Note: I might upload one or two bonus chapters one day. But, I felt this was a good place to conclude the story for now.
Thank you all for checking this out!
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A week had gone by since the club thing happened. You might think that Lia and I would have had more... Personal time together since then. You'd be wrong.
Because immediately after that, Lia left. No no, this isn't a Gone Girl situation or anything, but she texted me the next night saying that her family had gone through some kind of situation and she was needed at her family home.
Honestly, I don't think I reacted to that as hard as I should have. At the time, hearing her tell me "goodbye" and hugging me and pressing a feather-light kiss to my lips, it all seemed regular. Regular as in, she was needed somewhere. Shit happens, right?
Well, what I hadn't taken into account was just how reliant I'd become on her. Before I had even realized it, I had been planning my whole day around my meetings with her. Whether it was just eating together, watching tv, or you know, spectating her work, my days were filled with so much Lia that when she left, I had nothing to do anymore.
Krystal called me up a few times and we talked like we always did, but even then she asked me "hey, are you okay?" and when I explained that Lia had left for an undetermined amount of time, she responded with just "honey, you're gonna need to see a doctor considering how whipped you are".
I mean, I knew I was crushing hard. Of course. Ever since that first moment where I fell on top of her and stared into brilliant pink eyes, I was fucked. But this current situation, with her being somewhere else that wasn't this apartment and me having to spend my free time studying and watching the Food Network, it made me realize just how fucked I was.
When my doorbell rang, I sprinted. I hoped to God that Lia was there, just so I could get my fill. She was a drug and I was hooked.
Yeah, you know where this is going.
When I opened the door, it was some other lady instead of Lia.
Not-Lia smiled and quickly raised a brow when she saw how confused I was.
"Um, hey, I just wanted to ask if you knew where the tenant who lives there is," Not-Lia asked.
"She's away right now." I nearly closed the door right there. I had no time for Not-Lia's.
"Oh." Not-Lia nodded. "Could you leave her a message?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"Could you tell her a customer sent her a message? That's it, thanks."
"No problem." I shut Not-Lia out and sighed.
Okay, I needed to distract myself. In such a short time, Lia had taken up so much of my mind that now, without her, I didn't really have much to do. At least, I thought so. When I looked to my right and found my tablet lying on my living room table, I sighed.
"Oh, come on Ali. You're better than that whole love-struck artist cliche right?" Despite what I just mumbled to myself, my legs started moving in its direction. Apparently, I wasn't above the cliche. Because now, all I could think of was putting the image of Lia that I had in my mind to reality.
So, I picked up my tablet, and a few minutes later, I was sitting there, trying to recreate the image of Lia that I could remember. Well, one of the more wholesome ones anyway.
Golden-white hair, pink irises, dimples. A slightly round face all in all and thin brows. Pristine white teeth, a pointed chin. Eyes that hinted toward a lifetime spent doing anything she wanted.
God, I needed her back.
My doorbell rang again. I didn't hear it the first time, but I heard it the second time. It had been almost an hour since I started drawing. As I walked to the door, I hadn't been expecting anything major to happen. I just wanted to get back to "work".
So, when I opened up and a bright smile was looking back at me, I actually gasped. Yeah, I gasped. Embarrassing to say the least.
"Hey." Lia was as casual as ever, but her eyes and that grin let me know she had missed me.
She didn't give me time to reply. Instead, she walked into my space, wrapped her arms around my waist, and gave me the sweetest peck on the lips I'd ever gotten.
"Hi." I was damn-near out of breath. She giggled and walked past me. With an overly dramatic sigh, she flopped onto my couch.
"I swear to God, Lowlight City traffic is some of the worst in the country."
"Everything is so clumped together," I said as I quickly went to prepare her a cup of water, just in case she wanted it. "Doesn't really seem like a good idea given everything nearby."
"I listened to the same album like fifty times on my way here."
"How long was the album?" I laughed. "I'm more worried about the gas than the traffic at that point."
"Okay, maybe fifty times was a slight exaggeration." I walked to her holding two cups, one for myself and one for her, which she accepted wordlessly.
"Just a slight one though." I nodded.
"Yep, maybe it was forty times, not fifty."
I was smiling like an idiot as she took a sip. She noticed, because of course she did, and she returned the grin in kind.
We just looked at each other for a little bit. It was a comfortable silence, I think. She slipped her sandals off and scooted up to me, resting her head on my lap and kicking her feet up on the couch. A question bubbled up in my mind as I started playing with her hair a little.
"So, did everything go well?" I asked. I didn't know why she left but I at least wanted to know if it was solved.
"It... Did. I guess." Lia closed her eyes. "As well as it could have."
"Oh, well, that's good," I responded. "Right?"
"Yeah, right." As bubbly as she'd seemed, now the mention of that made her seem down. Did I fuck up?
"You'll figure it out," I stated with a nod. "Whatever it is."
Lia opened her eyes and watched me. I sighed, leaning back a little.
