s when the cops busted down the door and pointed their guns at Todd yelling,

“FREEZE!”

I was gasping for air and holding my face as a cop bent down to check on me, I flinched and jumped as he touched me,

“It’s okay miss I’m not going to hurt you.” He says.

I nod as tears start to fall, he helps me up and pulls me to the side and asks me what happened I went over it all, pressing charges against Todd. As for Ashley she didn’t dare press charges and got fined for being in my house without my permission, she was charged with home invasion. My life changed that night, while at the hospital I texted Anth to tell him what happened, we’re close like he is with Conor, who I haven’t gotten to meet yet, but Anth keeps promising me I will, I’m a fan of his music. Anth got on the next plane to Texas and spent the night with me before taking an early flight out, after I declined his offer to drive with me.

I packed up my car, putting my purse on the passenger seat, I got into my car, started it, plugged my phone in, set my GPS and set up my phone with Bluetooth, putting on my favorite song Understand Me by Conor Maynard & CMC. I also loved How it go by him and Anth, they were amazing at their covers, and original songs. Before I pull out Anth calls,

“Hey Anth, ” I say as I pull out of my driveway.

“Hey hun, you on the road yet?” He asks.

“Yes just leaving now, my house goes on the market tomorrow, my brothers clearing out the rest of my stuff and moving it to his house later today. I’m ready to be far away.” I reply.

“Okay, I’ll have a surprise for when you arrive here, you’ll be happy, call when you stop off to let me know how your doing on the road, I wish you would have let me just drive with you, we could have drove straight through.” He says.

“I know, but I need this to clear my head, I’m still in a lot of pain and I just want to die, but I’m pushing myself to keep going.” I say.

“Don’t say that, I don’t want you dead, make it hear and I promise you’ll never want to die again, he’ll never find you here and we’re changing your number too.” He replies

I sigh as I drive towards the highway, I had a full take of gas already since I filled up before getting home last night,

“Okay, I’ll try to take your word for it.” I say.

“I know you don’t trust anyone right now Lexa, but I’ll never hurt you, and I’ll never let another guy do that to you ever again.” He replies.

“Okay.” Is all I replied with.

“Drive safe Lexa talk to you later.” He replies.

“Thanks Anth, bye.” I say.

“Bye Lexa, your welcome.” He replies.

We hang up and the music comes back on, I song along as I drive.

After 5 hours and 32 mins of driving I pull off to fill up and call Anth to update him on my progress. 8am

“Yes 11 hours left, I’m stopping in Memphis Tennessee to sleep, I’ll call when I book a room to rest in.” I say as I pay for my gas and grab some snacks and drinks.

“Okay Lexa, drive safely.” He says.

“I will I promise.” I say.

“Good, now get on the road, I can’t wait for you to get here.” He replies.

“Okay I’m going!” I laugh as I take my bag of stuff and head to my car.

I get in as Anth says, “Bye Lexa.”

“Bye Anth.” I say.

I start my car and head back towards the highway, driving through Arkansas into Tennessee.

I arrive in Memphis Tennessee 5 hours later, it’s now 1pm.

I pull into a hotel parking lot, getting out I go to the office and book a room for the night, heading to it, I call Anth.

“Hey I’m at the hotel, I’ll be back on the road by 9pm and I’ll be at your place by 7am.” I say.

“Okay hun, sleep good.” He says as I hear another’s guys voice, British, in the background.

“Thanks.” I reply.

“You’re welcome.” He says.

We hang up and I shower, eat, change and crash. I only sleep for 4 hours, I couldn’t sleep anymore after that, a nightmare woke me up, so I got up, showered and changed again, throwing my dirty stuff into a bag and heading out. I leave my hotel key in the room, I quickly text Anth, it’s 5pm,

“Hey I couldn’t sleep more than 4 hours I’m hitting the road again after I grab coffee.”

Anth-“Okay drive safe!”

I hit Dunkin’s and grab a large iced Extra Caramel swirl, extra cream and extra sugar melted, then head towards the highway, driving through Tennessee.

After 7 more hours of driving, I arrive in Virginia at Anths house.

It’s currently midnight I have successfully driven 17 hours and 32 mins with a 4 hour rest, I grab my phone calling Anth,

“Hey, you here finally?” Anth says as he picks up

“Yes I’m here,” I laugh slightly

“Okay, coming out.” He says then hangs up.

