The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa carried her white chocolate mocha latte over to a table that Zoe was sitting at in the café.

She hated how long the coffee names were. It was so much easier to order tea. She sat down across from Zoe and took a sip of her iced coffee.

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Damn, it was good, though. It was hard to complain after the fact.

"Girl, you look tired," Zoe commented as she peered at Alyssa.

Alyssa nodded, figuring she didn\'t look her best. She had been doing a lot of work lately, and the stress she felt over everything coming up wasn\'t helping.

She scratched her head, careful not to mess up her messy bun anymore. It was just messy enough to be acceptable in public but not too messy.

"I was at the hospital late," she said. Luckily, she hadn\'t been jabbing patients with needles lately.

She got a handle on that quickly, and Dr. Shields eventually ungrounded her.

"At least it\'ll all pay off, right?" Zoe pointed out. "One day, you\'re going to have this big, nice house and a happy family of your own."

Alyssa smiled a little as she nodded. She hoped for that. She wanted to have a better family than the one she grew up in.

A big part of her motivation to work in pediatrics was her awful childhood. As a doctor, she could be an advocate for the wellbeing of children in all sorts of different avenues. She just wanted to help, even when no one helped her.

"That\'s the dream. If I can survive all this first," she muttered before sipping on her coffee. She needed the caffeine boost to get some studying done tonight.

That meant not seeing Elias tonight. She was upset, but she would try to see him tomorrow. She was trying to prioritize things and also give him some space to figure things out.

"Grind, girl," Zoe said encouragingly as she nudged Alyssa\'s arm.

"How about you? Wasn\'t there something you wanted to tell me?" Alyssa asked her as she rubbed her eyes.

She could fall asleep right now. Zoe wasn\'t boring her or anything, but she could be in some loud sports stadium and still feel tired enough to doze off.

Zoe nodded with an excited smile. She sat up in her seat more, like she was readying herself.

"Cole asked me to move in with him!" she said.

Alyssa\'s eyes widened in surprise. 

"Wow, really?" she asked, trying to process her shock. Cole and Zoe had been together for a few years now. It was definitely time, especially with graduation coming up.

It was just surprising to hear, especially since her and Elias had been together longer and weren\'t living together.

Zoe rested her chin on her hands as she nodded.

"He asked last night. It was so cute. He gave me a key and had a little welcome party in his apartment when I got there," she told Alyssa.

"I\'m so happy for you," Alyssa said as she reached out to squeeze Zoe\'s hands. She was really happy for Zoe. She deserved every ounce of happiness possible, and Alyssa knew that Cole was the right guy for her.

She just couldn\'t help but feel a little jealous. She wanted a moment like this too. She wanted Elias to ask her to move in with him in New York.

She hoped that would be the case eventually, but he hadn\'t said a word about it since their dinner. She tried to hint at it, but he never acknowledged it.

She felt like she was talking to herself at this point. He certainly wasn\'t talking to her. About that.

Besides that, they got along just fine. Everything else felt perfect. She just wanted to feel the happiness that Zoe felt right now.

"Thanks," Zoe said warmly.

"When are you moving in?" Alyssa asked, trying to keep light and cheery. She felt bad for feeling this way when her friend was so excited.

She didn\'t want to take this moment away from Zoe. It was just hard to ignore the sadness that had been looming over her for weeks now.

"As soon as I can. My lease doesn\'t end until May, but I\'ll still move my stuff in soon," Zoe explained.

"Let me know if I can help you pack or something," Alyssa told her, wanting to help and be there for her friend.

No matter how she was feeling, she always tried to be a good friend. Zoe was there for her when she needed her, and she wanted to return the favor.

"Totally! We can drink and have a packing party," Zoe laughed softly before their hands broke apart. She sipped on her coffee, peering at Alyssa over the top.

Alyssa smiled before sipping on her own, silence falling between them. Maybe she could tell Elias that Zoe and Cole were living together and that would encourage him to make a decision. She told him it was time sensitive.

"Has Elias said anything?" Zoe asked.

Alyssa shook her head with a soft look.

"We don\'t have to talk about this now. I want to talk about you! You\'re moving in with Cole," she said excitedly. She didn\'t want to bring the mood down with her own drama.

Zoe shook her head.

"I want to talk about you. We\'re here to talk about each other," she pointed out. "Has he said anything?"

Alyssa\'s smile dropped as she lowered her head.

"Not yet. I keep hoping he will, but he just talks about anything else. When I try to hint at him, he ignores me," she said. "It\'s driving me crazy."

"Can you think of any reason why he would be hesitant to move?" Zoe asked her.

Alyssa thought for a second before shrugging.

"Maybe his family. That\'s the only reason that I can think of. Unless he has some random hatred for New York," she replied.

He hadn\'t mentioned anything that seemed like a reason for why he wouldn\'t want to go.

Zoe hummed under her breath thoughtfully.

"Family can be tricky. But you know that," she said with a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, I do. I just don\'t really know where he stands with his. He has an okay relationship with them, but he said he wants to break away from them.

Not permanently. He just wants more independence," Alyssa explained. He told that to her a while ago, but she supposed that still applied today.

"Maybe he\'s just experiencing some guilt over leaving them. That\'ll take a little time for him to get over," Zoe suggested.