Chapter 4
They landed in Birmingham at 5:00 am after taking the red eye out of Houston. Angela was exhausted after flying in total nearly 40 hours in the past two days. Alex, however, was wide awake. Angela called as soon as they landed and booked a room with the nearest hotel; a Best Western. They drove to the hotel room in silence and checked in.
Angela stumbled into the room and threw her bag beside the nearest bed; while Alex walked in, grabbed the remote, turned on the TV, and then relaxed on the farthest bed from the door. Angela went into the bathroom changed and got ready for bed. Then she went back into the main room
"Turn it off." she said to Alex.
"But I …"
"Turn It OFF." she said anger in her voice.
"Ok, ok. I'm turning it off." he replied.
When he hit the power the room went black except for the faint glow of his eyes. Angela felt her way to the bed and collapsed into a deep sleep.
Alex woke to the annoying ring of Angela's cell phone. It was the band Nickleback's song "Far Away" and it played one part over and over again. Bloody hell, thought Alex Ill definitely have to change that.
"Angela!" Alex yelled.
"…What." she groaned over the ring.
"Your phone's ringing."
"I know."
"Answer it, damn it!" he said annoyed "Or Ill turn it off myself."
"Ok." she said as she lifted her and from the bed and grabbed the phone off of the bedside table.
"Hello?" she said wearily. "Oh hey Naima. Yea you woke us up. Well be on our way in about an hour……" she went on.
Alex looked at the time it was 10:00 am. They had been asleep for only five hours. Naima needs to get a life. He thought. You think she could've let us sleep in.
"Ok bye. I love you too." click. Angela sat the phone back down and swung her feet onto the side of the bed. She had on pink silk pajamas and her hair was down, for a change. It made her look older in a way.
Alex sat up, he was still in the cloths he had on the day before.
"Will I have any other clothes than these when I get to your house?" he asked
"Yes, I told Naima to pick you out some clothes from American eagle."
"Well, thank you." he said unused to the generosity.
"It's no problem. Naima was excited too. She's never shopped for a guy before."
Interesting… So I'll end up in a pink plaid shirt and knickers. "Are you sure she knows what to buy?"
"Yea she has bought for her 12 year old cousin before just not for anyone her own age." said Angela as she got up and walked toward the bathroom.
Ok it's worse Ill end up with a T-shirt that says I love power rangers and pants that flood. Beauty.
They left the hotel and headed home but only after Alex cleaned out the free continental breakfast in the lobby. They had driven for 45 minutes and were only minutes from Angela's house in the Heatherwood neighborhood.
"So, Alex, how do you like America?"
"The terrain's a bit different than what I'm used too, but it's pretty nice." He said smiling at Angela.
"That's good." She said as she pulled into the neighborhood. "We're almost there. It's that cul-de-sac right there." She pointed to the sign that said Beaver run.
Well that's an interesting name. Thought Alex. Are there a lot of beavers here or did the builder just have a soft spot for them?
They drove down the street. The Houses that lined the street hid behind trees and were fairly close together.
"This is it." said Angela as she pulled into the last house on the right.
The two story brick house was surrounded with trees and had a long drive way. When they got to the garage Alex could see the pool in the backyard. Sweet he thought. Angela parked the silver Volvo outside the garage door and motioned for Alex to get out as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
They walked through the garage and to the back door. Angela unlocked the door and let Alex open it and walk in first.
Just as he did this, a massive black Great Dane ran up and jumped on him. Alex screamed and accidentally gave the dog a shock. It whimpered and ran to hide behind the girl who was standing in the middle of the living room.
"...I'm sorry. He scared me. I actually like dogs." said Alex as he walked a little farther into the room. He looked at Naima carefully. She had wavy dark brown hair similar to Angela's except hers flowed freely past her shoulders. She was wearing a dark blue V-kneck sweater with a green undershirt. Her jeans were light with large holes in the knees and she was wearing Wallabies shoes.
