Capture the Moment (Moments #1)

19. Blake

nineteen

Blake

I’mgrinning from ear to ear, watching as Cleo scurries away. I snicker as she trips on her way to the dressing room and smile to my self at her clumsiness.

Being at the mall on a random Wednesday,watchinga pretty girl play dressup,was not how I intended for my afternoon to go.Hell,I thoughtI’djustsit in my room and build a new LEGO setbutwhenCleotexted me about going to the mall, Icouldn’tresist the chance to hang out with her.

I’mon my phone scrolling aimlessly through the most recent trending topic on Twitter, scoffing at the outlandish things that they have to say about my sister yet again.

Who cares ifshe’sdating that F1 guy now? Get a life people!

The term homie-hopper and Jules Avery go hand in hand, thissupermodelis now seenwith Eren Marlowe,although, we've recently spotted her smooching Twisted Vipers drummer—

I'm getting a migraine just reading that shit.

Shutting my phone off, I sigh in frustration at the nerve of that journalist. My sister and Eren are not together, they've been friends since forever and besides, she’dnever do that.

I put my head in my hands, tugging lightly at the strands.I’mso deep in my thoughts about my sister that Idon’tnoticeCleo in front of me until her feet are in my line of view. When I look up at her,I’mimmediately at a loss for words.

She is beautiful.

Cleo’slooking down at her phone, herstraightened hair no longer bound by that weird pink thing. Hand Clip? Hair holder? I thinkit’s something like that.Anyways,she stands in front of me in a red dress that hugs her every curve, highlighting her chest, and extenuating her round hips.The dressis meantto look simple, basiceven, but the wordsbasicand Cleo Jonesdon’t exist in the same sentence, let alone universe. And it may be becauseI’mtaking a very very small liking to her that I think this.

Who am I kidding? We all know I fucking like her.

Fuck .

What do I do?I’mstaring up at her like a gaping fish out of water.

C’mon, Blake... say something… anything .I’mabout to open my mouth to try and speak when Cleo twirls around, her back exposed, a hint of a tattoo peaks from the bottom of the opened zipper and I groan, immediately peeling my eyes away.

Fuck me.

There’sno way in hell I’mgoing to sport a hard-on with her in front of me.

“Can you zip me up?”she asks softly, pulling her hair to the side.

I gulp as I look up at the soft expand of her body, athin red laced bra wraps around her back. The color glows off her brown skin, catching my breath. I look down at my damn near shaking handsthenback up at the zipper.

Why does this feel like my first time seeing a girl naked? She’sfully clothed in front of me!

Get a grip, Wilder.She’sjust a girl.Nothing to be scared of…

I clear my throat, slowly rising.Cleo’ssoclose,I can smell the sweetness of her candy-like perfume. I sigh as the scent intoxicates me before lifting a shaky hand to her zipper.

We’reso close that her body heat warms meandwhen my fingers brush against her bare skin, she shudders. I have the same effect on her that she has on me.

I take my time as I zipup the dress, smirking as she goosebumps rise along her back and neck.

“Cold?” I ask, my voice deeper than usual.

“Nope!”Cleo jumps awayrushingback to the dressing room, leaving me amused and breathless.

I grin cheekily as I watch her leave and sit back down, adjusting myself on the couch. Itisn’tuntilshe’sfullygone that I realize her phone is still beside me,I’mabout to take it back to her when it buzzes, lighting up the lock screen with several messages.

Unknown

i’m watching you Jones

tell anyone and it’s over for you

What the fuck?

I reread the messages. Once. Twice. Five times. It takes me five rereads to register the cryptic messages slowly popping up on Cleo’s phone. Who is this? Is someone playing some sick joke right now? My stomach drops as more roll in.

Unknown

remember

you made a deal you can’t break.

A deal? At the sound of Cleo’s footsteps, I quickly slide the messages over, deleting them from her lock screen, hastily throwing her phone into her purse. I pull out our camcorder to make myself seem busy as she approaches me, smiling wildly. As I stare at the smiling girl before me, I wonder how real her smiles have been since she’s been here.

Has she been getting messages like this for a while now? Are they prank texts? Does Jace know?

The questions throw me for a loop, and I don’t notice Cleo standing before me, pointing her camera at my face until she giggles softly, capturing my attention.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you were ready… I’m getting hungry and the only thing I had today was a blueberry-spinach smoothie.” She scrunches her nose, adorably. She probably doesn’t even notice the amount of cute facial expressions she makes a day.

“Blueberry-spinach?” I ask, looking down at her as she groans, frowning.

“Georgia's on a new smoothie cleanse. Yesterday was strawberry-mango. Today’s blueberry-spinach. Tomorrow's something with carrots.” She shrugs as if this is a regular occurrence in their apartment as we make our way to the nearest register. Cleo places down every article of clothing she’d tried on. Well, all except one.

I furrow my eyebrows, frowning as she looks up at me.

“What?”

“The dress.”I tilt my head, frowning at her.

“What dress?” She asks, chuckling as if she doesn’t know exactly what dress I’m talking about.

I groan aloud, looking from her to the cashier then back to her. If that’s how she wants to play it, then fine.

I'm going to remember this.

We make our way to the food court, the both of us recording each other separately for the project. It’s comfortable between us, no awkward silences and zero loss of conversation.

