"Before all else, what did you do that day of Marina's death?"

"What did I do?" The blonde asked, slightly confused.

"Your schedule. What did you do from the morning leading to the death. An informant told us that you weren't supposed to go to the end of year party at the school, but you showed up there. So how did your day start."

The inspector's intentions were clear as day. If she was trying to be discreet so as to not make her feel like it was in interrogation, she was failing. 

"Bueno;" Alaska sighed, crossing her arms, "Whoever told you is right, I wasn't planning to go to the party, but when I woke up that morning . . ."

-

It wasn't her alarm that woke her up, it wasn't herself waking up on her own, it was Alba.

Alba.

Alba was banging on the door aggressively for eight minutes nonstop, which was far more effective that any old alarm. Apple needed her services.

"Alba, I'm awake! I'm awake!" Alaska replied groggily clutching tightly at her forehead.

"Well then if you really are,  come and unlock the door. You told me to wake you up and don't stop until I do so here I am, waking you up, and I'm not going anywhere-"

Alba's knocking and haggling was interrupted by Alaska nearly ripping her oak door off its hinges, with an annoyed expression on her face, which Alba returned with a smug one.

"Y gracias Alba, but you didn't need to knock like the whole downstairs was on fire."

"Did it get you to wake up?"

"But-"

"Are you awake?"

"Alba-"

"Did it work? Yes or no?"

"Si." The blonde groaned, rolling her eyes, making Alba smirk and walk away.

By the time she had had a shower and put on actual jeans for the first time in three weeks, the sick feeling she had been suppressing since the night prior was finally catching up to her. It climbed up her throat as she laced up her white Tory Burch tennis sneakers, it climbed up her throat as she descended the stairs to the kitchen, and it climbed up her throat as she made herself a glass of fresh apple juice with elderflower whilst listening to some music. Just when she dashed the crunchy ice on - 

"Buen día! Mi amor I haven't seen you around in a few weeks!" 

Alaska turned around, and turned back quickly to face the cold drink, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

She grunted instead.

"Exams and stuff."

Mariposa nodded gently, not completely losing hope for a conversation. She walked closer to her with a small smile. 

"Ale was talking to me and he was saying you two are having a tough time-"

"I don't want to talk about it, mama." 

"That's okay! I just wanted to make sure you were doing fine. I-I knocked on your door-"

"You knocked on my door?" This time she turned to face her mother, trying her hardest to not let her surprised expression show.

"Claro que si. Maybe around last week, I just knocked briefly but decided to give you your space when you didn't answer."

Alaska looked at her for a few more seconds, trying to gage if she was being truthful. A few seconds after, she turned back to her hot drink.

Mariposa tried again.

"You have some plans?" 

'Obviously.' Alaska thought.

"I have to be at school for my final meeting with Dr. Flores." Alaska murmured, shitting the lid on the pastel flask.

"Oh okay; well, have fun. Also are you going to that event at the-"

"No."

Mariposa nodded again and didn't even try to convince her otherwise. The fact that they were having some sort of small dialogue was enough for her. Without Alejandro present, it was definitely far more difficult when he wasn't there to mediate the conversation as well as keep it going. 

"Drive safe."

". . . I had a meeting with Dr. Flores at 11am. My brother was already at school and since he usually drives me around, I drove myself and got there maybe ten minutes before the meeting . . ."

Dr. Flores was trying not to give her a lecture. 

As usual, Alaska had shown up, not said a single thing except nodded or shook her head at her usual yes or no checkup questions. The older woman could tell as plain as day that there was something different about Alaska that day. 

Firstly, her lips were chapped. 

One of the only things Alaska constantly ranted about was how she disliked when people had chapped lips. For this reason, she always packed her Glossier lip gloss and cocoa butter Vaseline lip balm with her everywhere. Looking at her in that moment, she was definetely not herself since her lips were on the verge of being dried up. 

Secondly, she was looking pale. 

