Winter Air (Sequel to Night Air)

Chapter 22

*Alyssa's POV*

"There's no way I would have let that slut get near him," Eleanor chuckled as we grabbed our weights from the rack and wandered back over to the squatting stations. I chuckled with her but quickly let it die out. "I mean who did she think she was? Coming onto my boyfriend at our party in our own home? Good thing for her I was in a good mood last night." El chuckled again, but I didn't join her and instead silently placed my weights on either side of the 45 pound barbell. She had a bunch of stories to tell me about from the party she had the night before to tell Niall goodbye and wish him a safe flight. He left at five o'clock that morning so it felt kind of odd having a house party on a Monday night, but being tired on a Tuesday morning was the last thing on my mind. I was more concentrated on the hard goodbye I had to give Niall only 6 hours prior.

"Honey, I know you miss him," El sympathized as she finished putting her last weight on her own barbell. "He'll be back, though. I promise. And then you two can go back to enjoying your lives again instead of tiredly moping." Her laughter soon caught mine and I shared a few giggles with her. "But for real, it'll be fine. Besides, you got his phone number. Nothing's stopping you from calling him everyday or FaceTiming him."

I rolled my eyes and got under my bar. I heaved it over my shoulders and started to squat. "Except for..." I pushed myself back up with my thigh muscles, "the fact that he's..." another squat down, "8 hours ahead of us." El gave me a face and I quickly looked away.

I continued to squat as she continued to talk. "You two can still text. Like right now it's 10 in the morning here therefore it's only 6 at night there. You'd both normally be awake and able to talk."

"Plane ride," I forced out as I squatted back down to the floor.

She crossed her arms. "I said normally. It really can't be that bad. Especially if the two of you are- slow down there, will ya?!" I let out a forceful breath and stood up to my full height. "Squats are not supposed to be done that fast!" She lectured.

"I wanted to finish the rep," I told her exhausted as I pushed the barbell up onto its holder.

"Well you're gonna tear something." I shrugged her off and wandered back to the weights to grab a couple more. Eleanor followed me and continued to scold me in my ear. "Look, I understand that you're stressed." I grabbed a single five pound weight and turned around to look at her with a sarcastic look. "I do! Look, Alyssa, we need to talk about Sunday night."

Immediately I turned back around to the weight rack and searched for another five pound weight. "There's nothing to talk about. And why don't people put weights back where they belong?"

"Bullshit!" She snapped. "There is plenty to talk about."

I groaned in frustration and threw my hands in the air completely forgetting what El had just badgered into my ear. "Five pound weights go with five pound weights, people!"

"Alyssa, will you stop for a second?!" She grabbed hold of my free hand and forcefully pulled me around so I couldn't find a quick enough reflex to escape her. She then firmly held me in place by grabbing each of my shoulders. "Whether you like it or not, we need to talk. I promised you I wouldn't tell Niall as a friend, but as a sister there's more I can do for you than that- there's more I need to do than that!" I sighed and turned my head away from her. Seeing my white flag being raised, she let go of me. "Please just let me help you."

I turned and set my weight back on the rack under the sign that read "5 pounds". "Can we please talk about this later?"

She raised a skeptical and naked eyebrow at me. "I don't know. Will we actually talk or are you just going to blow me off and pretend like everything is okay?" Knowing she was too smart for me to escape the mess I made, I shook my head to answer her last question. "So I'll pick you up from HQ when you're done then, right?" I nodded my head. I was starting to feel like a child who was being scolded by her mother. That's basically what Eleanor was to me. When she wasn't being a friend, she was my sister and then she was my mom. Then, when El wasn't around, Cole was being my much-older-brother and then my father. Maybe on some level of consciousness I knew that I needed someone like them in my life since neither one of my real parents were in my life. Even still, I guess that just made me feel like an angsty teen that was sick and tired of their little interventions. Maybe I needed them, but I was tired of feeling talked down to whether I deserved it or not.