The Beautiful Monster

"What is this weird cousin doing?" Zoe asked with an intrigued look.

"He keeps talking to me, and Elias doesn't like that. He doesn't want me to meet his family or get involved with them.

He's not too close with them," Alyssa explained. Honestly, if his whole family was like Scott, she didn't want to be anywhere near them. She didn't like drama starters.

Zoe grimaced.

"Creepy cousin keeps talking to you? What's he even saying?" she asked.

"Well, he just told me that I was an issue for the family," Alyssa replied with a shake of her head. That didn't sound like good news to her.

Zoe's eyes widened.

"An issue? What the hell does that mean?" she asked.

Alyssa shrugged.

"He told me to ask Elias, but I think he's just trying to make Elias mad because we talked again. I'm still going to ask Elias, though.

Just in case there is something going on," she sighed. Just when she thought that things were going back to normal, Scott messed things up again. She was starting to get tired of him.

Zoe leaned back in her seat, looking thoughtful.

"This guy sounds like a complete ass," she muttered. "No wonder Elias doesn't like him."

Alyssa nodded before chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"The cousin is the only one I've met. Yet, I'm still caught up in some sort of family drama. I'm just scared it's going to cause problems for Elias and me," she admitted.

There were so many stressful things going on in their lives with graduation and jobs after the fact. She didn't need another factor putting more pressure on them.

Zoe gave Alyssa a sympathetic look.

"You can either ignore his family and focus on your relationship, or you can try to push to meet his family and clear up things," Zoe suggested.

"Or meeting his family might make things worse," Alyssa pointed out. She could meet his family and be everything that they didn't want for their son.

Elias had told her that they had high expectations, and she was pretty sure that she was the type of person not to meet those, no matter how much she tried to.

Zoe frowned and nodded.

"It's just a decision that you have to make for you and Elias. You should talk it through with him. It's his family," she said.

Alyssa nodded. She was glad to have Zoe as her friend. Her advice was usually pretty insightful. Or it was insane. There was no in between.

"What about you? Do Cole's parents like you?" she asked, hoping that Zoe wasn't being treated poorly by her future in-laws.

She could already see Zoe and Cole getting married. They were meant for each other.

"They're nice to me, so I think so. I don't think they were expecting him to get with someone like me," Zoe said with a sheepish laugh.

Alyssa laughed softly.

"As long as they see that he's happy, there's no reason for them not to like you," she replied. That should be the only requirement because it was their relationship at the end of the day.

Zoe smiled and nodded.

"Things will turn out okay. It's just one little hurdle to get over," she told Alyssa in a comforting tone.

Alyssa nodded as she listened. Unfortunately, that hurdle looked like a mountain to Alyssa.

She hoped that she could get over it, even if it seemed daunting to her. Paradise and peace were on the other side, and she wanted them so badly.

"Everything will be fine. I just need to talk to him," she said. She was mostly talking to herself, encouraging herself to be an adult and talk about the problem.

Trying to hide from it or run from it didn't solve anything, even if it seemed like the easy solution.

"There you go. Now, go get a coffee and relax. We have so much to talk about," Zoe told her as she pointed to the order counter.

Alyssa smiled before leaving her seat to get in line. She couldn't let issues put a hold on the rest of her life.

Whether she was ready for it or not, her life was going to keep moving forward. She was either going to be left behind, or she could follow the motion and find her way out of this mess.

**********

When Alyssa arrived at Elias' apartment that night, she didn't come right out and tell him about talking to Scott.

Or being forced to talk to Scott. She held onto how normal everything felt for just a little while as they talked about school and some of the graduation preparation that they would have to do soon.

"I just don't understand why we have to pay for our own caps and gowns after all of the tuition we've paid.

And we can't even keep the gown," Alyssa muttered as they sat on the couch together. The television played a movie that droned on in the background of their conversation.

"They're going to suck as much money out of you as possible before you graduate," Elias replied as he placed his arm around her shoulders, coaxing her to lean against his side. "If you want…."

"No, you can't pay for my cap and gown," Alyssa broke in before he could even finish his sentence. She gave him a smirk as she leaned her head against his shoulder, peering up at him. "But thank you."

"I'll always try to help," Elias said with a small smile. He seemed to search her eyes as he gazed in them. "How was your day today? Anything happen?"

Alyssa kept her feeling of surprise from showing on her face. It was strange how he seemed to sense that something was on her mind.

She thought that she had been acting normal, but she supposed that she was a bit off from normal.

She straightened up and turned to face him, trying to think of where to start. She knew that this wasn't going to be a fun conversation, and she was afraid of what she might hear or find out.

"Am I an issue for you or your family?"

**********

A/N: Hy guys just wanted to say that we are done with volume 1. 

The rest of the chapters are under privilege for a cheap price 20coins for 15 chapters plus 99 discount!

But don't worry if you can't afford. I will set the book as complete on the 15th of this month and WN will release the chapters 1 a day.

Lastly Volume 2 will start on next month October 1.

Thank you for your support. Any questions? Comment below