When We Were Young

One

One

Aleksander Morozova sat at the pub trying to get some liquid courage before he had to go to the wedding he was invited to. He had no idea why he had said yes, except Genya had assured him his presence was wanted and that it wouldn't be awkward at all. He hadn't seen any of these people in four years, and there was one person in particular he wasn't sure he could handle seeing. Everything about his college years had been messy, to say the least, and the person in question hated his guts. Or at least that was what he had been told the last time that he had seen them.

He took out his cell phone and stared at the number he had still in his phone even though it had been ages since he had called them. The wedding was going to be held in the evening, and he still had a few hours to kill before he had to worry about being late. Maybe he could get the awkward meeting with over before he had to go, but he doubted very much that the number even worked still. She had probably changed it ages ago....

Still, he pressed the girls name, put the phone to his ear, and waited for her to pick up. "Aleks?" Saints, how long had it been since he had heard her say his name? He didn't know. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Hi, Alina," he said, "you're coming to this thing today, right?"

There was a pause. "Aleks, of course I'm coming. Why would you think that I wasn't?"

"I don't know. You never were big for parties."

"This isn't exactly a party, Aleks. This is a life changing affair."

"Right, right." He took a sip of the beer that he had been drinking. "Listen, I know today is going to be awkward as hell, but I thought we could make it a little less awkward and meet up together. You remember The Crow Club?"

There was a long pause. "Yeah, I remember The Crow club. Are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," he said, "I got here early, and I thought that it would be nice if you could come meet me for a drink and well...."

"We could get the awkwardness out of the way?" she offered.

Aleksander nodded, but then he remembered that she couldn't even see him. They were on the phone after all. "Yeah. I just don't want our first reunion in four years to be around a bunch of people, you know?"

"I know," Alina said softly, "sure, I'll come."

"Good. Good. I'm at the usual place."

"By the bar?"

"By the bar."

"Alright, I'll be there soon. Don't get too drunk without me, okay?"

Aleksander chuckled. He almost said something along the lines about having already started, but he didn't want to scare her off. "Sure thing, Lina," he lied. His breath already had started to smell like alcohol, and he wasn't sure he would even be fully coherent when she was there. But old habits died hard, and he had to see her.

He couldn't do it at the wedding, where all their old classmates were, and he'd have to pretend to be happy for someone instead of the bitter asshole that he was. No, it was better that they saw each other there, in their old place, without the prying eyes of family and friends watching their every move and waiting for him to fuck it up.

He had lost count of how many beers he had had when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Aleks?" he heard her familiar voice, like a ghost, and turned to see her really standing there. Her jet black hair was pulled up, her brown eyes had blue, glittery eyeshadow on them, and she was wearing blue sweats and a white t-shirt with a purse over her shoulder.

Aleksander smirked at her. "Quite the look, Lina."

Alina rolled her eyes. "You know I hate that nickname. Anyway, I was in the middle of doing something kind of important today, in case you had forgotten."

Aleksander sighed. "No. No, I didn't forget."

She stared at him for a moment, her gaze softened, and she reached out to touch his cheek which had a little bit of scruff on there from not shaving. "What the hell happened, Aleks? You look like shit."

"I know I fucked up," he said, "I know its absolutely too late but um...all I came here today to say was that you deserve so much more than him, Alina. If it's not me that you're with, that is fine. But don't be with him. Please. I'm begging you. You've got so much to offer the world, and it would drive me crazy if I thought that you were going to be tied to that asshole for the rest of your life. Please, pick anyone but him. You deserve so, so much better."

"Aleks," Alina said, "who do you think this wedding is for?"

He paused. "The invitation said Oretsev. I assumed that meant that you and----"

Alina shook her head. "I'm not engaged, Aleksander. Mal and I...we broke up a long time ago. It's not me that he's marrying."

"No?" said Aleks. "Who is he marrying?"

Alina grinned. "Do you remember Nadia?"

Aleksander frowned. "The girl that he cheated on you with?"

Alina sighed. "It's not cheating if we were never really together. You know that. But yeah, they're the ones that are getting married. I'm not engaged. I'm not even dating anyone. I haven't um...not seriously, anyway. Not since.... well...."

"Not since what?" Aleksander asked her. He had an idea of who she was talking about. It was him, it had to be him. But he still wanted to be sure. He wanted, desperately, to hear Alina say it. He needed her to. "Not since what, Alina?"

She bit down on her lip. "Not since you, Aleks. There hasn't been anyone serious since you."

He downed the rest of his beer. "Fucking Saints."

"Yeah," said Alina, "yeah, fucking Saints indeed."

They sat there in silence, not really knowing what to do from there. They both had somewhere they had to be soon. Yet there was a thousand things they needed to say to each other dancing in their eyes as they looked at one another.