n

n

n

"That sounds cool,

" she said.

"We can do a housewarming get-together.

"

n

"Perfect. You'll be my honorary guest,

" Elias chuckled as he angled his body toward her more.

n

"How so?

" Alyssa asked him as she tilted her head at him. She had a feeling where this was going, but she didn't want to assume anything.

n

"You'll be one of the few actually invited over,

" Elias replied with a warm look.

nWhen she first came across him, she thought that he had a lot of friends, like he was popular.

nHe had that charm, and he was incredibly handsome. It seemed like a given. However, the more she got to know him, the more she realized that he kept to himself a lot. She wondered why that was.

n

"You like your quiet time,

" Alyssa said. Her words came out more as a question than an observation.

nShe could understand him, though. At times, she sought out silence because there was so much noise in the world.

nEveryone was talking, laughing, and crying. She could hardly get a grip on her own emotions when so many others surrounded her.

n

"My family hovers over me all the time. I don't think I could handle it outside of my family too,

" Elias admitted.

nThat made sense to Alyssa. If she had to deal with people who were like her parents at college, she would probably lose her mind.

nShe could only take so much, and being away from home was the only reason why she maintained her sanity for this long.

n

"At least you're almost free,

" she told him.

n

"I don't like that I have to hide from my own family, but gotta do we gotta do,

" Elias murmured. His eyes seemed to grow distant for a few seconds before they focused back on her.

n

"It's okay to run and hide sometimes,

" Alyssa replied. She knew that she would have to endure a big argument with her parents when she tried to fully break away from them.

nAt times, she wished that she could quietly slip away. Then, there would be no confrontation, no fight. There didn't need to be one.

n

"Like what we're doing right now?

" Elias smirked as he motioned to the room. They were basically hiding out from the main part of the party.

nAlyssa laughed into her hand, not even realizing that they were doing that until he pointed it out. She saw it more as getting out of the way, but he wasn't completely wrong.

n

"Exactly. I think we're doing the right thing. It's crazy in there,

" she said as she looked toward the doorway. She could hear laughing and shouting throughout the house.

nThere was no telling what was going on, but she was fine not finding out. She sent a text to Zoe to check in before turning back to Elias.

"I wonder how Zoe and the grim reaper are doing.

"

n

"She was playing with her hair. Isn't that a good sign?

" Elias chuckled.

n

"Yeah, definitely. I don't really see her act nervous like that,

" Alyssa replied. Zoe was always a bold bundle of energy.

nIt was almost strange seeing her act bashful. Maybe it would become a new norm if Zoe and that guy hit it off, though, and Alyssa wouldn't mind seeing that.

n

"How do you act when you're around someone you like?

" Elias asked her.

nAlyssa could only stare at him for a moment. She knew what she wanted to say, but the words were trapped in her throat.

nWhat if it was too forward? She cleared her throat and parted her lips to speak, but movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

n

"Wow. You're just everywhere, aren't you?

" Kaleigh sneered at Alyssa as she walked into the room. For once, she didn't have her sidekick with her. She was dressed in a sultry devil costume, which was pretty fitting.

n

"It was an open invite party,

" Alyssa merely said. She felt annoyance trickle down her spine as she crossed her arms.

nShe was tired of Kaleigh always trying to start something with her. They could've just ignored each other and had a good night, but she always had to ruin things.

n

"This is my house, bitch,

" Kaleigh snapped as she stepped forward.

nElias pushed himself off the wall to move in front of Alyssa, but he was stopped.

nAlyssa lightly pushed him back. As nice as it was for him to stand up for her, she needed to handle this issue.

nIt was between her and Kaleigh, and she didn't want to drag him into this situation once again.

nShe then took a step forward as well. There was only a few inches of space left between her and Kaleigh, and she refused to be the one to step down.

nShe was tired of being treated this way, and she had to stand up for herself or Kaleigh would keep trying to run her over.

n

"So, you're going to make me leave? You're going to cause a scene?

" Alyssa asked, squeezing her fists to keep her hands from shaking.

nShe didn't want to know how far Kaleigh would go, but she had a feeling that she was about to find out anyway.

nKaleigh looked past Alyssa at Elias for a brief moment before turning back. She swallowed hard as her jaw clenched. She looked fed up.

n

"I want you to stay the hell away from me. I have a party to host,

" she gritted out before whirling around and leaving the room. She turned so fast that her hair brushed Alyssa's cheek.

nAlyssa watched her walk off with a glare. She almost wanted to go after her, to break the tension and get this over with.

nMaybe if they just had it out this one time then everything would be over with. They would get their anger out and not antagonize each other anymore. But she wasn't going to do that.

nShe had to be better than that. She couldn't tease a fire that was already raging on. She had to just step away and let it die on its own.

nHopefully, it did, but tensions were still so high, and Alyssa didn't see a way out of this conflict soon. Kaleigh would want to come out on top, and Alyssa was tired of rolling over for people.

n