"Ha. Its ok." said Naima as she walked towards her mother. "He likes to jump on people…. a lot." She looked him over. He had dark brown hair and he was tan! She thought. His hair was messy but it suited him well and his eyes glowed an electric blue. It was a beautiful reminder of what he was. He had a typical Aussie accent which actually made him more appealing. She soon dismissed the idea She already had a boyfriend and plus her mom would never let it happen. That doesn't mean I can't still look. She thought.
"You must be Naima." said Alex pronouncing her name carefully. She's actually quite beautiful. He thought. He quickly dismissed the idea as a pang of reality hit him. They're from two different worlds. It would never happen. He reminded himself.
"Yea hi. You must be Alex." she said as walked up to him and held out her hand.
"Yea." he said embracing her hand in a shake and giving her his classic smile.
"Naima why don't you show Alex around the house." said Angela as she headed up the stairs toward her room.
"Sure." she said. "Come on."
Alex followed her they walked into the living room and through an archway into the kitchen.
"This is the kitchen." she said as she continued walking.
She turned left down a hallway with three doors. Two on one side and one on the other. She opened the first door to the right. I was a deep purple room with music posters plastering the wall.
"This is my room." she said. "That's also the only computer besides my mom's laptop. So if you need it just ask."
"Thanks." he said still staring at her room.
"Mkay and this door." she said continuing down the hallway. "Is the bathroom that well be sharing. So clean up after yourself or ill make you go outside."
"Ha. Ok. I will. No worries mate." he said. This will be different. He thought.
"And over here…. Is your room." She said walking to the other side of the hall and opening the door.
"My room?"
"Yep." she said with a smile.
Alex walked to the door slowly and pushed it open carefully.
The room was a light blue with two windows on the adjacent wall. There was a darkly stained dresser between them. On the farthest wall from the door there're was a full sized bed with a black feather comforter on it. Across from the bed there was a middle sized TV sitting on a desk with a rolling chair beside it.
Alex couldn't help but smile. It was great. His own room?! He hadn't had a room to himself in years."This is mine!?" he asked
"Well yea. It used to be the guest bedroom but yea. Now its yours." she replied. "Do you like it?"
"You know what Sheila I don't think you have any idea how much I like this room." he said laughingly. "Its great, thanks."
"No problem. Do you wanna see the game room?" she asked.
"There's a game room?"
"Yea it's in the basement."
"Show me the way." he said excitedly.
She left the hallway and they went back towards the stairs. Past them there was a door which led down to the basement. They went down. The room was quite large. There was a couch in the middle and a flat screen plasma TV in front of it. Beside the TV there was pretty much every up to date gaming system known to man; A Play station 3, X-box 360, and a wii. There was a large stereo system on the farthest wall. I think ill live down here decided Alex.
"This is pretty nice." he said.
"Yea I love it down here but lately I've been so busy with school that I haven't gotten to come down here much."
School. He had almost forgotten.
"What is your school like?" he asked as he walked over to the black couch and plopped down.
"Walker's nothing special. I can promise you that. But its fun I guess. Probably only because all my friends are there." she said as she sat down beside him.
"Do you think Ill be able to survive?" he asked.
"I think… that people will adjust. I know that my friends will be ok with it; my boyfriend not so much but Ill smack some sense into him." She laughed.
"Oh... Well we'll just see what happens. Won't we." I should've known there would be a boyfriend. he thought.
Alex turned the TV on without moving a muscle and even began changing channels.
"What the Crap!" screamed Naima.
He stopped flipping channels and stared at her. "What?"
"What wha….. Are you doing that?"
"Oh yea I'm sorry did it scare you?" he laughed.
"Yea!" she said. "Give me a warning next time… I'm fine now."
"Ok good." He smiled.
"That's really weird." she laughed as Alex continued changing channels.
"Eh, I'm used to it. At first I was like. Ahhh, Wooahh! But yea now its just natural." he said, never looking away from the screen.
Naima just looked at him, still amazed. So not fair. She thought.
Angela walked partly down the stairs.
