The Beautiful Monster

Campus life swarmed around Alyssa as she made her way to the coffee shop in the university's library to meet up with Zoe.

There was a lot to catch up on between the two. Alyssa hated how hard it was to coordinate their schedules this year, but they were preparing to start new lives.

They were moving in different directions, which made Alyssa sad, but she was also happy for them.

They were doing what they wanted to do in their sophomore year when they met each other. That was cause for celebration, not sadness.

She pulled open the door to the library, gasping when she almost ran into Scott. She stared at him with wide eyes for a second before ducking her head and trying to move past him.

She told Elias that she wouldn't talk to him, and she didn't feel like getting mixed into the drama anyway.

"Woah. Where are you running off to, honey?" Scott asked as he reached out to grab her left wrist.

He pulled on her until they were out of the way of the door. He gave her a curious look. "Trying to escape me?"

Alyssa looked up at him, feeling uncomfortable as he continued to grip her wrist. She didn't understand why he always had to talk to her whenever they saw each other.

They weren't friends, and he knew that Elias would be pissed off if he found out that they were talking.

Then, the answer became clear to her. He was trying to get a rise out of Elias through her. She didn't like being used like that.

"I'm meeting up with someone," she said, hoping that he would take a hint and let her go.

"Elias?" Scott asked as he turned her wrist over, gazing down at the inside of it and running his thumb along her fair skin.

Alyssa gave him a perplexed look, wondering why he was acting so strange. Then again, he was a weird guy. She pulled harder on her wrist until he finally let her go. She took a step back from him.

"No," she replied, not giving him any other details. Her plans weren't any of his business anyway. She wished that he would just go on and leave her alone.

Every time she saw him, it left a bad taste in her mouth and reminded her of the tension that used to be between her and Elias. She didn't want to feel that again.

Scott looked over at her brace on her right forearm.

"How'd that happen?" he asked, almost looking amused. "Clumsy?"

"Something like that," Alyssa said evenly. He thought that he was sly and charming, but she knew that he was just a jerk deep down.

She glanced over at the coffee shop, wishing that Zoe would see her and come rescue her. Zoe was still far more brash than she was.

Scott followed her eyes.

"You seem tense, honey," he murmured. His voice was silky and sweet, dripping and warm. It made her almost shudder but not in a good way.

"Elias doesn't want us to talk, and I know why," Alyssa replied. She gave him a look of warning.

Scott chuckled as he tilted his head at her.

"What's the reason?" he asked, seeming to test her.

"You're just causing more family drama," Alyssa said. She didn't understand why he would want to throw more fuel on the fire.

What would he gain from that? Was he trying to win the family's approval? "That's why you told him that we talked."

"Our family is close. We don't keep secrets from each other, especially if there's an issue," Scott said.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at his cryptic words. She had no idea what he meant by that.

"What issue?" she questioned him, beginning to feel a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Scott met her eyes with a cold smile on his face.

"You."

Alyssa's eyes widened in shock. She didn't understand how she was an issue to a family that she had never met before. What did they even know about her?

Maybe Scott was just lying and trying to mess with her. Something told her that wasn't the case, though.

"How?" she asked.

Scott placed his finger on his lips.

"Probably something to talk to your boyfriend too," he replied before walking away from her.

Alyssa stared after him, feeling confused about what to do. She couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. If she wanted to talk to Elias about what Scott meant, which could've been a lie in the first place, she had to admit to Elias that she talked to Scott.

It would just get him fired up all over again, and Alyssa didn't want that. Scott surely did, though.

She couldn't shake what Scott said, though. She didn't want to be a problem to anyone, and if she could fix that or set things straight to make things easier for Elias, then she wanted to do that.

She would talk to him about it later. Scott had basically cornered her after she tried to get away, so Elias would understand. She just hoped that things didn't go bad again.

She walked to the coffee shop, spotting Zoe at a table with her coffee already. She headed over to Zoe, not even caring about getting a coffee anymore. She just needed to talk.

"Sorry," she apologized once she sat down. She knew that Scott had made her a few minutes late.

"Finally, you're the one who's late. Not me," Zoe said with a smirk. She then eyed Alyssa. "What happened?"

Alyssa sighed as she shook her head.

"Drama is following me these days for some reason," she said. She didn't understand when she became such a magnet for it, but it was annoying. She missed how boring her life used to be sometimes. At least it was peaceful.

Zoe straightened up in her seat as she grasped her coffee cup in two hands.

"Tell me all about it," she said. She feasted on drama.

"Elias has this weird cousin that he doesn't like that keeps trying to start drama," Alyssa explained.

She trusted Zoe not to say anything to anyone. They were best friends, which meant they were steel vaults when it came to gossip. Besides, Alyssa needed another voice besides Elias'.