Author's Note: Being an unnaturally clingy person myself, this one hit a bit close to home. The second (and final) part, told from the perspective of Alexa Bliss.

Need You Now - Chapter 2

Coming back to the apartment after a hard day's work was a joy. At least that's something I really wish I could say with confidence. For the most part, it was pretty satisfying - I conquered the day, surviving mountains of paperwork, an unbearably demanding boss, and the overwhelming scent of cheap coffee that I seriously can't remove from my clothes. I wanted so badly to just quit, to accept an internship anywhere else, but I couldn't do that. I needed this job, desperately. Despite the stress - despite the anger and frustration I found myself dealing with day in and day out - I almost preferred it to being home lately. It wasn't the apartment itself, or the fact that every Thursday the water would be out for an hour. It wasn't the endless amounts of stupidity that flowed through our senile landlord's mouth. It was my roommate.

It was Becky.

Becky and I had known each other since we started college. It was an acting course, one that I initially fought hard to withdraw from. Naturally, they wouldn't let me, for one idiotic reason or another. I walked into class on the first day, anger directed towards the school itself for not allowing me to escape this mime's wonderland. The professor decided that it would be such a brilliant idea to have us pair up in groups of two. Gag - but what could I say? I was already enrolled against my will, so it was either comply with the professor's silly whims, or fail, and Alexa Bliss doesn't 'fail' at anything. Our partners were chosen, and by some cruel joke, I was paired with probably the most wacky woman I'd ever seen. She bounded over to me, her orange locks swaying to and fro.

"Alexa, right?"

She had a European accent of some kind, which was surprising, considering that I'd never met someone from Europe before. My experience with Europe was limited to TV shows, and maybe a couple of travel brochures. Hey, a girl could dream!

"I'm guessing you're Becky then?"

I asked her this with all the enthusiasm of a child going to the dentist. I wasn't exactly thrilled to be doing this.

"Yep. Becky Lynch, at your service! This should be fun."

Fun? I wasn't one-hundred percent sure I even knew what the assignment entailed, but nothing about this was going to be fun. And of course, my partner was way too cheery for my liking. I had this sinking sensation in my guy that told me this was going to be a nightmare.

"Well, I don't really remember what she was saying about our assignment, so if you wanna run it by me again, that'd be just swell!"

"Ah, I've got you covered."

Becky pulled out a notebook, writings scrawled across the first page. She made a face as she read, either struggling to understand her own handwriting, or soaking in the details of our assignment. This was taking far too long, my already pencil-thin patience dwindling away to nothing.

"So?!"

"Oh, right. It's your typical 'princess and knight' type of deal. We have to make and act out our own scene."

"That sounds stupid."

"No way! I've always wanted to be a knight. Kickin' some serious lass and takin' names - what could be better? Not much."

I'd only just met this girl - this lunatic - and already she was causing my stomach to turn. Not only that, but she was making all of the calls like she was the boss. Who died and made her queen of Broadway?

"Hold on. Why do you get to be the knight? I don't remember her assigning a leader to this project."

"I just think that you'd make a fine princess."

"Uh huh."

"It's true. You have this radiance about you that I don't. Take it from the one with the orange hair. It's… Lex-traordinary! Sorry. I, uh, do that sometimes."

One part of me wanted to scream at her for telling such a poorly timed joke, but another part of me wanted to bust out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Once I decided that I couldn't hold the giggles any longer, it was the start of an amazing friendship. She made me feel better in a way that no one else could, or would even try to. That day marked the beginning of my long friendship with Becky nearly seven years ago, and it was the first time I truly felt that someone wanted to cheer me up - to make me smile, to know me for me. I tried to push her away as soon as I'd met her, but she only wanted to see me happy. That's the reason why we became such fast friends, and eventual roommates.

That's the reason why I fell in love with Becky.

