Beautiful Things

Even

        The next day, Fiona stayed with Alison at her apartment. They watched tv and finished the holiday food. Alison seemed better than before, but Fiona kept an eye on her.
"I'm going out. I'll be back." Alison said.
"Where are you going?" Fiona asked.
"I'm getting my car from outside of the club. It's probably still there."
"Ok." The only reason Fiona let her go was that she had gotten Alison's contact, and could track where she was. She was prepared to drive after her.
Alison did pick up her car but began to drive out of town. It looked like she was trying to go to her hometown. Fiona got in her car to chase after her. There was no way she could go back.
Her phone rang. It was Matt. He was probably going to ask where she was after midnight, and she wasn't in the mood to talk to him. She didn't pick up.
"Are you at your apartment?" He texted her.
"No. I'm visiting some family. I'll see you when we come back from break." She lied. This was a terrible lie. She would've told him about this.
"Ok. Have fun." She turned her phone off.
She drove for an hour before catching up to Alison. She had stopped in between a Methodist church and a college. Alison had a coat that Fiona didn't see when she left.
"Alison!" Alison turned around.
"What are you doing?" Alison turned back towards the college.
"This dorm was once a madhouse. I made a joke that it was made for me." She said, laughing sadly.
"You need to stop." Fiona walked up to her.
"Our group of friends will soon have the nerve to walk these halls without us." Alison continued, walking into the college.
"You can't just walk in!" Fiona shouted after her. She followed her.
She followed Alison all the way to the other side of the college building. She was staring at a house behind it, and walking up to a car.
"Your Midas touch on the Chevy door." It sounded like Alison was saying song lyrics. She hugged herself.
"November flush and your flannel cure." Fiona assumed that the jacket was Mark's. Fiona turned around to the house, and no one was home. She turned back around, and Alison was gone.
"Alison?" It began to snow, and she ran from the house. The sky was white, and kids came out of the houses to have snowball fights or sled.
She ran down the main road for a while and came upon a fork in the road. She couldn't figure out which way Alison had gone.
Fiona turned around and went back through the college. She hoped Alison was in the church, or nearby. She went into the church, which was eerily quiet.
Alison was sitting in the front pew with a creepy smile on her face. It was clear she had just been crying, but she seemed magically fine now.
"We could call it even. You could call me babe for the weekend. 'Tis the season." Alison said.
"Don't do this to yourself. Mark is gone. You need to move on." Fiona sat next to her. Alison looked like she was deep in thought for a few moments. She stood up and began to walk towards the stained glass window. She gasped.
"What is it?"
"It's Mark." Fiona didn't know if she was hallucinating. But, sure enough, a man came through the church door who Fiona thought was Mark.
"Who's this?" Mark asked, showing Alison a photo from the club. She was clearly drunk, and there was a man near her.
"I can explain."
"If I wanted to know who you were hanging out with while I was gone, I would have asked you," Mark said. Alison tilted her head to one side, clearly confused.
"It's the kind of cold that fogs up windshield glass, but I felt it when I passed you. There's an ache in you put there by the ache in me. But if it's all the same to you, it's the same to me." Mark continued.
"I parked my car right between the Methodist and the school that used to be ours. The holidays linger like bad perfume, you can run but only so far. I escaped it too, remember how you watched me leave? But if it's ok with you, it's ok with me." Alison said. Fiona wanted to stop them, but she wanted to know where this was going.
"Sleep in half the day, Just for old times' sake." Mark got closer to Alison.
"I won't ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay." Alison stepped closer to Mark. It was like a dance they were doing, and Fiona couldn't decide if they were saying a poem or making all of that up.
"We could call it even." Mark reached out his hand.
"Even though I'm leaving?" Alison asked.
"I'll be yours for the weekend."
"'Tis the season." Alison's creepy smile returned to her face.
"Time flies. Messy as the mud on your truck tires. Now I'm missing your smile, hear me out." Fiona wasn't aware Mark had a truck. She thought the Chevy was his.
"We could just ride around. And the road not taken looks real good now. And it always leads to you and my hometown." Alison held Mark's hand. Fiona realized she had let this go too far.
"Stop. Alison, you said no to him. You can't change that. And Mark, what are those texts you sent to her?"
"What?" Alison broke from her dreamy trance. She pulled out her phone. Alison began to cry. Mark hugged her, and she slapped him away.
"Ali, what are you doing? We can fix this."
"No, we can't." Alison dried off her tears.
"I said no. Stop being so weak and deal with it." Alison looked like she was talking to Mark, but she was probably talking to herself too. Mark sighed and left. He did the dramatic, cliche thing by looking back at Alison, but she was leaving out the other door.
Once they were back at Fiona's apartment, Alison sat on her couch, trying to process what had happened. A real smile came on her face.
"Did I really slap him?"
"Yes, you did."
"I don't know how long it's going to take me to get over him." She frowned.
"I don't either. But I'll be right here." Fiona sat next to her.
Here you go!!! Inspired by Tis The Damn Season
Clues for next chapter it will be interesting
🎶Here's to silence🎶- Forever And Always Taylor's Version by Taylor Swift
🎶And I heard he's got his arm round a brand new girl🎶- Mr Perfectly Fine Taylor's Version by Taylor Swift