[011] the other woman

                                  Alice had shown up to the bar first, ordering drinks for them both. She knew Roman's usual drink since they came to this bar often. It was to the point where the patrons assumed that they were a couple. Roman never bothered to correct people and Alice had given up after the fourth time.

                                  She twirled around her straw as she waited for Roman, ignoring the occasional looks thrown her way. Usually, Alice would be more than willing to flirt with them just for the sake of entertainment. But she had better things to focus on: such as trying to get Roman back. Alice had fucked up enough and she needed to find a way to fix things before it got worse. It was Alice's fault that things had gotten this way and it was only her that could fix it.

                                 "This better be the best fucking apology I've heard in my life or I'm walking back out," Roman says from behind Alice, causing her to turn around in her seat. She almost smiles, until she remembers the situation. Roman, for once, looked more tired than anything else and Alice just feels even more like shit.

                                 Roman was already going through a lot right now between dealing with his older brother getting fired after his latest attempt at kicking Logan out the company backfired horribly. He also had to deal with the sting of getting dumped by his longtime girlfriend. And on top of that, he had to deal with the fact that the breakup didn't hurt nearly as bad as he thought it would. Having Alice disappear from his life hurt a lot more. He didn't realize just how much she'd miss her until she was gone.

                                 And although Roman's feelings towards his best friend had always been so complicated, he knew one thing. Roman couldn't possibly go through life without her.

                                 "Don't threaten me, you little shit. You'd be too lonely without me around," Alice shot back.

                                 Roman scoffs as he sits next to her and Alice instantly slides his drink over to him. "You're not my only friend."

                                 "If you say Gerri, I swear to fucking God -," Alice began to say.

                                 "Alright, fine. Maybe Gerri and I aren't friends but I know she has a thing for me. Jealous?" Roman responded.

                                 "I'm shaking with envy," Alice deadpans. "Now can I say everything I need to say?"

                                 Roman motions for her to continue.

                                 "I know it was fucked up for me to just avoid you after everything that happened -," Alice began to say.

                                 "Super fucked up," Roman cut her off to correct her.

                                 "But I needed the time alone to figure out what happened and what would happen next," Alice continued.

                                 "And?" Roman prompted.

                                 "And what?" Alice furrows her brows in confusion.

                                 "Did you figure it out?" Roman questioned, actually sounding sincere. The way he looks at her makes her chest feel all fluttery and weird so she forces herself to look away from her.

                                 "I think so. It's obvious that we can't be friends anymore," Alice shrugged.

                                 "Not even friends with benefits?" Roman suggested.

                                 "In order to be friends with benefits, you have to give me some benefits, idiot," Alice rolled her eyes.

                                 "Is my company not enough benefit for you?" Roman offered.

                                 Alice shrugs. "Eh, it's alright. Wait, on a scale of one to ten, how badly did Grace freak out?"

                                  "I'd say it was a twenty. She was pretty fucking pissed. She nearly caused a scene after you left. You probably would've loved to be there just to see it," Roman admitted.

                                  "I probably would have. Sorry, by the way," Alice apologized.

                                  "I'm not. It was bound to happen anyways," Roman replied. 

                                   He had never expected his relationship with Grace to last forever. The few relationships he had never did. Roman tried to find someone to make him feel the same way Alice made him feel but it was just impossible. At the end of the day, he always found his way back to Alice. There was some sort of invisible string keeping the two of them tied together.

                                  Alice knew he had a point. "Still, the timing was shitty."

                                  "You were never really good when it came to timing," Roman's quick to remind her.

                                  Alice weakly chuckles. She wasn't going to argue with him on that one. "Do you forgive me for abandoning you?"

                                  "Yeah, whatever," Roman says flippantly but Alice knew that he was just playing it off for the sake of looking cool. "Okay, so now that we did the whole talking thingy, can we, uh, do the huggy thingy?"

                                   "Yeah," Alice chuckles. "Yeah, we can do the huggy thingy."