I wasn't exactly sure how or when it happened, but one day I just looked at her differently. The feelings - god, the feelings - they haven't gone away. It's the reason why spending time in my literal hellscape of a job sometimes seemed more appealing than coming home and dealing with them. I didn't want the feelings, because I knew they'd cause trouble. I hadn't realized how needy I'd become - desperate to gain her love before someone else stole my chance - until she brought it up in a heated argument. Things turned out okay - she said so herself, things would be okay.

But then, why did it all make me feel so terrible?

Even though she said it was fine, I still tried to make my own friends, tried to go out and put some distance between myself and the thoughts of Becky so her relationships didn't have to suffer. This would give her some time to fix her own social life after I nearly wrecked it. She could meet a guy, maybe make up with Seth, and have the 'happily ever after' she's always wanted. The thought sickened me, but if that was what she wanted, I couldn't complain. In the end, her happiness was important to me too, even if I couldn't be the direct cause of it.

It was time to meet new people. Meeting new people. For Becky. This was getting weird.

Hearing Summer and Lana talk talk about the finer points of their love lives made me nearly regret my decision to find new friends. They certainly weren't my first choice, but they were two women that lived in our building with no plans for today. My only requirement was a living human being, so they fit the bill.

"Yes, Rusev always wants to show me off. He adores me, but what else is new?"

Tch, could you sound any more smug about it, you priss? These two made me appreciate the fact that I could never be this dull. They made a library visit seem like a roller coaster ride in zero gravity. I nodded my head robotically. Remember - this was for Becky, and for my own sake.

"That's so romantic!"

Somebody, please. End this misery. No, no! For Becky. For myself. I had to stay strong. Nod here, 'That's true' there. Things were working flawlessly.

"It is, isn't it? We always make time to ensure that we eat every dinner together."

"Oh, I do the same, and it does wonders for our relationship. What about you, Alexa?"

This was starting to get a bit annoying. Out of all the things to talk about, they had to talk about relationships. My mind blanked as I struggled to think of a reply.

"I'm not really in a relationship right now."

"Oh, poor thing."

Oh great, now they were pitying me. Realizing that it was probably not in my best interest to maul them, I sat back and sipped my drink. Coffee, the pinnacle of irony. I hate it. I hate a lot of things about this. As I watched them quietly talk amongst themselves, practically tuning out my exist at this point, I decided to try my hand at conversing in a non-sarcastic way.

"Hey."

They both turned to me, making this extremely awkward. So awkward, in fact, that I completely forgot what I was going to say. I had to improvise quick.

"What do you call an alligator in a vest? An in-vest-i-gator."

If my delivery were even half as good as Becky's, they would've loved that, I know it. Instead, they raised a pair of confused eyesbrows, before turning to speak to each other once more. They didn't notice when I threw my head back, or when I groaned loudly at the sky, or when I banged my head against the table.

This was a mistake.

After suffering through two hours of torture at the hands of the world's most boring blondes, all I wanted to do was nap. I turned the key to the apartment before slowly opening the door. To my surprise, I was greeted by the sight of Becky sitting peacefully on the couch, watching some wrestling show. She gave me a greeting without even facing my direction.

"Hey, Alexa. Out somewhere?"

The surprising thing was how unnaturally calm she was about this. We generally made it a rule to let the other know when we'd be heading out, so that we wouldn't worry. It wasn't an enormous deal that I didn't call - sometimes I'm forgetful when I go shopping, okay? Give me a break! - but she normally scolded me, at least gave me a flick on the forehead. Right now, she was giving me nothing.

"Uh, yeah. I was out with Summer and Lana."

"Ah, nice women. A bit boring, but what can you do?"

Apparently this was news only to me. If only I had known that before subjecting myself to the horrors of today. Seriously, I can never name my kid 'Rusev' now. Not that I would've, but still. The name is tainted. I was so busy thinking about the oddity of this ordeal that I almost missed Becky's follow-up question.

"Have a good time?"

