The Jock, The Nerd and The Geek

25

Alex nodded. "Yes, you always forgot where you kept your things if something was arranged in a new order,"

"And you always had to mark everywhere with a post-it note so I wouldn't forget," Alia heard herself say, before saying, "Sit, please,"

She did.

Alex was... Different than last time. The tense shoulders, hunched back, stiff aura was gone. It was replaced with something... Empty. Like all the possible things that made Alex, Alex, was... Gone.

"Do you want anything?" Alia asked, "Tea? Biscuits?—"

"No," She cut in, her voice soft. "Why did you tell me to come?"

Why did she tell her to come?

Alia's hand moved to her back, twisting and turning themselves as a smile came to her face, her body rocking. "H-Honestly, I don't know why. I already thought you wouldn't come so I just— I just planned on winging it. But now that you're here..."

She looked at her now, trying to make her smile brighter. "I think it's time I try paying up my debt,"

"Debt? You don't have a—"

"Shh," Alia cut in, giggling now. "You always have a hard time accepting things. Just relax and we'd get to it," Then she ran to her wardrobe, bringing out three books. "Photo albums!"

"There are three of those?"

Alia nodded, running to join her on the bed before plopping beside her and placing them on her laps. "I have photos of you since the day you were six. Photos that I'm sure you don't have,"

"Yeah, Mother burnt all my pictures," She replied, quietly, opening them.

Though she wanted to ask why, she didn't. It wasn't a time to make Alex think of that woman, so she instead, she stared at the albums and suddenly pointed at a picture of them. "Look! God, you were so cute!"

"Cute?" Alex chuckled.

It was Alia's birthday. Both of their birthdays actually. They were both eight, Alia in a blue Cinderella dress copy and Alex in a fairy godmother outfit.

"Oh we looked so adorable," Alia said, pouting.

"Remember how you cried because your shoes weren't glass?" Alex asked.

Alia laughed, nodding. "Yeah, and then— Then you said I should get mad at you because it was you that didn't have enough magic to make it that way,"

"And you banned me from eating your cake."

"But I still snuck some for you before you left though," Alia pointed out. "You always liked to eat cake. Do you still eat them?"

"Food is food," Alex said, her voice going quiet again.

Oh, right, Adriana never let her eat a lot.

"More pictures, more pictures," Alia said, flapping through the pages before bringing out the second book  "Ha! Look at this one,"

"This was our first make-up tryout," Alex said.

Alia nodded, puffing her chest. "Yeah, you were my first customer,"

Alex looked like a clown, but in a sense, the prettiest clown you'd ever find. Her hair, when she was younger, was fuller and curlier,and she liked to pack it in a full bun, letting two curly strands bounce around her face.

They were both thirteen at the time.

"It refused to come off though,"

"What did you expect from a man that didn't know what a thirteen year old was doing with make-up but wouldn't dare upset her," Alia said, "But God, I still have no idea what the hell that was because it clearly wasn't makeup."