Despite having sent one of the women home on a one on one, Garrett had felt the other two dates went really well. Heâd had the opertunity to share something he loved with one group, and then got Kylie to come in and plan a date with another group. Coming out of this week and going into the rose ceremony, Garrett had hope. Heâd had it before, but something felt right this week. He didnât know if that had something to do with his sister being there or starting to feel more comfortable with some of the women there. Regardless, whatever it was, he was happy it was there.Â
So he headed into the cocktail party with a smile on his face, though he already knew of one woman who was not going to be getting a rose, there were still two decisions he had to make, two hearts he potentially had to hurt but that somehow didnât put a damper on his mood. Walking into the seating area where all the women met at the beginning of the cocktail party, Garrett had a smile on his face but as he scanned around the room the grin faltered the tiniest bit, but not for any bad reason. His gaze had caught on Alexia, how beautiful she looked for a split second he forgot about every other women there. Slowing to a stop in his typical spot, he blinked quickly to clear his head and was smiling again. Thanking Brielle as she handed him a drink, he took a sip of it before speaking. âThis week was kind of weird.â He started, letting out a light chuckle. âIn a way that even though there were some low points, I was still able to have fun with all of you, Iâm in a really, really good mood coming into tonight, and I canât wait to talk with all of you.â Garrett smiled, lifting his hand up to clink glasses with the other women.Â
Once again, his gaze found Alexiaâs as he took another drink, but before he even had a chance to suggest they go talk, Selena was asking him if they could chat. Agreeing, he let the brunette guide him out of the sitting area and out to one of the couches outside. The conversation rolled along smoothly between the two, happy to talk with her again after their good conversation at the group date. She thanked him for being a good listener, which was something he prided himself on, really.Â
After that he was pulled away by Nicole, who seemed a little touchier than she had the last two cocktail parties but he took that for production starting a little earlier with alcohol than they had prior. Next Brielle swept him away, telling him there was something important she needed to talk to him about. They sat by the fireplace together and she shared that while sheâd wanted to open up the night before about it, nerves had settled in, and stopped her, but now continued to explain a little deeper into her family. How it wasnât exactly typical, how sheâd practically raised her younger brother while her mom moved from job to job and relationship to relationship. On top of that she explained that her moms constant dating was a big reason as to why she was there, because she wanted something real and something she wouldnât have to question. Garrett got that more than anything.Â
That was the kind of conversation that made him hopeful.Â
After talking to a few more women, some conversations better than others, Garrett was ready for a moment to think. He was trying to keep his head clear, trying to not put one girl immediately in front of the other but his brain kept going back to Alexia in that dress, and he decided he didnât want to wait to talk to her anymore.Â
Walking through the house, he looked in all the typical places where the women would be sitting, finally finding her in one of the smaller sitting rooms with Rachael and Brielle. âHey.â He smiled with a light wave at all of them. âAlexia, can we go talk?â Garrett asked, holding his hand out to her when she stood up. This time Garrett was the guide through the house, finding the dimly lit kitchen completely empty he took his chance. âHi.â He smiled, leaning up against one of the counters as his arms outstretched to her. âYou look..â Garrett paused, glancing her over very obviously. âSo good.â He sighed out the last part before he pulled her back into him, hands on her hips. Â
Alexia liked to think of herself as a rather attentive person. So noticing the way that Garrett's gaze caught on her upon his entrance to join them all, that wasn't surprising. Her lips rolled together to conceal some of the grin that threatened to cross her features - clearly her thought process into attempting to be more noticed was something of a success. Still, whether he noticed her straight away like that or not, it was also not terribly surprising to find that someone else snatched him away first. Admittedly, she didn't fully intend to go after him herself. After a little while, maybe, because she wasn't about to let tonight's cocktail party be a repeat of the group date night, but for starters, she was going to let other girls get their time in. Because there was a point to be made in that, wasn't there?
She took it easy, not gulping down drink after drink as she noticed a few women doing early on. She wandered a little bit, just to be casual, to stretch her legs, to see where some of the other girls were. Finally after a little while, though, she found Rachael sitting on a couch inside with Brielle and she plopped down with the two girls. Brielle was in the middle of explaining something she and Garrett had just talked about but she paused to smile and greet Alexia as she sat down. "Girl, that dress." The other girl complimented with a shake of her head. "Honestly, who made you mad?" Rachael laughed, nudging her with her shoulder. Alexia laughed but tilted her head back and forth with a playfully coy expression. While she hadn't come into the experience to make friends, she had to admit that it wasn't awful that she did get along with a couple of the girls; especially now that some of them seemed to have something against her without saying so.
The girls were having a nice little chat about how much thought they really put into the clothes they had brought with them for this whole experience when Garrett was coming to greet them. Turning from the short string of laughing she had been doing, Alexia smiled widely up at him. "Of course." She replied, getting up and taking his hand easily. There was a certain level of accomplishment that she couldn't help but feel, between the way his gaze had caught on her when he first came in and the fact that he had actively sought her out now before she had finally gotten around to grabbing him herself after all. It made her feel special in that way she was finding he was so good at. "Hi, yourself." She hummed back, crinkling her nose for a moment. As he paused and looked her over as noticeably as he did, there was a certain smugness she felt, but on top of that was those increasingly familiar somersaults her stomach got to doing when he made her feel good. "Ohh, well, thank you." She murmured, a gentle laugh in her tone as she was pulled into him.
Her arms easily looped up over his shoulders, both hands finding their way to the back of his head and the back of his neck. The fingers in his hair toyed gently, absently, as she smiled at him with a subtly awestruck gaze. There was a vaguely teasing comment about having noticed the way that he looked at her when he first came in, but she didn't want to come off too cocky about the whole thing, even if it did feel admittedly satisfying to have garnered his attention like she had hoped. "I guess I should technically admit that I tried a little extra, maybe, I don't know." She muttered with a joking roll of her eyes, feigning dismissal."Do you like red? Is that information I should save for later?" She questioned, her voice low but still lingering with a gentle playfulness.