ALANA'S MISTAKE ✔

Chapter 15

'You spent the night with Elias Smith?'

Alana's best friend Riley looked like she was about to choke on the strawberries and cream milkshake she was sipping through a bright pink straw. Alana quickly shushed her, before looking down at her own milkshake, chocolate chip mint, her cheeks reddening slightly. 

'Yes I did.'

'Wow. Just, I mean. Wow.'

Riley's slate grey eyes were wide, her plum-red lips held open in a perfect circle. The two of them sat in the diner where they often met, in the booth furthest away from everyone else, where Alana had dragged them as soon as they got there. She had begun to fill Riley in on what had happened.

'You can't tell anyone, and I mean anyone. Not even Duke, or whatever his name is. Especially not him.'

'Duke won't care but anyway of course I won't tell him. Now tell me what the hell is happening. You look kind of weird by the way, I don't know, like you're going into hiding or something.'

'I am going into hiding. I have to.'

Riley furrowed her brow and cocked her head to the side, her black hair falling artfully across her neck.

'He's not leaving it alone, Riley. He wants to carry it on further, he wants something from me, I don't even know what, but he won't leave it alone.'

Riley leaned forward, her heavy purple necklace falling onto the table.

'So let me get this straight. You spent one night with Elias Smith and now he's obsessed with you?'

'I guess.'

Riley leaned back and narrowed her eyes then began to stir her milkshake with her straw, holding it between her fingernails, painted glossy crimson.

'What was it like?'

'What was what like?'

'Being with Elias? I'll bet it was incredible. You need to tell me about it, every detail.'

She let out a thrilled giggle. Alana looked at her in stony silence.

'Riley. I'm serious. He's not a stable guy... He's troubled. And he won't leave me alone. Earlier, before I got here, I had to take him to the hospital, because he took an overdose. Then he called me, the only person he called, so I had to go over there to make sure he was all right.'

Riley's eyes widened again, then blinked.

'Are you serious?'

'Yes, I'm serious. He was in my arms, half dead, lying there. It was terrifying. The doctors helped him, they had to pump his stomach and he was just lying there all pale and sleepy. When I tried to call someone else for him he said he was all alone, that his parents were dead and he had no family, that his band mates probably wouldn't even care.'

'He's all alone? A guy like that?'

'So he says. He got my number and I swear I never gave it to him, he came to my house.'

Riley took in a sharp breath.

'Noah was there?'

Alana sighed heavily and shook her head.

'Noah and Snow were away, with the camper van, that's how this whole thing started, that's how I even had an evening to spend with Elias... It's such a mess.'

She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

'I don't know what to do,' she said. 'I can't tell Noah, I just can't.'

'You're right about that,' replied Riley. 'You can not under any circumstance tell that caveman of a husband of yours about it. He will just kill him - straight away.'

'Noah isn't violent,' replied Alana, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her pinstripe shirt.

'No, not now he's not but he's like a dormant volcano, all lovely and calm but by god if he found out about this. I've never seen a man love a woman more than he loves you. Some women searches their whole life for a guy who looks at them like Noah looks at you.'

Alana bit her lip, so hard it almost began to bleed.

'That's not making me feel any better.'

Riley adjusted her huge, fan-shaped earrings.

'I'm not here to make you feel better, I'm here to tell you the truth. And right now, you need to not tell your 6 foot 5 Viking hulk of husband about your affair with the lead singer of a great new band. I want Silence to keep going!'

She let out a laugh. Alana sighed and stared at her milkshake, completely unable to enjoy the joke. She probably wouldn't ever laugh again, not as carelessly as she had done before.

'What if he tries to kill himself again?'

'You tell him to wait until he's released a few unbelievable albums first, that's how most musicians do it, no point committing suicide before then.'

'Oh god, Riley. I'm not in the mood. I don't think you're getting the gravity of the situation. Elias could completely ruin my life.'

Riley bent her chin low and reached out to Alana, taking her hands in her own.

'For you - and only for you - I will seek out Elias myself, have my own steamy night with him and hope that his affections turn my way instead. How about that? I've only got Duke to lose.'

She rubbed Alana's hands affectionately.

'Come on, sweet cheeks, cheer up. It disturbs me to see you like this.'

Alana managed a reluctant half-smile.

'That's better. Now look, if anything else happens, you tell me, ok? And tonight - the milkshakes are on me.'