Twin Fates Intertwined

Fiora walked up the cobblestone staircase, and turned right onto a dimly lit alleyway. At the end of the alley came a warm, inviting glow, as the sounds of laughter and the clinking of glassware filled the air.

The modern bar had a gorgeous exterior, a wooden lattice decorated with ivy and fairy lights surrounding a small purple neon sign bearing the bar’s name “Mystique”. It’s interior compounded on its gray polished stone and wooden exterior with brass high chairs lining the island. It’s rustic-meets-modern aesthetic certainly screamed “Alyssa”, so Fiora was sure that there was a sliver of the original Alyssa in there somewhere.

That is, it it wasn’t for the nearby college releasing their students for Spring Break.

Instead of a nice and quiet evening out by a perfectly instagrammable backdrop, he was treated to the sounds of bitchy college girls catfighting by the pop-up metal tables and drunk frat boys trying to one-up each other by chugging entire cases of craft beer in one go before barfing it all up 10 feet away. The employees weren’t exactly able to keep up either, with waitstaff literally running around with orders of **** and food while others frantically tried to clean up the ever-growing mess of wasted **** and wasted diners.

Fiora checked his phone. _Nope. This was the place. _He told himself. He excused himself past the sea of wild teens into the eye of the storm.

Thankfully, the interior of the bar was less packed than the outside, but the loud chatter of patrons certainly didn’t help Fiora locate Alyssa.

Then it hit him. Well, more like a handbag did.

Fiora spun around to locate the mysterious figure, only to be greeted by the bubbly, cute, devilishly hot...

“Woah.” Fiora said, stunned.

The Alyssa that often sported Black Ballet Flats, Graphic Tees and Jeans had swapped it out for a simple, brown dress and leather gladiator heels. Her toes were adorned with a French pedicure, showing off their shapely figure...if the rest of her didn’t take his breath away already. She wore minimal makeup, yet her skin sparkled in the soft, dim glow of the bar’s Edison bulbs. Her hair flowed down to her shoulders, which just so happened to sport a beige Chanel Bag with silver accents.

“Damn. You look great tonight.” Fiora smiled.

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” Alyssa said, poking him in the shoulder. “Nice Blazer. Goes well with that stain on your shirt.” Fiora frantically scanned his shirt for the rogue pigmentation before he heard Alyssa’s laughter.

“And you’re just as gullible.” She smiled. Fiora could literally feel the thunderous pulse of his heartbeat echo through the very fiber of his being as he stared at the Asian Bombshell in front of him.

“_sigh..._Stop staring and just take a seat.” Alyssa said, as she sat on a stool next to an opening at the bar.

Fiora accompanied her, before signaling down the bartender. “Bartender! Can we get two glasses of scotch on..!” Before he could even finish, Alyssa had slapped his arm with her bag.

“Jeez! You know she-I don’t do well with strong ****!” Alyssa caught herself before she could slip up further.

“Ah! Get me one glass of scotch on the rocks and a Pina Colada for the lady!”

“Don’t mock me.” Alyssa said, tugging on Fiora’s sleeve.

“Get me a Negroni and a Scotch on the Rocks for this chap.” She said. Immediately, the bartender acknowledged and got to work.

Fiora sat down, his heart racing as he tried to get some small talk in with Alyssa.

“So..uh... how you been?” He managed coyly.

Alyssa stared him down. “Is that really the best you got?”

“I mean, it’s fair. I do wanna know if you’ve been doing good or not.” Fiora replied.

“Fine. I’m doing great. Happy?” Alyssa said.

“Ok. Good talk.” Fiora muttered.

Another minute or two of awkward silence blew past. Fiora could tell Alyssa was slightly uneasy by the way she gripped onto her cup, as if she was afraid someone would forcefully take it from her. Her eyes were almost dazed out, her gaze fixated at a random spot on the wall behind Fiora.

"Ok so." Fiora started, "I don't know if this is an appropriate question to ask you, but what happened to the original Alyssa?"

Alyssa's dazed expression suddenly turned to mild irritation, but when she noticed Fiora looking at her, she faked a smile.

"Oh she's doing fine. I'm pretty sure you'll get to see her soon though." Alyssa replied.

Fiora smiled back._ Hopefully so. _He thought to himself.

"But why the sudden interest in me? Since you've taken over Alyssa's body, isn't there other things that you'd like to do? Like progress your career, buy a house, find a boyfriend and get married or something?" Fiora asked quizzically.

Alyssa just sighed. "You humans think money means everything. You beings want all the world to yourselves. If buying stuff or getting meaningless awards makes you happy, then sure, by all means. But personally, I'm a free spirit. I don't want this kind of stuff to bog down my life, 'ya know?"

In the midst of her monologue, the bartender slid over a glass of gin and tonic. "It's on the house." He smiled and winked at Fiora.