• E.J. laughed and shook his head at her face. "Yeah. Let's go." E.J. squeezed Alex's hand and lead the two girls out to the courtyard. He sat down on a bench with Alex soon sitting next to him. He looked at Pricilla. "Okay. Go." E.J. said. "Don't leave anything out." E.J. leaned his back on the bench and put his arm around Alex's shoulder. There was another bench parallel to the one he and Alex were sitting on, so he assumed that if Pricilla wasn't too jumpy, she'd sit on it.

    Pricilla followed, and Alex was just happy to have her hand held. She kept their fingers intertwined as they sat down. Pricilla found a seat, her face more sober than it had been in a long time. "Ok. Well," she said, turning to face Alex. "Well, believe it or not, E.J. has had a girlfriend or two in his short life. But one was much more to him. Man, he was obsessed with her. Probably the same, or more than he is with you. Don't get me wrong, he's only known you for one day. This is only the beginning." she said, a light smile coming to her face.
    "Anyway, her name was Alexia, which I think is rather ironic. I had a bad feeling from her from the beginning....the exact opposite feeling I get from you, by the way. Well, they dated for about a week before Chase got his teeth into her, and she broke up with him brutally," she said, shaking her head slightly as she pursed her lips, looking down. Alex was looking slightly horrified, until Pricilla's head snapped up. "But that wasn't it. 4 weeks later....a bit less than a month, Alexia was found dead in her room. Apparently she had hung herself, and later we found that Chase had broken up with her an hour earlier." Pricilla wiped at her eyes, shaking her head.
    She didn't add this part, but Alexia and Pricilla had been best friends until she had run off with Chase. It still hurt her a lot to talk about her old best friend, though she was strong enough to usually not cry. She sucked it up, looking up into Alex's horrified face. No wonder E.J. hadn't dated for so long....it was a wonder he was even interested in Alex....especially for the strange way if you added an ia to the end, you'd get the dead ex.
    Looking up at E.J. she shook her head. "Oh, I'm so sorry." she said reaching up to touch his face lightly.
    A slightly sarcastic (and jealous) Pricilla smirked, and put her hands up in surrender. "Ok, I'll let you guys have a moment. See ya." she said, and stood up to walk away, and around the school.
    Alex watched as she walked away, then turned back to E.J.
    She was at a loss of words. She let her head fall to his shoulder, stroking his chest lightly at an attempt to comfort him.

    E.J. didn't move a muscle. He just sat there, straight faced. After a long silence, he pursed his lips. "2 times." he began. "After her death I attempted suicide two times. Pills, then knives. The first time my mom found me, rushed me to the ER, and they pumped my stomach. The second time, I tried to make myself bleed to death but cutting right into my artery." E.J. took off a thick wrist band and showed Alex the long, still pink, scar. He still wasn't looking at her. "This time, my friend walked into my room. It was Max. He just saw me sobbing with the knife in my hand, cutting deeper and deeper. Max took the knife away. He was so scared that day. You could see it in his face that he had no idea what to do." E.J. paused and looked away as the memories came back. I couldn't look at him for weeks." he said meekly. "But when I finally did, I hugged him and thanked him for....saving my life." E.J.smirked. "Chase was real smart-alic about her death for awhile. He blamed me for her death for a month. I never did anything about it. I'm not one to retaliate....At least, I wasn't. I wouldn't say that anymore. Now that he's trying to steal you......" he finally looked at her with hurt eyes and said, "I don't want what happened to Alexia to happen to you, too." he whispered, his voice shaky. "I've never fallen so hard so fast. Not even with her. Believe me. And don't think you're just my way of dealing with the pain. You and Alexia are totally different. The way you walk, look, sound. There's no common ground in there except for the fact that I can't stay away from both of you. If you think everyone looks at you a certain way, it's because I haven't acted this way to a girl in a long time. ......And I won't lie. It feels really good to find a light in a dark tunnel. I haven't been so...elated in too long. I like you for you. Not as an Alexia clone."

    Alex closed her eyes as he said that he had tried to kill himself...twice.
    Oh mie goodness. Once he finished, she leaned off of his shoulder/chest and looked up at him with moist eyes. "I wouldn't even think that I was a replacement...unless you told me I was. And even if I was, I wouldn't care, E.J. I....I love you. And, I know that you've been hurt in the past. I wouldn't even begin to try to comprehend what you felt....what you feel. But I wanna try to make that better. I promise that I will never hurt you...and I will make sure that nothing like this ever happen. I want to stay with you long enough to ensure that." she said, reaching up and kissing his lips softly. She pulled away, her eyes staring into his.

    E.J. looked away from her gaze, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth until it was a full smile. He turned back to her, kissing a fallen tear on her cheek, just in time to catch it before it ran all the way off. His eyes were about three inches from hers and he looked deep into them. He softly put his hand on her cheek and stroked it with his thumb. "I promise, too." he said. Then E.J. leaned in and kissed Alex, both hands lightly on either side of her face. This kiss really meant something though. There was more than a spark. There was a fire. A passionate, thriving fire that no amount of anything could put it out. It was true, he hadn't felt this way with anyone ever before. He liked the way their mouths moved in-sync and the way they felt next to each other. E.J. mentally laughed at how a sad moment could be changed so quickly.