Thanks to my beta Mike!
"Alicia!"
Shoot, that was Will calling her. She had been avoiding him for the last couple of weeks and dreadfully waiting on the day he would ask her about it.
Alicia didn't want to have this conversation, so she put on her best polite smile and gave him excuse number 15 – in order to manage to stay away from him, she had come up with a list of those. "Will, sorry, but I have to go to the library to finish a paper and…"
"Alicia, please."
The look in his eyes showed confusion and maybe a little pain. He must have known why she was doing this. Then he should understand why and not confront her with it. Well, maybe he understood, but did not accept it. Anyway, when he gave her that sad puppy dog look, she knew she didn't stand a chance. She would talk to him.
"Well, hm, I…" He was nervous. She had never seen Will Gardner nervous before. "I want to know why you're avoiding me. It's been months since our last movie night and now you barely talk to me in class and even then, only class related."
"Look, Will, I have Peter and…"
"Ah, so this is about him."
"Of course this is about him."
"So he doesn't allow you to have friends?"
She only stared at him, as if stating the obvious; he was more than a friend. That made him smile a little on the inside. Although she still had chosen Peter over him and would prefer not to talk to him, the reason she had to handle it this way was that they still had something going on. The spark was still there. That kiss weeks before showed them that.
Spending too much time with him was venturing into dangerous territory. Alicia truly liked and cared for Peter, too much to do such a thing to him as cheating. After that kiss she felt terrible. Enough to make her decide to avoid Will at all costs. As much as she missed him, both as her study partner and her best friend. But Peter had been nothing other than respectful and he deserved the same from her. She owed him that much. And Alicia valued what they had together too much to throw it all away for one night with Will. She and Peter had a real relationship, not just the magic of a what if.
"So, this is what it is going to be like from now on? Polite smiles and head nods?"
Even though against her will, she knew yes was the right answer. Nonetheless, she couldn't bring herself to say it aloud. But Alicia didn't have to. Will got his answer from her silence and stormed away.