At the point they'd reached in the questioning, it was starting to feel more like an interrogation and Alaska Velazquez was beginning to feel like she was a suspect.

"We are simply asking when the last time you spoke to Samuel was?"

"And I am simply saying, I do not remember."

The stare down was intense.

"Then according to his phone records,  how can you explain this call between you and him just two hours before his suspected disappearance that lasted one minute and fourty-six seconds?"

Her heart was falling out of her chest, but all she could do was look back at the inspector and blink blankly while she tried to find an excuse for that phone call.

-

"I'll drop you off at the mass but I have to go and pick up Valerio so I'll join you after, okay? Save me a space." Were Alejandro's words when his sister turned to ask him why he was still in the car while she was out and adjusting her thick, black cardigan.

Once she closed the car door shut, Alejandro headed towards the house Lu and Valerio shared. He felt uncomfortable at the idea alone of being in the same room as the person who caused his sister so much unhappiness. But if Alaska could be mature about it and go about her day, why couldn't he?

The road to Valerio's was only roughly fifteen minutes from the venue of Marina's mass. Ale honked a few times till he saw the familiar brown and curly fluff of hair on his head coming out through the front doors. 

"Why can't you drive yourself by the way?" Ale asked once he was settled in the car.

"Porque amigo, I plan on getting disgustingly fucked up today." The brunette said cheekily, turning to his friend. 

"At the mass?!"

"Of course not. We're not going to the mass."

Alejandro was confused but now that he looked at him, he wasn't dressed to go the the cemetery with his coloured shirt and light jeans. 

"What? Where the hell are we going then? I left Alaska at the ceme-"

"You know the new girl, Cayetenne or Cayeteen-"

"Cayetana."

"Bien! Cayetana! She invited Lu to her house so we'll crash it. What do you say?"

"That sounds uncomfortable, bro."

"Exactly why I didn't ask Valeria to come; because of Lu. Plus, Guzman plans of sneaking out of the mass too to go to Caytenne's house."

"Valerio . . . I'm not really too sure."

As always, Valerio won the debate. He always did, even when they were kids. Before Alejandro knew it, he was ringing the doorbell of a gorgeous cliffside house. From the look of it, it was only about 20 minutes away from his own.

Alaska felt her skin crawl at the thought of Lucrecia being inside the house  with her ex boyfriend like Alejandro had mentioned in his text message. After calling her brother that she had arrived, Ale told her to wait beside his car and he'd be out in a minute. 

It took her a few seconds to find the shiny, silver Beamer. Tired, she slugged towards it and leaned on the hood.

Ala wasn't mad at Alejandro. She wasn't upset or feeling negative about him hanging out with them in anyway. She only thought it was a little bit strange that the people he chose to hang around was her ex and ex's new alleged girlfriend who he cheated on her with. 

She would definitely ask him about it after he was well rested and in the right state of mind. 

The only thing she could say she was really upset about is leaving her alone at the mass when he said he'd be back. But she had a feeling Valerio had a sneaky something to do with that. The brunette was only worried that she had not received a text or call from him about his whereabouts and it was well into five past 7:00pm.

So engrossed with her thoughts, Alaska didn't realise the giant front door opening until she heard that same door shut. Turning around immediately to scold Alejandro, she found herself speechless and her mouth drying up at the sight of Guzman in front of her instead.

He looked good.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, his haircut was a good look for him. But that was the only thing. There were evident bags under his eyes clearly from lack of sleep, and there faded look in them could only have come from the amount of liquor he was obviously consuming inside the house. 

But he looked good. 

Like a fish out of water she opened and closed her mouth before building the courage to turn her had away from him. She hated herself in that moment for allowing him to leave her speechless like that but she knew it was just shock because she didn't expect to see him.

"H-Hola." Guzman stuttered slightly, also as shocked as her.

He was only sneaking out to answer a text message from his mother, but ended up seeing the one person he was too much of a coward to admit he was avoiding.

Alaska didn't reply, keeping her eyes straight ahead as she felt the anger creeping inside of her,

Gulping a little at her coldness, Guzman tried again, walking forward.

"What're you doing here?"

It felt like hours that he was waiting for a reply when it'd only been a few minutes. Disheartened, he turned round to walk back inside when he heard her light voice reply:

"Alejandro texted me to pick him up."

