The Lost Boys
Not My Only Reason
As soon as Alexis was out of sight, Edgar scooted closer to Alan.
"Why did you tell her the phone is back there? The phone is over there." He asked, pointing to the spot next to the cash register where their only phone sat.
"So we could have some time to talk while she is looking for the 'phone'." Alan told his brother.
"Well then you better hurry, because the back isn't that big, and she'll be coming back any second," Edgar warned.
Alan nodded before coming closer and getting quieter. "What do you think about all this?"
Edgar shrugged. "It seems we have a better lead on our local vamp problem."
"And Alexis seems to know a lot more than she's letting us in on," Alan said, trying to point the conversation in the direction he intended. "Which could be very dangerous for her and us. We have no idea how long she's going to be under our care, so we have to make sure she knows that we take no bullshit."
Edgar's eyes went a little wide, and his voice raised up to normal volume. "What do you mean we don't know long she's going to be in our care? We're still going to watch over her once this blows over?!"
Alan punched his brother to quiet him down. "Well duh. After what's happened, plus her vagueness about her sister, she's obviously a target. We'll have to keep an eye on her until we know it's safe."
Edgar looked so betrayed, he didn't want to take care of her. The attitude she'd displayed thus far and her horrible listening skills made it hard for him to trust her. He knew that they would have to protect her, but he really hoped Alan would just say they could let her go.
Alan just rolled his eyes at the look on his brother's face. "Come on, it's not going to be that bad. She'll probably get better now that we've saved her."
"Whatever," Edgar huffed, crossing his arms and looking away. "She's just going to get in the way of everything at this rate."
"You're just saying that because you're jealous of the bloodsucker she was with."
"Listen here you bastard, I am not jealous!"
Alan punched his brother harder and quietly hissed, "Now you've done it!"
Alexis poked her head out of the back room and looked at them curiously. "Hey, what's going on?"
Alan and Edgar quickly separated from each other, making them seem totally suspicious to Alexis.
"Oh, just talking," Alan said, trying to be nonchalant.
Alexis just raised an eyebrow and walked back into the front area. She had been able to catch the last part of what had been going on, due to not being able to find a phone back there. It wasn't hard to realize that there was nowhere for a phone to even go due to the mess. Instead, she decided to be a great person and eavesdrop on them.
"Well, I was going to come back out soon anyways," she said. "I couldn't find any phone back there."
"Oh, I totally forgot!" Alan said, suddenly 'remembering'. "We moved our phone to the front just last week! I haven't gotten used to it yet, sorry."
She knew that was a lie. There was no way they ever had a phone back there, but of course she had to play along with the lie as well.
"It's alright," she said as she walked over to the phone. After picking up the receiver, she stared at the numbers with anxiety. Her parents were not going to react well, but the longer she waited, the less likely she would be able to leave the house ever again. She plucked up her courage after 30 seconds of staring at the phone and dialed the number.
It wasn't long after she dialed the number when someone picked up the phone. She heard her mother's frantic voice say, "Alexis? Are you there? Oh god dammit please be there!"
"Hey Mom," Alexis nervously said.
"Alexis! Where have you been? Where are you? Why are you not home? Are you hurt? Did something bad happen to you? Why would you do this to us? Can you think of anyone but yourself for one second of your day? We have been-"
"Mom? MOM!" Alexis yelled at her mother. "I'm fine, nothing bad has happened."
"Then why are you missing from home? We told you to be home by midnight, and what time is it? 12:05! Why would you disobey us?'
"MOM! I met a friend at the boardwalk today and got too caught up in fun. We tried to get me home, but the storm was too much, and we just stayed over at their shop. Their parents own one here and they thought it would be better if I just stayed here too."
"Well then, let me talk to these so called parents," her mother told her.
"Oh um, sure! Hold on a few seconds," she nervously looked at the brothers for help. She whispered to them, "My mom wants to talk to your parents! What do I do?"
Edgar grabbed the phone from Alexis, and started talking to her mom.
"Hello?" he said, his voice just a bit deeper and gravely than his voice already was. Alexis and Alan could barely contain their laughter, but they were somehow able to keep it down. Edgar shot them an annoyed glance before continuing.
