Her

: : Part L : :

: : Part L : :

A few hours later you gulped as you knocked twice on the hotel door. Your breathing was uneasy, you knew what needed to be said but you prayed to a God to give you courage to say all the things that need to be said.

"Cherrie?" Alex threw the door open, his smile instantly vanished once his eyes laid on you. You tried to smile, but only had the strength for half a strained expression. Alex's hair was more dishevelled than usual, his shirt was stained and his eyes looked like sleep never come over him.

"Just me, sorry." You shrugged, you pushed your hands deeper into your pockets.

"She left me last night." Alex muttered and stood back allowing you into the room. The once nice hotel room, you assumed, was trashed. Vases smashed next to a broken lamp, glass scattered all over the carpet, and first aid supplies sprawled in the corner.

"I'm sorry."

"For fucking my sister or for fucking my relationship?" The harsh words hurt, but you nodded.

"Both."

Alex just nodded. "Sit down, I guess."

You looked up at your best friend. "Where?" You looked around trying to find a place to sit.

A hit of a smile played on Alex's lips. "Come on." Alex opened the door again and you followed, he sat on the floor with his legs straight out leaning on the corridors wall. You shut the door behind you and sat next to Alex with the door separating you. A moment of silence consumed you, you didn't know what to say. "How is your ute?"

"Dinted." You answer simply.

"I'll fix it when you come home. I'm sorry about the ute." About the ute, the phrase somehow bugged you.

"Alex, I never wanted to hurt you." You said, not looking at him, you and Alex both looked in front of you. Staring at the hotel's cream-white walls. Contemporary art filled the space, with bright colours trying to pull you into them.

"I know." He paused. "But I know you, I was your best friend. We know everything about each other, we both know how we treated girls, how we would flirt..." he trailed off. "And you used your ace on my sister. She was off limits. To everyone. That included you, Carson."

"I know. But I never used my moves on her, Alex. She would see through it in a second flat. You know that. But you can't sit here and tell me that you honestly never knew how I felt about her. You saw the way I looked at her, the way I wanted her. You knew that I saw more than just your sister, you saw how much I..." you paused trying to find the right words "cared about her. You know I wanted more, you couldn't've not known." You looked over to him slowly. "'You couldn't've not known." You repeated.

"I knew, but I thought..." Alex stopped himself.

"That I wouldn't try?"

"Yeah."

"I wanted to get over her, I went to the other side of the fucking country to study. I rarely returned home on the holidays. I stayed away, I wouldn't call her. I was distant. I wanted distance."

"How did that work out for you?"

"Not well, apparently."

"I craved her, I wanted her so much. I needed to see her, see her smile or her goofy laugh. I wanted to crawl by her side on a winter's day and play a video game with her, with her in my sweat pants. I wanted to chase her around the house hearing her laugh. I wanted her in the simplest way."