The Love We Deny ✔️ [COMPLETED]

Chapter 30 - Alisson

Once the food had been eaten and discarded, Kyle and I took some time to study the next game they had. Frankly, I didn't have to, but I found it more interesting to know what to expect when watching him play.

I'd never watched Kyle prepare before but he was thorough in his work. He'd spent extra time watching his opponent on various tapes to know what his weakness was, whether it was a fraction of delay when he turned right or left, Kyle wanted to know.

We'd run plays together, which mostly consisted of me listening to him recite what he would do in the case of B64 or C27 to name a few.

There really was something about watching someone in their element. I don't know if it was the knowledge or the passion, but it always had me crossing my legs in need.

In the end, Kyle went out, something about training his footwork some more while I went to Marketa's place.

When I finally made it, the two friends were baking cookies in the kitchen. I didn't even need to see them to know it. The entire house smelled like chocolate and vanilla. Our favorite.

"Hey!" I greeted with as much energy as I could.

"Hey!" they answered in unison. It was nice to see Al smile again, the last few times I had seen her she had been a ghost of herself. She mostly stayed in Marketa's guest room and didn't say much.

"Can I help with anything?" I asked already rolling up the sleeves of my sweater.

"Nah we're basically done, the cookies are in the oven and they should be ready in..." Marketa checked the timer in the over before continuing "two minutes and twenty-two seconds to be exact."

"I'll go put my coat on then," Alisson announced, before looking back at us.

"Where are we going?" I asked confused.

"Al wants to go pay Miriam a visit," she started. I knew I had heard the name before, but I couldn't recall who she was anymore. Seeing the confused look on my face she continued "Miriam, our surrogate grandmother that left Coffee Addict to us," she refreshed my memory. Al seemed nervous while Marketa explained.

"Right!" I immediately answered as both Alisson and I went to put our coats on. Just as we reached the hanger, the timer from the oven went off signaling the cookies were ready to be taken out.

The ride to the cemetery was silent, all of us seemed lost in thoughts. For my part, I wasn't used to going to a cemetery I had probably only been there once or twice in my entire life. My family wasn't a fan of the idea. They preferred to be cremated and have their ashes spread somewhere that meant a lot to them or in a beautiful place. My parents lived abroad and traveled a lot, so my grandparents didn't see the point of having their bodies buried somewhere if no one was going to visit anyways.

The car halted, luckily we had found a parking space just in front of the gates.

As we exited the car, the cold winter breeze blew making me tighten my coat around my body.

We stayed slightly behind to let Alisson have her time alone with the woman that clearly meant a lot to her. I watched as she reached the right gravestone before falling onto her knees. From afar, I could see her lips moving as she spoke to the lifeless stone.

"She's been a bit better the past few days," Marketa started as we took a seat on a nearby bench. "She's more talkative and she's also ready to come back to practice. Coach has been calling every day to see if she was feeling better. We told her she had gotten food poisoning."

"That's a big step forward! I'm so glad!" I exclaimed happily. Going out and seeing other people was a step in the right direction and I was thankful to hear that Alisson was ready to take it. "Has she spoken to her parents yet?" I asked, changing the topic.

"No," Marketa sighed. "It's also partially the reason why we're here. I think it's easier for her to talk to Miriam because she knows there won't be any judgment or 'I told you so'. I think she needs to build up more strength and self-confidence before she does that. I'm afraid that if she goes there now it'll end up scaring her more than she already is," Marketa revealed.

We only recently found out about the rift that had been created between Al and her family. They had been adamant she stopped seeing the man and Al had refused. This had instigated many disputes and it went to a point where Al didn't even see the point in speaking to them if it would simply end up with them shouting at each other. Now, I think it was the shame that was holding her back. From what I remember about the stories she told, her family was composed of very strong-minded people who didn't hesitate to say what they thought.

About thirty minutes later, Al came to join us, and we walked back to the car. The red-rimmed eyes and the tear-stained cheeks only confirmed what we already knew. The way I saw it, the more she let go of what happened and talked about it, the easier it would be for her to grieve over what happened to her and move on. It wouldn't happen overnight, but it would, eventually. One thing's for sure, we would be by her side each step of the way, no matter how long it took.

"I just don't know when it got so bad," she admitted once we were back in the warmth of Marketa's car. Neither Marketa nor I spoke, we simply listened hoping she would continue. "I still remember him, bringing me flowers at my door and asking me out for a picnic on the beach," she laughed bitterly at the memory. "I loved him so much. I kept telling myself it was just a phase because his colleagues were giving him a hard time at work, but it didn't go away."

She wiped away the tears that had fallen down her face with the back of her hand. I reached out to hold her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

"I loved him," she repeated as her voice cracked, and the tears became uncontrollable. The sight of one of my best friend sniffing and crying was tearing my heart apart. Alisson was too kind and too good of a person for this to happen to her.

Yet, even as the thought crossed my mind, it reminded me that shit like this could happen to anyone of us, no matter how good or bad we were.

"I know sweety," Marketa said as she continued driving back to her place. I rubbed soothing circles on her lower back, while we let her get these emotions out of her body.

"Can we talk about something else?" Alisson finally asked after a few minutes. I guess that was all we were going to get out of her today.

"I spoke to my mom today," I admitted quietly. Both heads snapped to me so fast I thought maybe they were going to roll off their shoulders.

"Did she call you?" Marketa immediately asked.

"No, I called her. To be honest I'm surprised she picked up." It was true. I had thought for sure that she would decline the call when she saw my name light up her phone screen, but she didn't.

"Did you tell her you made the team and all?" Alisson questioned with raised eyebrows.

"No, actually I stayed clear of all cheer-related subjects," I admitted, I didn't want to push my luck. "We talked about a bunch of random things. I told her about how things were going and J&Co, I told her about you guys and how I had met great people. She told me all the gossip I had missed from the circle of friends she had. We even laughed about something stupid dad said to her the other day." I couldn't help but smile as I recalled the call I had with my mother.

"It sounds like she missed you," Marketa chipped.

"Yeah, I missed her too." I had really needed that call. Being cut off from my family for so long had been hard and deep down, I was waiting for the year to end so that I could go back to see them.

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