The Unexpected Partner (JULY 2021 MULTI-CHAP UPDATE)

Chapter 13 - The Unexpected...Moment?

(A/N: I'm still playing around with chapter lengths, so if anyone has any preferences, i.e. longer/shorter, do let me know in the comments! I'm hoping to write a few more chapters this week as I have a week 'break' {consolidation week lol}. Hopefully, I can catch up on work and provide more chapters as I have a good idea of where I want this story to go. Anyways! Enough from me, happy reading!)

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The street lights hovered above them with an eery glow as they walked the dark, boisterous streets of London. The nightlife was alive and thriving but the dim and broken lights, the vomiting partygoers by the roadsides and the loud, delirious shouts of the drunk propelled Aliana into a view of hopelessness. The mid-length, red halter neck dress she changed into from her larger gym bag clung to her figure and followed the contractions of her toned thighs as she walked.

She can no longer ignore it. She could no longer ignore AJ's behaviour.

She thought things would be okay when she realised he wasn't going to take her rejection of his advances as she thought he would. She promised him friendship and he accepted it but he made sure that he was always around her. He was there when she struggled at University, helping her study even though he studied something completely different, he was there for her when her dad passed away, especially when she couldn't reach Sade. He was another shoulder to cry on, person to confide in, He made her feel just that bit better about the trust issues she had because she knew she could rely on him...as a friend. She didn't want to lose him. She couldn't.

But he crossed a line.

"Where are we going?" AJ asked, tentatively.

He was ignored.

"Aliana...bab-" AJ was cut off this time.

"Stop that." Aliana froze in her spot. Coincidently, they had arrived at the nearest open green space in the area. She didn't turn around when she spoke, having continued to stay out in front for the duration of the journey.

After taking a few seconds to look at the smoke-filled dusky sky, Aliana took in a deep breath of the polluted, musky air. She could feel herself being dragged into a corner she may not be able to get out of.

Spotting an empty, reasonably graffiti-less bench nearby, Aliana continued walking. Her feet dragging slightly, she took a seat on one side of the bench, crossing her right leg over her left, tucking her arms around herself, leaning on her legs. She could feel herself shrinking; this was something she needed to do and if she didn't get the answer she needed then...there was nothing else to be done.

AJ followed after her, taking a seat next to her on the solitary bench. The space between them felt as large as the silence that stretched on, no one making the move to speak first. The thick silence was choking AJ as much as the guilt of his earlier words were. He couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry."

He was expecting a reaction from her, even the smallest of shifts in her posture, but Aliana remained curled up looking at her trainers.

"I was drunk and I- I just couldn't-" AJ wasn't sure what to say. If he spoke any more he would no doubt expose himself and the true intentions of his actions over the years.

I was jealous.

The words rang out in his head, echoing endlessly as he stumbled over his words; the silence from Aliana was eating away at him at an alarming rate. She didn't realise just how important her opinion of him was to him, yet he stupidly put that at risk when he insinuated what he did. She'd put way too much trust in him for him to degrade her in such a public fashion, to objectify her to quell his own misgivings and jealousy over her...not choosing him.