Sh'mello!XD Hahaha, so, today's already turning out to be a great day, and it isn't even 10 yet where I live:L (Although it probably will be by the time you people read this) So, back in like, May, I sent Mari an email with a picture I drew, hoping she would post it on her facebook page with the other fanart. I waited. And waited. And finally, this morning when I checked my emails, there was one from Mari!:D She said thank you and 'big hugs':3 I feel special. So, if you wanna see it, go to her page and look for the bright pink piece of paper with Adventure Time-ish drawings on it, that's mine!^-^ Ehem, now, onto the story part. Today, you guys get to learn Alise's past, or at least the more important part. Okay! Let's go!:L

Chapter Three: Haunting

-Alise-

"I'm going to the store," Emi says from the doorway, "Do you need anything?"

"No," I reply from my spot on the couch, "But I'll text you if I end up thinking of something."

I hear her car keys jingle, "'Kay." The door shut and shortly after, her car started up and it was quiet again. Bliss. It'll be a boring day at this rate. I'd see if either of the guys want to hang out, but I don't really want to be a burden.

Time passes, and eventually, Emiline's been gone for almost an hour. Suddenly, my phone starts to go off. …The hell? I check the number. …No… No. How did he get my new number? My phone keeps ringing, with every tone it sends, more terror sets into my body.

"No. No, no, no!" I cry out, "Not again! I can't do this again! No!" I throw my phone across the room. It smacks against the wall and I hear the screen shatter. The ringing stopped effectively. It's broken, but I don't care. I wail, it sounds haunting and disturbing in this empty house. I slide down the wall and tuck my knees into my chest. Tears stain my jeans where they drip from my eyes. I let out the sobs as they wrack my body.

There was a knock at the door, when I don't answer, I hear it open. But I still cry. My name is being called out, "Alise?" It was Anthony, "Alise? Where are you?" It's like I couldn't speak, all that came out were terrified sobs.

Arms soon find themselves around me, trying to comfort, trying to make it all better. I just lean into Anthony's shoulder and cry my eyes out. He holds me tightly.

"What's the matter?" He asks while grabbing a box of tissues and handing it to me. I pick my head up and take a Kleenex from the box.

I try to change the subject, "Oh God, I ruined your shirt…" I didn't want to talk about it, but I feel like I could tell Anthony... That I could tell him and he'd listen.

He smiles, and wipes a tear away with his thumb, "Don't worry about it, it's only a shirt." His smile sends butterflies through my stomach. It's a shame I look hideous…

I sniffle, a smile crosses my face, "I guess I should probably tell you what," Sniffle, "Happened…" Anthony nods.

"Yeah, then maybe I can solve this problem." He cares.

I let out a sigh, "I don't think it'll be an easy task, I mean, unless you want to be charged for murder…"

He laughs lightly, "Well…"

"I do hope you're not serious…" I respond. My nose was congested. Gross.

"No, but I'll do anything to help, of course…" Anthony trails off, he traces patterns down my arm with the gentle touch of his finger. It felt nice; calming even.

I took in a deep breath, ready to tell my story. "Okay… Well, it was about… mmm… two and a half years ago. I was nineteen, almost twenty." My mind flashes back to that day, "Evan, Emi's brother, and one of my exes, had introduced me to one of his buddies at the time, Connor. We'd hit it off almost immediately, we were young and in love. I was captivated by his looks, his short brown hair, green eyes…" My emotions were starting to run high, "We'd been dating for almost a year when he'd began to act strange. Whenever he'd come home from work, Connor would be easily provoked. If I ever did something wrong, I was rewarded with a smack across the face, or a black eye. The only time he'd ever told me he'd loved me was when we were in bed. He never meant it. It was all a lie."

There was a hurt look on Anthony's face, he frowned, holding one of my hands in his. I blushed slightly, but continued my story.

"I specifically remember running to Emi's house after we'd gotten in a heated argument. By that time, both her and Evan had told me numerous times to leave him. I couldn't. I was too scared." The tears threatened to make a reappearance, "Four months after that fight, I finally did it. I left him. Then, from that day onward, I lived with Emi. I went to college for a while, and recovered… sorta…"

A puzzled look spread across Anthony's already-distraught looking face, "What do you mean?" He asked, scooting even closer than I thought was possible.

"I still have the scars." I tell him, pulling my hair out of the way to expose one of the many scars, this one was on my neck. I believe it was when he'd hit me with a glass bottle. Believe me, that hurt like a bitch.

I pull my hair back over my shoulder and continue, "The emotional ones won't go away, Anthony. They'll probably be there forever. Every night, I'm scared Connor will find his way here and finish what he had started…" My sentence broke at the end as the tears came back. I was taken back into Anthony's arms as I cried out my pain. He rubbed soothing circles in my back. It was nice to know someone besides Emi or my family would listen.

"It'll be okay, Alise. I promise." He whispered gently. I look up into his brown eyes, they held nothing but sincerity.

"You mean it?" I asked. It was a stupid question, but I'm a stupid girl, what else made sense anymore?

He nodded, "Of course."

I hugged him close, "Thank you… so much." It was all I said, but it meant so much to me.

