I just thought I call

Having time to be with her friends, well, it hadn’t been her top priority that she had to admit. Mostly Neil had just consumed all of her time, both because she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could and because she had become the link between him and his family and why he was even doing the things he did. At least that was what she told herself in an attempt not to make herself feel out of place and somewhat replaceable now that Neil was no longer a rogue, now that he was once again the status of a prince and had so much family that wanted to help and be there for him.
So, she had come back to her family, surprisingly, they had all seemed like they had missed her, or she hoped Riley had as well; he still wasn’t home and wouldn’t be back until a few days later. Then there had been that whole ordeal with Ryan and figuring out what had happened. Finding out he had hit Aleks, well, it had put her in a place where she had gotten so mad that she had punched her older brother and broken his nose. Maybe she should take anger management courses with Zadkiel at this point.

Now, all in all, she had just gone on with her life. School, homework, family, food, sleep. But one thing had changed; she found herself sitting with her phone contemplating whether she should text Aleks or not, which was such a dangerous path to walk as she could feel the knots and pressure forcing down on her heart as she thought about it. She was angry that it had been her brother who had made sure she wouldn’t be in a long-term relationship with him. Because her love had never really disappeared, which was just a cruel paradox to sit in, watching someone seeing how they went on with their lives while your own crumbled, maybe if she had him after Romeo had died, she wouldn’t have gone off the rails as she had done? She shook her head, trying to get the thoughts out of her head physically, and then threw away her phone. She shouldn’t text; there was no need for it. It only brought trouble. Besides, she was sure that Neil wouldn’t like the idea of her meeting up with her ex-boyfriend, and the last thing Aleks needed was someone else to punch him in the face.

No, not texting him was better.
Or, well, she could just text him and not meet up? As that was the only thing she needed, she picked up her phone again and started texting.

[15.01] Hope I’m not waking you up  
Sorry I wanted to text sooner, but you know, I didn’t want to make matters worse.
I heard that Ryan hit you after he kissed Nicole; sorry he did that; I hope you’re okay.

Without overthinking it, she just ended up sending the text and throwing away the phone as if it had burned her. Fuck, no, no, no, why had she done that!? Why wasn’t Iris here then she could unsend the text; oh shit, as panic started to form in her chest, she rose from her bed and started pacing back and forth.

Aleks had been quite tired lately. He had had a morning shift at the animal shelter he worked at. He had been woken up so many times along the day by one of the cockatoos when he had fallen asleep over the counter. He should have known better than to be flexible and take a morning shift. He had been home by 1 PM and gone directly to the couch to sleep. And sleep he did.
His phone was directly on top of his chest, so when it buzzed with the incoming message, he sat up, which made the phone fall to the floor. Completely confused about time and place, he looked around and figured out where he was. Home. With a sigh, he laid back down and closed his eyes. It only took a moment before he thought about why he had woken up, which made him look for his phone. He picked it up and looked at the message. The number wasn’t on his phone, so he wondered if it was a number he had deleted or if it had been a number that hadn’t been transferred when he had shifted phones through the years. A short laugh left him, as he read the first sentence. He continued to read the message and shortly after was able to figure out who had texted him. Rose. Even though there was nothing wrong with her texting, his heart picked up a bit of speed. Was it anxiety? Why?

[15.07] you didnt wake me
just gotten home from a run ahaha

Lies. Who cared? It was all sarcastic anyway, right? He didn’t even know what to think himself. He continued the message

yeah some say i should have been the one hitting him but here i am
havent even given him the finger
im ok dont worry its not the first time anyway

He looked at the message for a moment before he chose to delete that it wasn’t the first time.

do u want to meet?

He sent the text without even thinking more about it.

A lump formed in her throat as she heard her phone buzz; quicker than she cared to admit, she grabbed it and threw herself on the bed with her back pressed against the pillows.
Before she knew it, she was smiling like an idiot, which she quickly caught onto and cursed at herself as she tried to remove it, but it seemed almost impossible. Shit
Then she laughed about the fact that he should have given Ryan the finger.

[15:07] Don’t worry; I did it for you  

Then five words were written, and she forgot to breathe for a moment. Meet. It was an easy answer; no, it wouldn’t be a good idea; I just wanted to see if you were all right. That was it; that was what she should do.

[15:08] Yeah, coffee at that small place we found that one time?

The message was sent before she had stopped herself.