Naturally, the blonde was extremely tan but from her appearance, she had no colour and there were faint traces of bags under her eyes. She kept rubbing her hand over her face which meant two things: either she was extremely tired because she was sleep deprived, or extremely tired because she had spent too much time in bed.

The only other time she had noticed such an odd appearance in her was when she was newly enrolled in therapy.

"So do you want to do this dance again or do you want to make things easy and tell me what the matter is Alaska."

"I'm fine." 

"It's okay if you don't want to talk. As usual, I won't force and you because I can't . But I need to tell you," Dr. Flores sighed, taking off her glasses, "I have some news."

Her sudden serious tone made Alaska look up to see that she was in fact serious. 

"You and your brother started with me two years ago and it's been a pleasure being both of your confidantes to try to help you out with whatever you've needed. But Alaska . . . you're not getting any better," she said and sighed again, "Alejandro was here two weeks ago and three days ago as well and he talked to me about the trouble the two of you were having, so I know everything about your predicament. You're not looking too well either and if I have to be honest,  I'm so worried about you. I'm afraid I have to refer you to another therapist-"

"Stop." Alaska interrupted, unfolding her arms to lean closer. Her heart was beating faster as she heard what Dr. Flores was saying before she could even finish. Although she wouldn't admit it, Alaska had warmed up to the therapist even though she didn't like going or interacting . It gave her some sort of odd comfort knowing someone was at least trying to help her even if she often neglected the help. 

"Ala because I care about you, that's why I want to refer you to someone else who can perhaps use another method to help you out so you can show some sort of progress because as of now . . . you've had little to no improvement."

Ala swallowed the lump in her throat, looking at the older woman sitting opposite her and then looked away because she was trying not to show how disappointed she was that she was giving up on her. 

'Estás dando por vencido conmigo'. Alaska thought.

"No Alaska, I promise you I'm not giving up on you," she thought out loud? "I'm not giving up on you which is why I want you to try another method. Mine might not be what's best for you."

"I understand." Alaska replied after a few seconds.

Dr. Flores looked at her almost expectantly, trying to see even if that small phrase would cause her to express some sort of emotion; something to maybe even trigger her to open up but she got nothing.

Nothing.

". . . After my meeting, I was going to go straight home but then I remembered I had to clear out my locker since the year was over, then I got a little distracted . . ."

All Ala could think about while she emptied her locker was that she had way too much to empty from her locker. She never even used half of the textbooks in that locker and the school always made her buy these useless books every year. With the bag she had gotten from the reception, she was stuffing the bag, internally insulting every teacher in her mind. 

She felt so much relief knowing it was the last day, and there was little to no activity going on in the school. Most people who were there were just picking up physical report cards; useless because there were digital versions emailed to each student and their guardian. 

She had no idea where Alejandro was though, and she wasn't ready to find out either so she tried her hardest to pack her things fast but neatly at the same time. But then she felt a hand placed on her shoulder.

Immediately, the blonde angrily whisked around to tell off whoever had touched her, only for her heart to skip a beat slightly when she saw the familiar brown eyes of  who it was.

Christian.

Alaska couldn't help but shrug his hand off slowly and turn back to face her locker, beginning to take deep breathes.

"H-Hola." Christian stammered, slightly disappointed but not surprised that she obviously did not want to speak to him. 

Ala didn't respond as she continued to slide the colourful sticky notes on the locker door.

Christian would be lying if he said that just like Dr. Flores, he was taken aback by her appearance. To him, she looked so . . . drained. She just looked drained. It wasn't as though on a daily basis she was throwing smiles and grins his way but Christian knew that over the course of their friendship, he had definitely broken down a few of her barriers. 

He could tell because the way she had just looked at him took him back to when he first laid eyes on her. It was in one of the classes, he couldn't quite remember, that first day before lunch; she had a deep frown on her face the whole class and she just looked bored. 

Some may have seen it as unapproachable and it was crystal clear that a girl who gave off those vibes had some steel walls up for sure , but for Christian he saw that as a challenge, which is one of the reasons he even first approached her that day at lunch. He never would have thought that they'd become good friends, and he knew she saw them as good friends too because to strangers, she remained that cold, closed off girl. But to those who got the opportunity to catch a glimpse of who she was, it was plain to see that to her friends, she was more than just that.

