finally back at school (3)
Bryan, of course, had not heard the conversation between the women. In this life, he would never have relations with Susanna to cheat on Alisha, instead he would love Alisha throughout their relationship and stay loyal to her. He had made a promise to learn to love again, he thought of his first love and felt pain shred his heart.
As time went on, Bryan realised how much he had grown to like her. Though 'love at first sight' was something scorned, it was still possible. Unfortunately, only Bryan had fallen in love, Alisha had no love for him. She hadn't forgiven him yet, her hatred was unfathomable to most. However, when she saw Bryan, she saw all those she had lost. She saw Richard's dead body, she saw Eliza's wounds, she saw her stepmother standing over her baby's corpse. Reality hadn't been kind to her, and it perhaps never would be.
Upon reading his message, Alisha thought of Savin, however she couldn't recall his name. He had been a second in her life, a second she had forgotten. She shrugged and decided to look into him at another time, she had other things to do for now.
Alisha stared at Susanna, who was deep in thought, and understood what the silence meant. "Susanna, even if you slept with Bryan, would you do it out of hatred or because you loved him?" She was met with silence as Susanna thought, she wondered what the answer would be.
"Alisha, I don't think I hate anyone. I think I'm just always jealous of all of you, you all seem to be richer, prettier and more put together than I will ever be. I can't hate you though, you're my precious family. I love you more than my parents, but that's because they're never home. I think if I slept with Bryan it wouldn't be love, it would be a lust for money and status and his Greek God body." Alisha giggled slightly and sighed.
"If you sleep with him, tell me immediately. I don't want to hold you back, you should suck him dry if he cheats on me with you. Also, you should go for a boy who will love you and just you. You're better than a side hoe." Alisha grinned at her friend before leaning back on her chair and sighing. She was happy with Susanna's answer, however she wouldn't have minded another answer too. She understood Susanna from her past, she had never blamed Susanna for her actions. Susanna had always been her best friend, that was never going to change. Even if she slept with her husband. Once her lesson ended, she met Bryan.
"Hey Alisha. Did you get my message?" He asked, his eyes glimmering as he looked into hers. She grinned at him and nodded. She wondered why she didn't feel so disgusted by him anymore. She felt anger, but the disgust seemed to have simmered into the air.
"I don't remember Savin, but I have a plethora of enemies, he'll have to line up." She winked at Bryan who shook his head and grinned back. He took her to a small stall near the university, an aroma of Indian spices filled their nostrils. Alisha liked the small Indian street food stall near the uni, she laughed at the fact that Bryan knew even this about her. She touched his arm and thanked him, "I wonder how you knew that this was my favourite stall." she laughed sarcastically. He sheepishly played with her hair as they sat on a seat after ordering some food. He watched as her face lit up at the sight of hot samosas. He decided that he would take her to even more places to eat as they grew closer together. He stared at her eating faces, the eagerness in her eyes with a hint of greed.
"Alisha, do you wanna ever make this official? Because you have no idea how much I want to be 'your boyfriend, Bryan' rather than that guy you're dating. I'm happy to wait for you to be ready, but please tell me that you want to one day." Alisha stared into his eyes, she felt the sincerity within them, and the love. Something she had never seen in them before. She touched his face, as emotions of contentment from her last life boiled through her veins. She wondered again, whether or not she had ever loved him. It would be difficult to make the distinction, she knew that she had been attached to him. She knew that he had taken everything from her once, however that wasn't the man in front of her. It was another man.
It's too early to know, said a voice in her mind. The voice that had been hurt and tormented by him. She nodded, but spoke words that made his smile falter slightly, "I do, but I still want to get to know you better. And I want to know about Maria Crews." He realised that he wasn't the only rich kid in the chat.