I know when I first met Cleo, I’d thought she’d been like me. Extroverted, yet introverted. Turns out, I was harboring a secret extrovert this entire time. If anyone thought I talked a lot then they certainly haven’t met Cleo Jones.

I pity those of you who have yet to meet her, but if you have met Cleo and didn't introduce me to her… Fuck you. You're a bitch and I hope you step on a LEGO.

I won't apologize for that statement, either.

“ Oh! We have to get that!” She squeals from beside me, latching onto my arm. I freeze, looking down at her but she’s not paying me any mind as she jumps up and down pointing at the CinnaU sign.

“I thought you were a donut girl.” I quip.

Cleo pauses in her momentary celebration and glares at me. “Never judge a woman and her snacks, Creeper”

“So, we’re back to ‘Creeper’? C’mon Princess, I thought we were making progress,” I tease and there’s no real reaction from her but I can see the smile in her eyes as she turns on her heel and starts towards CinnaU.

Cleo orders a cinnamon roll with extra icing, caramel drizzle, and pecans, while I get the simplest item on the menu in its simplest form. A regular cinnamon roll. Shocking, I know.

She records me as I order and I smile as I pay for our "meal", as she likes to call two large cinnamon rolls, and stalk towards an empty clean table.

“First question for Blake Wilder,” she starts, holding the camcorder up to her eye just as I plop a piece of the dessert into my mouth.

“Shoot,” I say as I swallow, giving her my full attention.

“Who do you admire the most and why?” She asks, beaming at me. It reminds me ofhow Delilahlooks at Derek and my stomach flips at the thought.

“My sister,” I say without hesitation.

Jules will always be the strongest womanthat Iknow, from her struggles with anxiety and dyslexia, to becoming a supermodel and salutatorian of her graduating class. I don’t believe that there’s anything my older sister can’t do, and I strive to be just like that.

“Juliette went from being the kid in the back of the class who kept her head down to a runway model. She inspires me in more ways than one but her perseverance makes me admire her.” I shrug. Juliette can be annoying like any other sibling, don’t get me wrong, but she was my first best friend. She was the first person to take me in and make me feel welcome and for that I admire her just a bit more.

“Your sister’s a model? Which one?” Cleo asks, still recording as I chuckle bitterly.

“ Jules Avery .” I sigh as her eyebrows shoot to her hairline.

Yup. An average reaction to my sisters name.

“You’re Jules’ brother?! Dude, she’s best friends with my cousin!” Cleo’s voice is high as she continues to record my face yet shuffles around in her purse for her phone.

I furrow my brow at her as she goes through her phone, excitedly scrolling. Maybe she hasn’t seen the messages, yet. Cleois grinninglike a mad man when she pulls up a picture of Jules and Zahria, one of Jules’ model friends in New York.

“You know the Z’s?” I ask shifting my gaze between Cleo and the phone.

“Know them? I used to live with them every summer!" She exclaims.

“Our parents are siblings—same with Sienna. There’s me, Aunt Lyric, Aunt Melody, Uncle Major, Dad, the twins, Zay, Ryan, Mama, and Papa,” she says pointing to each of the notably famous people in her phone. I reel back as I look over the screen, shocked I hadn’t put it together sooner.

“Your grandparents are Apollo and Marie Jones? The jazz singers ?”

Cleo nods like this isn’t a huge deal. Her grandparents made my childhood!

Every Sunday, my mom played Marie Jones while cleaning, and Dad would play Apollo J every nightwhen hecooked dinner. My jaw is agape as I look further at the photo.

“Zayden Jones as in the Quarterback ?” I gasp.

How much cooler can Cleo get?

“Yup. The one and only, he’sactuallysuper annoying once you get to know him. No sense of personal space whatsoever.” She rolls her eyes.

I try to mask my fanboying, but I fail. Cleo’s laughing, like actually laughing at me, as I continue gawking at her phone.

So let me get this straight. Not only was her dad one of the best in the NHL and her mom is an Olympic gold medalist. Her grandparents are legends in the music industryas well asher aunts, uncle, and cousin. Also, the number one draft pick is her cousin?

What's next? Her dog is a fucking movie star Chihuahua?

Cleo's phone dings loudly, drawing her attention away from me. She frowns as she looks at it and sighs, running a hand through her hair.

“Speaking of those devils… I forgot that Sienna and I have to talk to the twins and Zay tonight. You ready to go?” She asks, looking up briefly as I nod, collecting our bags.

“Thanks for today, Blake. I think that these clothes should be good for this weekend, right?” Cleo asks, turning in the passenger seat to look at me as we pull up to a red light.

“What’s this weekend?” I question, briefly looking over at her before the light turns green.

“Fall Fest. G told me it’s a big deal here so we’re going for eachof the daysto get the full experience.” She beams, bouncing in her seat excitedly.

Fuck, that is this weekend. I need the guys to keep it together. We can’t have any distractions with our first gamerolling aroundnext week.

I have to make sure Jace and Charlie go home alone this weekend. Last Fall Fest, those two dumbasses brought back five random girls to the house. And that was just between the two of them, the fuckers nearly started a war with the basketball team because of it.

“Did you hear me?” Cleo’s voice drones back in, catching me off guard as I continue driving to her apartment. “I asked if you were you going, we could get some good clips for the documentary!”

“Oh. Uh…yeah! Of course, I’ll be there…”

On penis patrol.