[15:08] I mean if you want
I have time now

She did have time, but that wasn’t the issue now, was it. It was the slight nervousness, the sweaty palms, the beating heart. All the signs showed her just how bad an idea it was. And yet, she still hadn’t stopped herself; why?

He received a reply almost immediately, which made him chuckle. She had made sure to hit him. He liked the message with a strong arm. The smile stayed as she replied about meeting up with him.

[15:08] oh yeah the little one on the corner? when can you be there?

He sat up again and slowly started to walk towards the door. He was about to mindlessly put on his shoes, busy looking for her reply. His foot however was blocked by a giant cat that laid on his shoes. A short chuckle left him, and he chose to send a picture of it.

[15:09] simon thinks you should come here instead
[15:09] jk cya soon

He pulled his shoes away from his cat and put them on. He petted the cat for a little while before he left, clapping his cheek a little to wake a bit more up. Hopefully traveling with fresh air would wake him a bit up.

Aleks had gone to the café in good time and noticed how she waited outside. He was already inside, not wanting to freeze. He moved through the crowd of people and opened the door from the café, “It suits you just standing there, but it looks a little cold,” he teased her with a bright smile, “Come on in, I got us a table,” he told her and waved her closer, holding the door for her so she could concentrate on the umbrella. When her umbrella was packed, he gave her a wide smile before he nodded towards the table, he had gotten them. With no second thought, he took her hand and started to manage himself through the people who were only there for shelter and a to-go coffee for when the rain stopped. He excused himself as he made way for them all the way to their table. It was a small booth with comfortable seats, and when they reached it he let go of her hand, gesturing her to take a seating before he did so himself, sitting across from her.

She turned as he opened the door, smelling him before words even left his lips. Funny how some scents just never left you, and you could pinpoint people out amid the crowd without trouble. “Hi,” she said and then laughed, scrunching her nose in the process. “Fine, I really liked the whole romantic movie vibe, " she joked and then quickly got the umbrella folded together and stepped inside.
Her heart leapt up in her throat for a moment as he grabbed her hand and followed without any protest to the table he had secured for them.
Getting down on the seat, she looked around at all the people sitting around, talking, or working on their computers. “I don’t remember it being this crowded last we were here, or maybe I had other things to concentrate on”, she laughed before finally letting her eyes fall back to Aleks, giving him a bright smile. “You look good”, she stated; it had been a while since she had last seen him, a year, was that right?

Aleks looked around as she mentioned how crowded it was. He was about to agree with her, that it usually wasn’t this crowded, and that it had been a couple of years since they had been there, which might be why the place was more known now. But when she finished her sentence he looked towards her, almost a little surprised as she indirectly complimented him. “Oh really?” he laughed, joking with her. “I wish I could say the same about you,” he said shaking his head a little, almost blowing the whole mood. “You look formidable,” he said giving her a wink that was simply glued to his baseline of socialization. “It’s been a while,” he said while grabbing the small menu card and placing it in front of her, “You good?” he wondered, looking at her in that certain way that told her that she wasn’t allowed to joke around and that she had to answer truthfully.

She took her middle finger and dragged the skin under her eye a little down while looking at him, “Mmhm jokes on you, I always look brilliant” she nodded as he said that it had been a while, funny how she had just thought it and then he was the one saying it. “It has” she licked her lips and took the menu as he had handed it to her. Shrugging, she wasn’t sure what to say when he asked if she was good. “I think so?” she chuckled, looking up at him. “You know, it’s like, I’m dating this really great guy, me and Roman are back in our normal pace, Riley finally took that step that has been building up since, well, I knew since he was a child” she laughed. Still, sometimes you just needed time to really know what you wanted, and that was okay; she didn’t really care what her brother was, as long as he was happy. Then he could identify as a green alien for all she cared.
“But! This wasn’t about me, I wanted to know if you were okay, and if things were okay with Nicole, all things considered, she gave Ryan quite a scare, even though, you know, what he did wasn’t okay,” she said with a small smile, not really mincing her words or talk around what she actually wanted to know. It had never been her style, which people either came to love or just plain hated about her.

