Not Even Once//PT2 of Just Once Series

Chapter 13// Figuring Things Out

Alice and Simon laid in bed for hours, just talking about everything that had happened that day. Mostly about Vik, but that was normal. Alice could say that she still cared about him as well.

"I mean, he looked at me like I was a stranger, and he was a child, being shy because he didn't know me." Alice explained again.

"Again, as Jide said, he might have just been following Josh's orders. Did Josh seem to be acting strange?"

"No, Josh didn't say anything to me. He just stared at Vik."

"Maybe that's why. Maybe Vik felt like he was under to much pressure and he couldn't talk to you." Simon ran his hands through his own hair.

"That's kinda hard to believe, Josh never had any impact on him like this when we were dating?"

"Well..."

"What? What did Joshua do to poor Vik?"

"After you were in the hospital, he-he freaked out on Vik. Completely lost control, and it wasn't fun for any of us. Jide and I had to hold him back, and even then we couldn't really stop him. It was horrible."

Alice's jaw dropped, "He-he hurt him?"

"Well, you could say that... You could also say that it was more than him physically hurting him."

"Oh my god..." Alice knew how hard it was for Vik to forgive himself and Josh didn't have to make it harder for him.

"It was horrible. But since then, Josh apologized to Vik and everything was alright for a while... Until the day before you came home."

"What did he do then?" Alice felt dejected.

"He, screamed... He went on a rampage. Vik has scars, under his chin and above his eyes. Josh ruined him. Vik is afraid." Simon shook his head.

"Josh... Ruined him... How could he do that?! That's one of his best friends!" Alice stood up off the bed, and ran out of the room. She was going to find Josh.

"JOSHUA!" She screamed, knocking on his door.

"LET ME IN." She continued to scream, Jide and Vik made their ways out of their rooms to see the commotion.

"Alice, please!" Simon called, coming down the hallway behind Jide.

"NO! WHERE IS HE?" Just then, his door opened.

"What, Alice?" Josh asked, rubbing his forehead.

"You are such a bitch Joshua. You hurt one of your best friends, just because your sister was in the hospital..."

"Alice, I can explain-"

"No, Josh. Your going to pay for this... I mean-he's not my husband now, but he was, and your not going to hurt him anymore. I-I love him." Alice breathed heavily. A silence fell over the group.

"You love me?" Vik spoke up.

"I love you."

"Oh."

"Vik? Are you okay?" Alice rushed over to his side, placing a hand on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Vik glared at Josh, placing his hand over top of Alice's.

"Vik, I said I was sorry." Josh, whose eyes turned red with tears, spoke. His voice shaky.

"Please, Josh. Go to your room. I'll deal with you later." Alice had calmed down.

"Okay. I'm sorry Vik." Josh hung his head.

"It's fine, Josh. I'm really over it. I know you were angry, I understand." Vik smiled, and so did Alice.

"Come on, I need to talk to you in your room. Simon, I'll be up soon. Go do your work."

"Okay."

"Come on Vik." Alice walked into his room, sitting down in the chair that she had always used when she was dating him. Vik sat down next to her.

"So-Simon told me that your afraid of Josh?"

"I guess... I mean after he beat me up, it wasn't really the same. But I forgive him. He's still my friend." Vik shifted in his seat.

"Okay. I'm glad. But I'm still pissed at him."

"Do you, do you really love me?" Vik asked, playing with the hem of his shirt.

"Yeah... I mean, I do. It's just, you lied to me..." Alice crossed her legs, sighing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep anything from you, I just couldn't tell you. Josh told me that if I did, it would ruin your life. And I guess it did." Vik sighed.

"But I mean it would have been better if I would have heard it from you out of respect other than hearing it from Josh out of anger."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay... Anyway, that dream..."

"I know, strange right?"

"Yeah... I wonder why we had the same dream!" Vik smiled, deleting a pop up from his computer.

"Same. Maybe it meant something?"

For the next two hours, Vik and Alice talked about everything, and finally came to an agreement. They agreed to spend at least one hour a week, talking. Vik and Alice would be therapists for each other. They would be 'best friends' and tell each other everything.Because they both knew that if they dated again, people would be angry. So friends was all it was going to be. Nothing more.

Eventually, Alice left so Vik could do his H3M stream. She made her way to Josh's room. Of course, in Josh fashion, he wasn't there. He must have left to go see Frey.

"Well then... Guess I'll go see Simon."

Alice climbed the steps to Simons room, smiling when she saw him at his desk.

"Hi Simon."

"Hey Alice."

"What are you doing?" She asked, falling onto his bed.

"Just wrapping up the editing for this video. Then I plan on taking a nap."

"Can I join?" Alice smirked.

"Of course."

"Yay!" Alice knew exactly what she was doing.

"Just one more cut, and... finished!" Simon saved and put the video up to render. He quickly removed his headset and made his way to the bed.

"Simon..." She made her way over to where he was seated on the bed.

"Alice..." Simon smirked. She had a feeling he knew what she wanted.

"I wanna do something... With you..."

"Go on..."

Alice began to remove his shirt, kissing him slowly down the jaw line. She smiled when he removed her shirt in return, flipping them over so Simon was the dominant. Alice liked it that way.

Then she began to feel strange... Like something was wrong... Like she was cheating on someone.

"Simon, can we take that nap now?" She asked as he wrapped his arms around her now naked torso.

"Of course." He replied, cuddling up next to her.

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

Alice couldn't really explain how she felt, she just felt strange. Maybe it was the part of her that still loved Vik. After all, he was the one who took her virginity in the first place.