Chapter 1"Another drink, please, bartender," Salene cried, cheerily, "and keep 'em coming!"
"Sal?"
Salene heard someone call her name, but couldn't place the voice. She turned, rather awkwardly in her drunken state, to view the speaker.
"Lex!" she cried, "Lexy, Lexy, Lexy! Come and join me. C-come on, come and have a drink."
"Sal, are you… are you drunk?" Lex asked, walking up to her side, then taking a step back to avoid Salene's breath, which answered his question.
"No, no, no, no. Not drunk," Salene slurred, "A little tipsy, maybe, but not drunk. No. I am as sober as a judge. I'm as sober as Amber! Ha ha."
Lex watched in worried shock as Salene lifted her glass and toasted her own joke. This couldn't be good. Finding Salene out here by herself and in this state? Something had to be wrong.
"Sal, it's a bit noisy in here," Lex shouted over the hubbub of the bar, "Why don't we take a walk. We could have a chat. Catch up on old times?"
"So long as that's all you want, Lexy," giggled Sal, "Couldn't have you taking advantage of poor little me, now could we?"
"Believe me," Lex sighed, "That is not an issue!"
Once removed from the bar, Lex found he had to physically hold Sal upright. As soon as he got her outside, he was looking for a place where they could sit down and talk. He had to know why she was like this. Drinking wasn't Sal's style, not even to celebrate!
XXXX
Back in the mall, Amber was sitting at a table with Alice, feeding Bray his lunch.
"At least she's happy," Alice sighed as Jack and Ellie disappeared out of the kitchen and off to one or the other of their rooms.
"She'll remember you eventually, Alice," Amber replied, wiping Bray's mouth with a napkin, "Jack's the only one she remembered immediately, although I'm pretty sure that was Java's doing, but don't tell him that!"
"Yeah," Alice laughed, "I've never seen the little geek so happy! Though, saying that, He's not so much of a geek now, is he? He's grown up a bit while I was away."
"True. I wonder what Dal would make of him now?"
"You miss him?"
"I miss them all!"
"Me too honey, me too."
At that moment Sammy burst in and raced through the kitchen to hide behind the counter. He was swiftly followed by Gel, with her make-up half done and her usual braid hanging loose.
"Amber, have you seen Sammy?" Gel whined, "He took my hairpins! How am I supposed to look good without my hairpins!"
"Sammy," Amber shouted, "Give them back and leave Gel in peace!"
"Aw, but it's so boring around here now! No-one has any fun here! Except Jack and Ellie, if you can call that fun! I hate girls! You're boring!"
"We are not boring!" Gel called after him as he stomped out of the kitchen, "You just don't understand us! It's like in that book: "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". You know? You'll never understand us, not really."
Gel continued wittering as she followed Sammy out of the kitchen. Alice and Amber looked at each other and laughed.
"I'm not so sure I'd miss them though!" Amber laughed.
"Well, you say that, but you know you would really," Alice chuckled, "they do liven the place up a bit!"
"Yeah. I wonder how long it will be before Sammy stops hating girls? That should be interesting!"
"Oh, I think he already has. It's just the girl he's got a crush on already has her man!"
"What do you mean?"
"What, you didn't see him? When they were all in here earlier?"
"Ellie?"
"Watching her all the time!"
"Aw, bless! Does Jack know?"
"I doubt it, he only has eyes for Ellie right now! I bet even his computer is feeling neglected!"
The two girls laughed and carried on chatting for most of the afternoon. Most of their afternoons were spent like this. In the morning there were chores to do. Alice went out to find food and water for them, sometimes with Jack and Ellie, and Amber would stay in the Mall, looking after Bray and trying to keep the peace between Gel and Sammy. That morning, the market had proved fruitful and Alice had been able to bring back plenty of food and drink on her own.
When Alice had first got back to them, she had been ill and it had taken a long time to get her back to her full strength. Now that she was better again, however, she seemed stronger than ever. Amber had helped her with a makeover and they often tried out new make-up or hairstyles on each other in the empty afternoons. After Alice went to bed, however, Amber was left alone. Every night she would put Bray to bed and get ready to sleep. Every night she would lie awake for an hour or so, then get up and sit in the kitchen with a glass of water or some fruit and think back over the past six months. She had done this now for about three weeks. Ever since Trudy eventually left. The only thing that had kept her here after Jay died was tending to Alice. Once Alice was better, she had packed up her things and left. Amber hadn't heard from her since. She didn't expect to hear from her either, not after what had happened with Jay.