"Ningún problema. I know I'm probably not your favourite person right now so I won't try to bullshit my way into your good graces as usual like that time I accidentally put the cheese on your fries and you didn't talk to me for like thirty minutes;" Christian paused to chuckle, a failed attempt to lighten the atmosphere, but clearly no avail because Alaska wasn't laughing nor turning around to give him her full attention for that matter. He frowned and cleared his throat, continuing, 

"Alaska I'm really sorry that this happened. I know I've probably disappointed you but I just want you to know that I really am sorry for keeping that secret from you. You didn't deserve that treatment especially when you've done nothing but show me kindness. And if you hear my excu- my reason, you'd be even more disappointed, but it's okay. I'll leave you alone now, lo siento mucho."

He dropped his head, glum that she didn't respond to him as easily as he dreamed she would. But then again, as aforementioned, not surprised. 

The blonde girl was listening to every word he was saying, and her mind cast back to the conversation she had with Marina weeks before in her bedroom that first time. Marina told her to give Christian a chance, not forgive him if it didn't feel right, but at least hear what he had to say. It also didn't make it easier when she deeped that it probably hurt her much more to let him go because of his betrayal because she cared about him so much on a friendship level. And most importantly, for the first time since they'd become acquainted, he called her Alaska, not Loski.

Ala couldn't let him walk away.

"Christian wait." She sighed, turning slightly to stop him, and he turned so fast and this time with actual shock that she had interrupted what he wanted to be a dramatic walk off with sad acoustics playing in his head.

"Si?"

Alaska set the bag of things inside the locker and folded her arms, walking towards him. 

"You said your reason is stupid-"

"Well hold on, I said you'd be disappointed-"

Alaska should have been upset and maybe even angry that she had been cut off so he could say something so incredibly useless.

But it was Christian.

So she tried, she really did, to keep her lips pursed but the small twitch of the corners of her lips was betraying her whole entire demeanour, yet she continued, hoping Christian hadn't noticed.

"You said your reason is stupid but you don't get to decide that, I do. And if I don't hear it, how can I decide just the level of stupidity its on?"

And man did Christian beam at that.

The brunette helped her pack up the rest of her things and even offered to carry them to her car for her, before finally, they sat on a bench near one of the waterworks the school had so they could talk things out properly.

It was nice.

Christian had a lot to say, maybe even too much. He told her everything from when and how he found out, even vouching a little bit for Samuel. He explained how Carla had indirectly forced him not to say anything to her, even though he so badly wanted to.

". . . and if I could take it back, I would. You already know that I have a lot of feelings for Carla; I like her a lot. But I shouldn't have let her control me when it came to what I could and couldn't tell you."

"Is that why you didn't talk to me for months, didn't answer my texts, any of that? Because it really hurt me Christian, I can't lie to you."

Christian felt guilty again.

"I just couldn't face you with what I knew. I didn't know how to carry on with our friendship like everything was fine when I wasn't one hundred percent there Loski. I'm sorry again, and you don't have to forgive me right now. I can wait as long as you need me to."

". . . After my conversation with Christian, we separated and went in different directions. He was going to Carla's to prepare for the party, and I was going home like I said. But I was hungry, so I stopped at 'La Cabana' to get something to eat before going home."

"Look what the cat dragged in, and literally too, mamita; you looked like you were dragged here by a fucking cat."

"Because you look straight out of Vogue."

"Of fucking course, and you'll never know the feeling."

"Fuck you too, Nano." Alaska said, finally cussing him out because she was running out of disses and he was getting too brave to tap out first.

Nano was stood outside, his leather jacket had replaced his red apron and he was leaning on the wall. Either he was just about to go in for a shift or he had just got done with one. 

"What do you want around here, princesa?" He asked, blowing smoke from his nose.

Alaska looked at him as if he was stupid, and pointed at sign above the building.

