I am soooooo sorry for the hiatus. Believe me, I hated every minute of it. I hadn't got internet for a whole month :S But I'm back now :) I really hope you will like this chapter. I got a lot of chapter I'd already written so update depends on reviews.
Thank You so much for the new faves/alerts and the reviews, of course. They mean a lot.
Beta reader: Fleur LB
song: I gotta hole in my head by Rihanna
CHAPTER 7
ANTHOLOGY OF AN AWESOME DAY
Alex groaned when her phone rang. Tim wasn't next to her, which meant it was already morning. Whoever it was chose the worst time to chat with Alex. She was barely getting two hours of sleep a night because of her nightshift at the bar.
"What?" she groaned to the phone.
"Morning, sunshine," the familiar tinkling voice screamed happily on the other end of the phone.
Alex needed a few second to recognize the voice and realize it didn't mean anything good.
"Kathy, is that you?" Alex asked, nervously.
"No, I'm your fairy godmother. Of course it's me," Kathy answered. Alex could imagine her rolling her eyes.
"How the hell did you get my number?" Alex asked, wondering if anybody else (Ryan) knew it, too.
"I tell you it wasn't easy. I had to shoot Patrick in the knee," Kathy laughed.
"Kathy, seriously," Alex groaned, frustrated that somebody found her.
"Okay, okay. Geez, I tell you that southern air doesn't do any good for you. I went on a date with Patrick for the information. I told you it was hard. I hope you appreciate it."
"What do you mean that southern air? Do you know where I am?" Alex asked even more nervously.
"Of course I do. My date with Patrick was to sneak in the school and find your papers. So then, I was right and you went back to Dillon or wherever."
Alex saw Tim standing in the door, looking at her curiously. She stood up from the bed and closed the door. She didn't want Tim to hear this. She didn't want anybody to know what she left behind.
"Does anybody else know?" Alex asked.
"Do you mean Ryan?" Kathy asked back.
"Yes, Kathy, I mean Ryan," Alex groaned again. Sometimes Kathy could get on her nerves.
"No, he doesn't. No one else, just Patrick and me," Kathy added. "By the way, talking about Ryan. That's why I called. He went totally crazy after you left."
"What do you mean he went crazy?" Alex paced up and down in the room, biting her nails.
"I mean, he's nuts. Not like that's any news. But he's looking for you and I swear he's lost his mind," Kathy explained.
"But he doesn't know where I am?" Alex asked again.
"No, nobody does. I burnt your papers just in case. But I tell you, he scares me."
Alex swallowed hard before she answered.
"Whatever. The point is he doesn't know. No worries," Alex said more to convince herself than her friend. "I will change my number," she added.
"Fine," Kathy sighed.
"I'll call you," Alex, added when she heard her friend's hurt voice.
"Okay. I miss you. Take care," Kathy said.
"You take care," Alex said before she ended the call.
Ryan was looking for her. That was anything but good. There were some details Alex forgot to mention to Tyra when she talked about Ryan, like he was kind of obsessed with her. Ryan thought he owned Alex. He wanted to tell her to whom she could talk, what she could do, what she could wear. He wanted to control her whole life.
Alex wasn't sure Ryan wouldn't hurt her if he found her. Sometimes he scared her, too. No worries, she repeated to herself. He doesn't know where you are, Alex thought.
Alex made her way in the crowded hall of the school. Everybody stared at her, whispered and they said weird things like "We can go anywhere you want." or "I would run away with you."
"Julie, Julie," Alex yelled when she saw Julie across the hall. "Hey, can you tell me what the hell is wrong with everybody?"
"Ahm, did you just arrive?" Julie asked, shifting uncomfortable.
"Yeah, why? What happened?" Alex asked, curiously, while people still stared at her.
"I think, I'd better show you. Come on," Julie said, starting toward a classroom.
"So, what?" Alex asked when she sat down next to Julie at the video room.
Julie let out a huge sigh and put a tape into the video player. Lyla appeared on the screen in the school news. Next to her was a picture of an article "The girl who (s)hook up New York's underground world" where Alex sang on the stage at a club and after a few moments a video was played where Alex sang one of her songs, "Hook me up," with Kathy.
"Garrity," Alex groaned.
"That isn't everything," Julie sighed and gave a school paper and flyer to her.
There was an article about her in the school paper and the flyer said "Go to the Macheta Bar if you wanna meet with the big city girl."
Alex jumped up and rushed out from the classroom. She practically ran, moving her eyes, looking for Lyla.
"Garrity," she shouted when she saw Lyla at her locker.
"Hi, Alex," Lyla smiled at her.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Alex yelled at Lyla, pushing her against the locker.
"What are you talking about?" Lyla stared, scared of Alex.
"What am I talking about? I'm talking about your little news block and flyers about me," Alex yelled at Lyla.
