When Past Becomes Present (an Alex Turner fan fic)

Chapter 26

AN: Please continue starring and commenting guys! I love hearing from y'all, so tell me how you like it! I'll let y'all know when you can expect an update next, but probably in about a week. x Laurel

*Lillia's POV*

The office was just what I had expected it to look like. Cubicles were everywhere, and there were lots of people dressed in work attire sipping punch and eating finger sandwiches. It didn’t look like they were rich, but they definitely weren’t poor either. I knew Vi had one of the smallest wages at the company, and she still made more than me. “Okay,” She whispered in my ear. “I’m going to talk to some friends. You get some punch, and then locate the cutest guy you can find and keep eye contact until he approaches. You’ve got this, Lillia.” She was abandoning me already? I was hoping she might introduce me to some people before leaving me alone to chat them up. In my head I gave myself Vi’s confidence lecture again and then walked over to the refreshments table.

I leaned against a wall, holding my cup of punch, and pulled out  my phone. A text from Alex. “Hey, what are you doing tonight? Thought maybe we could get a bite to eat.” That sounded really good right now. None of this pressure to meet a new guy, just sitting with Alex, totally comfortable. No. He was seeing someone else, too. This was not exclusive to him, and it wasn’t going to be to me either. “Sorry, can’t. Maybe next time.” Casual, cool. Make eye contact. I looked up.

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Well, I had no time to choose someone; there was already someone standing right in front of me. “Hi, I’m Daniel, but you can call me Danny.” I didn’t think anyone would approach me at all, even with Vi’s eye contact technique, but this was just crazy, and how long had he been standing there? “I’m Lillia, nice to meet you, Danny.” He shook my hand, leaned against the wall, and faced me. “So, I know you don’t work here… Who did you come with?” Maybe he was just a curious co-worker who wondered about who people brought. “Vi.” I pointed to where she was standing talking with others who looked like they probably had the same age and salary as both of us. “Sorry if this is blunt… but are you? I mean, are you too… together?” I laughed so hard I thought I would spit out the punch I had been drinking. He thought Vi and I were gay for each other? “No, of course not! We’re just two straight roommates, one of whom was dragged along to this event.” I looked over at him. His cheeks weren’t red, and he didn’t look embarrassed at all that he had just asked a girl he had just met about her sexuality. “What? Do I look like I’m gay?” Then he laughed. “No, no, I just… You never know. But I’m glad you aren’t.” He gave me a cheeky smile. So, he definitely was not just a curious co-worker.

I looked over in Vi’s direction to see her staring at me with her group of friends in awe. They must be shocked I got this far. Well I had, and I was happy about it. This guy was almost cuter than Alex, and he seemed so professional.  “So, do you know Vi well?” I asked. “What’s your job here?” He chuckled a bit. “I own the company.” My jaw dropped. So, that’s why Vi was in awe. This guy was obviously full of cash and power, and I was just stupid, school teacher me. “Oh, I see. Well, good job. This place is great.” He smiled, and I could see how he had become so successful. “You think so? I’m glad you like it; it took quite a bit of work.” As tense as I had imagined meeting someone as wealthy and successful as him, it wasn’t. We talked like we were friends, and he never even mentioned the job again except when I asked about it.

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Vi tapped me on the shoulder. “Hey Lillia, mind if we head out now? It’s getting late.” She was giving me the eyes that said “We have to go now so you can tell me everything that just happened.” “Uh, yeah, okay, I’m ready.” I looked back at Danny. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Danny.” “You too, Lillia. But lets not keep it just at meeting. Want to get coffee tomorrow? I could come pick you up after school if you’d like.” A jolt inside me told me that Alex was usually the one picking me up, but another jolt told me this wasn’t a bad idea. “Okay, that sounds great. I’ll see you at 3:00 then?” He nodded and waved as I left. So this was what it felt like to be in a relationship with two guys at once. It didn’t feel as awful as I’d expected, but definitely not as great as Vi made it sound. As great as both of them were, it felt wrong to do this, but I kept reminding myself that no one was hurt. Nobody could be hurt if we all knew things were casual, and we did.

 I smiled thinking about the adventures of the night as I walked out the door with Vi ready to tell her about all of them. I took out my phone and checked for any new messages. I had another text from Alex. “Is everything alright?” I realized it had been quite a while since I had responded to his text, and even that was just one word. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Just been busy with Vi; she took me to her office party.” He was probably asleep by now, but at least I’d texted him back. “So…” Vi said. “How did you manage to find the richest person in the office and get him interested in you?” There had been a permanent smirk on her face ever since she had seen us talking, and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. “I honestly have no idea. I didn’t even make eye contact! He just approached me.” “Well then you’re lucky. I know at least 2 girls who have had their eye on him, and probably a couple guys too. Of course, we could never date him, though, that would be ‘unprofessional’.” She laughed as if to tell me how little people cared about that in her office. “Well, I’m going to get coffee with him tomorrow, so I guess I’ll tell you how it goes. He really is a great guy, Vi, but I don’t feel like I’m over Alex. I don’t know if I can date two people.” Vi obviously didn’t see the problem I was having. “You don’t have to be over Alex! You have them both! Isn’t it fun?” I knew Vi thought it was, but would I? I decided to forget about it until tomorrow and thought of both boys that night before I fell asleep.

*Alex’s POV*

My brain stirred over Lillia all night long. We’d barely talked at all today, and she didn’t seem like herself. I just wanted to know what was going on. Talking to my mates about it had been pointless since they thought it was no big deal, but they didn’t know her like I did. She had never acted like this before. It was weird and out of the ordinary. They chalked it all up to me being attached, and it was true; I am attached. I’m totally attached. I’ve been attached ever since I was a stupid sophomore in high school. Even after she left, I couldn’t be with anybody else, but now I finally had her back, and something was wrong. I just wanted her to tell me what it was, what I could fix. There had to be something, and if I could make it better I knew I would. But I couldn’t do anything else that night, so I fell asleep with hopes of figuring it out the next day. 

AN: Please continue starring and commenting guys! I love hearing from y'all, so tell me how you like it! I'll let y'all know when you can expect an update next, but probably in about a week. x Laurel