hi i'm alexa from chicago please like and subscribe i think i decided when i was born that i liked my mom way more than my dad she and i were always super close mom owned a lovely book shop in the neighborhood that had been in the family for generations and ever since i was a little kid it was my favorite place to be but my twin sister bailey was always closer to dad and i didn't know why if there was a prize for the messiest most irresponsible man on the planet he'd surely win and i
was allergic to mess daddy you left your muddy boots over my white shoes again are you saying something honey i can't hear you maybe you would if you stopped playing the video game shut up you're so annoying can't you let us have some fun you robot i threw my shoe at bailey when she said that but i couldn't do the same to dad cause he was my dad he just worked some odd part-time jobs and the rest he spent at home playing video games and being messy but once when i was in first grade he
really went too far he took bailly and me to the park and while we were on the swings he went off to play football with some boys bailey and i didn't realize how much time had gone by till it started getting dark we looked around for dad but we couldn't find him anywhere alexa i i don't know the way back home i don't either but it's okay we have each other we'll be fine i suddenly remembered the park was close to mom's bookstore and i took bailey's hand and made my way there mom was just
closing up and she was shocked to see us she took us home furiously and we found dad sitting on the couch with his muddy boots looking totally unbothered hurry up ladies don't let the big man starve dinner time he didn't even realize he'd left us at the park mom and dad got into the biggest fight ever and the next day dad packed up his bags and left saying he was moving in with his mom and well he never visited or came back bailey was super upset but i was secretly relieved and mom seemed happier too
good riddance men were the worst growing up i even avoided talking to boys my age i was certain they were just all messy and careless like dad like once in fifth grade the teacher made a boy sit next to me for a class activity and he was a complete chatterbox worse he messed up the order of all my markers dude can't you see that the pink cap doesn't go with the green marker ma'am where can i find a no boys class it's not possible alexa you'll have to learn to get along with everybody yes even
the boys the boy grinned at me and i grabbed a marker and scribbled all over his face the teacher called my mom and i got a bunch of lectures but nothing could change my mind boys were icky and i hated them soon after i discovered something that really interested me acting i joined the drama club and there i found myself fighting for the lead roles every year with a girl named lily i mostly beat her to them and obviously she hated me by the time we were in high school all the boys knew i wouldn't
care to talk with them so they stopped trying but lily wouldn't stop annoying me about it who are you gonna go to prom with your cat do you stay away from the boys because you know you're ugly and no one will like you once i walked into the locker room as she was changing and she shrieked omg are you trying to get a peek at me i know you're into girls but don't even think about me yikes no even if i was into girls i have good tastes lily but she spread rumors around the school
that i secretly liked her and was spying like a creep when she was changing why don't you go and prove her wrong go on just talk to a boy i'd rather sprinkle cat litter on broccoli and eat that yuck you're a savage and so weird yeah bailey was nothing like me she was really popular with the guys and she was always dating one and i was always afraid she'd end up choosing someone exactly like dad once she was getting ready to go out with a boy i knew was a jerk but she wouldn't listen to
me so i had to do something myself that evening i opened the door when he knocked so your mark no wait she said he's hot are you shane no no no he comes on a motorbike every time you must be the rich donkey she was talking about what she said that and who are all these guys i don't know maybe you should ask peter he and bailey have been really close lately he got pissed and left and when bailey found out she was furious now you're spoiling my chances too okay what's up with you and
boys don't you find them cute and fun i find them useless and annoying and i don't know why you're dying to be with one you're too young anyway just stay away from them but she'd never do that one evening i realized that i'd left some important notes in my locker and i had to go back to school to get them just then i heard a beautiful voice from the boy's locker room i took a peek through the door and saw someone singing along with his guitar it was ryan the quiet millionaire who joined school a
week ago and had all the girls drooling i stood there quietly and continued to listen until he stopped and looked right at me so do you like it oh god he saw me it didn't make my ears bleed so i guess it was all right you're the famous man-hater aren't you i'm flattered to have you as a fan but i'll have to give you my autograph another time i don't have a pen right now oh that's too bad i want to cry but i left my hanky at home i'd offer you mine but it's full
of boogers anyway what are you doing here so late i got bored and decided to find my prince charming here at school and you same reason i was waiting for someone as pretty as you to secretly listen to me as i sing so is this the part where we fall in love and start dating no i think we should get married right away and have kids suddenly i noticed his boots they were covered with mud you know there's a reason i stay away from boys and i'm certain you're no different with that i walked away
this ryan seemed really full of himself and to my dismay i found out a few days later that he was being paired with me as the lead in the school play but he seemed more disappointed than me ma'am can't we choose someone else to play the heroines part what's your problem why are you trying to get me out of the play because i don't want to play the part with a girl who's allergic to boys we'll have no chemistry i don't have to like you to be good at acting i can fake chemistry uh there's
a kissing scene you sure you're up for it yeah i'm a professional and we don't need to practice it we can just do it on the day of the play fine by me i'm an expert anyway we started rehearsing soon with lily as my understudy but her main role seemed to be flirting with ryan and he was just as annoying as any boy i'd ever met he was late for rehearsals he was always eating on set and making a mess and he had to take a hundred breaks but i had to admit he was a
good actor and was perfect for the part a few days later we were doing a dress rehearsal and soon after wearing my costume my back really started to itch i somehow made it through my part and then rushed to the dressing room i looked at my back in the mirror at the huge ugly burn mark i'd had since i'd been in an accident when i was eight years old the costumes material had really irritated my scar and it was all red and itchy i took a picture in the mirror to send to my skin doctor
