Checkmate || OUAT Fanfic || DISCONTINUED

Chapter 26; The Ambush

"We can destroy what we have written, but we cannot unwrite it."

~ Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

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Alice's P.O.V

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"I take it by your reaction that I've chosen the wrong time to drop by?" The dark-haired girl asks.
I shake my head. "No. No, I just didn't expect you to drop by."
"Yeah, I guess I should've told you that I'd be visiting but I wanted it to be a surprise," Jo tells me.
"Consider me surprised," I reply.
Jo shifts her weight from one leg to the other. "So... Can I come in?"

I shake my head, clearing my thoughts.
"No- Yes. I mean, of course, come on in," I reply, opening the door up wider.
Jo laughs. "You're more flustered than usual."
She plops down on the couch and dumps her backpack on the floor. "I'm assuming that your trip here didn't help?"

I sit down next to her. "Um, it did. Then it didn't."
She scrunches up her nose in confusion. "I have no idea what you just said."
I sigh. "It's complicated."
"Sounds like it-" she begins, but then stops smiling.
"What?"
"You've been crying," she states. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine," I lie. "I was just re-reading The Fault In Our Stars."
"Okay, now I know you're not okay."
"I am, I swear." I protest.
"No, you're definitely not alright," she states, looking serious. "You only talk about TFIOS when you're trying to cover up the real reason why you're crying."
"It's nothing. Seriously-"
"Alice," Jo interrupts. "What's wrong?"

"Why does something have to be wrong for me to want to cry?" I ask.
"Because in the two years that we've been friends I've never not seen you get defensive whenever you're upset about something. So, what's wrong?"
"Cassie's-"
"Alice, Ray, we've got a problem!" I hear Lewis shout.

The sound of his footfalls soon follow, and I hear him run down the stairs. "Alice-"
He stops at the base of the staircase when he sees his girlfriend. "Jo?"
"Hey, Lewis," Jo replies, casually waving her hand as if she does this often.
"What are you doing here?" He asks, shocked.
"Don't tell me you're not happy to see me, because that would be really awkward."

Lewis stumbles down the last step as he rushes to make his way to her. "No. Yes, I mean yes, I'm very happy to see you. I just wasn't expecting you to drop by."
"Well, what can I say?" Jo kisses Lewis on the cheek. "I missed my boyfriend."
Lewis smiles, giving her a hug. "And I missed you, too. I would've called you more often but Alice here" -he gestures towards me- "confiscated my phone."

I roll my eyes at his weak attempt to push the blame to me.
"Anyways, where are you staying?" Lewis asks, pulling away.
"Some inn near Granny's Diner, I can't remember the name of it though."
"I'd invite you to stay with us but we don't have any available rooms, unless you don't mind the couch?" He asks.

"Nah." Jo shakes her head. "The inn's only a ten minute's walk away, and I wouldn't want to intrude."
Lewis shakes his head fervently. "Oh, don't worry, you're not intruding."
"Okay, as much as I love seeing you guys talking in person again instead of on the phone, I think there's still a problem that Lewis hasn't told me about."
Lewis gives me a confused look. "What problem?"

I sigh. "The one you were going on about until you saw Jo and forgot your own name."
"Oh. Oh." His eyes widen. "That problem."
"Yeah, that problem. Care to tell me what it is?" I ask.
"Um, -ill -caped."
I fur row my eyebrows. "Come again?"
"Will 'caped," he repeats.