04/08/2012

Chapter 3

"Sooo… Um… You wanna talk about what happened?" I asked Alex slowly. He glanced over at me and then back at the road. "What's there to talk about? My dad's an alcoholic. End of story," he said sharply. I recoiled a little. "I… I just meant that if you needed to vent or something… I- I'm here," I said. He glanced over at me again. "Yea. Okay. Thanks." I frowned a little at his dismissive tone. Mom's thing about me being nice to Alex obviously wasn't working. "Well excuse me, Lord Viperous. You can just take me home now. Sorry for trying to be sensitive," I snapped back. He abruptly stopped the car on the side of the road and let out a soft groan. Then he ran his hands through his dyed black hair and dropped his head back against his headrest. "I'm sorry," he finally said, rolling his head to the side to look at me. "I- I just… It's hard. You know?" I stared at him for a moment and then spoke. "No, but I'm listening," I said. He let out a bitter laugh and turned the car off. "Ooh, long talk time. Let's get started," I said, snuggling into his car's amazingly soft seats.

He smiled a little. "He started when I was four. I only remember that because that was the first time he ever hit me. And it hurt like hell. He threw an empty beer bottle at me and shards had stuck in my chest. I still have the scars," he said. I felt my lips part in shock. "It was that bad?" I asked. He nodded and continued. "After that he came back home wasted every night. My mom and I were his personal punching bags. Now it's just me. Mostly it's just beer bottles and his fists. If he's really drunk though he'll go find his old baseball bat or something harder," he continued. I let out a slow horrified sigh and spoke. "Are you sure you want to tell me this?" He looked straight into my eyes then. " Lis, I've known you since first grade. There's no one I'd rather tell," he said softly. I blinked once in surprise and sat back into the seat. "You knew me in first grade?" I asked. He let out a soft laugh. "Yea, you just ignored me though. I think you were scared of me too because I didn't talk to anyone," he said. I snorted. "Me? Scared of you? Yea right." He grinned.

Then he suddenly sat up and turned his key in the ignition. "I better get you home," he said as the car purred to life, the AC breathing out a cold rush of air.

I opened my mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. "You don't want to rehearse or something?" I asked. "Well, we have nowhere to rehearse," he said pulling the car back out onto the road. I hesitated for a moment and then spoke. "We could go to my house." His knuckles turned white for a fraction of a second and then relaxed. "Your house," he finally said. I gave him a small smile even though his voice was dubious. "Sure. Why not?" I asked. His long fingers tightened around the steering wheel again and we swerved a fraction of an inch. "Whoa. Careful." I said. When I said that he had jumped a little and I realized that I had grabbed onto the wheel instinctively and my hand was on his. I took my hand back and he spoke. "No, I think it's better if I just take you home," he said. I nodded slowly. "Okay."

We drove back without speaking, the silence hanging between us like a thick fog, smoky tendrils winding around us and pushing us apart. When he pulled into my driveway, I sat there for a moment and then looked at him. "Well thank you…for telling me all… that," I said. "Don't get too nice, you're gonna hate me again tomorrow." I opened my mouth to say something but right then there was a knock at my window and I turned to see Derek. When I opened the door he immediately started talking. "You're home early," he said, looking immensely satisfied at this fact. "There were complications," said Alex, narrowing his eyes. "Oh, isn't that… unfortunate." Derek didn't seem the least bit sympathetic though. Alex looked at me then and totally blocked Derek out. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said. I nodded and then tilted my head a little. "Okay, I'll hate you later." He grinned and shook his head. "You're impossible," he said and drove away.

When I turned around I saw Derek standing there, an eyebrow raised. "Okay so do you hate him or like him?" he asked. "I don't know Derek. He's a complicated person," I said in exasperation. "Did you enjoy yourself?" I opened my mouth to say "maybe" but then decided to mess with him. "Oh my God. Yes. We like made out the whole time and then things started to get intense and he tried to take my shirt off. So of course I let him but then he got to my bra and-" I was suddenly cut off by Derek's outburst then. "HOLY CRAP! Lisalla Alaine Noble, don't you dare tell me you had sex with this guy!" I snorted out a burst of laughter and looked up at him. "Derek, I made that all up. There's no way I would kiss Alex," I said smiling.

