Chapter Six

Izzie didn't trust him. Twenty years of friendship and Izzie didn't trust him. If that wasn't some fucked up bull shit Alex didn't know what was. His right fist clenched, flexed, and clenched again as impatiently waited for the elevator. Over the years he had put up with a lot from her. The George obsession. Her nagging about the women he dated. Phone calls and texts demanding to know if he was being safe on the job. Lectures on how he wasn't eating right. He wasn't even going to think about the arguments they'd had over the house his grandmother had left him. Izzie wanted him to add fussy lace curtains and tear up the old carpet so the hardwood floors underneath could be re-done. He had tolerated it all. Why wouldn't he? They had been friends for twenty years, that allowed for a few intrusions into each other's lives. It should have also been a given that they trusted each other. Even when Izzie did something he didn't understand, Alex trusted her. Why couldn't she give him the same? She was always quick to say she loved him or trusted him but when it came right down to showing it Izzie froze. Some of her behavior stemmed from how she had been raised. Neither of her parents had trusted the other. It had been a virtual warzone of accusations and mistrust. He could see how that sort of example could cause a person to mistrust anyone thy got involved with. He wasn't just anyone. He was the guy who had been by her side since they were four. That had to count for something. It sure as hell counted in his book.

"...don't want to be here!"

Alex glanced to his left, where two women had walked out of a nearby room. One had wavy, dark blonde hair and the greenest eyes he had ever seen, while the other had a mass of chocolate brown hair and smoky eyes that were tipped up at the corner. Both were pretty. Just not pretty enough to tempt him into flirting or forgetting about the woman he had left in his own hotel room. He forced a polite smile as they moved to stand near him, obviously wanting to catch the elevator when it showed up. He wasn't in the mood for company and prayed they weren't the chatty type.

"You can't keep holing up in that apartment," the blonde hissed. The brunette shot her a wounded look, tears forming on her ashes. Great. The last thing he wanted was to ride the elevator down with a crying female. Especially one that looked ready to fall apart at any moment. "I'm not trying to be mean, Lexie, but at some point you have to start living again."

"You think I don't know that? I'm just not ready! Jesus, Meredith, it's only been five months! I think I'm allowed a year before you start pushing." Whatever they were talking about went far deeper than a break-up and Alex wanted no part of it. He had his own issues to deal with. He murmured some random excuse and started back toward his room. Half-way there he stopped. Standing in the middle of the hall, hands shoved in his pockets, Alex let out a sigh. He couldn't go back to the room. Izzie was still there. Son of a bitch. He wasn't ready to see her. It still rankled that after twenty years she didn't trust him. That said something about the state of their friendship. he wasn't sure if he was angry or hurt. Both, he decided. Anger over how easily she assumed he was using her. Hurt that after twenty years she didn't know him better than that. He felt his fist starting to clench all over again. God he wanted to hit something. Anything. This trip had put a huge dent in his savings and he couldn't afford to pay for damages, which meant he had best keep his temper in check. He leaned against the wall, trying to decide where to go from there. By now the elevator had probably shown up and the two women with their intense conversation were gone. If it hadn't arrived and he re-appeared they would probably think he was either checking them out or weird. Maybe both. Letting out asigh, he wondered if there was another set of elevators or even some stairs. He grimaced at the thought of walking down twenty-seven flights of stairs.

"I don't want to fight." Izzie's solemn voice stilled his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, Alex turned toward the direction of his room. She had taken the time to throw on a pair of rose colored daisy dukes, and a cream colored lace top, but had done nothing with her damp hair. There were red blotches marring her face, evidence that she had been crying. That cut him to the quick. He'd never been the source of her tears. He'd always been the one to wipe away the tears and tell her it would all be okay. This time he couldn't. Even if he wanted to, she needed to sort through her feelings on her own. He knew she loved him. There was no doubt about that. It was the type of love he questioned, and her faith in him. "Let's just go meet George and Olivia. Get it over with."

"Fine by me," he mumbled. They quietly walked in the direction Alex had come. The two women were no where to be seen. He reached out and jabbed at the down button. A few seconds later the elevator doors slid open. Of course, he thought wryly. When he wanted the elevator to hurry it took it's sweet time, but now that it didn't really matter it showed up quickly. Their silence continued as they stood on opposite sides of the car. Her gaze seemed focused on her pink polished toe nails and his was focused, yt again, on the tears that stained her cheeks. Occassionally her shoulders would shudder as she fought back a sniffle. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't be the reason she felt this way. He started to reach for her, to tell her it would be alright, but the elevator doors chose that moment to slide open. He took it as a sign to stick with his original plan to let her work it out on her own.

"Took you long enough," George teased as they walked towards the raised, round table where he sat with a woman who could only be Olivia Harmon. She was prettier than Alex expected, with long strawberry blonde hair and big blue eyes. There was a china doll quality about her that would have appealed to Alex if not for the brown eyed blonde sitting next to him.

"Sorry. We were...busy." Heat crept into Izzie's cheeks, blending in with the splotches so that her face resembled a tomato.

"Yeah. I kinda gathered that when you didn't show up on time." George twisted in his seat and waved over a waiter. He'd changed since high school. He wasn't toothpick thin and he'd some how managed to tame his mop of curly black hair. There was still a hint of rose in his cheeks and his blue eyes were still a little to sparkly but other than that it was obvious George had grown up. Alex had never noticed that before. Maybe he'd over looked the changes because of Izzie's infatuation with the boy George had once been. "I need another Scotch and my fiancée would like another glass of wine," George told the waiter. "And my friends will have..." he glanced towards Alex and Izzie. Alex ordered a vodka while Izzie asked for an apple martini. "So..." George flashed a quick grin. "I can't say I'm all that surprised you and Iz ended up together."

Alex wrinkled his brow. The last person he ever expected to tell hin that he and Izzie were no surprise as a couple was George. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." George took a sip from the beer the waiter set before him. "Even before prom night, I kinda always figured you two had a thing for each other." He took another sip, chuckling when Alex asked him about prom night. The only version he had ever heard was Izzie's. "I can't believe she didn't tell you!"

"I told him about prom night," Izzie mumbled, her fingers wrapping around the tem of her martini glass. She took a long swallow, almost choking as George told a very different version from the one she had shared with Alex. Some of the details were the same. Like Izzie taking off her prom dress and saying she was ready to have sex. She had left out one very important detail. She'd never told George she loved him or that she wanted to have sex with him. Instead she had called him Alex.

Alex looked down at his empty glass. He was only half aware of the stammering Izzie was doing. This revelation of George's put a whole new spin on things. He bit back a smirk as he asked a passing waiter for another drink. He didn't know what he was going to do with the information George had revealed, but he knew one thing for damn sure: Izzie was scared shitless of what she felt for him.