A/N: Sorry this took so long for me to update. I just started a new job and that kinda took over my life lol. Hope this was worth the wait.
Why wasn't she answering? It had been 3 days since her family dinner and Alexis was unable to get ahold of Zero. She had text Zero as soon as she got home after the movie and received no response. She had almost figured as much since Zero had said she had a paper due, but she was disappointed to awaken the next morning to still find no reply from her friend. She sent off another message asking her if she was feeling alright, if she had gotten her paper done, and could they meet up for lunch.
When lunch time rolled around and she still had not heard from Zero, worry started to set in. This was not like Zero, she always replied to Alexis' messages. She understood that Zero had her own classes to attend she had her own as well, and there were times when both girls were incredibly busy but there had never been a day that she didn't at the very least receive a few texts from Zero.
As one day turned into two and two into three, she couldn't help but think she had done something wrong. Was Zero mad at her? She could tell that Zero hadn't really wanted to go to that dinner with her family but she didn't think it would have upset her this much. Plus she seemed like she enjoyed her time spent with the Castle family.
Frowning to herself as she ran her fingers through her scarlet hair in frustration she tried to think where things could have gone wrong, what could have happened to possibly upset Zero and make it so she refused to talk to her.
She had been told that Zero was at the loft maybe 10 minutes before she got there, so she knew there was no way it could have been then. Her dad knew how much Zero meant to her so he knew better than to do anything overly stupid, and Kate, well her step-mother was the more sensible one of the two so she knew it was a no go there.
She sighed heavily and ran every little detail through her mind. She and Zero set the table together, laughing at some stupid thing her father had done. They sat next to each other when dinner was served. She had made sure her dad had made one of his best pasta dishes because she knew pasta was Zero's favorite. Dinner was light and full of happy conversation. She had told her dad several times before the dinner that he was NOT allowed to talk about murder at the dinner table.
She had watched as Zero had laughed right along with her family, and it wasn't her I am slightly amused chuckle that mostly escaped from Zero's mouth but her rich, beautiful, intoxicating, contagious laugh. It was a laugh Alexis heard so rarely that it filled her with an almost intense desire to hear it again and again.
During dinner she watched as a brief something flashed acrossed Zero's copper brown eyes. She hadn't really been able to place what it was during dinner, it was there one moment and gone nearly a split second later. She didn't know a whole hell of a lot about Zero's family only that she never got along with her parents, Alexis knew now that what she saw in Zero's eyes was a desire to have a family like hers.
But even that couldn't be enough for Zero to want to stop talking to her was it? She by no means was trying to rub her family into Zero's face; she just wanted her friend to have a fun family night with Alexis. She had discovered recently that most things she did was for Zero.
She sighed heavily again as her frustration continued to mount. She couldn't think of anything that would make Zero suddenly decide to stop talking to her. Alexis wanted to scream her frustration to whomever would listen, and that was usually Zero. That thought didn't help her any.
Standing from where she had been perched on the edge of her bed she stormed into her kitchen for some water. She still lived in the apartment she and Pi had rented, even though he was no longer there. It had been weird for her at first, and making enough money to pay the damn rent had been really hard on her but now things were fine. Her dad had almost begged for her to come back to the loft but the weirdness of that situation was worse than her current one.
She had used the excuse of her lease to try to let her dad down gently, she was not moving back home. He of course retaliated with being able to afford the cost of her breaking her lease. Kate had met her at a dinner secretly to talk to her about the whole thing. She had asked if she was the reason that Alexis didn't want to move back home. Alexis laughed and told her that wasn't the reason. Well it wasn't the whole reason, she did truly enjoy being on her own.
After a long talk with her father's than fiancée, she agreed to allow her dad to help her with her rent until she found a most stable form of an income than tutoring. She knew she had to find something that wouldn't drive her totally insane. Her dad seemed disappointed that she hadn't moved back home, but seemed satisfied that she was willing to let him help her out.
Flinging open the refrigerator door, she leaned in to grab a bottle of water from the middle shelf. Huffing out her frustration she slammed the fridge door closed and leaned against the counter as she started to down the ice cool liquid. Her mind continued to wander to her current situation.