"Yes, this is the father. Yes, she did meet my child today at the boardwalk. Yes, we did try to bring her home, but the rain was too much, we couldn't see through our windshield, and the wind was too hard to walk home in, so we offered for her to stay the night." He paused, listening to her mother talk. "Yes, yes. We can walk her over tomorrow if you would like." He paused once more. "Yes, perfect time. We'll have her home right then. Thanks, goodbye." And he hung up.
"What did she say?" Alexis eagerly asked.
"She said you could stay," Edgar told her, and she huffed a sigh of relief. "And we have to have you home by time they get off of work tomorrow."
She was so relieved that it actually worked. It took a minute after the call ended to realize how tense she'd been before and during the call. Her lungs had suddenly filled with air and her hands were a little shaky. She tried to be inconspicuous about calming herself down, but it seemed Edgar was watching with concern hidden in his eyes.
"So," Alexis said, her voice a little pitched up from trying to calm down. "Where am I going to sleep now that we've gotten this far? And you two?"
"Uh, I think we have a couch," Alan told her.
"You've got a couch?" she asked, perplexed. She didn't remember seeing it from her search for a phone earlier.
"We also have a bed frame, without a mattress, if you would like to sleep on that instead," Edgar said, joking around to lighten the mood from her anxiety earlier.
"No thanks, a couch is fine with me," Alexis told him, giving him a small smile in appreciation. "But what about guys? Where are you going to sleep?"
"We'll have to sleep on the floor. We've got nothing else, you're lucky we even have the couch," Alan remarked as they walked to the back.
"Fine, but I don't like how you guys have to sleep on the floor. You sure you've got nothing else?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry, Edgar and I will be fine. We can sleep on the floor no problem."
Alan pulled a bunch of junk from on top of what appeared to be the couch, showing her that there was indeed a couch. It was a very shitty couch, but one nonetheless. He grabbed one of the boxes of junk to reveal it had blankets inside. He took out a few and let her choose, to which she chose a couple of the thinner blankets. She hoped they would use some of the bigger blankets to give some cushion for the hard ground. She laid one of the blankets to cushion her sleep on the couch, not trusting it to not have springs or pieces of metal trying to jab into her skin.
She sat down on the couch to find out it was only just barely better than being on the floor. It was so lumpy and squishy, and her ass had just about fell into the back crack of the couch. She cringed and decided to watch the Frog Brothers as they made their bed. They had cleared out a pretty big area, and were using teamwork to lay blankets down. Edgar had looked over at Alexis to see her watching them, but he quickly looked away in embarrassment. She chuckled a bit and laid down, not dwelling on it. It must've been an exhausting day, because as soon as her head hit the lumpy couch she was out.
As Edgar got into the makeshift bed, he took another look at Alexis to find her sleeping peacefully already. It brought a small smile to his face to see her so peaceful, but the moment was ruined by Alan turning off the lights in the back and crawling into their bed. He quickly shook the thoughts about her from his mind, using the blanket-turned-pillow to relieve him for the night, wishing he would be able to fall asleep as fast as her.
Alexis woke up in the middle of the night, still tired. Something felt different, very different. She woke up a bit more and noticed she was no longer on the lumpy couch in the comic shop owned by the Frog Brothers, but in a real and comfortable bed. It wasn't her bed. Once she was finally aware of her surroundings, she felt a presence behind her on the bed. It wasn't a bad presence, but in fact it was a very protective presence. She turned her head and body slightly to look behind her, and she saw a boy on the bed with her. He had short dark hair, and she was just able to see light highlights spiked up in his hair. He looked to be around her age. A few seconds after looking over the boy, he woke up. He looked at her very lovingly with light blue eyes that she was barely able to see. He came a little closer to her, and kissed her, full on the lips. Confused at first, she didn't do anything, but as he kept kissing her, she was kissing him back. When he broke the kiss, they got closer and he wrapped his arms around her stomach. She placed her arms around his, and leaned against his chest a little. They cuddled like that until she was finally asleep again.
Then she woke up.
