R Y D E R

Ordering a drink wasn't something that had proven to be a problem for Ryder, even when he was younger.

At house parties, the only requirement for him to get alcohol was for him to yell a little bit more intimidatingly. 'Get me a drink!' and then in less than five second, a bottle of beer would appear out of nowhere.

At bars, he still thrived even when there was a crowd. Bartenders prioritized him. He didn't even know why, but they just did.

At the Black Dahlia, though, Ryder witnessed someone getting a bottle of Don Perignon just for existing.

Alex literally stepped into the bar, and the bartender just gave him a bottle. No question asked.

Ryder had a very strong urge to smash the bottle into Alex's dirty blond hair. But then it would constitute as assault.

(As if Alex hadn't assaulted him emotionally. As if Alex's 'group of friends' hadn't assaulted him financially. As if Alex didn't deserve to be assaulted at least once in his life.)

But hey, Alex's 'girlfriend' was making him laugh, so maybe Ryder could try to be civil for a change.

"So... May Hall, huh?" he smirked at Alex. "That's subtle."

"Oh, shut up," Alex seethed. "Just shut up."

"Where did you find her?"

"You know."

Ryder did knew. Alex's family was powerful enough to give him the access for people who do a lot of odd-jobs. Ryder was sure that 'find people who look like April Hale' was something that these people could do in a cinch.

"Their resemblance is striking," he commented, and because he wanted to annoy Alex a bit.

"And the way you smile right now is irritating," Alex scoffed. "Why do you look so happy about it?"

"Because I can see it now. You never expected this to happen to you, huh? You never planned to really like her."

There was a flinch that Alex had expertly hid. He was good at maintaining a pokerface, a skill that made him thrive on being a businessman. Alex closed his eyes slowly, and when he opened them, there was a sly grin placed on his mouth.

"Maybe May Hall is just a starter bedwarmer before I backtrack to my favorite month."

Ryder knew an empty threat when he saw one. Including this. "No. Alex. Because if you're really planning to be with her, you would have done it from a long time ago."

Alex managed to maintain his composure, but Ryder could see his shoulders shift a bit from left to right, a sure sign of discomfort.

"You really broke her, you know that?" he finally relented. "I could fill two hotel rooms with her tears. Suite-type."

Ryder signaled his hand, and all of a sudden, a waitress came to give him two glasses. Ryder then gestured Alex to pour the Dom to both of their glasses. He drank one sip, two sip, before he answered. "I came back."

Alex drank too. "You did. Three times."

"So you know the other two times," Ryder felt like he shouldn't be surprised by how far Alex knew about his past endeavor.

"It was right for you to stay away until everything's really, totally safe," Alex said. "My 'friends' aren't exactly merciful when they're dealing with people with as much debt as your family had."

"I know. I also know one other thing: if they were to give me a break, your family will make sure that they'll lose their heads. And their family's heads."

Alex smiled. "True."

"Tsk. You claimed that you're not doing it the mafia way anymore, but old habits die hard, huh?"

"No," Alex sipped his drink, then. "But I like to make sure that my people do their job well."

"Well, I'm not one of your people anymore."

"Our business is done, Ryder, the moment you paid the last bit of your debt plus interest," Alex said. "And you know I won't ever let 'my friends' hurt her."

Hearing the word 'done' from Alex Malifeci was truly freeing. But Ryder still found himself fuming. On one hand, he still really wanted to smash that Dom bottle into Alex's head. On the other hand, he knew that leaving for a gratuitous four years had been the best decision. While he really did make a mistake for breaking up with April at the first place, there were people, multiple close people, preventing him from going back.

After the third time trying, and the third time being told harshly how this would go sour quickly for everyone involved, Ryder had finally started to accept that maybe... maybe it was for the best. Even after his debt had been paid off and those burly people had gone off his back, he relented from coming home to her. It didn't seem... right. He didn't feel worthy.

But the moment he saw her again, the moment he saw her eyes darted on him and started to well up with tears...

Ryder knew, that no matter what other people might say, he wouldn't let go. Not now. Not ever. Not again.

"Thank you Alex."

"Well, fuck you too, Ryder."

They clinked glasses.

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2.27. In case of unexpected feelings, press the STOP button

Looking at May Hall felt like looking at me...

-If I had better clothes, better maintenance, and better Personal Trainer. May was wearing a white dress just like me, even though hers had holes in places where it shouldn't have holes (on the waist? On the small of her back? On the center of her chest? I bet she must have gotten a big discount for the dress, considering the amount of fabric they cut off from her dress).

"What are you looking at?" May snarled. I came to realize, after about five minutes spending time with her, that her form of communication came in snarls and grows, and sometimes, purrs (only when it came to Alex). She wasn't exactly the friendliest girl.

"Have we met before?" I asked her.

She gave me a strained once-over, and then concluded quickly, "No. I think most of my acquaintances will know how to dance in a club."

I took it as her way to tell me that my hands-wriggling move was an embarrassing form of a dance. I put my hands inside my dress-pockets (mine wouldn't have been discounted forever because dresses with pockets wouldn't ever go out in style).