                                   Alice hugs him first but Roman's the one who holds onto her closely. Alice wasn't much of an expert on hugs. She didn't grow up in a household that dealt them out often. But she could honestly say that Roman was the best hugger out of them both. This hug, however, felt different than the others and the two of them knew that the kiss had a lot to do with it.

                                 That damn kiss seemed to have woken up a lot of emotions inside them both.

                                  "Hey, uh, do you still... do you still think about it?" Roman asks when they pull away from each other.

                                  Alice knows exactly what he's referring to.

                                  "All the time," she confessed.

                                  Even in the midst of trying to distract herself, she found it absolutely impossible to when all she could think about was the kiss she and Roman shared. It wasn't necessarily their first kiss. The others had been mere experiments, acts of curiosity that didn't turn into anything. But now, things had changed. Obviously, there was something there and neither of them could ignore that anymore.

                                 "Did you... like it?" Roman asked next.

                                 "Oh my God. What are you, twelve?" Alice snorts.

                                 "Hey, you kissed me. I just want to know," Roman argued.

                                 Alice chuckles again before quickly sobering up. "Yeah. Yeah, I liked it. You've gotten a lot better since last time."

                                 "Fuck off," Roman replies as his default saying.

                                 "Hey, that was a compliment, I swear," Alice reasoned. "Hey, was I good? Was I better than Grace?"

                                 "You already know the answer to that," Roman states which is the closest thing to an admission that he'll give her.

                                Alice just smiles and it makes her wonder if she's the twelve year old in this situation.

                                  "Well... I guess the only thing we should do now is get married," Roman remarked. 

                                   Alice's heart skips a beat. "Speaking about that, we might have to."

                                  "I was only half kidding," Roman chuckles.

                                  "Look, my dad met with Logan earlier today," Alice starts.

                                  "And let me guess? They bonded over how much they hate their children?" Roman offered with that dumb grin of his.

                                  "Actually, they're thinking about making us get married. To each other. Like, an actual marriage. They're arranging our marriage as we speak in an effort to clean up my reputation. And probably yours too, from the looks of it," Alice admitted.

                                 "What?" Roman questioned, absolutely confused.

                                 "My dad told me everything earlier and that's why I also wanted to talk to you. Apparently, they're going to announce our engagement very soon," Alice continued.

                                 "So that's what Dad wants to see me for. And here I thought he wanted to spend time with me because he actually tolerated my presence for once," Roman dryly laughs before taking a sip from his drink.

                                  The both of them knew that wasn't the case. Although Logan was incapable of loving all his children, he had issues with Roman the most. He always sent Roman away, whether it be to military school or even L.A. just to get his youngest son out of his face. No matter how hard Roman tried to win his father's love, it seemed as though it was all in vain. Whether intentionally or not, Roman always found a way to fuck things up.

                                 "Just try and act surprised, alright?" Alice replied. "As far as they know, you're totally in the dark."

                                 "Yeah, of course. I can do that," Roman nods. Deep down, he was kind of... thrilled that he was going to be married to Alice. Sure, it was just one giant PR stunt at the end of the day. But it was mostly real and that's all Roman was really focused on at the end of the day. If Roman was going to ever marry someone, he was glad it had to be Alice.

                                 "Can you?" Alice raises a brow, causing Roman to snap out of it.

                                 "I can try. So, uh, does this mean you get my last name?" Roman inquired.

                                 "No way. I'm keeping my last name. That's non-negotiable. But I am expecting you to get me a nice and shiny ring. I want the most expensive ring you can buy," Alice answered, resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

                                 "Only the best for you, Allie," Roman replies and Alice hates how much the nickname was already growing on her. "I'm actually pretty excited for us to be getting married."

                                 "Me too. It's better that it's you than a complete stranger. But I just know I'm going to have to invest in several dildos," Alice sighed.

                                Alice knew she was going to have to say goodbye to her sex life.