It was morning. The first thing she did when she woke up was look for that boy, but she was back on the couch again. She realized it must have been a dream and slumped back to into her sleeping position, and put her face in between the end of the cushion and arm of the couch. Despite what happened during the previous day, she really wanted it to be real. He had a very protective feeling around her, it was very similar to how the Frog Brothers felt around her now. It was so different to how Jake had treated her while he was pretending to like her. It felt so real. She moved her head to look around the back of the shop for a second, but found the Frogs staring down at her. She covered her head with some of the blanket, whining at them to show them she was irritated.
"Jeez, look who woke up on the wrong side of the couch," Edgar commented on her attitude.
"Shut up," she told Edgar. "I surprisingly got a good amount of sleep."
Edgar faked looking offended and scoffed at her. "Is that any way to treat your hosts?"
Taking the blanket off her head, she rolled her eyes and sat up. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was in a place of royalty 'your highness'."
He gave her one of his famous death glares, and she smiled smugly at him. He could tell it was already going to be a long day.
Alan interrupted the two before it got any worse.
"So what time do you need to be home by, then?" he asked.
"About 4ish," she replied. "They get off at 3:30 and it takes about a half hour for them to get home."
Alan nodded and looked at his watch. "Well we have plenty of time before then. Our parents will be here soon to open shop."
"So we have time to hang out before we take you home, if you'd like," Edgar added.
"Where are your parents, by the way?" she asked.
"As soon as they were half way decent enough to drive they were out of here," Edgar replied bitterly. "It was a few hours before the storm even hit."
"Oh," she mumbled, looking at them in surprise. She didn't think they were that shitty of parents, but it seemed she was wrong. "So they just sort of left you guys here?"
"Yeah. Usually when they do this we can catch a bus that's close enough to where we live, but sometimes we just hang out here for the night. They're obviously not worried to leave us here alone."
Alexis could tell it was a hard subject for the both of them, because Edgar was trying his best to keep his anger down and Alan was trying hard not to slap Edgar for the way he was talking about them. She didn't believe Alan liked that their parents did this shit, but he probably hated thinking about it.
"I...I'm sorry," she apologized. "I...didn't mean to..."
Alan was about to assure her that it was no problem, when Edgar decided it was a great time to have a meltdown.
"It's okay, it's not your fault they're pieces of shit," he started. "It's not your fault that we have to sit and fend for ourselves while they sit in the back and get fucking high on whatever drug it is this week. Oh, and that it's been this way since we were old enough to get shit done! Not to mention-"
"Edgar!" Alan barked, finally breaking. "Shut the fuck up about them. I don't want to hear anything else about them ever again."
"Maybe if they gave a shit, we wouldn't have to worry about having conversations like this! I can't wait until we can fucking leave their place!"
Alexis sat with clenched teeth and hands, not knowing how to comfort either brother. They obviously weren't happy with their parents, but didn't talk about it with each other often. She couldn't handle them yelling, so she stood up and walked out to the front, leaning against the front counter and falling to the ground. Keeping her eyes firmly shut, she breathed in and out slowly to keep from going into an anxiety attack. Her mind blocked out everything to keep herself focused on breathing, so she wasn't sure if they were still fighting or if what she'd done interrupted them.
She couldn't believe that their parents were that bad. She had no idea they'd had to fend for themselves for so long; her life had been so contrasting in comparison. Her parents hadn't always been as overprotective as they had been the past year, but they were still very involved in their children's lives. They volunteered for school activities, helped them with homework, and we're always there to listen to the problems of their children. Alan and Edgar had none of that. It was hard to think that these two boys were going to school, working in the shop, and watching out for the undead everyday by themselves.
It was quite a few minutes before she could calm her thoughts down and her reaction. It wasn't the proper way to react, especially when it wasn't about her. She just couldn't figure out what to say to make them stop. She was about to get up, when she looked up and saw the brothers standing above her, leaning against the comic shelves and trying to look nonchalant.
"Hey," she mumbled weakly. "Sorry about just leaving like that, I-"
"Don't worry about it," Alan said, cutting her off. "We got too caught up in a conversation we shouldn't have had in front of you. I can't imagine it was very fun for you to hear."
Edgar nodded in agreement, but stayed silent. He wouldn't even look at her, which made her a little sad. "Yeah, we were out of line. Sorry."
"It's okay," she said, getting her voice back slowly. She slowly stood up and wiped at her eyes, only just realizing she had gotten tears in her eyes from panicking. "I'll just go now, so I don't have to be even more of a bother to you guys."
