Alliance

Diamond Ring

~Chapter Five~

Alex returned home and threw his keys on the coffee table taking a seat on the leathered sofa trying to get comfortable. Suddenly he was embraced and he turned over his shoulder to stare into a pair of blue eyes, he pulled away and un-wrapped the stranger's arms from around his neck. Her disappointment clearly showed and she pouted her lips at him flipping her tangled hair back.

"So what do we do now?" She asked leaning down to nibble his ear lobe.

"I think it's time for you to leave." He said moving away from her.

"Are you serious?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, deeply serious." He replied in a stern tone.

The girl scoffed, gave him the finger, and stormed back into his room throwing off his shirt and pulling on her clothes. She walked into the hall without another word and slammed his door hard. Alex simply chuckled and turned the TV on. He was use to girls doing that all the time, what could they expect out of a one night stand? He settled for a sports channel and soon dozed off into sleep.

****

"Alex I can't do this," Victoria whispered with tears in her eyes. Alex stared at her feeling his heart shatter and reached out to cup her face. She quickly avoided his touch and looked down to her hand gently pulling off the white gold engagement ring from her finger. He stared at it as she held it out to him, the way the lovely diamonds danced around it and how the squared rock in the center reflected the tear that escaped his blue eyes.

"Please." He said, wrapping his hand around hers. Victoria simply took a deep breath and shook her head wiping her tears away.

"You weren't supposed to love me." She replied.

"Do you love me?" He asked, swallowing hard. He could feel his hands trembling as he tried reaching for her once again. He cupped the side of her face into his hand and stroked her cheek with his thumb looking pleadingly into her eyes.

"No, I do not love you." She whispered. With that being said she pulled away from his hold and vanished. Alex suddenly found himself standing alone in a pitch black room, and the only thing that was alight was the engagement ring on the floor. It glittered and glisten starring back at him, breaking his heart as he bent down and picked it up off the floor.

*****

Alex awoke feeling his chest hurt, he rubbed it and rose off the couch trying to shake the awkward dream he had just had. He made his way into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water gulping it down in record time. He set the glass down feeling that tight pressure against his chest still and growled in frustration at the memory of the pain he had felt that still lingered.

"It's just a damn dream." He muttered tussling his hair. What he couldn't get over, was that shiny ring. It was almost as if he had seen it somewhere. He shrugged the dream off and grabbed his keys looking for some distraction. As he made his way towards his car he felt his mouth hang open at the horror that stood before him. His mustang was keyed and a big red brick stuck half way into his windshield. He felt his lips turn into a smile and he began to laugh at the way girl's thought they could get back at him. This was a rental car and his real car was in the shop getting repaired from the last girl that had given it a beating with a metal bat. He pulled the brick off the windshield and headed towards the shop to see if his car was ready to go.

He was relieved to see his nice black shiny BMW waiting for him as he arrive, he quickly paid, hopped into his car, and left.

***

Victoria finally closed up shop and pulled into her knitted green sweater, she made sure to leave the place secure and got into her little blue Neon. When she arrived at home she wasn't surprised to see a shiny BMW and a Mercedes Benz parked outside her parent's home. She cut the engine and sat there for a moment deciding whether to get off the car. A knock on her window had her jumping and she quickly pulled her door open to find Alex starring down at her. For a moment she felt herself captured by his aqua colored eyes, and the way his dirty blond hair looked tussled and smooth. She cleared her throat once the thought of that woman in his apartment entered her mind and quietly walked past him.

"Hold on." He said, before she could place a hand over the knob.

"Yes." She asked.

"My parents are here to officially seal the deal and brought an engagement ring along." He whispered. Taking her from the shoulder's he wrapped an arm around them and pulled her away from the door huddling close to her. Victoria immediately felt embarrassed and awkward to have Alex hold her so close and lightly pushed herself away from his warm embrace.

"Listen, they're gonna want me to propose in there." He rambled on. "Why don't you say we give them a little show?"

"Okay." She simply replied, finally pulling away from his grip. She cleared her throat before going in and greeted the Jewel's with a forced smile.

"Was Alex outside?" Rose asked.

"I didn't see him." Was all she replied making her way upstairs.

"Wait, we would like for you to join us," Clark quickly said rising from his seat. Victoria paused half way up the stairs and turned around just in time to see Alex enter the living room. She took a deep breath and readied herself for the drama that would take place. Quietly she walked and stood next to her parents who had risen as well holding wine glasses in their hands.

"Alex could you please come in here." His mother ordered. Alex held a stern expression as he walked over to join them. His arms crossed in defense as he stared at the carpet floor.

***

"Take this." She whispered to him. She held in her hand a tiny little smooth box and placed it on his hand.

"Why do I have to do this, it's not like I want to marry her." He hissed placing the black box back into her hands.

"Alexander Lucian Jewels take the box." His father hissed back.

"You both are the ones that want me to marry her, so why don't you propose!" He whispered screamed.

"I swear to you boy, if you don't go along with this I'll see to it that your credit cards are blank." His father growled. Alex glared at his parents and snatched the box from his mother's hand slowly opening the lid. His heart froze and his body went chiseled at the sight of the diamond ring in the box.

"Impossible." He whispered. He felt his hand begin to tremble and he quickly gripped the small black box in anger.

"Where did you get this?" He asked looking at his father.

"It's been in our family generation for a long time son, your mother wore this very ring when I proposed to her." He replied.

Alex shook his head confused and stared at the ring once again, and then his gaze lifted to Victoria who stared at the carpet floor fiddling with her ugly green sweater. This means nothing, it's just a coincidence, he thought to himself as he slowly pulled the ring from the box. He took a deep breath and shoved the black box into his pocket. His eyes remained glued to Victoria for some reason and he couldn't seem to focus as gripped the white gold ring in his hand.

"Victoria could you kindly come here," His father said. She hesitated for a moment and then quietly made her way towards Alex.

"Kneel." His mother muttered. Alex suddenly snapped back to reality and noticed that she stood but a foot in front of him. He cleared his throat and felt his heart hammer thunderously against his chest as he knelt on one knee and looked up into her eyes. What am I doing? I'm supposed to be against this! He thought still starring at her. He composed himself and drowned his emotions away by replacing it with a glare and letting out a frustrated breath.

"Please you don't have to make him do this, I will gladly accept the ring if you just hand it to me." She said. Alex quickly rose off the ground placed the ring in her hand and walked out of the living room without another word. He made it to his car, turned the engine on, and sped off feeling his thoughts cloud up again.