He laughed a little about how she chose to take the very hidden compliment. Her reply seemed interesting, she believed she was good. Was one good then? When she started to speak about her life in the current moment, he put both his elbows on the table and rested his head on his palms, while his hands cupped his face, listening interested to the gossip about her life. He raised his brows little by little as she continued to explain. “That is certainly a great deal of good things,” he said, smiling at her.
Aleks leaned back as she directed the stories back to him. He licked his lips, almost as if he was trying to relieve some stress in himself. “She blames herself for A… Lara’s death,” he said and shook his head a little. God, he had to be careful. He placed his fingers against his forehead, massaging it while his elbow was in the table. “If Ryan hadn’t been there, she might have been a blood splatter on the street,” he sighed and looked up, dragging his cheeks a little down, before he let go of them. Clearly, it was quite heavy on him lately. “I am very grateful that he was there to catch her,” he said and started massaging his right temple. “I don’t-” he furrowed his brows and leaned back again, looking away, taking a short break from the drama that was revolving his life. He stretched his arm over his head, yawning to release some of the stress. “I’m so sorry,” he said, knowing he had lied and said she didn’t wake him from a nap. “But Nicole and I are good. It… It opened up for conversations we’ve been keeping away,” he said and pulled a small smile.

She wanted to interrupt when Aleks told the part about Nicole blaming herself for Lara’s death, but she bit down her tongue and managed not to let any harsh words slip. There was something in his whole demeanour that gave her a vibe she didn’t like, it felt like something was off, and it pained her because she didn’t feel like she was in a position to help him. Mostly because she was fairly sure that neither Nicole nor Neil would apricate if she did. There was such a fine line that they needed to make sure that they didn’t end up crossing.
“Don’t apologise”, she said with a small smile “you know, you can talk with me if you want, but if you rather we just, I don’t know, play pretend for an hour or so, we can talk about the weather or how it is going at the pet store, how boring classes are, and how I’m not looking forward to the exam”, she said with a smaller smile, catching herself in wanting to reach over the table and take his hand. But she firmly stayed in her seat and turned her gaze to the menu instead.

He chuckled a little as she told him not to apologize. He shook his head a little as she offered how they could talk about everything else if he would rather do that. “As much as I think most people would approve of that,” he said and licked his lips thoughtfully, “I actually want to talk a little realistically, if you’re okay with that?” He looked down at his hands for a moment, leaning back. “You know, I don’t disapprove of anything Ryan says or do, right?” he looked up at her, “Like I understand why I'm the only person in the world that he’s mad at,” he pulled a small smile. “And things are not getting better or easier because he’s a werewolf,” he chuckled a little. “I don’t even blame him for kissing Nicole nor Alexandra like things has been tough for him. Like, I’m not saying what he did is alright, but I don’t blame him for going there, you know?”

She couldn’t help but chuckle as he plainly told her how he saw it; she nodded before looking down at her menu card, trying to figure out what she even wanted, just to remember that she had already read through it three times. “I know you don’t”, she whispered, even though she blamed Ryan, but then again, she knew he was the reason why it had never worked out with her and Aleks. Suddenly it all seemed so incredibly unfair; for a moment, she had no idea what to do with herself, what she had even hoped to get out of this, and for a moment, she wondered if she should just excuse herself and tell him that it was better if she just went home.
Her tongue ran over her lips; what a bloody mess.
“But I’m glad you’re okay, and that everything turned out fine with Nicole,” she said with a smile, and then she got up. “I’ll go order; what would you like?” she said as she took her wallet out of her bag and got up from the chair, waiting for his answer before she walked over to the counter, hoping that the short time of quiet would give her some perspective or at least just make her thing straight once more.

Aleks pulled a short smile, glad that she knew that he didn’t blame him. Aleks had been stepping very well on every toe and button Ryan had. Aleks was honestly just glad that he hadn’t been a target on a full moon or something like that. He knew very well how some werewolves could let anger get to their head, but then there were others… He interlocked his fingers in front of him, looking at Rose. Yes, there were others, who certainly had a much better temper. He caught himself with the thought and looked back at the menu card.

He nodded, smiling a crooked smile as she spoke about Nicole, “Yeah, communication can do a lot,” he laughed – knowing very well that it wasn’t the lack of communication that had been missing between the two. His eyes followed her, somewhat surprised as she got up, he was almost on his way to getting up himself to make sure she didn’t just run off. Everything settled when she revealed what she was about to do. “Oh yeah,” he looked back at the menu card again. “Just a club and a coke,” he said, looking back up at her with a smile.
As soon as she left their table, he started fiddling with both the salt and pepper, pouring some out on the table to mix them and occasionally he poured some salt over the small candle.

