||Pretenders||☄️

(15).

"I Shouldn't"

Maxwell was going full course on her, still aiming for that perfect moment to finally kiss those lips. His lip touched with hers for a brief moment and she pulled herself away fast enough that he missed the whole moment. She let go off his hand and drew back from him. He curled a fistful in his hand and looked at her. "Ali,"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't." She said and sprinted off. She left behind a confused Max, banging the doors as she rushed to one of the rooms. Max raked his hair with his fingers and slammed his face. She did that to him. She left him wondering what he did wrong. Didn't she care about him too? Didn't she wish they were more than mere friends? What was all the signs she was giving him about? He thought she was starting to like him too. She's been caring and loving to him. What was that all about?!

Maxwell stepped out of the pool and made his way to the house. Alicia was no where to be seen in the living room and he went ahead to the bedroom to wash up and go to bed. That moment of drifting away from him played in his thick head and it pissed him off every single time. She turned him into a stupid person and she had the gut to walk away.

Early in morning, he heard a gentle knock on his door. He woke up from the bed and rushed to the door. Alicia was already dressed up with her handbag along and he could tell she was forcing to smile.

"Hey," She sighed. "Uh... I have to go. Dawn called for me and she needs me."

"You're leaving?" He asked biting on his lip.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I'll call you." he held her hand from leaving.

"Can you wait? We can go together."

"No. It's urgent." She took his hand off. It would be too uncomfortable for her to sit in the same space with him. Her name came out of his lips one more time, sending shivers through her and she turned to leave. There was nothing she could do for him and what he expected from her wasn't possible. Getting under his wings wouldn't be too pleasant for her.

So Maxwell watched her leave and he hated himself for thinking she was pretty in the first place. He hated himself for thinking she was a nice person who cared about him. With this, he vowed to let his feelings sink. He would not be pathetic to beg for love and attention from a girl.

Minutes later, he sat down on the bed trying to come up with something and all he thought of was Alicia. He wished he knew what she was up to. A call came through on his phone from Ryan asking what he was up to.

"We should hang out. I'm bored as fuck. Thanks to you Kiera isn't talking to me too." Ryan sighed on the phone.

"Let's meet at Rosie's."

"Are you serious? There are better places out there. Why do you keep making us go there? I really don't like that Dawn girl. She's so rude and she scares me too."

"I'm meeting you there tonight. Stop bickering like a child." He hanged up and got ready to leave the house.

Hours later, Maxwell drove his car to the parking lot of Rosie's and he reminisced what happened at the exact spot weeks ago. He remembered asking Luke to walk with him and when they got to the dark side, he got closer to him asking him what he wanted.

"I'm here for Alicia. I heard she works here." Luke had said, looking out for Alicia to walk out of the door. "You said you're her friend. Can you help me talk to her?"

"Who are you? Her boyfriend?"

"I was.." he sighed. "It's complicated. I don't think she'll want to talk to me but I have to. I have to warn her what's coming."

"What's coming?"

"Just get me to talk to her." Maxwell took a closer look at him and Luke was good looking. No wonder Alicia dated him. He bit on his red plump lip and scratched his head. "Are you going to get her or not?" Max had smirked at him.

"She's working right now. Her boss has quite a temper. Tell me what it is that's coming. I might help."

"Okay.." he sighed and he seemed scared. "I did some bad things before. Really bad things and she was the only one I could call for that time in the middle of the night. I seriously didn't think she'd come but she did and we both got rid of it together. In short, she helped me bury something I did. Let's say the weight of it was too much for me so I had to break up with her so she'll be free. I really did her a favor and I know she hates me now. I'm just here to tell her to keep shut because it's getting out of hand and all the rumors are gathering up."

"How bad?"

"Bad enough. I have a friend who works in the police department and she said, Alicia could be in danger too."

"Wow. So tell me, how do you plan on solving this?"

"I don't know. I was planning to get missing for days till it cools down." He laughed.

"Let me guess. She'll be safe when you're gone?" Maxwell stretched the 'gone' and stupid Luke nodded. "That's simple ain't it?" He smiled. "I see. It'll be fine. You just need to be gone, for like forever." Saying this, Maxwell reached for the little pocket knife at his back pocket and put his left arm over Luke's shoulders as a means of comforting him when in truth, he had something else in mind.

The confused Luke welcomes his arm and that instant, he felt something sharp poke at his belly. He gasped in pain and Maxwell held him closely so he can't move. His left hand covered Luke's mouth and strategically daggered Luke to his death. Luke fell to the floor and to make sure he was really dead, Maxwell did not stop stabbing him over and over again. Luke's pleas of mercy was faint in his ears. Maxwell just wanted him gone.

Maxwell held the steering wheel, squeezing on to it. His dark sides were screaming at him, reminding him of how bad he was for her and how bad she can be for him too. He wasn't so surprised when Alicia chose to keep his secrets.

She had worse to keep.