"Why are they taking so long? They're just buying us some drinks, for God's sake."

Wow. She even sounded like me, if I were popular at high school.

"Are you sure we're not twins or anything?" I prodded again. "I mean, I do have a twin brother, but my mother joked that I might be switched at birth... now that I see you, I feel like my whole existence has been a big fat lie."

At this point, May was pointedly ignoring me.

We sat at the sofa, May's head nodding imperceptibly along with the music, while I only wriggled my fingers inside my pocket to prevent further annoyance on May's part.

I itched to eat some more popcorn or sip on my soup, because I could see Bella's pink head nodding as she conversed with a graying man, whom I assumed to be the producer she had been looking for and not another married man as another addition on her notches.

"How long have you known Alex?" I heard May talked.

I wriggled my fingers even harder inside my pocket.

"Hey!"

Oh, Bella was now being introduced to more man with gray hairs. I hoped that she was getting a few invitations to audition.

"April Hale!" May Hall screamed for me.

"Yes, May Hall?" I answered to her.

"I was talking to you."

"I didn't...I just assumed that when you opened your mouth, the words weren't directed to me," I said, nodding off to the proofs that were our previous conversations. "I've known him for... five years now?"

"Did you two date?"

"No. He's a just good friend of mine."

May pouted her mouth, and I felt a sudden surge to hug her and say everything would be okay. It was one thing for Alex to break the hearts of nameless girls, but May looked like me and I didn't like seeing my doppelganger look sad. It spur a chain reaction to make me sad, too.

"You know my friend used to warn me about Alex Malifeci," May said.

"Huh?"

"That he's never going to be able to love anyone..." she drifted off, and I could see the hesitations as she struggled to finish her sentence. "Because his true love is already gone."

I didn't have time to digest her words, when suddenly I saw Audra's face coming into me in an alarming speed.

"You! Why the hell are you here?!" she screeched as she pointed her index finger towards me.

Holy Chewbacca In a Jumpsuit.

"Why are you here? You've ruined my life and now you're also ruining my experience in this club?!" Audra was increasingly getting louder, and that was when I knew that she had been drinking one glass too many.

"Take this, April Hale!" and then she splashed a glass of water towards May Hall's face.

Okay.

So maybe three glasses too many.

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The cat fight that ensued between Audra and May was, to say at the very least, whimsically enticing. The Black Dahlia club had paid good money to make beautiful girls dance in their respective cages, but still people still preferred to watch High-Maintenance-Version-of-Me to fight with Audra.

"Two hot girls. FIGHTING. DIRTY!" I could hear one guy shouting this, and that was all it took to make 90% of the male population in the club to scoot over and circle May and Audra's attempt to tear each other's clothes.

"The DRESS, the DRESS! TEAR OFF THE DRESS!"

"YES, THROW AWAY THOSE SHOES!"

"Oh my god those messy hair looks AMAZING ON THEM."

"SCREAM MORE, GODDESS!"

I felt like the comment section of the people in this club resembled the comment section of something from a fetish-website.

Unfortunately, both May and Audra couldn't care less as they mustered all of their concentration to land more scratches on each other's faces. When they screeched, I had to put on ear-plugs because their combined decibel was deafening.

"WHO THE EFF ARE YOU?!"

"You ruined my life!!"

"I haven't even met you!"

"YOU RUINED MY LIFE!!"

Thankfully, Alex was quick to dissolve the situation. The security came and then kept those girls away from each other. It took the security an incredible amount of effort and I was pretty sure Audra had tried to claw his eyeballs out, but at least there was no more fight.

As the security escorted Audra out of the club, I could see May smirking in victory.

"Are you okay?" That Guy asked me.

"I'm okay."

"How the hell did your youtube chick got involved in a fight with Alex's girlfriend, anyway?" the incredulity in his voice matched my own. "It doesn't make sense. Do they even know each other? The fight felt so... personal."

"Well, it's a long story," I said.

"April, hey, April," Alex jogged towards me. When he arrived, he reached for my hand, but then stopped mid-air, as if he was remembering something.

I took his hand, since it was obviously what he had been planning to do anyway. The warmth from his skin was an oasis amidst the full-blast AC of this club. "Yes?"

"Are you okay? Audra kept screaming that she wants to kill you."

"No? I think Audra was more interested in killing your girlfriend, May Hall."

"What?" Alex's grip on my hand tightened. I didn't know why but I gulped then.

"How long are you planning to hold her hand?" That Guy sneered.

Alex reached for my other hand and then squeezed it. Never once did he look at That Guy though; in fact it seemed like he pretended to not have heard Him.

"I'm sorry," Alex sputtered the words, which was so unlike him. "It's my fault."

"It's not your fault that you're finally starting to get serious with a girl who looks just like me," I said. "I mean. If I were Audra, I would have mistaken May for me, too."

"Now that..."

I saw May from behind Alex's back, and she was desperately peering at us. From my peripheral vision, I could also see That Guy staring at us. Holy fruity loops, He was staring at us with so much intent that I could practically feel the back of my head going off on fire.

