Chapter 8

If Alicia met herself from even two years ago and tried to explain the events of the past few days, she was sure that her past self would break out laughing, accuse her of hallucinating, and then possibly drag her to St. Mungo's to get treatment. It all was a little bit much, crazy and hard to believe it had all happened in such a short time.

First, there was drunk and unconscious George in her hospital room. A room in which she had to care for him, and then fell asleep watching over him and enjoying the seclusion of the room to get some work done.

When George had woken up, they talked, almost like old friends, for the first time in at least a year and Alicia, filled with concern over her friend, said she would be coming by later to check on him. That had resulted in her having to levitate his drunken body out of a bar and into bed in a flat she'd found so disgusting she'd spent several hours cleaning it

She'd waited until George woke up again to make sure that he was in halfway decent shape, then left to have some personal time before she once again was forced to work a grueling shift at work. She'd have to put up with the complaining of her roommate, and once again wondered when she could afford to move out on her own.

Then, the next morning, still concerned over George and whether or not he was taking care of himself, she went to check on him again. Finding him drunk, again, she'd yelled at him, gotten herself angry, and had an absolutely terrible day at work as a result.

However, the terrible day had also led her to reflect on how she'd acted earlier. It wasn't like George didn't care about himself. Maybe that was a small part. But the larger part was that George was hurting. He'd lost Fred, the one person who he'd been with all his life. The grief was too new, too real, too strong, Alicia figured. And loosing himself in alcohol was George's way of coping with it. It wasn't healthy, but it was what he'd found worked and, if Alicia was going to help him, as any true friend should, she'd need to be more patient with him.

So, she decided she'd check in with him again after work, apologize for having yelled at him, and let him know that she was still going to be around to help him, even if he wasn't appreciative of it at first. That was what a real friend did. They checked in on those that were hurting, provided a shoulder to cry on and a body to lean on.

Arriving at George's flat, Alicia had found a strung-out George (had he tried to quit his drinking cold turkey?) and a slightly concerned Bill. She wasn't sure why George's older brother was there. Had George called him? Was he reaching out to his family for help? Alicia initially took it as a good sign. maybe she'd gotten through to George and he was trying to do better.

But then, Bill had spoken, and Alicia realised that George was sobering up against his will. It wasn't the ray of hope she'd thought it was initially. Upon learning that, she looked down at George, who'd slipped into sleep only moments after she'd walked through the door. A look of deep concern, caring, and compassion crossed her face. She so desperately wanted to stop his hurting, to make him feel better, to return him to the cheerfully, laughing boy she'd grown up with.

It seemed that Bill had picked up on that because he then made her a proposition. One that had nearly send her collapsing into the nearest armchair at the shock of it all. She'd told Bill that she would need to think about it, but it was really an excuse to leave and not have to tell him no.

She couldn't do what he was asking. She had too much on her plate already. She had a full time job caring for the sick and wounded. She didn't need to become a glorified babysitter and home-care nurse for George as well. Surely, if she simply didn't respond to Bill, he would find someone else. His wife perhaps. Fleur had done an excellent job nursing Bill after his injuries. Couldn't she do the same for her brother-in-law?

'No,' Alicia decided as she walked through the rainy streets of London. 'I will not be moving into George's flat to take care of him. I have a place to live and a job to do.' Only a change in one of those two facts would be enough to change her mind, and she was certain that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

Alicia hurried through the streets of London. Her little excursion to George's flat, and the delay that chatting with Bill had caused her, had wasted valuable time. She had a date tonight; the first one in about a month so it was a big deal. It was the first evening that both she and her boyfriend, who was a professional Quidditch player and therefore out of area for significant parts of the year, were available. Alicia needed to get home to make herself look presentable, and not like she'd just went through the hardest 48 to 72 hours.

She'd need a shower, a change of clothes, and some time to do her makeup. Her stomach gurgled then and let her know that she would also need a snack of some kind. The plan for the evening was to go out for dinner, but, as Alicia couldn't remember the last time that day, she'd eaten anything more than a few bites of a protein bar, she would need to have at least a small something if she was going to make it to dinner.

She picked up her pace even more, almost running. A snack added to her to do list and she was really starting to get pressed for time. If worst came to worst, she thought as she all but sprinted down the street, she could forego her makeup. It had been a while since her boyfriend had seen her, but he had seen her without makeup before. It wouldn't be that big of a shock.

Alicia arrived at her flat with about an hour to go before the agreed upon meeting time. She quickly hurried into her bedroom. Her roommate was home, Alicia knew, because the bedroom door that lead to the other girl's room was closed. It was only ever closed when her roommate was home. Alicia just hoped that the other girl would be distracted by something long enough to leave Alicia alone. She didn't need her roommate distracting her right now.

Alicia closed her door, quietly so as to not alert the other girl to Alicia's presence. She then dropped all of her bags, those containing paperwork she needed to complete for her healer-in-training program, her dirty scrubs, her leftover food containers. They clattered, louder than Alicia had expected, to the ground. She stood absolutely still, waiting to see if the noise had alerted her roommate. In the silence, Alicia heard the sounds of grunting and moaning coming from the other woman's bedroom.

'Ah,' Alicia thought, relaxing her tense muscles, 'Lucie will definitely be preoccupied for the next hour or so.' With the knowledge that her roommate would be busy entertaining whatever man was currently in her bedroom, Alicia began bustling around her room, preparing for her date.

