F | Burning Love (One Chicago)

EIGHT: "Alice."

'Why do you think it's your fault?' Jack asks her.

'Because the guy that took him used to be my boyfriend.' Alicia replies. 'Matty.' 

'Matthew Walker?' Jack raises an eyebrow. 

'Yeah.' Alicia sighs. She puts down the empty beer bottle in her hand and picks up another one but before she can open it, Jack takes it out of her hand. 'Hey!' 

'You've had enough, don't you think?' He raises an eyebrow. 'You're not helping yourself by drowning your sorrows in alcohol.' 

'It could be worse.' Alicia says. 'I could be in some abandoned building injecting junk into my arm and potentially OD.' She adds. 'You should be thankful that drinking is all that I'm doing.' She laughs. 

'That isn't funny.' Jay shakes his head, walking in. He sits down in a chair. 'Have you called your therapist?' Jay questions.

'Yeah.' Alicia nods. 'I'm going to see him tomorrow.' She then stands up. 

'Where are you going?' Jay asks.

'To a bar.' Alicia states. 'Don't try and stop me.' 

'Alicia-' Jack starts.

'I'm not driving, don't worry.' Alicia interrupts him. She grabs her coat, her bag and her keys and leaves. 

.

Alicia is sat in a bar with a bottle of beer in front of her. Continuously, Jack and Jay try calling Alicia but she declines all of their calls. The bartender sees this and walks up to  Alicia.

'Is everything okay?' She asks. 'Your phone's blowing up.'

'Yeah.' Alicia nods. 'My older brother has gone missing and my other brother and boyfriend are always concerned about me. Gets annoying sometimes, y'know?'

'Your brother's the doctor from Med, right?' The bartender questions.

'Yeah.' Alicia nods, taking a sip of her drink.

'I hope you find him soon.' The bartender smiles. 'He's been in here a few times and he seems like a really nice guy.'

'Thanks.' Alicia smiles slightly.

After half an hour, Connor walks into the bar. When he sees Alicia at the bar, he walks over to her and sits on the stool next to her.

'Hey.' Connor smiles.

'Hey.' Alicia smiles back.

'I'm sorry about Will. Are they any closer to finding him?'

'We know who took him.' Alicia tells him. 'But we don't know why. Well, I have a pretty good idea.' Connor looks at her confused. 'The guy that took him is someone who I used to hang out with when I was a teenager and my boyfriend at the time. He was in the wrong crowd which got me in with the wrong crowd. I haven't seen or spoken to him in over ten years.' She explains. 'He's the reason I moved to Seattle in the first place. To get away from him, I thought for sure that he'd be dead by now. Obviously not.' She takes a sip of her drink. 'So it's my fault that Will is missing.'

After half an hour, Alicia and Connor walk out of the bar together.

'Where's your car?' He asks.

'I got an Uber here.' Alicia tells him. 'I didn't know how much I'd be drinking.'

'I'll drop you home.' Connor states. Alicia just smiles and looks at Connor. 'What?' Connor asks after a few moments. Alicia just steps forward, grabs onto Connor's coat and pulls him in for a kiss. Instead of pulling away, Connor puts his hands on her waist and pushes deeper into the kiss, interlocking his lips with Alicia's. 'Change of plan, how about you come back to my place?'