He inhaled slowly and deeply before running his hands back through his hair. "You…are a terrible little sister. Nearly giving me a heart attack like that." I punched his shoulder gently. "You still love me though," I said playfully. He hooked an arm around my neck and mussed my hair with his hand. "Sadly, yes. I have to. I'm related to you," he explained, making it sound like a tragic mistake. I pushed him away. "Jerk," I laughed as we went inside.

Mom was sitting on the couch, her legs tucked up underneath her and a bowl of popcorn balanced on her knees. "You're home early," she said. Before I could explain, Derek spoke. "There were complications," he said with a grin. Mom smiled at me. "Your brother here was pacing for the whole twenty minutes that you were gone. Told me that this guy apparently gets too close sometimes," she told me. "Ohh, yea. The inhalation of my carbon dioxide. Because he cares so much about the amount of certain gases cycling through my lungs."

Derek roughed my hair up and flopped on the couch beside Mom, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "Hey!" she protested. "If you want some make your own." He made a puppy dog face at her. "You would really leave me to fend for myself?" he asked. She pulled to bowl away. "Yes, I would."

I smiled and then went upstairs to get ready for bed.

As I was brushing my teeth, my phone suddenly vibrated as it received a text and I picked it up, opening the message. It was from Alex and as I read it I felt a small smile curve into my mouth. "Beacon Park, tomorrow at 5:00. We can practice." I crawled under my comforter and slowly felt sleep drift over me. Alex might not be so bad after all, I thought as my eyes closed slowly.

"Are you kidding me?" I said slowly. I was in the lunch line with Alex standing in front of me, that god forsaken flirtatious smile on his smug face. Yes, we were fighting again. But it was his fault. I had been leaning over to get my tray and he had made some comment about how my butt looked in the jeans I was wearing and said that I should be careful around teenage guys because they were "only human". "Hey, I said that you would hate me again today," he reminded me. I rolled my eyes and let my tray drop back onto the pile. "I'll just have a soda," I told the lunch lady, my tone clearly exasperated. She handed me the red can and I walked away from Alex, heading towards the double doors that led outside. Emma was out there, sitting at one of the picnic tables, so I started towards her table.

As soon as she saw me she leaned back a little. "Whoa, major long face. What despairing tale have you come to tell me young one?" she asked. I flopped down on the chair across from her and opened my soda. "Need you ask?" She pursed her lips in a moment of thought an then realization spread over her face. "Ohhhh...The Hot-Goth-Boy-Problem. A.K.A Alex Verity," she said. I was silent for a second then I spoke. "Must you call it 'The-Hot-Goth-Boy-Problem' he's really not that attractive," I said, taking a sip of Coke. She smiled slowly. "You like Alex Verity...don't you Lisalla." I raised an eyebrow at her. "No. I don't. And please don't quote Spongebob at a serious time like this. He's a menace." She smiled a little. "You're right. Completely inappropriate of me. I apologize. So what did he do this time?" she asked. "He was being so decent yesterday and then he comes back today and makes a comment about my butt." She gasped a bit. "He didn't." I nodded somberly. "He did." She covered her mouth with her hand. "He called you fat?" she said as if it was some kind of blasphemy. "Wait, what? No. He said boys were 'only human' and that I should be careful," I complained. She paused for a moment and then spoke. "You're upset about him... complimenting you? I'm sorry but that's not processing," she said. "Well unlike alot of the desperate girls in our school, i don't like having my butt stared at and then being informed about how it looks in certain clothing. So yes I'm upset." She made a puppy dog face. "You think I'm despertae?" I stared at her, a bored expression on my face. "Do you really think I would call you desperate. Why would you need to be desperate. Half the boys in this school are already drooling after you," I informed her. She nodded seriously. "This is true." I rolled my eyes and the bell rang righ then. "Well, I have English and you have Math. So I'll see you later Em,"I said as I got up. "TTFN. Ta-ta for now," she said wiggling her fingers in a girly wave. "Of course she quotes Tigger," I muttered as I walked away.