She gathered her date outfit, a formfitting small black dress, and hurried into the attached bathroom. She gazed, slightly longingly, at her crème bathtub. A nice, long, hot bath would do wonders for her, she was absolutely sure. She could feel the stress and muscle fatigue of her busy day as she stood in the bathroom. Yet she turned away and turned on the shower. She didn't have enough time for a lengthy bath and a short dip would only leave her wanting. Best to save the bath for a moment she had more time to truly enjoy it.

The hot, almost scalding, shower water did help her a little bit. As she stood beneath the steaming stream, she could feel the dirt, grime, and sweat residue wash down the drain. She tried to imagine that all of her problems were going down the drain with them, but she was pretty sure everything with George would still very much be a problem once she stepped out of the steam of warm water.

She stood in her shower for probably half an hour, which was really more time than she should have spent. But she couldn't get mad at herself. She really needed that time to herself. However, it did mean that she would have to rush through everything else.

Alicia was contemplating her outfit for the evening when her stomach gave a loud growl, letting her know that it needed to be satisfied soon or it would let its desire be known louder than ever. She quickly tied a towel around her wet hair and through on her favourite silky robe. Then, she made her way out to the kitchen. sexual noises continued to emanate from her roommate's room, letting her know that Lucie probably wouldn't be leaving the coziness of the room any time soon.

A slightly deliciously evil smile crossed Alicia's face. Lucie was preoccupied. That meant that Alicia could get at her secret stash without fear of Lucie discovering where she kept her goodies. She quickly scampered across the hallway floor as carefully and quietly as she could. In the kitchen, she stood on her tiptoes and opened the small, awkwardly shaped cabinet above the stove. It was packed with random objects that weren't really used that often but that neither Alicia nor Lucie wanted to get rid of. Moving a few of the gadgets and items around, Alicia revealed a small opening. Sitting within were a bag of sweets, some biscuits, and a rather expensive wine that Alicia was saving for the day she finally finished her healer training.

She grabbed the sweets, then quickly rearranged the items in the cabinet. The noises had ceased in the other room so Alicia had to be careful. If she revealed where she kept these things, Lucie would be into them in no time.

Alicia lowered herself from her toes and then plodded, louder than she had before, across the kitchen to the icebox. She rummaged around in the cool appliance for a few minutes, trying to find something that would complement her bag of sweets. As she was searching, she heard her roommate's door open and footsteps plod across the floor.

"I'll be heading out soon and should be gone for several hours so you'll have the run of the place," Alicia spoke. Her head was still in the icebox, so she hadn't seen the person approaching her, but assumed it was Lucie. Usually the men that the annoying girl entertained didn't leave the bedroom until the left the flat. Alicia assumed it was Lucie way of making sure they didn't get distracted from the task at hand.

At Alicia's words, the person stopped. She was now sure that Lucie wasn't the person standing behind her. The girl had no shame. She would have instantly began spurting off about her experience. This was obviously one of the men, the first time Alicia would get to meet one. Intrigued, Alicia turned around.

The sweets, and the bottle of cold tea she'd decided to pair them with, slipped from her hands and shattered on the floor.

Standing in front of her, in nothing but his boxers, was Matteo Prescot. He was the hot new player on Puddlemere United who was predicted to take the team to yet another victory. He was also Alicia's boyfriend. And, he had obviously been one of the two people who, only moments before, was making sexual noises in her roommates room.

Without even thinking about anything, Alicia fled the apartment. She didn't have shoes, didn't have her wand, was wearing a robe with a towel rapped around her head. But she didn't consider any of that. All she knew was she had to get out and get out she did.

It wasn't until Alicia was out on the street in front of her flat that she really started to contemplate things. The cool, rainy wind hit her and went right through her thin robe. It wasn't made for any type of weather and was definitely not appropriate. She momentarily contemplated going back up and putting on some actual clothes, but the idea of going in there, with her absolute bitch of a boyfriend and her idiotic roommate, was making her feel akin to taking a naked swim in the black lake. The last thing she wanted to do.

So, if her flat was out, at least until she could be sure that neither of them was there, she needed somewhere else to go. All her friends were out of the question. Angelina wasn't in town and Katie didn't have a spare room and she really didn't relish the idea of sleeping on her couch. She definitely wouldn't go to her mom's. that was not a warm and welcoming environment.

Then the idea popped into her head. She technically did have a place to go, if it was still an option.

George was laid out on his couch, still fully incapacitated as the alcohol he had been so dependent on for the last few months left his system. Bill had left him a while ago. He wasn't sure when, he was still unconscious. All he knew was that when he finally came too again, his oldest brother wasn't there anymore.

Suddenly, a loud pounding, that George was pretty sure wasn't in his head, sounded. What was it that muggles said? 'Speak of the devil and he shall appear'? with a great huff, and an internal question to himself about why he was doing this, George got up to answer his door. His was almost sure that the sound was someone banging on his door, and he was almost sure that the person was his brother Bill. He'd been so hopeful that he could suffer in peace.

However, when he opened his door, it wasn't Bill that was standing there but a very distraught Alicia. Her hair was soaking wet and a curly mess. Not to mention the fact that she was in a robe despite the rain. He ushered her inside; she was obviously cold. As soon as she got across the threshold, she turned to George, looked him dead in the eye and spoke.

"I'm taking Bill up on his offer."