Primal Addiction - Part One

Chapter 11

The bell above the door chimes and I look up, it's not him. Just another customer. Damn where is he? His drink is going to go cold before he even gets here, and that freaken thing was expensive. Only my friends would drink something this obnoxious. I cup my hands firmly around my own mug, trying to absorb the heat from it as my frozen fingers grip the porcelain. The little cafe was heated but even still, the autumn chill was more than enough to warrant cracking out the old, knitted gear. I hover over my hot chocolate, the smell wafting up my nostrils and the steam rising up to my chin; when the bell chimes again. Finally. Alex comes bounding in waving his arm, as if I couldn't see him through the crowd of three people. Before pulling out the seat adjacent from me and plotting himself down.

"Bruuuh it's a cold one out there today, isn't it?" He says unravelling his scarf from around his neck and placing it on the table next to his fingerless gloves.

"Ummm. I murmur back, picking up and sipping my hot choccy. The feel of the hot liquid flowing down my throat and instantly warming my entire midsection. 

"Is this mine?" He points down to the drink directly in front of him and I can't help but give him a look of 'really dingbat?' No one else in their right mind would drink that.

"Yesss," I sigh. "Do you know how ridiculous I feel ordering that for you? It never gets any better. A soy chai latte, three pumps caramel, 2 pumps hazelnut and a cinnamon stick."

"But the taste is 100% worth it!" Alex grins picking up his monstrosity and blowing the steam from the froth. "Now tell me missy, how have you been? I haven't seen you in what, like, two- and a-bit weeks?"

"I just saw you in class!" I rebut. "And on Tuesday night."

"Ooh I'm sorry, for all of what...like three seconds? School doesn't count anymore when your too busy with your nose in your phone to even look up, let alone eat lunch with me anymore. As for Tuesday night, spare me the insult of considering gathering more clothes for your new home an interaction, please. Jack and I have barely seen you in 3 months! Not since you and Leo got serious anyways."

He was right of course, but he didn't have to be so flippant about it, or condescending. I hadn't meant to fade him out, honestly. It had just kinda...happened. The last few months had been a whirlwind of nonstop pleasure, intimacy and emotions like I'd never experienced before, and I had become swept up in it. Completely and voluntarily. I knew I had let my friendships slip, all of them; and I could see by the look on Alex's face it was hurting him more than he was willing to admit. But the craving, the sheer need Leo had created within me to be constantly in his presence, overtook any guilt I may have once felt in such a situation. I sip my drink and stare into the froth, watching it form little pictures on the surface that I try to decipher. Like clouds that move through the sky I watch in wonder, as Alex reposts the question.

"Soo?"

"I've been fine."

"Fine. Really? That's all I get. Come on Lizzy. I've known you for how many fucking years and you're going to go with fine?"

"Okay...really fine."

Alex slams his mug down, the liquid sloshing out and spilling over the table. The suddenness of the act makes me jump. I wasn't expecting such a violent response. "Okay chill."

"No Liz I will not 'chill'. First time I hear from you in weeks! My best friend and you're dicking me around. We use to talk about everything! There wasn't a single thing that happened in your life I didn't know, and now...now I feel like I don't know anything. Like I don't know you at all, and it sucks Lizzy! It's shit. I thought maybe, maybe if you were asking me here today you actually wanted my guidance or help or even just to fucking gossip like we use to, but I guess not. I get that relationships change, and friendships change. Okay cool, I accept that, but please babes, don't cut me out completely. You promised you wouldn't."