||Pretenders||☄️

(25).

"Goodbyes"

     Maxwell offered Alicia dinner and she refused. All she wanted was to take a bath, change clothes and cry herself to sleep on his magnificent bed. He waited for her to take a bath and he contemplated on handing over Luke's phone to her. He wanted it to be her decision to let go off Luke or not.

    Alicia stepped out of the bathroom in a towel and wet hair and Maxwell hitched a little. He was amazed how unbothered she could be around him. Was he not attractive enough for her? He let her go through his clothes in the closet without yelling at her to make a choice. She was still in shock and he was trying to be a nice person.

     Alicia stepped into a black t-shirt with no undies. Maxwell scratched his hair and handed her Luke's phone. He stepped away from her and stared from afar. She sat down on the bed and sighed before turning the phone on. She went through the phone and discovered the atrocities Luke had done and how stupid she was to stand by him.

     In the list of videos on his phone were sex videos of various girls he had slept with even when she was still in a relationship with him and she was not really surprised until she came across two more videos of whom she thought was her best friend in high school. "No, no." She mumbled and a series of tears fell on her cheeks. Her hands shook around the phone and her heart stopped for a second. She bowed her head in her palms and Maxwell watched her cry over a dead guy. She was wailing in his room and she picked up the phone again to continue her search.

     In one of Luke's chats with his friend, he let him know how he believed he hurt her and was sorry. The chat said;

•Luke•
'Isn't it stupid? It's been years already and here I am, thinking of her again. Bell was down for me you know. And I was scared if I didn't let her go, I was gonna hurt her more.
In all these years, I got to know, I have never really loved someone like I did for her but like everyone says, I was bad for her. I just want to see her, kneel and make her look at me and see how sorry I am.'

     The text squeezed on her heart and she cried. She was stupid like that to have forgiven him if he really did see her, one last time that night. He was no more thanks to the problematic guy who had fallen for her. These little things were pushing her away from him. She did not want to get involved with another boy with a dark side.

     Seeing Luke's intentions towards her and how he would not be able to do any of it, she stood up from the bed wiping off tears and headed for the kitchen. Maxwell followed her silently not knowing what she was up to.

    "Do you have a hammer?" She asked pulling up drawers.

    "Yeah." He opened a drawer on his left and she reached for the hammer. She then bent on her knees and put the phone down, forcing tears not to spill. "What are you doing?"

    "Taking care of my feelings." She looked at him and smiled. "It just occurred to me how much I really wanted him back in my life. All these months I have been trying to act like a tough girl who was still not obsessed with her ex boyfriend.  I lied to myself I was okay without him and didn't need any guy in my life to make me feel as low as he made me feel." She brushed another tear off and shook her head wiping it out of her face. "What I... really need, is to let go off him. He's not even coming back." She laughed. "I'm letting this feeling go and opening up my heart now. I can't keep doing this to myself."

    "You.. still love him?" He asked gritting his teeth and holding onto the kitchen island in front of him.

    "I thought I didn't." She sighed and hammered into the phone, erasing her leftover feelings and saying her goodbyes to him in her head. The phone was now splattered in halves on the floor and she opened up her heart to one final tear. Crumpling herself in her knees. Maxwell watched her loose herself and his guilt heightened. He had wanted her to know what was coming for her.

     Maxwell held her up from the floor and he led her to the bedroom and lay her down on the bed. He snuggled in with her and pulled her closer to him. He wiped her tears and kissed on her forehead. "Do you want to hear a bedtime story my mom used to say to me?" He asked in whisperings and she laughed a little. "I'll take that as a yes." He smiled and brushed on her face.

     Maxwell went on and that bedtime story he used to love so much with his brother was being told to the girl he loved. That family love he felt many years ago, was gone. Everyone's decision was up to the parents and he felt sorry for being the cause of his brother's misery.

     He has always been the cause of everyone's misery. Even Alicia.

•_•_•

       A week later, Alicia finally felt the freedom she deserved. She had let go off the past and was ready to move on. The only thing she could not fathom in her life was Maxwell. He went MIA on her just like she did to him weeks ago and she refused to think he was paying her back. He never answered to her calls and left messages instead. At Rosie's Inn, Alicia went over her messages with him and shook her head multiple times.

•Max•
I've been here. Dealing with stuffs. I'm happy you're happy.

•Alicia•
We should hang out sometime. I haven't been seeing you around. Is everything okay?

•Max•
Yeah.. we're cool.

     And she went over the messages again and again from the start. He was ignoring her. "He's ignoring me." She said aloud. "The fucker has been ignoring me!"

    "Keep your voice down Bell. We've customers here." Dawn nudged at her.

    "I don't really care. I'm going through crisis here. Hey, I think you should start dating Ryan." That way, Max would come to the Inn most often. Dawn ignored her and shook her head. "I know he's sorry."

    "Alicia, Ryan and Kesha are back together, for good. He wasn't calling to apologize. He called to let me know in case I have regrets of breaking them apart so can we focus on serving some customers, make some money and get out of here?"

    "I'm sorry." She bawled.

    "Don't be." She smiled and excused herself to the washroom. Dawn sat on the toilet seat and drew out her phone from the waist apron. She made a decision to reply to every of Ryan's text messages.

•Dawn•
Hey, just got your messages. I'm really happy for you. I thought I did some damage in there lol... Hopefully, this will be the last time we talk.

She sent and put her head on her knees, shedding one more tear over him.

A/N— Hey guys, so I've been a little busy with updating but it's all good now. Expect more updates now😎