"Thought I'd find you here." Liz said as she approached her eldest daughter.

Alice was busy cleaning glasses behind the bar, wanting to make sure she was prepared for the afternoon rush. It was Friday, and that meant for a lot of the men who frequented the Whyte Wyrm, it was their last work day of the week. The construction workers would be flooding in before long wanting to ring in the weekend with a cold beer and a good time with their fellow serpents.

The teenager looked up upon hearing her mother's words. "And how the hell would you know I was here?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

Liz shook her head and let out an uneasy chuckle. "Oh Ali, your father told me you work here. That's all." She said with a small smile.

Alice rolled her eyes and turned back to the glass she had been cleaning. This time her actions were vigorous. Her mother brought out a side to her that she wasn't proud of and thank goodness the only thing she could do in her current situation was to scrub a glass clean.

She had been under the impression that her mother would have left town by now. It had been a week since she had shown up unexpectedly and although she would never admit it, Alice had found herself disappointed by how easily her father was letting her back into their lives. It wasn't as though he still held a torch for the woman. He spent most of his time trashing her and comparing his only daughter to the woman who broke his heart. That wasn't it but he still hadn't expressed himself in a way Alice might have preferred. He didn't tell her to fuck off. He didn't ban her from contacting their daughter. Instead he was talking to her, giving her personal updates and Alice couldn't stand it.

"You should call me Alice, nobody calls me Ali anymore." Alice said after realising she couldn't possibly get her glass any cleaner.

Liz smiled as she pulled up a stool and sat down opposite her eldest child.

Alice set the glass down with the others and took a step back to look around for something else to do. The last thing she wanted was to give her mother the impression that she wanted to talk to her, because that was not going to happen.

"Alice. Your father told me you like to write."

The blonde turned around so fast she almost felt dizzy. "He told you what?" She asked, letting out a bitter laugh. "How would he possibly know anything about me when all he does is blame me for you leaving him!" She snapped, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Alice." She said quietly, face falling because she hadn't realised the situation she had left behind.

It didn't surprise Alice to see the shock on the woman's face. She knew her mother hadn't been forced to take responsibility for her actions yet. She didn't know if she could be bothered to make sure she did because Alice wasn't sure she cared enough anymore.

"Don't." Alice told her. There wasn't anything the woman could say that would change what the last few years had been like for her, so she didn't even want to hear it.

••

"Can't we get arrested for this?" Alice asked as she reached up to grab hold of FP's hand. He pulled her up onto the ledge he was already standing on.

He shook his head, although he was lying. "It's summer break, nobody cares about this place when there's no school on." He assured her, grabbing hold of her gently just to steady her.

She looked down at where her feet were situated for just a second before she moved to follow FP over the fence. He jumped down first and reached out to help her down onto the grass. "It's different when there's nobody here." She whispered, following him as he walked across the football field. It was dark and a little colder than either one had expected it to be, but they were fine as they wandered through the very field FP brought the Bulldogs to victory last football season.

"Why are you whispering?" He asked in amusement.

"Because we just snuck into our high school." She said, letting her voice get a little louder.

He grinned across at her before turning around so he could walk backward across the grass. "There's no one else here but you and me, baby." He pointed out, lifting his arms out as he took a few more backward steps.

Alice smiled at him, secretly hoping he would trip over so that cocky smile on his face would disappear.

"I know you're secretly a bad girl, Alice." He taunted, dropping his arms to his sides. "You were always a trouble maker. I haven't forgotten fifth grade when you blamed Marty Mantle for tagging your desk. I knew it was you." He grinned.

Alice ran her fingers through her blonde curls before letting out a laugh. "Well he tagged all over everything else. It's not my fault it was a believable story." She defended.

"True, true." He nodded as he paused in the middle of the field.

"Why do you want me to be so bad for anyway?" She questioned, raising both of her eyebrows as she looked up at the taller teenager.

"I don't. I have no stakes in the matter, but I know your good girl act is exactly that." He shrugged.

Alice smiled at him. She couldn't exactly dispute his words because right now she didn't know who she was. The last few years she had spent all of her time trying to stay out of trouble enough to keep her dad from having an excuse to hate her. All she ever did was try to stay on his good side and right now it just felt like it was all for nothing. Nothing she did mattered. He didn't care what she did now because his stupid wife was back in town. He had hardly shown her any attention since that happened, like he had forgotten his quest for her to be perfect. She didn't understand his obsession with the woman he had spent so long hating but that's what was happening in her family right now and Alice just needed a break from it all.

"Forsythe. Why did you bring me here?" She asked after a brief moment of self-reflection. A part of her wanted this to be something special, but every other part of her believed this was something he did with all the girls in his life, brought them to the place he was at his best, their own little spot. She didn't know if she was one of his conquests or if tonight was him trying to cheer her up. She tilted her head as she watched FP turn back toward her.

"Do you have to call me that?" He asked her with a grimace.

"It is your name."

"It's his name." He pointed out, shoving his hands into his pockets. It all made him uncomfortable but he wasn't going to make it into a huge deal. That wasn't his style.

Alice nodded her head. "FP, why'd you bring me here?" She rephrased with an arm outstretched toward him.

He looked down as her fingertips brushed against his elbow. "Thought you needed to go to some place to get your mind off of everything." He answered, smile forming as he looked up into her eyes again.

Alice smiled back, dropping her hand back to her side. "So you thought a football field would be the way to cheer me up?"

He let out a laugh. "Yeah?"

"Wow you know me so well." She teased.

Alice tilted her head back to glance up at the star filled sky. It was the one thing she loved about living in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The sky wasn't polluted or filled with skyscrapers, you could see nothing but sky for miles.

"Is it working?" FP whispered, watching her in adoration.

She dropped her head down to look back at him. "It's not failing." She answered.

FP nodded his head and watched her in the moonlight. He could see a hint of a smile and it made him smile himself.

Alice took a step closer, eyes remaining on the boy in front of her. She liked that he always went out of his way to make sure she was okay. She liked that he did reckless things for the right reasons, and the fact that everything that had gone wrong in his life should make him bitter and filled with rage, but it didn't. He didn't entirely sour and she liked that. She liked that a lot.

He reached out to brush a piece of hair away from her lips, hand resting on her shoulder as they both silently stared at one another.

"Hey! You two shouldn't be in here!" A voice called out from behind the fence.

FP looked up to see who had caught them. He recognised the security guard because of the numerous times the man had kicked him out of the school grounds after hours. He knew if he was recognised he would be in deep shit. He jerked away from Alice, giving her a wary expression when she looked up at him in confusion.

"Now's your chance to be bad for a night." He told her. "Because I'm gonna need you to run like hell right about now." He told her, turning around to bolt across the field. Alice looked over at the security guard who had since unlocked the gate and was now alerted to the fact that he had a runner.

Alice hesitated for a second before she ran after the boy who had brought her in the first place.