She still didn't quite meet his gaze but the fact that she'd replied was all he needed.

He gave a small nod even though she couldn't see him.

Guzman didn't know if it was the liquid courage or genuine urge to have a conversation but he couldn't control his mouth to start:

"Escuchame, Alaska-"

"No." Ala replied, silencing him immediately.

They were in a driveway of a random girl's house, and after no conversation for about a week, going on two, she wasn't going to hear him out in such an environment, especially not when he was so drunk.

"Please let me-"

"No." 

It was like perfect timing because Alejandro came bursting out through the door with Ander close in tail. The aggressive sound of the door opening startled Guzman, making him jump slightly and lean against the wall.

Ander watched suspiciously but only for a second between Alaska and Guzman, but quickly returned to his friend who was stumbling out of the doors.

"Ala, are you here to pick me up?" Alejandro asked, quietly.

"Yes; get in the car." She quickly replied, walking towards Ander who had Ale's car keys in his hand. 

She pressed the button to unlock the doors and faced Ander once more as Alejandro climbed into the car.

"Is he drunk?"

"No, Vale said he just smoked a lot. He'll be fine after a nap though."

Alaska sighed, shaking her head as they both watched him struggle a little bit to get inside the car.

"Are you coming?" she asked again.

Ander felt guilty for his answer before he could even utter a word. One thing he knew was going to be difficult was balancing his friendship between both Ala and Guzman. He was more than his friend, he was his brother. Although he didn't  know exactly why Guzman did what he did, it was eating him up inside and he couldn't abandon him in his time of need. For Alaska, they had only recently started rebuilding their friendship and he wasn't about to leave her alone after what happened either. 

It was hard.

"Guzman is a mess . . . I can't leave him here like this."

It took her a minute to respond, but she nodded understandingly. 

"Text me when you're home, okay?"

Exchanging a small hug, the two separated and went their separate ways.

"What's up?" She asked, turning to face him, muting the music playing out loud from the car speakers.

Because she was driving and he was in another world, Alejandro was slightly happy that he wouldn't have to say anything directly to his twin because she couldn't look at her. That made him feel better for what he was about to say.

"It's about Nadia . . ." At the traffic light, the brunette stopped to glance at him curiously.

Alaska inhaled deeply and looked away from her brother for a second before clearing her throat and facing him again.

"What about her?"

"She spoke to me earlier in school today and said she tried talking to you but you weren't really listening."

"Yeah?" Alaska shrugged, waiting for him to finish.

"Well she was feeling very sorry . . . she apologised, and she . . . was feeling very sorry, Ala. She wanted to know if I was open to a potential friendship with her again-"

What took him aback was the look on her face. It wasn't anger or even worse, disappointment as he'd expected. In fact it was a very nonchalant aura that was radiating from her. What sealed the deal was when she shrugged again and said:

"Did you like practice this in the mirror or something-"

"Take this seriously." Alejandro said with an eye-roll, leaning further back in his seat as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Ale you don't need my permission. She was your friend too and I can't ask you to stay away from her just because I am right now."

"I know but, well . . . you know I kind of liked her and when she reached out to me those feelings r-rushed back. But I would ever forgive myself if you didn't approve."

Even Ala herself was proud of how composed she was being, but her mind was running wild. Weighing out the pros and cons in her head, there were definitely more negatives than positives. But the only positive aspect of the whole thing was that her other half would be happy. In the end, that was more than any anger she carried towards Nadia.

"Ale," she started, shifting the gear back into drive once the lights turned green, "I mean it with my whole heart when I say you do not need my permission; you never have and you never will. If rekindling with her makes you happy then that makes me happy."

Looking at her small smile, Alejandro felt so proud of how mature she sounded trying to put his feelings before her own; which made him even more nervous for what he was going to say next. 

"I appreciate that but . . . I would also really like it if you'd talk to her-"

"Absolutely not."

"I know what you're going to say but I don't want to force you. I haven't heard her side of the story in full yet but I would really like to. Even though you're fine with us being friends again, I'll still never feel fully comfortable unless you're on board."