She remembered how after dinner her dad had suggested that they watch a movie together. She was totally game for that, it had been a while since she had seen any of the newer movies and she knew her dad had them all. She raced her dad over to the shelves of DVDs and proceeded to argue with him over which movie to watch. She knew in the end she would win and they would watch the movie she wanted to watch, I mean come on who doesn't want to watch The Hobbit?
She remembered turning her attention back to Zero who was watching her from over at the counter. She knew Zero watched her sometime, how could she not? She could always tell when those intense copper eyes settled on her for longer then watch was considered sociably acceptable for a passing glance. She wasn't sure why but she found herself liking the fact that Zero would watch her. Whenever some random person did it she found it creepy, but when Zero's eyes settled on her she found herself intrigued.
She turned to see Zero and Kate having a conversation. Zero had seemed almost a little freaked out by whatever she and Kate were talking about. Was that it? Was whatever Kate had said to her been the reason Zero stopped talking to her?
Alexis shook her head and filled her now empty water bottle at the sink faucet. No Kate was not a cruel person she wouldn't try to scare Zero away. Damn it what was the reason? Downing half the bottle of water again she played the scene over again in her mind.
She had been on the other side of the room when Kate had made her way over to Zero. When she turned around, her DVD choice being the winner, she noticed that Kate and Zero were already in conversation. She couldn't hear what was being said but she could see what could only be classified as fear and panic consume her friend's features. Kate herself had a worried look on her face and it almost looked like she was trying to apologize to Zero for something.
By time she made her way to the counter her friend had already gathered up her bag in her hand and was backing away from Kate. She had reached out a hand to touch her friend on the shoulder, telling her she was behind her and if she kept backing up she was going to run her over. Zero jumped and spun around, coming face to face with Alexis.
Alexis couldn't help but noticed the normally beautiful copper brown of her friends eyes seemed to be dull and almost grey. She heard as some random excuse tumbled out of Zero's mouth, in a tumbled heap of an obvious lie. Before she darted for the door and ran out into the night.
"What was that all about?" She remembered her dad asking.
"No clue." Kate replied.
Alexis groaned at herself. She should have known that was a lie, how could she not have figured it out. The trio made their way into the living room to settle on the couch. Alexis had such an extremely intense desire to run after her friend, to find out what had gone wrong, but she didn't. Her brain had told her to give her friend a little bit of time and space; it was obvious that she needed it. Her heart screamed at her to follow and make sure she was alright.
Why they hell did she listen to her heart?
She watched as Kate picked up her phone and fired off a text, a brief moment later it buzzed its reply. At that time of night it had to be the boys she was texting. Again she watched as Kate fired off another, yet slightly longer text before setting her phone aside and cuddling up with her husband.
Damn it, Kate knew something, Alexis was sure of it now. She had to find out what Kate had said to chase off her best friend.
Alexis glanced at her watch. She wasn't sure if Kate had the day off or if not if she would be home from the precinct yet. Screw it, she would sit at the loft and wait for her step-mother to return home if that meant she would be able to fix whatever had happened with Zero. Slipping on her shoes and grabbing her bag she headed for the door, whatever had happened it had to be fixed now.
She made it to the loft in what seemed like record time. For once the gods of traffic seemed to be on her side. As she made her way up to the loft she felt herself get even antsier. Would Kate be willing to give her the answers she was after or would she be lied too again?
She opened the door to the loft to see her dad and step-mother sitting on the couch deep in conversation. The look of confusion that crossed their faces at her unannounced arrival gave her hope that her answers wouldn't be hidden.
"Alexis what are you doing here?" Castle questioned.
"I haven't heard from Zero since dinner." Alexis said bluntly. She wasn't going to tap dance around why she was there.
"Ah, yeah Sweetie we need to have a talk." Castle said. "Come sit down." He patted the couch.
There was no way this was going to be good news.
A/N: I will attempt to get chapters up at least once a week, since I am working now. Hope you enjoyed this. Please review. Thanks.