Lift // Hamliza

• chapter 26 •

• John • (yeah boiiii new povs)

I knew something was up when Alex came back to lunch without Eliza. I dunno what happened, but from the look on his face it wasn't good.

Alex is my best friend. Eliza and I have gotten pretty close since they started dating, and she's a really sweet girl. I didn't want anything to come between them.

"Hey man, are you alright?" I asked Alex, leaning a little closer to him over the table so he could hear.

"Fine." He muttered angrily, looking down at the table. I didn't want to push it too much so I simply told him alright and that I was going to talk to Eliza. I knew they went to the lobby because that's the direction they walked off towards.

I saw her sitting on a bench, rubbing her temples and looking like she was in deep thought. I sat down beside her and put my hand on her shoulder with a smile.

"You okay, Liz?" I said, and received a head shake no from her. Looking at her confused, I urged her to elaborate.

"It's Alexander. He's going through something bad and won't let me help." She said. I didn't know what she meant still.

"What do you mean, bad? Like, financially? Are you guys having relationship problems? Something else?" She shook her head again, and sighed.

"Ok John," She said very softly, almost in a whisper. "You can't tell anyone, and I mean anyone about this, ok?" I nodded, a little scared as to what she'd say next.

"Alexander went through a period of depression a while back and its back, I can tell. And... he cut himself. Last night I think. It's really bad, I saw the cuts and I told him he needed help and he got mad and left. And I don't know what to do." Her voice broke on the last sentence and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Alexander depressed? And cutting himself?

He was always the strong one. Always the one who'd be laughing and cracking jokes and having a good time. But apparently it was all a cover up. My eyes began to water as I thought of my best friend, all alone, cutting in his dingy apartment bathroom because he felt so alone in his world.

"I'm such a bad friend." I said, letting a tear slip down my face, but quickly scrubbing it away so Eliza didn't see. She did though, and immediately went to comfort me.

"No you're not, John! You're his best friend. If anyone's to blame it me. But we'll help him through this together, ok?" I nodded and pulled her in for a tight hug.

I didn't know what the next few months would have in store for us, especially Alex, but for now I could do was pray that both he and Eliza would be ok.