"To get something to fucking eat, why else would I be here? To walk dogs?"

"Looking at the state of you, you might be here to beg for loose change, bruja."

And this time, her jaw dropped with a gasp.

"Okay I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He laughed, leaning off the wall and walking towards her.

"Yeah, you better fucking apologise," she scoffed, folding her arms, "and what are you doing out here anyway, shouldn't you be working?" 

"Just finished; shouldn't you be getting ready for that stupid rich people fiesta at the school?"

"Fuck no, I'm not going to that shit. I can't deal with those people right now."

Nano nodded, mentally arguing with himself about whether he should say what he wanted to or not, but he quickly decided that he wanted to.

"I heard about what happened with you and Prince Charming, lo siento." He shrugged sincerely.

Alaska sighed looking at him, waiting, just waiting, for the punchline. But nothing came.

"How'd you find out?"

"My brother talks." Nano said, shrugging again. 

"Whatever." Alaska said.

"I'll rough him up for you a little bit if you want, free of charge."

"Gracias, but that's not necessary." Ala chuckled, turning to make her way inside the restaurant but then Nano's voice stopped her.

"For what it's worth, I've seen the girl and trust me when I say she hasn't got shit on you anyway. He's going to come crawling back when he realises what he's lost."

". . . When I got home, my brother wasn't there so I took advantage of that to go to my room without being noticed. I heard him come later and I also heard some commotion but I assumed it was him just getting ready for the party. But around 7:30pm, I received a message from Marina . . ."

From - Marina:

'Please please please call me now. It's urgent x'

Immediately Ala dropped her bag of popcorn, wiping her fingers messily on her crumpled pyjamas to call her. 

"Alaska?" Marina picked up after two rings.

"Marina. What's the problem?"

"T-Tell me something bad about Morocco."

"Huh-"

"Ala, tell me something bad about Morocco." Marina repeated, this time with more urgency in her voice,  making Alaska feel taken aback as thoughts began to flood her brain about Morocco, her father's favourite country because it was where he had met the woman who he would create his life with. She couldn't possibly fault Morocco.

"Well, uh . . . there's a language barrier -"

"I can learn, tell me something else!"

"Marina this is ridiculous, tell me what's going on?" Ala asserted, making Marina sigh.

"Ala, I know the party started like ten minutes ago and you don't want to go, but you need to be here tonight."

A groan escaped the blonde's mouth.

"You already know-"

"I know, I know. But Ala," Marina paused because her voice cracked, which Alaska definitely noticed but didn't point out, "if you don't come tonight, I don't know the next time you'll see me."

It was quiet on both ends only for a minute or two.

"What the fuck are you talking about."

Alaska heard Marina sigh on the other line before the redhead began to spill the beans completely. She and Nano were planning to run away that night. Why? Marina only said its because she didn't think her family would accept that she wanted to have Nano's baby and she mentioned point blank that she just wasn't happy. And Ala tried her absolute hardest to try and convince her to stay but it was useless. Marina had already made up her mind and she didn't want to be the one to stop her.

"Marina I don't know what to say."

"I don't want you to say anything, I just want you to support me because no one else knows and even if they did, they wouldn't."

"Of course I'll support you, I'll fucking support you all the way if only you promise to call me everyday and let me visit you at least Marina, at least once every three months."

"I could never deny you of auntie status, Alaska." Marina laughed.

"Is there anything you want, anything I can get you at all before you leave? A goodbye gift?"

"I know you probably think that this is the part I act modest and pretend I don't want anything but I'd be lying if I didn't say I didn't want 'Princesa'." And Alaska could practically hear the smirk in her words.

"'Princesa?' Seriously? You can have anything and you want that thing?"

When Alaska turned thirteen, she made her first purchase online; the catch is that it was a mistake. She wanted to buy an all diamond choker she had been seeing everywhere for months; fifty percent real diamonds, fifty percent cubic zirconia. The best part was even that she got to engrave her name in the inside of it. But she put that in her basker, and an all gold one with less diamonds in there by mistake. She ended up purchasing both for too much money, and although gold was and still is her favourite colour, the one with all diamonds was to die for. Marina, falling in love with the gold one, decided to name the diamond choker 'Sylvie' and the gold one 'Princesa'. She didn't want to have it, but she knew Ala would never wear it. 