"Maria… she was my first love. You probably know that she's in jail, and that I'm the reason she's in there, and that she shouldn't be in jail. I had to protect her from something worse than jail, but she had also done things that probably made her think that I did it out of spite. My family was against me dating her, she's so beautiful, you've seen her. They thought lust had blinded me, and I had overheard my father talking about kidnapping her, hurting her in unimaginable ways if she wouldn't leave me alone. They gave her a choice, and she chose to cheat on me for money, but I knew that it wasn't something she had much of a choice in. I didn't realise how much she had hurt me until she was gone. However, I then heard of another conversation, one where she would be in danger regardless because she had been with me. Something you don't know about my family is how intensely old-fashioned Noblesque they are, it's rather frustrating. They have all of this tradition that I simply can't keep up with. However, as time went on I began to get used to it and even accept it, and Alisha, I've done terrible, unfathomable things, but somehow this one hurt the most. In my eyes, what I did to her was to save her, but I bet everyone else thinks otherwise. I framed her and got her put into jail for as long as I could. Jail's basically the only place where she'd be safe, my family's bat-shit-crazy and I needed her somewhere so hidden they would never think of hurting her." He sighed as he saw Alisha's eyes burning holes into him. She squeezed his hand and smiled, it wasn't a fake smile, it was so real it made his eyes glaze. He hadn't shared this with anyone, he didn't think he'd tell her so much, but here he was, spilling all the beans he had.
"Bryan, don't let your past actions define you, let your future define you. You will never be able to change the past, but the future is in your hands. You can either f*ck it up, let it f*ck you up, or light it up with the flames of your own f*cking glory. It's all in the choices you make, and I think I want to give this ano- a chance. I want to help you." She meant every word she spoke, she needed to change her future, but she needed to give her husband a chance. She needed to know whether she could love him, whether he could see her as more than a possession.
"Thank you, I won't let you down, not now, not ever." He promised, and he would be held to that promise, and be tested by it. Alisha smiled and let go of his hand as she ordered something else to munch on. However, their date was suddenly interrupted.
"Alisha, is that you?" Alisha smiled to see the familiar face of Richard. Bryan smiled at the fellow and scooted his chair with a few light screeches, happy to be closer to Alisha, as Richard sat next to him. "It's so good to see you two! What are you doing here, together?" His question made Alisha cough slightly, because she knew that they had a group meeting tonight, however she decided that she couldn't let Richard's less than average acting skills let her down.
"Why was that question so saucy?" Bryan teased as he touched Alisha's hand, and she found that she didn't feel disgust. Though her heart was still in knots, she felt it beating, in her ears, in her eyes, in her nose. She had never felt her heartbeat rise is something other than fear or after doing some heavy sport. However, she felt it now, she felt like she was nervous and her hand was getting clammy, she felt her ears blushing and she wanted to yank her hand out from his but she liked the feeling of his large hand protecting hers. How strange, she thought.
"I just felt saucy, you two seem awfully close. Something you want to tell me Ms Richards?" He asked whilst raising a brow. She felt her ears becoming redder, but not at what he was saying. She felt Bryan's gaze on her, it was odd, she wondered what she was feeling. Was it anger? Was she so angry that she was getting nervous and sweaty? Richard felt like laughing, seeing Alisha in her current state. He wondered what had happened to her usual calm state, but he realised that she wasn't her usual self. Alisha might like someone, he thought. He felt his heart rattle slightly at the thought of his closest friend liking someone, it was almost as if his heart was giggling with him. He wondered how she had gone from crying at her hatred, feeling so alone and scared, to becoming so close to this person in less than 24 hours. Girls, he finalised, will always be beyond the realms of a man's brain.
"Well, Alisha and I are dating. And I think we might be official…?" Alisha blushed even harder at his words, and somehow got the courage to see his eyes, she felt like a tomato becoming riper and riper with every second.
"U-um, I think so too?" She questioned, making the two men laugh. Her voice had become small and cute, and she was trying to hide her face behind her hair. "Oh hush!" she complained at their laughter as she hid behind her hair.
"Congratulations to the both of you then!" Richard grinned, however he still felt skeptical in his heart. He knew that he had to protect his best friend, and it seemed that he needed to protect her not only from Bryan, but herself.
"What brings you here today?" Bryan asked, sporting his usual grin. Richard explained his love for Indian food and his obsession with curry, Bryan and Alisha giggled with him as they enjoyed some refreshments. Soon, their date was over, Alisha didn't have anymore classes, however she explained to Bryan that she was meeting with her friends. She promised to meet him the next day, and they settled to meet for dinner.
"Let's go RichieSh*t." She grinned evilly as she grabbed his arm and dragged him with her.
"Okay AllyPoo." He replied whilst sticking out his tongue like a child. She rolled her eyes as they waltzed to his pick-up spot as a limo pulled beside them. Soon the pair reached a fancy hotel, they had decided to meet here because they needed a location Bryan wouldn't know about. Alisha stared at the tall hotel, her neck began to feel the weight of her head, yet she couldn't see the top.