                                 "Ooh, can I watch?" Roman asks with a grin and Alice couldn't tell if he was teasing or not.

                                Alice chuckles. "Sure, you freak."

                               "I just have one condition for our marriage," Roman adds, turning to look at Alice who had been preparing to take another sip from her drink.

                               "Let me guess, you wanna watch me in the shower too?" Alice teased.

                               "No, you have to end things with Harvey," Roman replied, looking serious all over again.

                               Fuck, she had forgotten all about Harvey. Now that Alice was going to be married to Roman, she knew that she really had to end things with the already married man. All eyes were going to be on both her and Roman so she couldn't afford to screw up. If the pressure wasn't on her before, it definitely was there now.

                              "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Harvey's not going to be an issue," Alice stated with a shake of her head, a grin soon gracing her lips. "It is kind of hot seeing my future husband getting all jealous."

                              "I am not jealous," Roman quickly argued.

                              Alice chuckles, ruffling his hair with a grin. "You're cute when you're jealous."

                              Unfortunately, the tender moment between them is broken by a completely unexpected interruption.

                                 "Alice Kim?"

                                 She turns around at the mention of her name, positively stunned when she sees who's been calling her. It's Jillian Grosvenor herself and she looks absolutely pissed. Alice straightens up her posture, preparing for the absolute worst. Either Jillian knew that Alice was sleeping with her husband, or she had suspicion. So regardless of how this conversation went, she was determined to try and keep things classy.

                                 "And you are?" Alice asks, standing up to her feet.

                                 Jillian scoffs. "You know exactly who I am. You've been fucking my husband for months now."

                                 Oh, she definitely knew.

                                "How did you find me?" Alice questioned.

                                "I have my ways," Jillian shrugs.

                                "I think we should go," Roman says as he began to get up, placing the money down onto the bar. It's only when he tries to escort Alice out that Jillian steps in, pushing him back.

                               "I'm not finished," Jillian remarked.

                                "Don't touch him," Alice steps in front of Roman to protect him, glaring at Jillian.

                                "How long have you two been fucking each other?" Jillian questioned.

                                "Does it even matter?" Alice scoffs.

                                "I think it does," Jillian nodded.

                                "Look, I think you should be talking to your husband about this because obviously, you're doing something wrong for him to keep cheating on you. You know I'm not the first, right?" Alice retorted.

                               "What did you say?" Jillian scowls.

                               "Allie," Roman warns.

                               "Harvey's told me all about you. How he's cheated on you all the time and you continue to stay with him. I can't imagine being that pathetic to take a man back who continues to embarrass you. I don't even hate you, I just feel sorry for you," Alice continued, a haughty look in her eyes and a smirk on her lips.

                                Alice is expecting for Jillian to explode and call her every terrible name under the sun. But much to Alice's surprise, Jillian slaps her hard across the face instead. Alice gasps as she holds onto the left side of her now stinging face. 

                                "Stay away from him," Jillian warns.

                                Jillian storms off after that, leaving a stunned Alice and an equally shocked Roman.

                                "And I thought I was the one who had a problem with talking shit," Roman remarked.

                                "Can you just take me home?" Alice questioned. She wanted to leave, seeing as attention was starting to head their way and that was the last thing she needed. Alice was a mixture of angry and embarrassed and she just wanted to get away.

                                "Yeah, we can probably make it back to yours by -," Roman begins to say.

                                "I meant your house. By next year, it'll be mine anyway," Alice corrects him.

                                Roman lightly chuckles. "Yeah, you're right."

                                They leave together, eager to head back to Roman's place and put the incident behind them. Roman was just glad to have Alice back again, even more so now that they were going to be together for potentially the rest of their lives.

( 🥀💔🍸 )

word count: 2324
notes: so the two made back up, was anyone shocked? also we finally got to meet jillian even if it was a brief and violent encounter. we won't be seeing any more of her again but unfortunately harvey will pop up a couple more times