The two of us sat there for who-knows-how-long, entangled in a hug. Without warning, I hear Emiline say, "…Uh… I'll just leave you two alone…" Both of our heads snapped up in surprise. Emi stood there, both arms filled with grocery bags. She herself, had a shocked look on her face, like she was surprised to see Anthony and I wrapped in each others embrace. Quickly, she dumped the bags on the table, and sped out.

"Uhm… Uh…" I splutter like an idiot, blushing madly. Both of my hands flew to my face to cover the pinkness of my cheeks.

Anthony smiled, "Don't. It's cute." The fire, already blazing in my face, grew hotter at his compliment.

His hand reached behind my neck, it was a gentle move, just like the invisible patterns he traced on my arm. My heart fluttered in my chest as our noses touched, then our lips. My eyes closed; it was a sweet moment. I felt my hand… my fingertips touch his dark hair, it felt nice and soft, like a small child's comfort object… Anthony was my comfort object.

As quickly as it has started, the kiss ended. We pulled apart, a smile played on my lips. He was smiling as well.

Connor may have damaged me emotionally, but Anthony was here to heal me. I was certain of it.

"You shouldn't cry, Alise. It hurts..." He told me, his smile was gone. It was replaced with a serious look.

I evaded his eyes by looking down. My hair draped over either sides of my face, "I-I'm sorry… it's just…"

Was I ready to let another guy in my life like this? What if it's a repeat of Connor? …No… Anthony wouldn't do that. I look up at him once more, trying to smile, but Connor still crept at the corners of my mind. He'll always be there… waiting to strike out.

"Alise," Anthony said, "Look… We both know we have feelings for each other. I don't know about you, but I've liked you since I first saw you. Would you be my girlfriend?" He asked me.

The blush, if it ever even left, came back once more. My breathing was shaky, my heartbeat was erratic.

I nod, "Of course." I respond, "I'd love to." He cradled my face and kissed me once more. It was short, but, to me, it meant something.

Anthony stood up and held out his hand to me, "Want to go for a walk?"

I take his hand and stand up. My legs had begun to fall asleep, seeing as though I'd been sitting on the ground for what seemed like hours, half of which was with Anthony hugging me. I stumbled a step before catching myself.

"I need to fix my makeup though… I'm sure my mascara is horrid."

"You're kidding, right? You're gorgeous even without makeup, let alone with a mascara-streaked face." He's too sweet…

"Thanks, but I need to seriously fix this." I tell him, pointing to my face.

When I came back into the front room, I see Anthony sitting on the couch, with my shattered iPhone in his hands.

"…You murdered it…What did you do to it?" He asked with a mask of mock-horror upon his face. It was a very tragicomic scene, really.

"Uhm… Well, you know when I was crying earlier? …Yeah, uh, Connor had tried to get a hold of me, and I kind of threw it at the wall to make it stop…" I admitted. Anthony grimaced, but set the phone on the side table.

He took my left hand in his right, "I hope you plan on getting that fixed…" I giggled.

"Don't worry, I do. I'm a girl, I can't not have a phone forever, y'know." We walked out of the house into the bright afternoon outdoors.

Suddenly, two people jumped out of the bushes, "Stop right there!" A familiar voice yelled, "What do you think you're doing with that pretty lady?" I let out a laugh. There stood Ian and Emi, impersonating Smosh's 'famous' Officer Anous.

"Dammit, Ian!" Anthony pretended to be mad, "What did I say about stalking people and hiding in their bushes?"

Emiline laughed aloud as Ian's head slumped over, pretending to be upset, "That it's creepy and nobody likes it…" Emi patted his back and I giggled. Those two…

"So, Alise, what's goin' on with you and 'Antonio'? Hmmm?" Emi asked, nudging my arm and winking suggestively.

I felt Anthony's arm snake it's way around my waist, "Oh, y'know…" I smile brightly. A breeze comes through, blowing my curls into my face, "Urg… Stupid hair…"

"Oh shut up! At least you didn't get stuck with my boring-ass hair." She muttered.

A childish grin crossed both Anthony and Ian's faces, "Did you say ass hair? Or did you put a hyphen in-between boring and ass?" Anthony chuckled.

Oh Lord… "Stop acting like a seventh grader, Anthony!" Emi scolded as she playfully pushed him.

Anthony and I laughed as Emi and Ian shared flirty banter back and forth for a while after that.

The four of us spent the rst of the day messing around and whatnot. Not once did Connor cross my mind.

Author's note: 'Now they know... Bye guys.' -Ian, Lunchtime with Smosh. Hahaha, can't go a day without quoting either of those two:P hehehe So how'd you like this chapter? I had this one written out a while ago, and I sent it to my good ol' buddy Sallen (she writes awesome Hunger Games fanfics, if you like THG, I suggest you read her stories!) to check out. Turns out, when I was copying this from my five-page-hand-written-version (Don't judge!XD), there were terrible grammar and spelling mistakesDX I blame it on the way I was holding my keyboard to see the paper:P So, that's all:3 Bye, fellow Smoshers!:D

~Adrienne~