Once Upon A Lie

Nineteen:

Nineteen:

There was a memory that kept on going around and around in Alina's head. It was of her first kiss. Not the almost one she'd had with Nikolai when she'd been thirteen. No, the one she'd had on her fourteenth birthday. Given to her by who else? Aleksander Morozova.

Birthday parties were never simple things for their families. In this case, there were hundreds of The Folds shareholders and business partners. Alina's mother had forced her into a pink dress. Her hair was in an updo, held together by a little diamond clip. At that moment, she was hiding in the library, away from everyone.

The minute that she went out there her parents would try to make her talk to a bunch of people she didn't know. Which was why she was sitting on the library couch, with a book on the renaissance, taking great works of art and sketching them with animal heads instead.

There was a knock on the door. "Lina? You in there?"

Alina sighed. Aleksander. Of course, he had found her. Ever since he'd started at Ravka Academy, there was a distance between the two of them. "Go away."

Aleksander chuckled, and he opened the door. He had two pieces of cake. One with a star candle on them. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Lina...happy birthday to you."

Alina sat up and smiled at him. "You're a dork."

Aleksander rolled his eyes. "I resent that. You haven't seen me at school. I was voted president of the freshman class and MVP of the football team this year."

"You're still a dork," she said.

He slid into the empty space on the couch next to her and handed her the piece of cake. "Going to make a wish?"

Alina smiled and she held the slice of cake in her hands. She stared at the star candle, then glanced at Aleksander. Closing her eyes, she made a wish. Then took a bite of the chocolate cake. "That's good. Magnolia bakery?"

"Always," said Aleksander, taking a bite of his own piece. "What'd you wish for?"

She shook her head. "Can't tell you. It won't come true if I do."

He laughed. "You're no fun. You know what I would wish for?"

"Backstage passes to Coldplay?"

Aleksander chuckled. "Hey, they've got some good hits."

"Whatever you say, Dad Rock."

He nudged her. "No. I wouldn't wish for backstage passes to Coldplay. I was wishing that we could be around more. I miss you."

Alina blushed. "Really?"

"Really," he nodded, "Nik's great but there's only so much stoner talk you can take. At least you can string two sentences together."

Alina took another bite of her cake. "Be nice. Nik's not that bad."

"Maybe. Anyway, it's not the same without you." He put down his cake. "Spent the whole year worried you'd make cooler friends and forget about me."

Alina laughed. "I'm not exactly Miss Popularity."

"That's only because you don't put yourself out there. Can't keep yourself buried in the art room. Don't worry. I'll take care of you when you come. You'll have more friends than you know what to do with."

"I don't need more friends. I just need you."

There was a pause, and Aleksander locked eyes with her. "Really?"

"Really," she said.

He cupped her chin in his hands. Alina stared into his grey eyes, and the next thing Alina knew was that he was kissing her. It was sweet and tentative, and she found herself kissing him back.

After a moment, Alina pulled away. "What was that for?"

"You," he said, "Happy birthday, Lina."

They ended up falling asleep on the couch that night with Aleksander's arms wrapped around her. That was the last time Alina remembered thinking that she was the safest with him. That nothing bad would ever happen to her as long as Aleksander was there.

But somewhere in between freshman year, and sophomore year, something changed. It was like Aleksander went from being her best friend to being a complete stranger. He became withdrawn, started spending more time with Nikolai and treating her like she didn't exist. Up until the engagement had happened.

And then he pretended that she was barely there. Unless it was on his terms. He took up with Zoya even more.

"Alina," she heard someone calling her, "Alina."

Her eyes opened, and she found herself looking into a pair of familiar hazel eyes. "Nik?" she whispered, groggy. "What happened? Where am I?"

"You're at home. You were in the hospital for a while, but your parents brought you home. You fell on the bleachers. You sprained her ankle. There was ah.... well...you had a fight with Aleks."

Alina winced. "I remember. How'd I get to the hospital?"

"Mal," said Nikolai, "Malyen Oretsev. He and Genya drove you there."

"Is Aleksander here?"

Nikolai shook his head. "No. Um. Your parents aren't really letting him see you right now."

Alina sat up. "What, why?"

"They're thinking that he hurt you."

She sighed. "It wasn't like that."

"What do you mean, it wasn't like that? Mal saw everything. So did Genya. They said it looked like he pushed you down the stairs."

"I tripped," she said. And she realized how lame she sounded. 

"Alina, you don't have to make up excuses for him. Everyone knows all about how Aleksander is."

She sighed. "I'm not lying."

"Look, either way...there's some good news about it."

"What's that?"

"Your parents ended the engagement."

Alina stared at him. "Really?"

"Really," said Nikolai, "you are free as a bird. You can be with whoever you want to be with."

Alina stared at him and squinted. "And you wanted first dibs?"

He laughed. "Ha, ha. No. You're my friend, Alina. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You know. The way friends do. Aleksander kind of made things messy for us. I miss my friend."

She smiled, even though her ankle was hurting. "Thanks, Nik. I missed you too."

He hugged her. "Anyway, I just wanted to come by. Make sure you were okay. So, your parents let me hang out for a while. Need anything?"

"No...Um. I think I'm okay. But uh, I was unconscious for most of that 'hanging out'. Want to stay? Watch a movie or something?"

Nikolai grinned. "Yeah. I'd like that. Want me to get us some snacks?"

"Sure."

That was what they spent the whole afternoon doing. Alina was able to manage to scoot over enough so that Nikolai could sit next to her. And when he came back with food, the two of them spent the whole day streaming things on her laptop together. It was the nicest day that she had spent in a long time.