The Beauties

Alley sat alone. She was sitting in her master bedroom, the same room Blake was murdered in.

But Blake didn't do anything.

He did nothing but support Alley and her baby. Alley let the tears fall. His funeral was this afternoon. Kenzie would grow up never knowing who her wonderful Father really was.

"No," Alley cried, sobbing harder. Her fiance had been the longes relationship she had ever had. She really loved him, Alley had thought she loved one other boy when she was a freshman, but when she met Blake, she had known it wasn't really love. It was make-believe. Because Blake proved to Alley that there was real love.

Alley remembered the sparkling moments throughout her relationship with Blake. When he had asked her to marry him at the Winter Ball. She had been so happy. It seemed like yesterday instead of so many months ago.

What got her most was that Blake hadn't done anything. The Beauties hadn't done anything. Yet Blake was killed. He had been watching TV in his own house! And Alley had been right in the next room while her fiance was being stabbed.

She cried a little harder.

Then her phone rang. It was Carter. She didn't feel like talking. She ignored it, knowing that his funeral was in two hours. She had to hurry and get ready.

She stepped into the burning shower. It scorched her skin making her flinch, but she got used to it and it made her feel better. It washed off her tearstained face and puffiness. The shower made it impossible for Alley to hear the rain outside. It had been raining off and on since Blake's death a few days ago.

She scrubbed shampoo and conditioner out of her hair before turning the water off. She stood in the shower for a minute, thinking. Why had Unknown, or Manne, gone through all that trouble just for torturing the Beauties? By wrecking another car? How had she known that the Beauties would be on that fateful road that night?

Alley remembered how sad she had been that night because of Blake.

She felt a new sadness sweep over her. If they just could've not been together, he would still be alive.

But Alley didn't regret anything. She would get Kenzie out of it. And she knew Blake didn't regret anything, either.

Alley blow-dried her hair until it was, well, dry. She got into her bathrobe, her belly buldging. She had to smile at Kenzie, Blake's daughter. At least she would have a piece of Blake living throughout her life. She placed her hand on her stomach, she felt movement.

She sighed, and went into her walk-in closet. It made her sad, but relieved in a way, that all of Blake's clothes were still in there. A tear rolled down her cheek. It was like he was still alive.

But he wasn't.

She flipped through her maternity clothes, she hadn't made it out of the house to buy an outfit to the funeral. She would wear the dress she had worn to San's funeral a month ago. San was related to Blake somehow. Blake was never close to San, he said he saw him once or twice at a family reunion, but they had to pay their respects.

The dress was loose and sleeveless, with a high neckline. It stopped at her knees. She pulled it on and she put on black tights and white boots with a little wedge. She faced her mirror, but instead of standing at her sink, she stood at Blake's. She had to quickly move her make-up bag to that sink, and her brush and her hair clips and stuff, but then she was ready to get ready.

She applied a light coat of pinkish blush to her cheeks and a thin layer of black eyeliner. She put on several coats of mascara and white eyeshadow. She put Blake's favorite color of her lipstick on, a light red. He said it brough out her eyes. How? She didn't know. But she knew he loved that color on her and that was enough.

She looked at her beautiful wedding ring, and she headed to the door to go to her fiance's funeral.

***

"We let Blake rest in peace, surrounded by family and loved ones," Blake's sister Tory was saying her speech in the church to the crowd, all sniffling. Carter and Claire were holding Alley's hands, the three of them crying.

"He was so young...Too young," Tory wiped her eyes and looked at the ceiling, trying to calm herself. "But he was the best brother, son, friend, and fiance that we will ever know of. He lived his life, and I always remember my memories. We need to forget the fact that he was murdered," more sniffles, "But we need to remember the fact that he is in a better place now and that he wants us to do the best we can and live life for him.