||Pretenders||☄️

(61).

"The Replacement"

       Alicia refrained from yawning in the meeting room. She jotted the important stuff down for Theodore and got her head straight. Nicki and Alicia made fun of how boring those meetings were. Theodore sent her a message to go home after the meeting and she did. Max wasn't home, he didn't answer her calls and she was starting to give up on humanity.

     She waited for him in bed, reading helpful books Nicki offered about the company. She couldn't focus. Not knowing what was going on with him was hard and not knowing what he was still doing with her was harder. She almost slept reading and the door opened in the living room. She sighed heavily and covered herself with the duvet. He walked in, still in the clothes from the last time she saw him.

     "Hey," he forced a smile at her and walked to the bathroom. Alicia put the book down and got up from the bed. She entered the bathroom and Max stood under the shower with closed eyes and water running on him. He punched the wall furiously and put his forehead against it, breathing heavily. He was pained and couldn't believe what he did. He did not have control of his feelings. Alicia got out of her clothes and joined him in the shower. She put her warm hands on him and he held her hands, stopping her from touching him. "I want to be alone." He said quietly.

    "Max..."

    "Please." He pleaded.

    "Is something going on?"

    "No."

    "Why didn't you come home?"

    "Alicia please. I told you I want to be alone." He stretched her name. Something was wrong. What did that bitch say to him? What did he do with her? She turned the shower off and he was staring at the wall instead.

    "I demand to know. You said you'd come home and I waited for you. You didn't call all day and I was worried about you. Tell me what's going on. Who is she?"

     "You know her better than I do." He scowled.

     "Why will you say that?" He left her at the bathroom and picked up a towel. She wasn't done talking to him! She picked up a towel too and followed. He angrily dugout clothes from the wardrobe, throwing half of it down and picked up a black t-shirt and a shorts. "Where do you think you're going right now? You just came home Max."

     "What part of I want to be alone don't you understand?!" He shouted.

     "Why are you mad at me? What did I do?!"

     "You always make me lose that little trust I have for you Alicia. You hurt me more than anyone has ever done and the worst part is, you don't fucking care."

     "Maxwell.." he shut her up and walked out on her. She grabbed his shirt and stopped him from walking out again. "At least tell me what I did wrong. That's all I want for now. You can stay out for as long as you want. Just tell me why. Tell me why we're back at this again." She cried and he pushed her out of his away. He expected her to tell her about Alia but as always, she lies about the little things about her. About what she did with Luke, her mom and now someone who meant a whole lot to him years back. That missing part of his life, she knew it all and kept it hidden and watched him suffer alone. "Max... don't do this."

     "I don't know Alicia. Maybe we'll never work out like you said." He walked out again and no amount of tears shed made him go back for her. He was tired of the lies everyone spewed to him and he was going to do the same.

      Alicia knew what his anger was. The bitch was stirring up trouble and he was going to her for comfort. He was leaving her for Alia.

•_•_•

     Kesha poundered over the text message she received minutes ago from an unknown. She whirled in her room, sat down, walked in circles and nothing meaningful came up.

•Unknown•
Just say the word and I'll take care of this.
She sighed and started to type back.

•Kesha•
Make him regret doing this to me. I don't care anymore.

     She sent and threw her phone in the couch. She breathed out a sigh of relief and sat down. "Let the worse come." She laughed.

•_•_•

      Work the next day went as smooth as ever for Alicia. Alicia followed Theodore to his meetings and briefed him on the agenda. She tried not to notice the stare and glances he was sharing over her. They had a lunch meeting with another business partner and anytime he looked at her, he'll smile. It was nice at first but it was starting to get weird. He had lots of things to do on his plate. She even forgot about the weekend. It was nice doing a real job for the money. She worked harder on this one and there will be no heartbreaks here. Theodore dismissed her after a hard day's work and she went home again.

      She loved staying in the company. At least, it got her busy and kept her mind off Max. But in there, everywhere smelt like Max. They used the same shampoo and his scent was stuck on her. He came home minutes after she took a bath. Alicia expected him not to talk to her like he's been doing. He apologized for leaving and didn't explain why he didn't come home. As stupid as she was, she forgave. The bitch wanted them to fight and she wasn't going to let her have it. He didn't want to talk about her and Alicia was so curious to know what she said to him.

    "I don't want to upset you." He explained.

    "I'm okay with it." He nodded and leaned on the headboard. "Max,"

    "Honestly, it's a bit hard to say no to her and I didn't want to believe what she was saying but she had proof to it. Everything is cloudy in my head and when she said you knew about it, I felt a lot of things. Before I ask my mom what the fuck is really going on, I want to ask you this, is it true? I didn't even know I had this going on with me."

     "Max.."

    "She said it's her fault this happened and my family threatened her to stay away from me. I want to know why. It doesn't sum up Alicia. When I look at her, it gets weird. It feels like I knew her before but I don't know where and when, and when she... smiles, it makes my heart ache and reminds me of you." He ended and she pushed closer to him. "My head has been aching and I don't know how to fucking calm it down. Doctor wants me to relax and let them come on it's own but I want to know who she really was to me." He touched her face. "She said she's you but you're not her. You're Ali and she's just... Ali."

      "Maxwell," he cut her off again.

     "Do you get what I'm saying? It doesn't make sense right? I should call Luna." She held his hand and let him look at her.

    "She was your girlfriend in high school. She hurt you, you got into an accident and the memories of her, left. That's all I know. That's all Luna said to me and she wasn't wrong. She was your girlfriend. You've been dreaming about her, mentioning her in your sleep and you go out of your mind when this happens." She explained truthfully.

     "Why didn't you tell me about it? You thought I'll look for her and have her again?" He asked, concealing his anger.

      "I was scared, that's all."

     "Why?" He held onto her hand.

     "I felt you didn't love me enough. Luna said I reminded her of Alia and I felt I was just a replacement. I felt you thought I was her and when she shows up, you were going to let me go. I'm sorry for hiding her from you. I thought it was the best. I didn't want to trigger your memories of her." He took her hand off and sighed. He believed her and he was sorry for going this far. "Max,"

     "What will you do if I'm getting those memories back and fall for her again?" Her stomach heaved. She was getting thrown away.

What she was scared of, was happening.