No.

"Yeah. It was… nice."

It was anything but nice, but if Becky knew that she'd only coddle me. I didn't want her to coddle me. She needed to be away from me.

"Good good."

I waited for Becky to continue, but as I watched Becky turn back to the TV, it was becoming clear that this conversation was over. That was that, I guess.

"Well, I'm going to go sleep now. I'll see ya later, Becks."

It only took two steps in the direction opposite Becky for her to spring off of the couch and confront me, pulling my wrist and whipping my body around.

"All right, what's really going on here, Alexa?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting strange for a while now. You're throwing me for a loop here. First, all you want to do is spend time with me, then it's like I can barely get a few words out of you. And now you're out and about with people you hardly even know? It feels like there's this rift between us, and it's killing me that I don't know how to fix it."

The look in her eyes nearly made me want to die. It was a look of pleading - of sadness, of confusion - and I caused it. I never wanted Becky to feel like this, but I couldn't take feeling like this, like I have been.

"We both need some space, Becks."

"Space? This is more than 'some space.' This is a universe's worth of space, and I don't approve."

"It's just that, I've already ruined your relationship and-"

"God, Alexa! Is this about that thing with Seth? That was weeks ago, and I told you that everything was fine!"

"No, no! Don't you get it? It's NOT fine!"

I didn't want to yell, I didn't want to talk about this at all, but she didn't understand. How could she? She wasn't the nuisance. She wasn't the one that was gossiped about at lunch tables by grown women. She wasn't the one that had to be defended for being a mess of a person. She didn't understand - she couldn't.

"You told me that people treat you differently, and I got that. It's okay if I'm the only person you can trust. I've been there, and I know how much it sucks - how hard it is to find even one person that accepts you for you. You don't have to create some barrier between us. We're going to be friends no matter what."

She spoke calmly, gently, to get the point across, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't hold this back anymore.

"Stop saying it's okay! It's not okay, it's just... It's not! You think I don't know that I'm totally pathetic for this? You think I don't know that Seth and your other dates all probably told you that I'm a stupid kid? They're all right. You even said so yourself - 'Get your own life!'"

"That's not fair, I was upset. I didn't mean that!"

"But you did mean it, and you were right. I need to get my own life! I can't keep ruining yours! And even though I think that those guys you dated are so stupid and aren't good enough for you at all, I want you to be happy! I'll find my own friends, and you'll be free of me. That's what everyone thinks I should do, right?"

I could tell that she had something on her mind, it was easy to read it from her expression, but I wasn't done. I couldn't let this fester inside my mind anymore. These feelings - they needed to be let out. They needed to be shared with Becky. I hated crying, but as tears slipped down my cheeks, I found myself not caring about my pride anymore.

"But the real horrible thing about it is that I'm so hopelessly in love with you. I don't know when it happened, but I can't deal with it. I'm so fed up with it! I'm just constantly fighting with myself over wanting to spend time with you or staying away from you. I don't know what to do anymore, and I'm so sorry that this is happening."

This all felt so uncharacteristic of me. I'm used to being confident, to being strong-willed. These emotions made me feel so helpless, and I couldn't stand it. I wanted to voice this to Becky - to let her know what was going through my mind, but I couldn't. I couldn't move my lips, I couldn't breathe, and it took me a second to realize that it was because of Becky.

Becky was kissing me.

As if this all wasn't confusing enough, Becky suddenly decided that the meeting of our lips would be a good idea. And it was, because this was the happiest I've ever felt, an odd sensation following the sadness that preceded. I didn't care though. I didn't bother connecting the dots. I returned the kiss without hesitation, a squeal escaping from the back of my throat. Before I could fully appreciate Becky's impeccable kissing ability, she pulled away. The reality of the situation hit me, and bewilderment came flooding back.

"You kissed me."

"Yes, that was a thing I did."

She was acting coy about it, but this needed explaining.

