FIFTY THREE

There was silence for a long time, complete and absolute silence, and then there were faint noises; the kind of ones that sounded like they were coming from a closed glass window. The sounds had Alexa's eyelids twitching slowly beforw her lashes finally fluttered open.

  And for a moment all she did was lie still as she stared at the blurry white ceiling which seems so far and unfamiliar, she tried blinking a couple of times to clear her vision and it worked, and it was only when everything became clear that she begun to feel the dull throbbing in her head. She let out a small groan as she looked around slowly.

 From the look of it she was either in a hospital or the school clinic, and she couldn't help but scold herself for having been so stupid as to wind up here.

 "She's awake sir". She heard a female voice say.

 Probably the nurse informing Micheal that she had regained consciousness. Micheal......

 It truly was unfortunate that it took her falling from a flight of stairs to get him to act like he cared about her; she may have hit her head hard earlier but she could always recognise Micheal's voice, she'd always know his smell.

 "Mrs Grant?". The nurse spoke again.

 And Alexa's gaze flickered to the direction the voice had come from in time to see a young lady walking towards her with a warm smile.

 "Good to see that you're awake". She said on getting to the bed.

 And she was about to say something when Caan's voice suddenly cut in.

 "Alexa". He said as he walked in.

  Her gaze flickered to meet his; his eyes were darker and almost stormy as he advanced towards the bed, it was clear to see that he was either worried or angry.

 "Hi.....".

 Her voice sounded low and weak, so low that she had to try again.

 "Hi". She said when he got to the side of the bed.

 His eyes narrowed to slits as he reached out and gently brushed some hair from her face.

 "What have you done to yourself?". He asked her.

 He didn't sound happy at all.

 Her gaze flickered around uncertainly, she didn't know what to say at the moment. Of course she knew it was foolish to have been walking down the stairs when her gaze had been glued to her screen, but she had just woken up, she didn't need the scolding now.

 "I'll just be outside if you need me, Sir". The nurse said quietly before walking away. She had probably sensed the tension between the two.

"I slipped.....". Alexa said quietly.

 "Yes, and you could have been seriously hurt because you were distracted by your phone". He said.

 Her gaze continued to flicker around and they stopped on sighting Micheal standing by the door, his eyes seemed just as dark as Calan's.

 "What was so important that you literally risked your life for?". Calan was saying.

 Her gaze flickered back to his. How was she to tell him that she had been thinking about her party, that she had been looking stuff up. It would only make him hate the thought of her ever being in parties.

 "Are you just going to scold me?". She asked him quietly.

 He let out a breath and he seemed to deflate.

 "I'm sorry, i was just worried about You". He said to her as he caressed her cheek softly. "I almost lost my mind when Micheal called me".

 She let out a breath of her own. Her gaze flickered back to Micheal's and he averted his gaze from hers and she returned hers to Calan's.

 "It's how i feel when you're unwell and i find out from Mildred". She said quietly.

 Calan shook his head.

 "It's not the same". He said quietly.

 "It is". She said.

 He wouldn't understand, he wouldn't know how she felt.

 "It's not". He said as he took her hand in his. "You could have been seriously hurt".

 "And what about you? You could have.....". She let her words trail off. Just thinking about the fact that he could have died caused her eyes to well up with tears.

 "Hey, hey don't start crying". He soothed quietly as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

 She dragged in a deep breath before nodding once, she winced as her head once again throbbed painfully.

 "How are you feeling?". He asked her.

 "My head hurts". She answered quietly.

 He was about to say something when Micheal spoke first.

 "I'll be leaving now". He told Calan, and then he let his gaze meet Alexa's at last. "I wish you a quick recovery".

  She shook her head slowly. She was glad that Calan was here now, that way they could all talk this out.

 "You've changed". She said quietly.

 He averted his gaze just as Calan turned to face him.

 "I've had a lot on my mind". He replied.

 That wasn't an excuse she was going to buy, she knew him, and she knew he had changed drastically.

 "That's not it". She said. "It's almost like....you're mad at me".

 Calan arched a brown at Micheal who's gaze had flickered to his.

 "What is this about, Micheal? I said keep away from my wife, i didn't say make her feel like she's offended you in someway". He said.

 Alexa's eyes widened slightly.

 "Calan". She said.

 Of course she was shocked that he had asked Micheal to stay away from her, but she was more shocked as to how bluntly he said it, as though it was nothing at all. But then, it should have been nothing at all if there was nothing between Micheal and her.

 His gaze returned to hers.

 "We're all here, we might as well talk about it". Calan said to her. "When i got back after everything i asked Micheal to keep away from you because it was obvious that he had feelings for you, that's if the feelings weren't mutual".

 She averted her gaze from his as her throat constricted painfully.

 "I didn't think he'd take my words to the extreme". He said.

 "Are we seriously doing this?". Micheal asked.

 Calan nodded simply as he turned back to face him.

 "When i asked you to keep away from her i didn't mean you couldn't be friends at all, i just meant you keep your relationship with her simple, as it should be, for all of our sakes". He said.

 "You'd be surprised to know that it's not as easy as you may think". Micheal said.

 His gaze flickered to Alexa who now had tears streaming down her cheeks.

 "This is my way of keeping things simple between all of us, this is my way of making things right". He said.

 Alexa blinked and more tears left her eyes. This wasn't what she had had in mind, but she was glad they were talking about it.

 "You're on the edge, Micheal, you're unravelling". Calan said.

 He had known him long enough to know that he was dangling dangerously over a cliff; he could see how torn he looked, tortured even.

 Micheal let out a breath before rubbing his temple wearily.

 "I've always had a thing for Alexa since the first day i met her, we all know that, we've known it for a while now". He said. 

  Indeed, they all knew that, however, it had been in check then, it had been under control, it didn't affect him much, but at some point he found himself unable to get her off his mind, and he was just learning to get her out of his system now.

 "And then you guys got married, and you went ahead and fucked up". He said to Calan. "And now you want to make things right as do i, you don't think it will be complicated?". 

 Calan averted his gaze from his.

 Micheal's gaze once again returned to Alexa and his eyes softened.

 "It was never you, Alexa, i should have sad that from the start instead of just pretending like we were never what we used to be". He said.

 She couldn't look at him, how could she?

 "And i apologise for the discomfort my attitude has caused you, but I'm afraid it's my way of moving on". He said. "You understand, don't you?".

 Alexa nodded slowly.

 It was crazy but she felt better now that they had talked about it, she felt....lighter.

 "I'm sure we can all continue to be friends in the future, but we have to accept that the relationship between all of us is rather strained at the moment". Micheal said.

 And Calan nodded. Strained, yes, but it didn't mean they wouldn't have each other's back when they needed to.

 "Yeah". He said.

 "I'm glad we had this talk". Micheal said.

 "So am I". Calan said.

 And they nodded at each other before Micheal turned around and walked out.

 A/N

 Thank you for coming this far! Your support so far is greatly appreciated.