"I just wanted to help you with the concert," Lyla said, innocently.
"Now you listen to me. I don't need your help, my friends don't need your help. Stay out of my business. If you don't want your pretty face to be bruised, don't screw with me, Garrity," Alex pointed at Lyla angrily and rushed away.
"Hi, girlie," Tyra greeted Alex. "You look like somebody who is ready to explode any minute."
"I talked to Lyla. I swear one day, I'm going to brush that smile off her face," Alex groaned.
"Tell me the time, I wanna be there for that," Tyra laughed.
"I thought you don't sing in public," Landry said and Alex could see he was hurt. Probably he thought she just wanted to shake him off when he asked her to sing in the band.
If Landry didn't believe her, the day when she'd kill Lyla Garrity would be sooner rather than later.
"And I don't," Alex said, frustrated.
"Didn't seem so in the video," Landry looked at her doubtfully.
"Leave her alone, Landry," Tyra punched Landry on the shoulder.
"I just wanna know the truth. If you didn't want to be in the band, you could have just said," Landry said. Alex felt her blood pumping in her ears, again.
Garrity was one lucky bitch she wasn't there at that moment, Alex thought.
"I swear on everything and anything, I don't sing in public. Unless I'm way too drunk to remember my name," she hated explaining herself and she hated that Landry thought she was a liar.
"Oh, well, nice performance by the way," Landry grinned after studying Alex for a few moments and finally decide she wasn't guilty.
"Thanks," Alex rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Alex, you're here," Mrs. Taylor stopped next to them.
"Seems like," Alex smirked.
Julie told her a couple of days ago that her mom wanted to talk to her and Alex tried hard to avoid it. However, this time it was too late to escape.
"Hi Tyra, Landry," Mrs. Taylor smiled at them before she turned back to Alex. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"I'll see you at Applebee's," Tyra said as she pulled Landry away.
So much for best friends, Alex groaned mentally.
"Sure," Alex nodded and followed Mrs. Taylor to her office.
"How are you doing?" Mrs. Taylor asked as she sat behind her desk.
"Fine, I guess," Alex shrugged.
"You're missing a lot of class, Alex. Why is that?"
"I'm working," Alex rolled her eyes.
"That's very good but you can't ditch school because of it," Mrs. Taylor sighed. "I've got a great idea. You could come for dinner tomorrow so we can talk about your situation?"
"What?" Alex looked shocked at Mrs. Taylor.
Dinner at the Taylors'? She didn't have a situation, Alex thought. There wasn't anything to talk about.
"That's very nice of you, Mrs. Taylor but the thing is I already have plans."
"What kind of plans?"
"I promised Billy we would watch a movie," Alex blurted out.
Great, Sawyer, keep it up, Alex groaned mentally. Being deadly tired caused Alex some major problem, like she couldn't think about great lies.
"I'm sure Billy will understand if you delay your movie night," Mrs. Taylor smiled at her, warmly.
"Yeah, but the thing is… You know he has to catch up with the world around him and I just…" Alex rambled.
"That's very sweet of you that you care about Billy's cultural experiences so much but one more day here or there won't change the world."
"Yes, I know but…"
"Did you say yes? That's great. See you tomorrow, honey. It's time to eat something other than junk food," Mrs. Taylor clapped her hands happily.
"Thank you, Mrs. Taylor," Alex sighed, leaving the office.
Alex left the school and light a cigarette. Such an awesome day so far, she thought.
"Hey, little bro," Billy greeted Tim when Tim arrived from practice. "You'd better hurry up. We can't be late for the concert. Alex is already very pissed. You should have seen her, she was like a hurricane."
"I know. She fought with Lyla again," Tim smirked, going to the bathroom.
"I think we'd better go. Who knows what she would do if we were late."
"I'll have a shower and go after you," Tim said.
"Alright. But if you value your life, don't be late," Billy said as he left.
Tim was ready to go when the phone rang.
"Hallo?"
"Tim, it's me, Lyla," Tim's eyes widened as he heard Lyla's voice.
"Are you there?" she asked when Tim didn't say anything.
"Yes," Tim answered, wondering what Lyla would want.
"My car broke down and I didn't know who else to call," Lyla explained.
"Where are you?" Tim sighed.
Tim went to get Lyla and take a look at her car, but he couldn't figure out what the problem was. Probably something major with the engine. Now they were on their way to the concert together. Though they had missed most of it.
"I'm sorry you missed the concert because of me," Lyla glanced at Tim.
"No worries," Tim shrugged.
The truth was Tim was worried. He knew Alex would be frantic that he wasn't there. He couldn't even imagine what was waiting for him other than another huge fight. But he couldn't leave Lyla next to the road in the middle of nowhere, right?