“Okay,” I reply and hang up.

I get out of my car, as I hear Anths front door open, I turn to look spotting him walking out alone, he walks over to me,

“I’m glad you made it safe,” he says as he embracing me in a hug

“It was kind of rough, but I managed it helped me clear my head some,” I replied hugging back.

“Let’s get you inside, I’ll grab your things from the car, go sit on the couch, relax.” He says, taking my hand and leading me inside.

“Okay Anth.” I reply following him.

We walk inside and I sit on the couch as he unpacks my car, it takes him about 10 minutes to fully unpack and bring it all in and into his spare room, he appeared back in the living room with someone following him, as I looked up, I saw Conor Maynard, one of my favorite singer’s, I had all his songs on my iPod and cell phone, I made some dance routines up to some, was still working on one for R U Crazy, I had some moves down, I planned to work on it more while I was in Virginia, this was a big step in my life, I had lived in Texas all my life, never had a reason to leave until Todd hurt me badly.

“Lexa I’d like you to meet Conor, this is the surprise I had planned for you.” He says smiling.

I lock eyes with Conor, I read a lot of emotions as I watch him scan me, looking at every cut and bruise,

“Hi, it’s nice to finally meet you, seems we already have one thing in common, Anth as a best friend,” I say with a smile.

Conor smiles, “Yeah, my roommate here has told me all about you, I’ve seen your YouTube channel, your an amazing dancer.”

I blush and smiles, “Thank you, wait roommate as in you also live here?!”

Conor nods, “Yep, I’m the room right across from you, Anths is down the hall from ours.”

I blush more and try to hide my face, “Anth didn’t tell me, not even when he came to visit a few days ago.”

“He wanted to surprise you, he filled me in on what happened and you didn’t deserve to be treated like that Alexa, ” Conor says his British accent eating at my heart.

“You can call me Lexa or Lex.” I reply, “Yeah well apparently Todd thinks he is King of the world, he can fuck any bitch he wants and still have me on the side.”

Conor tenses a bit, “Whoa, that’s fucked up, he didn’t need to cheat when he had you, any girl like you deserves to be treated good.”

I blush, “Yeah well, thinking I was going to die sucked, if the cops didn’t bust the door down when they did they would have had to do CPR on me.” I look at the floor, trying to hide the pain from the memories let alone the bruises, my whole body hurts, even to talk.

“Well that will never happen again, no guy is ever going to lay a finger on you with Anth and I by your side,” Conor replies with a soft smile.

I slowly look up, “You don’t even know me Conor, I’m sure your girlfriend wouldn’t like it.”

Anth chuckles, Conor smiles then says,

“I’m single hun.”

My heart instantly begins to beat faster, I can feel my cheek heating up with embarrassment, “Oh, hmm, a guy like you didn’t seem like he’d be available.”

“A girl like you doesn’t either,” Conor replied with a smile.

I turned deep red, then yawned, Anth looked at me,

“You should get some rest Lexa,” Anth says.

“I need a shower first, then sleep.” I laugh.

“Okay, bathrooms next to Conor’s room, good night, I’ll see you in the morning.” Anth says walking over to me and kissing me on the cheek then hugs me.

“Okay good night,” I hugged back and smiled.

Conor walked towards me and gently hugged me, making my heart nearly beat out of my chest, then he kissed me on the cheek, “Goodnight Lexa, see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight Conor, ” I replied and hugged back smiling.

I walked away from them, walking upstairs, then to my room, going through a box with my nighttime clothes, I pulled out a pair of yoga shorts and a tank top, then went through the box of towels grabbing one, then grabbed my underwear and bra, then my hairbrush, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, tooth brush and tooth paste. I walked to bathroom and shut the door, I laid the clothes on the side of the sink, I placed my hairbrush, tooth brush and tooth paste on the sink, I put my towel on the open rack, I turned the shower on, placing my shampoo, body wash and conditioner in the shower on the empty shelf, I undressed then stepped into the shower, I washed up, then I got out shutting the shower off, I got dressed, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair and put it up in a ponytail.

I took my brush and dirty clothes to my room, I left my door open, I couldn’t really sleep with the door closed not since what happened, I plugged my phone into my charger and climbed into bed. I shut the light off and the second my head hit the pillow I was out cold.