𝐹𝐸𝐸𝐿𝑆 𝐿𝐼𝐾𝐸 𝑊𝐸 𝑂𝑁𝐿𝑌 𝐺𝑂 𝐵𝐴𝐶𝐾𝑊𝐴𝑅𝐷𝑆-𝐴𝑙𝑒𝑥 𝑇𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑟

Building herself back up

"Holy shit how are you!" Thalia squealed as she wrapped her arms around me.

Words sort of fumbled out of my mouth as I was still extremely stunned by the woman stood before me, "I'm good how are you?" I asked, wide-eyed as she pulled back and beamed over at me.

"I'm great yeah! Come on I'll buy you a quick drink, is that alright?" Thalia asked, I glanced over to Wayne and Luna whom just nodded at me and through me a thumbs up. "Lead the way." I said as Thalia nodded over to the bar stools.

'I'll only be a moment' I mouthed to Luna over my shoulder as I sat down by the bar, Lu smiled with a small nod before turning back to the table of our friends.

Thalia handed me half a lager as I took a seat beside her; her hair was blonder now, skin more tanned and eyes looked bluer than they did back in LA. It was strange knowing that once upon a time we were ever so close and now I'm struggling to think of what to say.

"So how have you been?" Thalia asked me as she brought her drink to her lips and sipped it slowly, "Rough." I laughed (although it's not that funny) "Oh sweetie I've been following the news, god you have been through some shit huh?" I nodded after she spoke, feeling her hand wrap over my own and squeeze gently.

"How come you never called me? Everytime I rung you it went straight to answerphone." I mumbled slightly, watching as a guilty expression flooded over Thalia's face.

"I'll be honest El, after Alex and I cut ties I sort of wanted to just fall off the face of the earth.." A sort of sadness flashed through her eyes, I felt as if a bat was swung straight into my gut at the sound of his name. I'd slept with her ex boyfriend, shit.

"So I bought a new phone and changed my number..." She perked up a little bit and her expression softened into a neutral one, "Lost all my contacts, I'm sorry." I knitted my brows tightly together "What are you sorry for? Don't be daft." I waved her off and watched as she let out a small laugh of relief.

"I also saw on the news Alex was the one that bailed you out." I almost choked on my drink once again at his name, carefully placing it down and clearing my throat I turned to face her again. "Yeah he did bless him, I still need to repay him back." I raised my brows and nodded slowly, "Al won't let you do that, the man would take a bullet for you." Thalia grinned slightly, her words forming a ball in my throat and a warmth in my stomach.

"How long did he stay here for?" She asked, Alex being the topic of the conversation made my toes curl, I hadn't felt bad about sleeping with him up until this very moment, guilt had flooded over me like a tsunami wave hitting the beach.

"About two weeks?" I guessed, "Did he stay at yours?" Thalia then asked, the questions giving my overthinking mind the idea that she knew...
"Yeah..but obviously half the time we were at the police station so.." I shrugged off the topic but not quick enough as Thalia brought it up again.

"I know you're probably concerned about all my questions, But Al and I are friends so I was just wondering, I'm not some psycho ex El don't worry." She giggled, I huffed a short laugh, Blake coming into my mind as she said 'Psycho Ex' which is what he was for sure.

My fingertips traced the coaster on the bar top in front of me, an awkward silence dwelling upon the two of us as the truth tickled the tip of my tongue, threatening to spill from me at any moment in time. I just felt like shit, I was a god awful friend for doing something like that. At the time I didn't even think because his touch was like an intake of ecstasy, erasing all thoughts from my mind as I remembered how my neck would lean further back to allow his lips to capture my skin once more.

Shaking the memory from my mind I gulped down the rest of my drink, drowning out the truth from the back of my throat. "You look..."
Thalia started causing me to glance over to her as I placed my glass onto the coaster, "Deep In a paining thought?" She questioned, my lashes fluttered as I blinked at her.