***
"Alana! Wow. It's been a while. How've you been?"
If it was even possible, Bella looked thinner than before. She took off her glasses and revealed those same doe eyes, but with dark circles underneath. She looked visibly perturbed, shifting uncomfortably in her chair but still trying to maintain the faΓ§ade that she was happy to see her ex-lover. At least the feeling was mutual: Alana too faltered initially when she spotted Bella, but managed to compose herself enough to return the congenial pleasantry.
"I'm doing okay, how about yourself?"
Bella was still smiling that stupid, alluring smile. Alana had loved that smile, still loved that smile. It could charm the pants off of anyone, make them melt, send a serotonin rush through their receptors. Alana also knew that Bella's smile rarely ever belied her true disposition. The only way to know how she was feeling was to look in her eyes. And right now, Bella's eyes were empty. Alana's stoic face morphed into one with concern. Bella realized what Alana was doing and broke eye contact.
"I'm pretty great, just enjoying the beautiful L.A. sun."
As much as Alana loved her smile, she hated Bella's ego. Alana sighed. No, she couldn't do this, not again. Alana smiled.
"Well, I'm about to go inside. I guess I'll see you."
Bella scrambled up, screeching her chair against the concrete, so suddenly that she almost knocked over the empty glasses on the table. The collective noise made Alana turn around. Bella cleared her throat.
"Uh, I mean why- I can come inside and we could, y'know, catch up or something."
Alana almost giggled at Bella so ruffled. Usually, Bella was the smooth one with Alana running to catch up. Alana bit her bottom lip and smiled coyly. She looked so cute, sheepishly standing there, her begging eyes and of course that winning smile. They just stood there, looking at each other for a couple seconds, until Alana acquiesced.
"Hm. Sure. You can buy me a drink."
***
"I'm Alana Dierden." Alana said, offering her hand. Bella took it gently and Alana almost swooned from the touch. Bella's hands were so soft and she had such long, delicate fingers. And as quickly as the current ran through Alana's body, it blew a fuse when Bella gently pulled her hand away. Alana then realized that she was holding her breath and finally exhaled.
"Well Alana, I really apologize for his behavior."
"Oh it's fine. To be honest, you're the only person all night who's actually looked in my eyes instead of... elsewhere."
"This fucking industry." Bella sighed, and then raised her eyebrows. "Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but your phone's been blowing up for a while now."
Alana finally felt the buzzing coming from her clutch. She took out her phone to see a barrage of missed calls, texts, snapchats, ... emails? from Frederick. Alana was honestly too afraid to open any one of them. Suddenly, Alana felt very anxious, her chest started to constrict. And then she felt velvet on her arm.
"Hey, whatever it is, I'm sure it will work out. I can have Jasper escorted out if you want-"
"Do you want to get out of here?" Alana asked. It had come out of her mouth so abruptly, even Bella was caught by surprise. She blinked a couple times and her eyelashes fluttered. Alana squeezed her eyes tightly and smiled, feeling like an idiot.
"I'm sorry. It's your party, ugh, I can be-"
"No! Sure! What did you have in mind?"
Alana opened her eyes in confusion. Bella smiled again, her hand still on Alana's arm. Seeing that Alana was a little dazed, Bella took the lead.
"I could go for a drink, there's a cute little place around the corner."
*
"After you get used to the smell of B.O. and piss, it's a pretty swanky place." Bella said, trying to scratch her name onto the oak countertop with her fingernail.
Alana was wearing Bella's jacket, gifted on the walk there. When Bella wasn't looking, Alana inhaled its sweet fragrance. She laughed when Bella was carded on the way in and had to give a second form of ID. Bella was 23 but she looked like she snuck out for the night to get a taste of adult life.
"I feel so overdressed!" Alana said. The other patrons were what you would expect from a dive bar: Hell's Angels playing pool, divorced husbands drowning their sorrows, a small group of high schoolers giggling over their first sip of beer in the back.