The Beautiful Monster

It only took a day for Alyssa to cave and ask Elias to meet her at the coffee shop again.

She needed to know more about what all was going on. It was a bit weird that Stella decided to come out of the shadows now when all this stuff was going on.

If she wanted to compete with Alyssa, she would be competing with herself instead.

All that Alyssa wanted was information so that she knew how to handle Stella if she came around again.

Alyssa sat in the back corner of the coffee shop, holding a latte close to her as she stared at the lid.

She didn't even know how to start the conversation when Elias got here.

She didn't want to sound jealous or anything. There were so many people from Elias' life coming into her life, and she didn't know anything about them.

Elias never told her anything, so he owed her an explanation now.

A few minutes later, Elias walked over to her, immediately sitting down without even bothering to get a coffee for himself.

"I'm really sorry about Stella," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Alyssa asked him, feigning a curious look.

It was funny that happened to be the first thing that he said because she hadn't even brought up Stella when she asked him to come meet her for coffee.

She just told him that she had some more questions and wanted to talk.

Elias sighed as he rested his hands on the table.

"She went to your house to talk to you. I don't know why she did that," he muttered, looking annoyed.

That made Alyssa feel a little better. At least Stella went behind his back and not because he wanted her to go meet Alyssa. She straightened up a little.

"So, she told you that she went?" Alyssa asked. It was an interesting move on Stella's part.

Alyssa wanted to know why Stella was suddenly hanging around Elias again. Did she want to get back with him again?

If so, why would she engage with his ex-girlfriend? She felt like a game was being played here.

Elias nodded.

"I told her that she shouldn't have done that. It was weird and unnecessary.

I know that you would never say anything to anyone," he said as he gave Alyssa a softened look.

"What else do you tell her?" Alyssa asked, unable to stop the sharpness from showing up in her voice.

She just didn't like the thought of Elias spilling all of their memories and moments to Stella when she was up to something.

Alyssa didn't want to be put at a disadvantage because Stella knew everything about her, but she didn't know anything about Stella.

"What do you mean?" Elias asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Alyssa shrugged, trying to find the right words and the right tone for her voice for this. She didn't want to come off the wrong way, but she wanted to know.

"She said that you guys are really close now, and that you talk about me a lot," she replied, keeping her answer short so that he would fill in the blanks himself.

Elias shook his head a little, seeming confused.

"Yeah, I've mentioned you because she asked who you were when she saw us here last time. I told her that you were my ex-girlfriend from college," he said.

"And that's it? That's all you told her about me?" Alyssa asked him, prying a little more to make sure that she got the full truth from him.

Either he was lying, or Stella was lying. She trusted Elias more, but he had lied to her before too. She had to explore both sides before choosing who to believe.

Elias gave her a confused look.

"Was I supposed to tell her more?" he asked Alyssa.

Alyssa leaned back in her seat and shook her head, feeling relieved that he hadn't blabbered about them to Stella.

"No. I don't want you to. I just like keeping our business to ourselves," she replied before sipping on her coffee.

"I didn't tell her about us," Elias said, assuring her that nothing was said.

Alyssa nodded. She believed him so far.

"Okay. She just made it seem like you guys talk about anything and everything, and I just didn't want her to know all about me when I don't even know her," she said.

She figured that was reasonable. A stranger showed up at her door and asked a bunch of questions. It threw her off.

Elias scoffed a little as he shook his head.

"We're not that close. We used to date a little, but that's over now," he said before leaning closer to her. "I'm not interested in her."

Warmth flooded across Alyssa's face as her eyes met his. She didn't think that he would say that, but deep down, she was glad that he did.

With him saying all that, it proved to her that Stella was playing around with her, spouting lies. Why would she do that?

"It's fine if you are. I don't care. It was just weird for her to come to my place and ask a bunch of questions and tell a bunch of lies," Alyssa replied with a shrug, adopting a casual look.

Elias seemed to study her for a second before cracking a half smile.

"Well, you don't have to worry about her. That's all in the past," he told her.

"We were in the past too," Alyssa pointed out. She could tell that he was getting a little bold, thinking that she was jealous and being possessive over him. She was going to shut that down quickly.

Elias nodded before smiling a degree more.

"But here we are," he said.

Alyssa felt her heart skip slightly, and she mentally cursed herself.

She wanted to melt when she was around him like she used to, but she couldn't do that. She was so naive when she was younger.

She put herself in situations that she didn't need to be in. Now that she was older, she had to make better decisions for herself.

All Elias brought into her life was trouble and danger. The proof was in their history.

When she was with him, weird things happened and she got hurt.

When he wasn't in her life, she thrived and went about her own life.

She had to start facing facts and stop paying attention to her fantasies. Those weren't real!

"Why did you two break up? Did your parents not want you to hurt her either?"