||Pretenders||☄️

(19.)

"What Are We?"

      At the electronic shop few miles away from Rosie's Inn, Dawn assisted Alicia into choosing an earpiece and she was surprised Alicia needed that to work at her new job. "Are the neighbors noisy or something? Why do you need an earpiece to clean?" Dawn asked dazed.

     "My boss is used to sex."

     "Do you watch?" She giggled.

    "I'm not a pervert." Alicia slapped on Dawns arm and choose the white colored earpiece. "I'll go with this." She smiled.

      Ignorant days were ahead and she was so prepared for it. She expected his calls that evening and went armed and ready. This time, he sat at the living room with his 'sweetheart' and asked her to clean up his bedroom. She eyed at his cocky behavior and walked in there with her tools. The lady wasn't someone she's ever seen in school and she did not care.

     The drawers in the bedroom were opened and they were filled with condoms. She got her earpiece ready, set music on and had fun cleaning his trash. She walked back to the living room with a smile after her work was done and without a doubt, this lady was grinding on Maxwell's meat in the couch. Alicia smiled at him, sincerely, for having fun and he seemed pissed off with it. She went away without goodbyes and left him to fuck all the pussies in the world if that would quench his anger for her.

      Maxwell did not call for her the next day and she was relieved he didn't. He thought of all the stupid things he was doing, sticking to Cole's advice of getting his head in the game if he didn't want to get hurt like Ryan was. It looked like he was having the time of his life but he wasn't. It hurt and she was so unbothered. He thought of doing more of it, getting drunk, getting high and wasting his time on girls so he'll let go off her. How was Ryan doing it? Forcing smiles and pretending to be okay? How was he coping with all that hurt? How does he get out of it?

      Maxwell wanted to try it one more time. Just one more and he'd be done for good. He invited another girl on his list over and texted Alicia to clean up the trash he purposely left behind and all that fake orgasms was making him go crazy.

How can this turn him into such a pathetic person!

     His errand girl came over and he purposely left the door open again. He walked into the bedroom with her and waited for the arrival of Alicia while this girl drooled over the naked portraits in his room.

      Alicia walked in with a loud bang on the door and he sighed. He called his errand girl over to the bed and she started undressing him with kisses to his whole body and he was not loving it one bit. What he needed wasn't random touches from mere girls. It had to be hers.

     Few seconds into it, he stopped her and pulled his shorts on. "Hey, we just started." She said. He paid no heed to her and stepped out of the bedroom. Alicia was hovering the floor and her backside faced the bedroom. She was tapping her feet to the floor, humming to herself.

     "Ali," he called. He was breathing over the top, anger welling inside him. "Alicia." He called again and there was no answer from her. He stepped closer and turned her around to face him. Her earpiece fell out of her ears and she looked at him anxiously. "What is wrong with you?"He asked, panting. She blinked at him and looked around him.

     "What did I do?"

     "What are we?"

    "Your cleaning lady." She eyed a little but that grip on her arm was making her stay calm as possible.

     "Tell me why you cared about me before. Why did you poke around in my business if you weren't going to be around when I need you? Why the fuck did you have to get so involved in my fucking life like my previous headaches weren't enough! Tell me why the heck you had to do all that. Did anyone send you to torture me huh? Was it my dad?"

     "What are you.."

     "It was my brother wasn't it? They're the least of people who I do not like as well. Was it them? Or are you doing this because of what I had to do to your boyfriend? Is this some payback?!" She forcefully pulled away from him and turned the hoover off. "Why are you not talking?"

    "Because you sound crazy and because I don't get a word you're saying. Who's your brother and why will I meet your dad? Are you high again?" She tried to sniff around his bare chest and he gripped her hand again.

    "You're doing this on purpose aren't you? Why are you not even mad about this? Why do you keep coming back? Shouldn't this make you mad? Shouldn't you be begging me to speak to you like we used to? You never cared about me, right? Whatever we had going on, don't you want it back?"

    "Can you just get to the point and stop! confusing me?!" She pulled away again loosing her breath too. His woeful eyes confused her more.

    "Yeah, you're going to pretend again." he laughed, scratching his head. "You're going to pretend not to get this shit I'm trying to say to you! Whatever you fucking did to me, worked." he stopped for a second. "..and I'm going crazy here doing weird things just to get your fucking attention. You're fake like everyone else Alicia. You're really bad at this and I'm still trying to figure out how I concluded to love you. But you know what, let's pretend this conversation never happened."

      "Max," she mumbled seeing the flecks of tears pricking his eyes. What in the fuck! He stopped for breath looking at her and not believing he really poured out his heart to her in such a gruesome way. He never planned that.

    "What's going on here?" The errand girl asked from the doorway and without turning he asked her to leave. "Okay, okay. I'll leave." They waited for her to get out of the apartment, and Alicia's heart was beating out of her chest. He really said it and she heard it all correctly.

The Maxwell Ross.. loves her? The Maxwell Ross..

     "I'm going to do that." She broke the silence and his stomach heaved.

    "What?" His voice slowed.

   I'm going to pretend this conversation never happened." She ended, stepped away from him and picked up her bag to leave. He was not sure he'll ever have the balls to confess his feelings like he just did. He held back her hand to keep her from leaving and really have that conversation.

     What she wanted the most, was to sprint off and never come back.

A/N— Hey, it's the weekend and yeah I updated. Keep reading. There's more to come❣️