"It's yours if you want it." Ala laughed, and the two ironed out the details of what time and where to meet up. 

" . . . so I decided to go at that point. I didn't plan to stay and mingle, I just wanted to see Marina, say my goodbyes, and leave . . ."

Get in and get out was the plan.

Alaska didn't even bother to go above and beyond with her outfit because she had no plans of staying and interacting with anyone apart from Marina, where she would say her goodbyes and make a clean exit. Her boyfriend jeans and sneakers from earlier in the day is what she threw on along with a simple tight white crop. Get in and get out.

The end of year party meant that almost all students were going to be at the event. With the embarrassment she'd faced in front of her classmates, she didn't want anything to do with them in that moment as she parked her car in the nearest  slot in front of the school.

There were many of them scattered across the parking lot, now arriving and making their way inside or just simply having a conversation. Either way, it did nothing to ease her stress because she knew they were just going to be much more inside. She looked right ahead, ignoring any and every stare, making a straight line inside the building.

After the breakup, Alaska wasn't able to deal with any social media. Even though she wasn't 'social', she had a feeling that the sight of all her classmates having fun and going on with their lives was going to make her sick to her stomach. She finally deleted the Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter apps when she got an influx of texts from people she couldn't give a shit about asking her if she was okay. 

But she wasn't stupid.

It was just how Las Encinas worked. Whenever something happened to anyone, random people would always try to 'comfort' the victim in order to get ahead of the gossip before it could and would eventually spread. And no-one was fooling her - 

"Why are you walking so fast?" Marina giggled, breaking her from her thoughts which were so deep she hadn't even realised she was stood in front of the redhead's locker.

"Because all the flashing colours of these girls' dresses is making me epileptic."

Marina smiled widely as she laid her eyes on her childhood friend. 

She didn't know how, and she didn't know why it took a breakup to get them to that point, but she mentally thanked Guzman everyday for fucking up, as bad as it sounded. 

"You could have at least worn a dress."

"Fuck no. Who do you think I am?," Alaska scoffed and continued,

"And stop changing the subject Marina, what time are you leaving?"

"Nano said he'd be here at ten, so in about twenty to thirty minutes."

"Joder, Marina." Ala sighed, combing her fingers through her wild locks as she looked at Marina. In some way, she admired her for doing what she was doing so much. She wanted to leave, so she was leaving. Alaska couldn't even count how many times she'd told herself she just wanted to run away and start a new life. Marina was finally doing that, and it made the blonde feel weak.

"This doesn't eve have to be a sad moment because you're going to visit me every three months like we said." Marina reassured, setting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I know but fuck I thought we'd have more time together." 

Marina nodded and looked at the blonde. She was definitely going to miss her, which didn't make giving the news she was about to give any easier.

"I appreciate you being here, but you need to know that . . . Guzman's here too."

Marina looked into her eyes, waiting for a lash out, a face twitch, a punch to the locker, but she received nothing.

"Oh."

"He's inside the hall though so you have nothing to worry about, trust me. You won't even see him . . ."

All the while Marina was talking, Ala was looking behind her friend because speaking of the devil, the same person she was saying she would't run into was staring at her from the end of the corridor. 

She felt her heart stop.

Guzman was just staring at her. He didn't attempt to say something, neither did he attempt to come closer. He just stared at her, a longing in his eyes to be able to gather the confidence to walk towards her. 

His deep ocean had met her forest green and all they could do was stare at one another. In that moment, she hated herself because all she could think about was how handsome he looked. But she felt her heart breaking all over again because of how handsome he looked. 

He looked fine. 

He looked fine without her. 

And all she could think was that she wasn't fine without him. 

Suddenly,  he looked down and continued onwards, and Marina tapped Ala's cheek twice.

"Hm? Si."

