The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa whipped around to see Scott standing behind her about five feet away. She hadn\'t even heard him until he spoke. Where did he even come from? She hadn\'t seen anyone in the last ten minutes.

"Run off?" she questioned him as she tried to get her heartbeat to calm down. He had spooked her.

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She wondered what he was doing on campus so late at night. Then again, she was on campus late at night. She couldn\'t exactly point fingers.

"Elias ran you off," Scott said with a chuckle.

So, they did know each other. Alyssa knew that Elias didn\'t want her talking to him, but he wouldn\'t even talk to her right now!

Plus, she was curious about how they knew each other and what happened between them since there was bad blood between them. Scott didn\'t seem so bothered about Elias, though.

"He doesn\'t seem to like you that much," Alyssa commented as she watched him walk closer to her.

She hoped that she could get some answers out of him since Elias wouldn\'t tell her anything.

Scott laughed hard at that. He placed his hand on his stomach to steady himself.

"I figured that. He can have an attitude," he said as he shook his head. "I\'m sure you saw that, though."

Alyssa sighed as she shook her head, her eyes growing distant as she thought of that night.

"I\'ve never seen him act that way before," she admitted.

"I guess I got under his skin," Scott said with a shrug. "I\'m sure me talking to you would get under his skin too."

"He said that you\'re bad news and that I shouldn\'t talk to you," Alyssa replied, wondering why Elias was so intent on warning her to stay away from Scott.

He didn\'t seem all that bad. He seemed a bit sneaky, but he didn\'t seem malicious or anything.

"Do you think he\'s right?" Scott asked as he tilted his head at her curiously.

Alyssa shrugged.

"I mean… you seem nice, but I don\'t really know you. He seems to know you well," she replied.

She didn\'t want to pry too much into a stranger\'s personal business, but it did have something to do with her boyfriend, who was acting weird.

"We\'ve known each other for a long time. Since we were kids," Scott told her with a nod. "He was a bratty kid."

Alyssa didn\'t want to put her boyfriend down. No matter what, she stood by his side. She didn\'t care if he was a bratty kid or not.

She cared about who he was now as an adult, and he didn\'t act bratty all the time. Just that one time.

"Or did you antagonize him? Were you friends?" Alyssa asked Scott, trying to pry slightly more to get more information.

Scott chuckled as he shrugged.

"I played just a little. We were more than friends. We\'re family," he replied.

Alyssa\'s eyes widened at the word "family." Did he actually mean family, or was he just bluffing?

"You\'re related to him?" she asked, trying to get some clarification.

Scott smiled and nodded.

"We\'re cousins," he said. "I guess I\'m not surprised that he hasn\'t mentioned me."

Alyssa couldn\'t believe that she was finally meeting someone from his family. She thought that she never would, but here he was.

She wondered if Elias had beef with any other person in his family since he was so reluctant for her to meet them.

"He doesn\'t talk about his family much," she said.

"How long have you two been together?" Scott asked her with an amused look.

"Two years," Alyssa said. She knew how ridiculous that sounded. She hadn\'t met his family in the two years they had been together.

It seemed suspicious, but she tried to be respectful of his privacy concerning his family since she would\'ve been the same way. She didn\'t want him to meet her mom.

That wouldn\'t turn out well, so she thought that he was going through the same thing with his parents.

"He tends to be secretive," Scott smirked with a shake of his head.

Alyssa nodded, remaining quiet for a few moments. She thought that his mysteriousness was charming at first, but now it just made communication and understanding more difficult.

She wanted to know him, and she wanted him to know her. That meant they needed to communicate. They couldn\'t keep so many things hidden from each other, especially big things like family.

"He\'s always been like that?" Alyssa asked him.

"For the most part. He\'s open with some people," Scott said as he stepped closer.

"Like who?" Alyssa asked before she could stop herself. She just couldn\'t help but wonder who he was open with if he wasn\'t open with her.

She revealed so much of herself to Elias, including the dark parts of her. She wanted him to feel comfortable enough to do the same with her too.

"People close to him. There was one girl a while ago. Maybe he\'s still warming up to you," Scott smirked as he looked her up and down.

That stung. She wondered what girl he was so close to that he told her things that he hadn\'t told to Alyssa.

How long had they known each other? She felt kicked right now, especially since he was hardly talking to her right now. It was like they were drifting apart.

"Yeah," she merely said. What else could she say? She didn\'t want to tell this guy about their issues.

"I\'m surprised you\'re not with him tonight," Scott commented. "Where is he at?"

"I don\'t know. I\'m just taking a walk," Alyssa said as she gestured to the sidewalk that she was walking down. She cleared her throat as she looked around. "I should probably get going. It\'s late."

Scott fake pouted.

"Aw. I hope I didn\'t upset you. I just want to be honest with you since he\'s holding some stuff back," he said as he gave her a sympathetic look. She couldn\'t tell if it was genuine or not.