Was. It was clear, that she had just been paid an amazing compliment, even if Alicia had no chance of knowing who she was being likened with. Whoever it was, had been important to Rey, but what mattered to Alicia right now, was that Rey was talking about her friend in past tense; she had lost someone, at least one someone, whom she was close to.
“No no, no need to apologize,” Alicia assured her. “Takes more to scare me than some tears and someone needing to just…” fall apart? Let it all out? “allow herself to feel lost.” Had this been someone she knew, she wouldn’t have hesitated to put her arms around them for comfort. But she had literally just met Rey and didn’t know how she would take to physical contact from a stranger. Instead, she reached out and gave Rey’s hand a gentle pat, almost like her grandmother used to do when she was trying to keep up appearances, but still wanted to give comfort to someone in need.