and then quickly changed into my clothes but as i picked up my phone again i realized that i'd sent the picture to freaking ryan oh my god feeling panicked i texted him that i sent the picture by mistake but he never replied i just slipped out and headed home feeling really worried i was certain that jerk would show it to everyone especially lily but the next day when i went to school no one was looking at me weirdly or talking about me no one brought it up at all later i spotted ryan by himself in
the hallway and i walked over to him hey listen thank you for not sharing that picture with anyone i know i'm an ugly freak what picture the one i sent you yesterday i'm pretty sure you didn't see our chat no picture here he looked up at me and smiled and i found myself smiling back wow that's the first time i've seen you smiling i don't think you should do that it's not a great look on you it just rolled my eyes and walked away okay he wasn't a jerk but he was still annoying but it
was nice of him to pretend he didn't receive the picture to not embarrass me when the day of the play finally came i was super excited our performances were going really smoothly well until the kissing scene uh what are you doing you're supposed to kiss me now yeah i know that i'm just getting ready it's just a kiss kiss me alexa fine i put my hands on his face and my heart was racing as our lips touched i felt something i'd never felt before and i was kind of disappointed when he pulled away and started
saying his next dialogue back at home bailey couldn't stop teasing me about the kiss in our chemistry on stage which i completely denied and slammed the door in her face but i couldn't stop thinking about the kiss all night was i catching feelings for ryan but the next morning i forgot all about it when i went down for breakfast and found mom crying mom what's wrong what happened i'm going to lose the bookstore it turned out that mom had taken a big loan a while back from an investment company to keep the bookstore running but
lately she hadn't been able to make the payments on time and now the company was demanding that she pay it immediately and the investment company belonged to lilly's dad i'll have to sell the bookstore it's not been doing well for a while and i'm just not making enough but mom you love that bookstore everyone in the neighborhood loves it it's been around for 30 years there has to be a way we can save it i don't think there is honey i felt really heavy-hearted when i went to school that day i was sitting alone on
the bleachers at recess when suddenly ryan joined me what's up with your face today and to my horror i started to cry i buried my face in my arms as i sobbed and i felt ryan putting his arm around me hey what's going on do you want to talk about it and i found myself telling him everything when i was done he handed me his hanky and looked at me i might have a solution for your problem what what do you mean i guess you don't know that lily's dad and my dad are business partners
they both own that investment company i'll talk to my dad today and ask him to make the loan payments easier for you guys i don't want you to lose that bookstore it seems like it means a lot to you do you do you really mean that will your dad agree he will i promise i was so thrilled that i threw my arms around him in a bear hug he hugged me too and we just stayed like that for a while ryan did you just smell my hair what no i didn't why are you helping me
because i'm not a jerk is that all yeah don't worry i wouldn't fall for someone who's decided to hate boys for all eternity well maybe i don't hate you ryan's face suddenly lit up and he drew me close and kissed me and it felt amazing true to his word ryan talked to his dad and mom was ecstatic when the company told her they changed their decision and ryan and i well much to everyone's surprise and lily's anger we started dating i couldn't believe i had a boyfriend prom came around a few months later and when
bailey and i reached school i spotted ryan from afar looking so cute i walked up to him and was about to kiss him when he suddenly stopped me hey alexa wait there's something i need to talk to you about okay why the serious face he led me out of the hall and then he spoke listen i hate that i'm ruining prom for you but i just have to tell you now um our company is facing some losses and lilly's data is insisting that we collect all outstanding loans so i'm afraid your mom will have to
make the full payment very soon i am so sorry i felt the ground slit beneath my feet are you kidding me you promised and now you're just breaking it just like that it's not my decision alexa i don't own the company then maybe it wasn't your promise to make either did you just do it to get together with me to win me over and you never really meant it what are you talking about of course i meant it i tried to help you can't you at least see that no all i can see is that
you gave us false hope i would have been better if you hadn't why is everyone so disappointing well maybe your standards are too freaking high well maybe i'm just better off alone i stormed out of there in angry tears i'd made a mistake believing a stupid boy and even a bigger mistake of falling for him high school had come to an end and bailey and i helped mom pack up the store over the summer it broke our hearts to lose it but there was nothing we could do one day as bailey and i were going
back home we walked past a cafe where i spotted several kids from school including ryan and lily and she was clinging onto his arm bailey saw my face and said you don't know they're together alexa i'm pretty sure that they are and i really don't care i went off to university to study drama and theater and i was having an amazing time i made loads of cool friends yes even guys and i realized i'd been foolishly stubborn to think they were all bad sometimes i even regretted being so hard on ryan and driving him away
he was just a high school kid like me back then and it wasn't his fault that we lost her bookstore soon after graduation i went back home to attend bailey's wedding her husband seemed a lot more sensible than dad and she seemed really happy and i was happy for them later that night someone rang the doorbell and i was shocked when i opened the door hello alexa standing outside was ryan um hi what are you doing here i've been in touch with bailey she said you were coming back for her wedding i really wanted to
talk to you i stepped out onto the porch and he said something completely unexpected you know i never forgot about that burn scar on your back my scar that's what you want to talk about yeah i've never stopped thinking about how you saw yourself with it or how painful it must be for you i found an amazing skin surgeon and he can fix it alexa and if you agree to go for it i'd like to pay for the surgery but why are you doing this i swear i'm only doing it as a friend i know
i let you down all those years ago and now that i can make some decisions on my own i want to do this i stopped being mad at you a long time ago ryan you don't have to do this i want to please don't say no after a lot of thinking i agreed i underwent the surgery a week later and when i woke up ryan was by my side smiling the doctor said it went great i can't thank you enough ryan i really owe you no you don't well i'll accept a cup of coffee it's
a date is it maybe i sat up in bed and pulled ryan towards me in a hug you