"Pizza for lunch?" she asked
"Sure." said Naima.
"What about you Alex. Is that ok with you?" she asked.
Alex looked up quickly. "Oh… well it's not even in the avro yet. I mean we could have pizza for dinner."
"Well yea. That's still leaves the question of what you guys want for lunch." she replied
"Well we could get something small from Maccas or just eat some vegemite toast if you don't feel like going anywhere."
Naima and Angela stared at him for a moment. Alex looked at them both.
"What?" said Alex.
"We don't understand the words that are coming out of your mouth." said Naima laughingly. "What is Maccas and what is Vegemite?"
"Crikey. You bloody Seppos really don't speak any slang do you?"
"What did you call us?" asked Angela who was still standing on the stairs.
"I called you American. And Maccas is just McDonalds. And Vegemite is well I don't know how to explain it but it tastes good on toast with a little butter." explained Alex, shocked at their lack of Aussie knowledge. "So…. You don't have any vegemite?"
"Ha. Nope. You left that down under kiddo." said Naima.
"That's gay." he said.
"Ok…. Well ill just go to Maccas then." said Angela clearly holding back laughs. Alex glared at her. "Umm Naima did you have any homework you were supposed to do over the weekend?"
"No." She said lying as she stared back at the TV.
"Yea ok… sure." said Angela. "Alex I have a question."
"Shoot."
"Do you want me to register you to school tomorrow and you have your first day then or do you want me to wait a day and let you settle in."
Damn… school. "Err. I guess tomorrow. To get the first day over with." he replied. "You're sure?" she said curiously. "You don't want a day off?"
"Nah Ill be fine." he said. "I just wanna get it over with. The first days always the hardest."
"Alright then I just needed to know. You need to be up a 6:30 then so you have time to get ready in the morning." said Angela
"No worries mate."
Angela went back up the stairs. A few minutes later Alex and Naima heard her pull out of the drive-way and head off to get the food.
"So. Alex. Do you have any family back in Australia?" asked Naima.
Alex's heart froze. "No." he replied quietly. Nosey bastard.
"oh." said Naima. Alex got up from the couch. "Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna test out the TV in my room." He said not looking at her as he walked up the stairs.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry. It's just…"
But Alex was already gone. Naima sat there alone on the couch.
Alex went into his room and shut the door. He lay on his bed for the first time and started reminiscing. In that moment he was five again sitting in the funeral home, his feet dangled from the chair. Grown-ups around him tried to give him comfort but he just sat there in silence. What else could he do? His whole world had just been shattered.
They said a drunk driver had hit them but none of that mattered. They were gone. Everyone; his mother his father and his baby sister. He was alone.
Alex snapped back to reality when Naima knocked on the door. "Are you ok?" she yelled.
"Yea. I'm fine." he said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yea I'm sure." he said. He could hear the dog panting on the other side of the door.
"If your so sure then open the door." she said stubbornly.
Like I said earlier this Sheila needs a life. Thought Alex. He proceeded to open the door without moving. It creaked open and the dog pushed it open the rest of the way. It proceeded to jump up on the bed beside Alex.
"Well hey little bugger. Sorry bought earlier mate." He said patting the dog on the head.
"I didn't mean to pry. I just thought it was a good conversation starter." said Naima innocently.
"I said I was fine mate. Now go do your homework." he replied.
Naima stood there for a moment and then sat on the bed. "You can talk to me you know." she said. Alex just looked at her. "I mean I know it's going to be hard for you to fit in here and I want to let you know that you can talk to me about anything."
"Ok." he said looking back at the dog; pretty much ignoring her.
"Her names Midnight." she said.
I wonder why. He thought as he stroked her black fur.
Naima took the hint and got up to leave. She stopped in the doorway. "My boyfriend, Nathan, is coming over at two. You can meet him then." she said smiling.
Alex, however, did not smile. "Great." he said sarcastically.
Naima closed the door and left him alone with Midnight. He soon dosed off to the sound of her panting.