Ala quickly glanced at him and back to the road just to see the sincerity on his face. All she could think of in that moment was that if it was vice versa, Alejandro would do the same for her. Without a second thought.

"I can't promise I'll forgive her, but I'll hear her out."

-

Rolling onto her tummy and turning her head to the right, Alaska looked at Valerio to see he was already looking at her with a goofy grin on his face.

"We haven't done that in a while." He started.

"And we never will again, enserio."

"That's what you said on the first day of school. Stop fighting the feeling and just let the natural nature of the human hormones work its magic," he replied with a smirk and sneakily poked at her bare side which caused her to flinch at the ticklish area and made her skin prickle with goosebumps.

The day had been weird and it was draining having to keep up with how fast it was moving; the only way was to relieve some of that toxic energy.

Her Physics grade was dropping a little lower than usual, she'd almost fallen down some stairs, but when she caught her balance before she could face plant, her eyes caught onto Polo on the ground, struggling to breathe. From the way he clawed at his throat and begged for his pills from Guzman who was trying to help him, it was clearly a panic attack. 

On the topic of Guzman, the very brief, barely existent conversation she had with him the night before whilst picking up her brother made her cry from the minute she put Ale to bed and walked to her room until 2 that morning. Valerio was making things slightly more bearable by making her forget.

He smiled at her as she moved to the side and stared forward at the ceiling. 

"Are we not going to cuddle?" he asked jokingly, making her scoff and shift her head to look back at him.

"Never in a million years, chico."

It was silent, but not in an awkward manner, as they both laid next to each other comfortably, gazing at the sculpted ceiling. It had been a very very long time since they'd rolled in the sheets. It was always just physical between them and an intimate friendship. While Alaska was clear on this dynamic each time, Valerio was . . . confused; but that was a story for another day. 

And they needed each other. 

They would never say it out loud but they needed each other more than the other would never know. But they showed it through actions, because unspoken words always told a story of its own.

Valerio was always in and out of her life since she was younger, from the very first summer that she went to one of Lu's tea parties which were exclusively 'girls only'. Valerio was visiting for the first time that summer and insisted on joining the party, so desperate that he threw on one of the spare tutu's and ripped Lu's pink tiara off her head and sat at the table.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship. 

The sleeping together every so often only became a usual thing some summers prior, most times on her queen sized bed, other times, on his. Not that anyone was complaining.

"So I hear that Nadia is tutoring you."

"Where the hell did you hear that?" He asked with a small chuckle of disbelief. 

Alaska shrugged.

"From no one, I just heard you talking to her in the hallway today while I was getting apple juice from my locker." 

"If the world ran out of apples tomorrow, you would kill yourself wouldn't you?" 

The girl deepened her voice to mock him and repeated his exact same words.

They laughed about it for a while until she said:

"Be careful with her, okay?"

"Don't tell me she's a villain-"

"She's not, and I can't tell you what to do just because I don't trust her anymore. I'm just saying be careful because I know you, and you're . . .  a lot."

"A lot?"

"Vale, you're a lot. Do you really want me to explain?"

He knew what she meant. 

It was yet another moment of comfortable silence until Valerio spoke up.

"So the party tonight-"

"I'm not going."

"We are not doing this dance again, Valeria. You always say you won't go, then go and have a good time. So I'll see you there at 9-"

"I'm not going, Valerio."

The curly-haired boy put a ring clad index finger on her lip, indirectly shutting her up.

"You're coming."

It was looking a lot like she was going to be going to the party at the club. Deep down, she knew she always would, but she wanted him to beg a little. It's what made their friendship thrive-

"Puta madre! You have got be fucking kidding me, you guys!"

For what felt like the first time in forever, Alaska felt genuinely startled at the booming voice that entered her bedroom and disrupted the vibe completely.  

While Ala scrambled to throw the sheet over her top half to cover her bare chest, Valerio burst out into laughter at the sight of his blonde friend who barged in.

"You're in my room, puto! You can't even knock?!" Alaska yelled as she stuck her head out of the blanket.

All she could remember for the next few seconds was Valerio almost falling of the bed with laughter and Alejandro banging his head against her pastel coloured wall.

A/N: Lo siento muchísimo?🥺 I'm back now and I'm working on fixing my update schedule, don't worry.