Marina sighed knowing Ala was not listening to a word she'd uttered. But it was okay.

"Did you bring Princesa?"

" . . . After I gave her the choker she told me she was going to wait at the pool for Nano because he messaged her that he was almost there. I gave her what I wanted to be a goodbye hug but she told me to just go outside in twenty minutes and find his car, wait by it, so we can hug goodbye again. So I went to an empty classroom to wait it out because I didn't want to risk seeing anyone I knew . . ."

That was when it all went downhill. 

Ala had been messaging Christian and playing Flappy Golf for fifteen minutes before finally, the lights in the hallway turned on brightly to its normal white colour from the neon pink and blue it was emitting before. The vibration from below her halted as well meaning the music had been shut off.

That's when she became suspicious because the party was supposed to go on for at least another hour or two at most. She walked outside to try to hear or see what was happening better, which is when she heard a faint feminine voice say the words:

"I will need you all to exit the premises in an orderly fashion."

On the other side, where Alejandro suddenly stood to his feet with worry, he reached for his phone to message his sister to ask if she was okay even though they were arguing. Christian had informed him earlier that Alaska was at the school but not at the party. He didn't want to pry so he simply nodded, knowing she was doing her own thing. But when the older woman had disrupted the party to make her announcement, all he wanted to do was protect her.

For Alaska, immediately, her mind went to Marina and Nano with the possibility that they'd been caught. It was either that or some sort of fire. Neither result was good. Heading exactly the opposite way to take the stairs down to the pool area, Ala picked up the pace, almost jogging there to try and confirm for herself if they had managed to escape, been caught, or there was some other emergency. 

And that's when she came across the yellow caution police tape guarding the entrance and the bloody finger print on the window, she slowed down and everything felt slow as she disobediently lifted her leg over the tape.

At the sight, Alaska panted, panted, and panted. The room suddenly felt a little too warm, a little too small, and a little too tight, although she knew fully well that this was one of the biggest rooms in the entire Las Encinas.

She didn't know what emotion she was feeling as her heart began to thump so hard she was convinced that Samuel could hear her from across the room. Her bloody fingers clutched her chest as she hyperventilated, her eyes blurring, as she slowly dropped to the ground. Everything around her went quiet as she laid her blurred eyes on the lifeless body of her childhood friend, her beautiful black dress soaked in blood. In that moment, all she could think about was her coldness, her distance, her neglect, all towards Marina.

A big, deep, sob she felt in her heart escaped her lips as she cried her name.

"Marina!"

She began to cry constantly over and over again. She screamed louder each time, louder than the next. So loud that she didn't even hear the thundering footsteps of her twin brother barrelling towards her to hold her. He was in even greater shock than she was, but as he set his eyes on his sister portraying some emotion that wasn't anger, he knew he had to be strong . . . he had to be there for her.

"Tranquila, por favor. Tranquila, Alaska."

He chanted over and over to her, in an attempt to calm her down. Pointless.

From across the room, Samuel, just as shaken as Alejandro, looked down at his bloody hands and then to the swimming pool, and then back to the twins.

He had no idea how this happened.

"Tranquila, Alaska."

-

"And that's when you returned to the room and asked Alejandro, Samuel, and I to back away from the scene."

Following her story, the inspector leaned back in her chair, trying to process everything Alaska was saying. It would be a complete and total lie if she had said Alaska wasn't a prime suspect for the murder. She fit the category well in terms of time and place as well as character, which was assessed by the people who knew her best.

"So how did the 'choker' end up in the swimming pool?"

"I have no idea inspector, isn't that your job?" Alaska snarked at the question, knowing the detective was trying to pin the death on her by asking her ridiculous questions.

"I don't mean to offend you," the detective quickly added reassuringly, "I just have to ask the tough questions because so far Alaska, I would be lying to you if I said you were not a person of interest."

Alaska inhaled sharply, looking at her lawyer who signalled for her to not say a word.

"My client said she doesn't know, so she does not know." The lawyer chipped in.