It took a while, mostly because she had decided to get up while there was a chew to get things from the cashier. But it gave her time to close her eyes, take a few deep breaths and let go of the tension that had been forming in her shoulders. It wasn’t wrong seeing Aleks; why shouldn’t they be able to be friends? They were good together, and just because they couldn’t be together that way didn’t stop them from actually having a lovely afternoon out eating; at least, she couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Right, okay, so maybe he had been her first love and first many things, but that still didn’t change the fact that she liked him as a person too, and if anything, she had just been incredibly sad that parting ways as a couple, meant they had stopped talking. She placed the order and paid before she walked back down with the coke and her own coffee with milk, “there you go”, she said with a bright smile and sat down after putting away her purse. She sat there for a moment, taking a small sip before looking toward him. “I’ve missed this, you know”, she dared to say, as a soft chuckle left her, and she looked down at her cup again. “us hanging out”, she elaborated, even if it had to be quite obvious what she had meant, but somehow she still felt the need to make sure he understood.

While she ordered. He continued to play around with the salt. His thoughts went many places, and on occasion, he looked in her direction to see how far she had gotten in the queue.
He looked up when he sensed she came closer, and a smile grew as he could see that she had their drinks with her. “Thanks,” he replied taking his coke and taking a sip immediately. Was there anybody who didn’t taste it immediately? His eyes looked up as she spoke, and he noticed she had also tasted her coffee almost immediately. It wasn’t just him who did it then. “Yeah,” he replied to her, nodding softly, letting a short chuckle leave him. “I have missed this too,” he added. “I’m sorry that things ended the way they ended back then,” he said, furrowing his brows a little. “Not that I really...” he stopped and licked his lips a little thoughtfully. Would their former relationship even have been possible anyways? He had no idea. However, the age difference now was better than when a couple of years ago. Four years are a lot when one is fourteen and the other is eighteen, or simply things along that line. “Or, well, I understand why Ryan acted as he did back then,” he replied and leaned a little back with both his hands around his glass of coke. He looked up at her. “He wished to protect you. It’s like…” he furrowed his brows, thinking back to Henry and Lexie that had been snogging each other on the top of a mountain, and how he had to pull them from each other. He knew that Lexie didn’t want to be bound by a mate mark. She had been thankful immediately because she knew what she wanted. It might be something else when it wasn’t your destiny, but he believed that he understood why Ryan had wanted Aleks to back off.

“Had any say in it?” she said with a chuckle feeling the air press against the walls of her nose. No, it had seemed that both of them had been forced to make a decision that neither of them had wanted to; sometimes, she still wondered if she had just told Ryan to back off, but when it had both been Ryan and Romeo that had told her that it would never end up working because of the age difference.
“Yeah, well, for someone that continuedly makes bad decisions when it comes to whom he goes into a relationship with, then I would say that he should just back off when it comes to my love life” she let her tongue glide over her lips as she looked around the café. She shook her head and gave him a bigger smile “sorry, sometimes things just aren’t meant to be, and it would be foolish to think what if, especially since we’re both in relationships now, and everything,” she said, not really understanding why those words made it twist so painfully in her stomach; or maybe she did. Because she still loved him and seeing him like this, where he wasn’t truly happy? It tugged in her heartstrings, and it was clear that there would always be an extraordinary kind of love for him even if they couldn’t be together.

His eyes met hers when she finished his sentence much better than he himself could have. He nodded, sinking a lump. “Yeah, exactly,” he agreed, pressing his lips into a thinner line.
Aleks couldn’t help but let a smile appear on his lips, while he stopped pressing them together. “Yeah, he has made some unlucky decisions,” he mumbled, even though he still felt it odd that he was tighter connected to the Nelsons than he had expected. He knew Seraphina quite well, even though he had always been closer to Laila, which might be because of how they actually were siblings. It was so odd to think about. The sentence that suddenly left her lips made something in him twist. It hurt. “Yeah, it would be quite foolish,” he laughed somewhat halfheartedly. He licked his lips and shortly thought about his former relationships and how they each had taught him things, and in one way or another formed him into who he was today. He had always been giving them his all, throwing whatever he had in his hands to be there for them. Comfort them and make sure they didn't do something reckless. Aleks always fell in love hard, but at the same time, he sometimes believed that he had never truly loved. It was complicated, very, very complicated. He bit his lips, licking them. “How is it going with… Neil?” he wondered, being unsure if he remembered correctly.