Alex did a great job, Tim thought as he made his way with Lyla on his side among the crowded bar. Also, she did a helluva great job with Landry and the band. The song they played was great, it didn't hurt to listen at all.
Then he saw Alex. She wore her tall boots with a very mini jeans skirt and a red tank top with the band's name on it. Her black hair was curly, making her look even more like a doll.
She stood there, cigarette in her hand, and she looked breathtaking. Alex moved her gaze, meeting with Tim's eyes. And boy, she was pissed. If looks could kill, Tim would be a dead man.
"Lexy, I'm sorry…" Tim started but Alex interrupted him.
"Save your apologies for someone who cares," Alex said, not looking at him.
She didn't yell, she didn't punch him, she just stood there, watching the band. It was bad, very bad, Tim thought.
"Lexy, I swear…"
"I don't care. Though you should apologies for Landry. He was looking for you," Alex said in an emotionless tone what hurt more than the loudest yelling.
Nothing like this ever happened before. There was always yelling or throwing stuff, something what Tim knew how to handle. But this time it was different and he knew he hurt Alex more than ever.
"Alex, listen, it's my fault that…" Lyla started to explain.
"Nobody talked to you, Garrity," Alex looked at Lyla with hatred. "And now if you excuse me, I've got things to do. My friends count on me," Alex said, leaving Tim and Lyla standing there.
"Hey, everybody," Alex yelled to the microphone. "Did you enjoy your time?"
The crowed answered with happy screams and clapping.
"Alright then. There's one more song for tonight, which actually is my personal favourite. Let's give it up for 'Be somebody'," Alex screamed and left the stage.
Alex waited for the end of the song and went to her car right after the band finished. She shut the door hard and started the engine.
I got a hole in my head
A hole in my head
Alex started to sing. Too much for one day, she thought. She felt she was going crazy.
Sometimes I get crazy and
I ain't scared of nobody
She decided it was stupid to be afraid of Ryan finding her. She would beat him up right after she finished with Tim Riggins, she thought,
Don't look at me funny
Like you ain't hear what I said
And Tim had the courage to go there with Garrity. It would be better if he didn't even show up.
I gotta hole in my head
She sang, drumming on the wheel. How dare he ruin her day even more? Finally something good happened and he screwed it up. And he tried to explain it with Garrity by his side. He should be happy she didn't kill him the minute they showed up. Alex rolled down the window and sang as loud as she could, trying to sing away her anger.
Tim tried to talk to Alex in the bar but it was impossible. She absoulutely ignored him. He hoped they could talk when they arrive home but he was wrong.
Alex arrived at home a few minutes before Tim and Billy. When Tim went to his bedroom, she was on her way out with his bedclothes in her hand.
"Lexy, please. Don't do this. Yell at me, say I'm a jerk or throw something at me. I don't know… Just do something," Tim pleaded her, knowing it wouldn't do any good, but he had to try.
"I tell you this, I wouldn't let myself sleep too deep. Maybe I will wake up in the middle of the night and decide to stab you in the back," Alex glared at Tim, shutting the door.
"What the hell should have I done? Leave her standing next to a deserted road?" Tim yelled to the door.
"I got a hole in my head…" Alex started to sang her newest song as loud as she could.
"Sawyer, don't start singing," Tim pounded on the door.
He hated when Alex did this with him. Singing always meant 'I don't care what you say'.
I don't think you wanna do that right now
And not with me, don't start with me I got a gun on me
I don't think you really wanna run your mouth
I gotta feeling, I'll burn it down, I'll burn you down
Now at least he knew what she though. She wanted to kill him. First with a knife and then came the gun. Nice, he groaned mentally.
I got a hole in my head
A hole in my head
Sometimes I get crazy and
I ain't scared of nobody
Don't look at me funny
Like you ain't hear what I said
I gotta hole in my head
Ay ay ay I gotta hole in my head
Ay ay ay I gotta hole in my head
Don't look at me funny
Like you ain't hear what I said
Ay ay ay I gotta hole in my head
The walls were thin, so the whole house was filled with Alex's voice.
"Nice job, little bro," Billy said, patting Tim on the shoulder.
"Shut up, Billy," Tim groaned, pushing Billy's hand away.
"Hey, just so you know, I was there, it wasn't me who let her down so don't even try to put it on me. You knew how important it was for her and you dumped her because of Garrity. Maybe you should think it over, decide who is more important," Billy said as he went to his bedroom.
Tim hated when Billy was right and he was right now. It was all so complicated with Alex, Tim thought. Tim knew there was a part of Alex that nobody could see, not even him. He didn't know why, but he felt Alex put a distance between them. He knew Alex enough to know that she hid something. Every time he felt like he could get closer, she pushed him away or he did something stupid like now. He screwed up big time and had no clue how to make things right.