Both of my hands were still holding Alex, and with how close we were to each other, I guessed it was the most intimate that we had ever been over the course of our 4 years of friendship. It felt surreal now, because even given my condition, I knew that I was capable to be closer than one meter away from him. I also had just realized that we never touched more than a handful of surface between our skins. Ever. Even I had been closer (physically) to Audra, and I had just found out how much she had been praying for my tragic demise.

I decided to say it. "Alex, is there a place where we can talk? Um. Just the two of us."

Alex sighed in defeat. He released one of my hands, and then called someone on his phone.

"Cameron," he spoke.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"My cousin. He owns this club."

"Name-dropping jerk," That Guy muttered under his breath. "And what's this?" He jerked his head towards our linked hands. "You can't talk to your cousin without holding a girl's hand?"

Again, Alex provided no verbal response towards That Guy's accusations, but instead he only tightened his grip around my hand and pulled me a little closer to him. From the way the corner of his lips tipped a bit, I knew for sure that he was enjoying this.

"Cameron, it's your lovely cousin." -A pause- "Well of course I'm here to celebrate your finally making something on your own." -Another pause- "Oh, you and your jokes about mutilating me. It's cute. So, is there any way possible for me to book a room for a few hours?"

That Guy was glaring at Alex now.

Alex laughed on the phone. "What do you think it's for? I'm just gonna use it to be alone with a girl."

I didn't know what was wrong with Alex's words, but That Guy actually pushed him away from me so hard that Alex almost fell. Alex closed his phone and then laughed at Him, his voice full of mirth. "Oh, you still can't take a joke."

"That's not funny in the slightest bit!" He was gritting His teeth so hard that every word sounded like a chore to say.

"My cousin gave us the 'La-Vien-Rose' room upstairs. Is that okay?" Alex asked me.

I nodded.

"Let's go then."

He walked in front of me. And when we bypassed May, Alex didn't even give her a nod. I nodded at May anyway, and then trailed behind him.

Right before I went into the elevator, I felt a jolt of electricity from my hand. I nearly yelped because the static was too strong, and that was when I saw His hand.

Well, of course. What did I expect? That I suddenly had lighting superpowers or something? Of course anything remotely supernatural that happened to me would always have something to do with Him.

"Hey," He said to me. "You're really going to that room with Alex?"

I nodded, unable to find the words within my throat.

"Be careful, okay?"

I nodded again.

He kept holding my hand, I was starting to quiver because the earthquake within His skin was too strong to begin with. "I- I just want to talk about something," my psyche wanted to say His name, just to give Him an extra boost of relief. I missed the feeling of His name on my lips. I missed the joy that His name gave to my heart when I said it.

But I shook my head and instead I only said this. "Housemate."

Housemate's smile stretched from ear to ear. "Housemate, now? Does that mean I'm not That Guy Who Shouldn't be Named anymore?"

I couldn't help but smile, too. "I guess I've upgraded your moniker. For now."

"April?" Alex waited for me in the elevator. "Coming?"

I gave Housemate one last glance, and then turned away before he could see how red my whole complexion had become. I ran towards Alex and then watched as the elevator closed my vision of Housemate.

I glanced at Alex, taking in his perfect skin, his long neck, and when I inhaled, I started to appreciate what Bella had said to me earlier. Alex might have a lot of shady things going on behind the scenes, but he really did know how to pick his cologne.

"What's with the sniffing?" Alex asked.

I told him the truth. "You smell good."

I wasn't sure, but I could faintly hear him curse under his breath.

As the elevator dinged on floor 25, we walked through the dimly-lit halls of The Black Dahlia's exclusive suites. Alex stopped in front of a white glorious room with a white carving of a rose. But before he swiped his card, he looked at me and say,

"Whatever we going to talk about," his voice was a bit strained, but his gaze was level, intent. That was one thing that I liked about him; he managed to always put a straight face through anything.

"...it's not going to change the course of our relationship, right?"

I gave him a little smile. "I hope so."

Alex got into the room, and I followed him. When he closed the door, the world also closed in around us. For the first time since I knew him, Alex and I were totally alone, in a secluded room, without any excuse of 'just a coincidence' and/or 'for convenience purpose'. We both just chose to be here so that we could shut off the whole world temporarily and talk as two individuals. Talk, with italics. Not just regular 'talk'.

I felt something strange on my chest.

Ba-dump.

Apparently, after five years of knowing each other, four years of getting to know each other, and two years of being each other's Reliable Person, my heart decided to skip a beat now.

For him.

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THE NEXT CHAPTER IS MY MOST FAVORITE CHAPTER EVER FOR THIS SEASON 2 OF APRIL HALE (at least for now).

OMFG IM SHOOK JUST THINKING ABOUT IT

okay okay so now that i've calmed down, 
please don't forget to also subscribe the comic version of this story! it's on WEBTOON and called 'The Quirky Tale of April Hale'. i put the external link in this story! 

i genuinely think i'm getting better at drawing so hahahaa i wont let you down :)

on the other hand, i might need to step back a bit from wattpad, because i'm working on another project that i'd launch in august-september. <3 if you know tapas, then you know what kind of project i'm working on . YAAS I'M SO EXCITED.