"And that's okay. Alaska, you said you were messaging Christian about fifteen minutes before I asked everyone to evacuate the building correct?"

"Correct."

"Therefore, if you sign this," the inspector said, pushing forward a form, "it will allow us to use our database to enter your phone and trace the text messages and their locations at the exact time we think the murder occurred.

Ala nodded, handing the form over to her lawyer who had a final read through, confirming that she sign it. 

-

- THREE WEEKS LATER-

Marina had been laid to rest.

Nano was currently in custody for her murder.

Alaska Velazquez did not for one second believe that he could have done it. 

But that was an argument she'd leave for another time.

In that moment, she was shakily hovering her knuckles over the oak door of her brother's bedroom. All she could think about was whether to knock or not to knock. Her heart was thumping at a thousand beats per minute but before she realised, she was knocking.

The faint 'Enter' was heard from the other side and slowly, she pressed down on the door handle to reveal her brother who was laying on his bed with a book in his hand which he immediately dropped when he saw his sister standing at the entrance of his bedroom door.

Sitting up, Ale's heart was beating hard too because this was the first time in a long time they were in the same space together. Both of them didn't go back exactly to normal even though he had comforted her upon discovering Marina. When they returned home that day, they went to their separate bedrooms and gone back to avoiding one another.

But tough conversations needed to be had.

"Hey." Ale said simply.

"Hey." Ala breathed, her voice wavering slightly but keeping it together, walking closer to him until she was also sitting beside him on his big, big bed.

"What's up?" Alejandro asked, giving her his full attention.

She shrugged nervously.

"I think it's time we talked, don't you?"

"I agree." Ale sighed for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Well . . . Marina's gone. And it's made me realise that I can't spend the another day being lying to myself about being angry at you when I'm angry at myself."

"About our fight, I said some things-"

Alaska quickly put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, feeling her eyes grow just a little bit watery.

"Before you say you didn't mean it, you meant it Ale. I've known you literally my whole life; you're my other half and I'll be damned if I misread the expression on your face as you basically opened my eyes to the fact that I've taken you for granted. I've taken you for granted and I'm so sorry. You're right she you say you gave up so much for me like my friends who were your friends too. You're my biggest supporter and it's time I started thanking you for that and showing you how much I appreciate you. I thought I had Guzman and I don't and that hurts but I've accepted that I'll have to live with it. I guess it gave me some comfort knowing you were always there, but now that's about to change because I know I abused that. I can't waste time fighting with "

Ale couldn't believe what he was hearing. But hearing how mature she sounded, he'd never been more proud of her in that moment. 

He brought her into long overdue hug which felt like it lasted forever. But they both needed it. 

"I forgive you, always."

Peering over his shoulder, Ala noticed that he had brought out the familiar red supreme suitcase sitting beside his bed which reminded her of another reason why she'd come to apologise to him. 

"Also," she said, pulling away, "I need to talk to you about that . . ." she mentioned pointing at his suitcase, making Ale turn to look at it briefly.

"I mean, it's still summer right. We leave for Sicily in like a week."

"Yes, but I wanted to try something new this time." 

"Like you want to go somewhere else?"

"Like I think we should have a separate summer . . ."

And boy was he confused as ever.

"Huh?-We-"

"Only for the first four weeks. I talked to tia Angela last week and I thought I'd go stay with them for a while, you know?"

"So I'll come with you-"

"Alone, Ale. I just want to use the month to find myself a little bit. Like I said, I'm not independent from you and I should be a little bit at this point in our lives. I'll meet up with you for the remainder of the summer but right now I think it's for the best."

It was silent for a few seconds until Ale broke it with a sigh and a nod.

"Wow," he shook his head, "so I'm going to be in Palermo, and you're going to be-"

"On a French Island, correct."

"For the first time in our lives."

"For the first time in our fucking lives."

THE END OF PART ONE.

A/N: This is long, I know, but I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. The next chapter will begin with Season 2. Should be uploaded some time this week!! Hope you're all safe right now, and I'll catch you in the next A/N!!! xx