Edgar's head snapped to attention at her words, making Alexis jump a little in surprise.
"You're not being a bother," Alan reassured her. "In fact, it's better the more time you spend with us so we can make sure you're safe."
She nodded slightly at his words, surprised at both of their reactions.
"Oh, um, alright," she said, unsure of how to proceed. "I'm glad you both think so."
"But if you really think you should go home, we'd be happy to escort you," Edgar spoke. They were being so kind to her, she felt like she could never repay them.
Alexis nodded again, more confident in her decision. "The earlier I get home, the more likely I'll be able to see you guys again."
They smiled at her words - well, as well as they could with their 'too cool' personas out.
"Alright, home it is," Alan decided. As soon as they were all packed up and prepared for the trip home, they were off. Alexis was nervous about them coming to her home, but she remembered they followed her and Jake home yesterday; so they were already aware of the area she lived in and what it looked like, unfortunately. It wasn't a bad area or anything, but it was a little too fancy for her tastes.
When they reached her home, they all stopped on the doorstep to say their goodbyes.
"Thank you guys for saving my life," she said. "And letting me crash at your place, and for escorting me home."
"It's no problem," Alan stated, putting out his hand for her to shake. "Next time you're out, let us know."
Instead of taking his hand, she gave him a hug. She figured the boys deserved some form of endearment after lacking it from their parents most of their lives. She also just wanted to be able to thank them in a more earnest way than a handshake would give. He was surprised at first, but returned the sentiment awkwardly. She then let go and gave a hug to Edgar, who also awkwardly returned the hug.
She giggled when she let go and saw them looking around awkwardly, very not used it. Alan cleared his throat to bring back his gruff attitude and started to speak. "So uh, we wanted to give you this comic so that you could study up and be more prepared next time."
Edgar held the comic up to her, and it was a copy of the comic she looked at when she first came into the shop, Vampires Everywhere!.
"Free of charge," Edgar added.
She gave them a surprised look and shook her head quickly. "This is really nice, but I can't take it."
They returned her surprised look and pulled it back. "What do you mean you can't take it?"
"You two have already done so much for me," she confessed, looking ashamed. "I'll never be able to repay you for your kindness. I would be rude of me to keep taking without giving you guys anything in return."
Edgar groaned and shoved the comic book into her hands, frightening her a little. "Just take it. We're doing this because we want to."
"And if you're really concerned about being able to repay us," Alan chimed in. "Helping us find and kill the undead will be payment enough."
Alexis blinked away the tears that were starting to form and clutched the book in her hands. She nodded excitedly and smiled happily at them. "Thank you, I'll try as hard as I can to help you guys out."
"Yeah, yeah," Edgar said, shrugging and walking down the steps backwards as to keep an eye on her. "Just get inside so you'll be safe. And get back out as soon as you can."
She laughed and nodded, waving them off as she opened the door to her home and walked in. As soon as they both turned around to walk back to the boardwalk, she closed the front door and went to the window to watch until they were out of sight. If they were going to protect her, she would protect them too. When they were officially out of sight, she looked at the comic in her hands. She was excited to look through it, but she would most definitely have to hide it from her parents. Just one look at the 'gory' cover of the comic book and her parents would have a meltdown, going on and on about how she's turning out just like her sister...
She stopped her thoughts there and took a breather back to reality. She decided she would do what she could to get on her parents good side. She did her daily chores, took a shower, and put on some nice and clean clothes. Unfortunately, she found out that Jake had bled on her when he got stabbed, so she had to throw away the shirt to make sure her parents wouldn't see it.
When all was said and done, she put the comic book given to her in the drawer of her vanity, the only place she could lock it and make sure her parents never got in. As soon as she got everything done, she laid down on the couch in the living room and turned on the TV to relax herself. It hadn't been 15 minutes into whatever show was on that her eyes fluttered shut, and she took a much needed nap.
A/N: Holy shit, this chapter changed the most of all of them. It was so cringey for me to read every time I look back on it, so it was nice to fix it up. I'm really sorry if this cut out some of your favorite dialog though. I hope I can keep them better in character this time around, and this can be a good read still. Thank you for sticking around.
