||Pretenders||☄️

(96).

"Sorrows"

        Dressed in black, a heart aching and guilts flooding in all parts of the body, many gathered at the cemetery where Kesha's burial was taking place. Alicia looked at people wipe tears off their eyes and she felt utterly sorry for it. Her eyes met with Ryan whom had been looking at her and she couldn't look away. No amount of her sorry's would bring Kesha back to life. This was Max's doing and she was scared at how Ryan was looking at her. Dawn poked at her on the arm and she looked away. Cole and Kiera walked to Ryan and they offered him a hug. Kesha's family, especially her mother was broken and her husband did his best to control this and his emotions as well.

       Lots of flowers were being laid on the casket and Ryan was the last to lay his. "I'm sorry Kesha. I'm really sorry." He said although it was too late for all that. His regrets squeezed on his heart and how he didn't do anything about it was breaking him down as well. He let his tears fall and when the casket was being laid in the ground, knowing very well he wouldn't see her again or hear her whiny voice again broke him again. Cole had to take him away from there and Kiera walked up to Alicia and Dawn with glares.

        "This is not over. You two will pay for this." She said to them and followed Ryan and Cole.

      "We should go." Alicia said to Dawn and Dawn nodded. They walked away from the funeral grounds and hurled themselves a taxi. They stayed silent in the taxi and Dawn was wiping tears off. Alicia held her hand and she let Dawn put her head on her laps. "It's okay to cry." Alicia said to her and Dawn started to cry.

         "I still love him." She cried. Alicia understood her pain. "I'm such an evil person for wanting him to come for me since his girlfriend is gone. I don't know what is wrong with me Bell. This is so wrong." She cried heavily. The taxi driver looked at Alicia through the rare view mirror and she smiled lightly at him.

       "Remember we talked about starting a new page in our lives with less drama?" Alicia asked and Dawn nodded, wiping off her tears. "School starts soon. Let's do that Dawn." She patted on Dawn's arms and sighed. "This will heal." She hoped.

•_•_•

        School started again and the rumors of Maxwell being the murderer of the basketball players just started. People looked at Alicia with sore look and she was never ready for them. Some concluded she tainted Max with her bad luck.

      "You all remember when she was arrested for being the suspect of Jason and Alex?" Some tiny girl asked at the cafeteria when Alicia was having lunch.

       "Yes we all do. But that wasn't her. They said they culprit did it again and had to let her go."

      "Exactly! She let Max take the fall for it all. She pinned it on him. I don't know what kind of love those two had. It's ridiculous." The tiny girl said with a laughter and people started to look at Alicia with that angry look again. Her food wasn't being digested. It couldn't go down her throat.

       "She's not even that pretty." They laughed. Alicia's phone beeped on the table and she picked it up, sniffing tears off her eyes.

•Theo•
You done with lunch?

      She put down her fork and she texted him back with a Yeah.

•Theo•
I'm at the parking lot. Thought we could talk.?

•Alicia•
Yeah.. coming

       She stood up and picked up her bag. She left the cafeteria and rushed to the parking lot. She hoped he wasn't going to talk about how distant she had been from him ever since Max's trial started. Alicia put on her hood cap and walked away from the eyes that were heading towards her. She was aware these backlash wasn't going to stop. People blamed her for what Max did like she influenced him to do so. She didn't even know he did all that and it was pointless to explain herself to people.

     Jake stopped being close to her because of his guilt and she never cared to ask for his sudden disappearance. She wanted to keep all those drama behind her and move on for good.

      Theodore Miles was standing next to his car at the lot and he smiled at Alicia when she was walking closer to him. He pulled his hand out of the jean pocket and sighed. Alicia got closer to him and took off her hood cap. "Hey." He said and she nodded at him. "Are you okay?"

      "Yeah. Was having lunch." She answered and she realized she couldn't look at him in the eye. He reminded her of Maxwell, especially his smiles. "So what's up?" He reached for her hand and his warm hands brushed her cold fingers. She slightly pulled away from him and he sighed.

      "Alicia, what's going on?" He asked because he needed to know what was actually going on with her. "Do you know how weird you've been to me lately?"

     "Yeah, sorry about that."

      "You don't answer my calls anymore and you hardly reply my texts. Did I do something wrong?" She shook her head at him. "You want a break up?"

      "We were never dating Theo."

      "What?" He laughed to conceal that hurt she made him feel. "We never dated? What about all the sex we had and the number of times I told you how I felt about you. What was all that?"

      "I told you I wasn't ready..."

     "Because of Max?" He asked angrily. "What's your relationship with him Alicia? Was he the boyfriend you talked about? I need to know to back off."

       "I'm not ready to tell you anything." Theodore held her hand and she didn't take it off this time.

      "Look at me in the eye and tell me you and Max had nothing going on." He demanded and she looked away. He shook her hand and she sighed.

       "Let's not do this here Theo. I'm not ready for this."

      "I am so look at me in the eyes and tell me Max never fucked you. Go ahead Alicia. Tell me he never touched you." She gulped a little at his sexy scowl. He had eyes exactly like Maxwell's and she was getting lost in it. Alicia bored her eyes with his and let the lies out.

       "He never did." She spoke and Theodore breathed out a sigh. He kissed her right there at how relieved he was.

       "This has been torturing me." He said on her lips, caressing her face slowly. He held onto her and embraced her little body in his broad shoulders. "I love you." He whispered to her and she sighed.

•_•_•

       Exactly two months later, Alicia rushed out from Dawn's apartment to class and she couldn't help feeling someone had been staring at her from behind. It had been occurring to her and she always shook it off. She blamed it on her past experiences she had. She took a bus to school and ran to her French lecture hall. She got into a seat at the front row and breathed out a sigh. She checked her time and she was earlier than she thought she would be. Few students were already seated in class and she picked up her book from her bag. She raked her hair and leaned in her seat to breath out a sigh of relief for not being late.

      In sync, gasps and wows erupted in the room and Alicia sat up in her chair. At the doorway was Maxwell Ross in black clothing and the vibe around him was a dark one as well. Not only was Alicia surprised, she was scared.

      "Max, you're back!" The ladies said to him and he didn't even smile. He walked ahead to get himself a seat and Alicia stayed glued on her seat. She started to suffocate at his presence and it was hard to even turn to look at him. She heard the ladies ran to his seat and ask how he was doing. Alicia knew ladies loved bad boys but this was over her.

      Maxwell Ross was a murderer and he was a tough lover.