"I don't understand."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Alexa. You keep saying that I'm the one that doesn't understand, but it's you that doesn't seem to get it. I guess that's my fault. I didn't really do a great job of explaining myself. Although, it might help you understand a bit better if those pigtails weren't squeezing the sides of your head so tight. Can't imagine you're gettin' much blood flowing up there."

"My hair's not even in pigtails right now, jerk."

"Right. So..."

"So?"

Still stunned, it was hard to know where Becky was going with this. This was possibly the weirdest, most emotionally draining day of my life. Nonetheless, I wanted to hear what Becky had to say, practically begging her to go on with just my eyes.

"Back when Seth and I made like a banana-"

"And split."

"Yes, and split - I thought you might be emotionally dependent on me, which would be bad. But that couldn't be the case, or else you'd probably be a lot worse than you were. You're a bit whiny, but not crazy."

Listening to Becky speak, it was clear that while all of this was going on, she was just as confused about me as I was about her.

"Then I thought that maybe you were playing some joke, which would've been downright mean, but you're not like that, minus that one time you put toothpaste in my sandwich. April Fool's, so fair game, I suppose. It sort of became obvious that you had a crush on me. Process of elimination and all that. It made sense to me - the jealousy, the fear. All par for the crush course. Only, I figured it'd be over with in a month, maybe two. I didn't expect you to be in love with me."

Becky's train of thought was pretty amazing, in the 'I'm surprised this train is still on the tracks' sort of way. The one thing that stuck out to me was the fact that she'd suspected it this whole time. Was I thought easy to figure out?

"Geez, this is all so screwed up. I should've said something weeks ago when it all went down, but it was difficult because I was going through the same thing you were. I told you I like my alone time, but not for the reasons you think. I wasn't sick of you. I needed space because I wanted to distance myself from these feelings of you. That's why it got on my nerves - because every time we were together, I wanted to confess - but then you started doing the same thing, and it hurt. I didn't know how to say that without outright telling you that I loved you. Which I do. I love you Lexi, a lot. I have for a long time now."

As soon as the words 'I love you' left her lips, I wasted no time in returning to the same position we were in - our lips connected. Lips that had wanted to say so much for so long, but just didn't know how. Until now. Lips that finally spoke the words that wanted to be spoken. This time, it was left up to me to break the kiss, coming up for a much needed breath.

"Do you think this could work? Us, I mean."

I asked the question, but I didn't want to hear the answer - I was afraid of the answer.

"I won't lie. It's scary. I've never loved anyone this way before. I've never had anyone love me - never had anyone say that they were scared of losing me. But if you're willin', then I'm willin'. And I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you never feel like that again."

"Becky, you already have. This is all I've ever wanted."

After everything that happened this past month, I could honestly - for the first time - say that I was okay. More than okay, actually. Becky was always the one with a lot of friends, the one that went out on dates and tried to fall in love. I was scared of her falling in love with someone else. I was scared that maybe - just maybe - she'd get tired of me, tired of my attitude, or my personality. I was still scared. Scared of where this relationship would take us, scared of how this would all turn out. But if there was one person that I'd be willing to take this leap of faith with, it was Becky Lynch.

"By the way, definitely don't hang out with Summer or Lana again. I have no idea what you were thinking there, to be frank with you."

"Ugh, please. I'm trying to erase that whole thing from my memory. So much for making friends."

"If you really want to make friends, Bayley won't stop talking about you. I have to warn you - she's a bit hug-y. Then there's Charlotte. She's a lot less hug-y, and more sarcastic-y."

As Becky and I laughed over the eccentric antics of her friend - staring into each other's eyes all the while - I could only think about how good this felt. I wish I hadn't been so needy - hadn't given in to the feelings of love so easily - but I'll never apologize for it again, because it helped us realize that we both needed this. We needed one another, we needed this love.

We needed it now, and we were both happy to oblige.

End