Something happened last night. Because I'm not old enough to understand no one will tell me. But that doesn't mean that I can't find out for myself. The party was full of grownups and they had no idea how to have fun. All they did was talk about stuff and eat food. There a cake but no one sang happy birthday, the music was all sad stuff that just made me sleepy.
The best part about last night was watching my mom and Troy dance together, I don't know why but she looked so happy. I've never seen her look so happy not even with Butthead and I wasn't the only one who noticed. Grandpa and grandma were also watching them. Troy obviously knew my mom when they were little. I asked grandpa about it and he said that they grew up as best friends and were joined at the hip. Grandma said that she always thought Troy would marry my mom.
Thinking about it now, it might not be so bad if that were to happen. My mom needs someone like Troy around. He's really tall to get the high things off the shelf and he look strong so he could lift the couch up when she's vacuuming. Plus Troy's not like any other grownup I've ever met before, he funny and smart about a lot of stuff.
I saw him playing basketball last night with Aunt Taylor's kids Derrick and Michael. He was really good at it too. I so want him to teach me how to do that lay up thing he showed the boys. When I asked mom about it she said he was a professional basketball player. She also said it was his dream ever since he was little like me.
I wonder why they stop being friends. Mom really likes him, I could tell just by the ways she gets all fluttery whenever he's around. It's too bad they don't get along. After they danced they began to argue. Grandma said she was worried and grandpa told her it would be alright. I could see why was grandma would be worried. Mom looked really mad. I wonder what they were arguing about. I think I might have found a story right under my nose like the Reporter told me.
Happily, I noticed that mom isn't wearing that dumb ring around her neck anymore which is nice. If you ask me and I know, no one ever will. I think that ring was ugly and odd looking. Then again this is Butthead we're talking about and he doesn't give good gifts to anyone. He's probably the reason why mom was crying last night. I tried to pretend like I was asleep so she could cry. She seemed so sad and all she did was sit up in bed most of the night staring out the window or touching my face and whispering how much she loved me.
"Alex," her mom said coming into the room and closing the door behind her. "I have to ask you a question?"
"Yeah," she said hesitantly not sure what to expect from her mother. Deciding this was something she should probably take seriously Alex shut her notebook and smiled as she looked up at her mom who came and sat next to her on the bed.
"Sweetie, how would you feel if Doug became part of our family?" she asked gently.
A moment of silence pasted between them as Alex turned the thought around in her head. She didn't like Doug, but she was more than sure her mother didn't want to hear that. "Doug isn't a part of our family," she muttered looking away from her mom.
"I know he isn't part of our family now. But, what about later?" she continued as she tucked a strand of Alex's hair behind her ear.
Alex was quite for a moment and she looked into her mom's eyes unable to read what she saw. She didn't want to make her mom cry anymore, but she didn't want Doug as a dad. "Do you really like Doug?" she asked after a moment of silence.
"Yes I like him, but how do you really feel about him living with us?"
"Live in the same house with Doug. Mom he labels everything and he lives alone," she said in whine.
"But he would be able to take care of us and he would love us," she said with a smile.
"We can take care of each other or move back in with grandma and grandpa," she said leaning forward not able to understand why those options weren't on the table.
"Baby we can't move back."
"Why not? It's not fair your miserable back at home and I hate Doug and the kids in school make fun me," she said in quite voice. "Why can't we just live here?"
Her mother took a deep breath and leaned back on the propping herself up on one arm. Both girls frowning deeply and trying hard not to let the other know about it. There was silence for a moment until her mom spoke again. "Why don't you go play outside and I'll call you in for dinner."
Her shoulders couldn't help but fall as she nodded and took her note book with her. Not entirely sure what to say she left the room closing the door behind her. She lingered for a moment not sure if she should go outside or not but compared to going back inside the room with her mother Alex wiped away a tear and began to climb down the steps.
Grownups just don't get it. They never make things easy or think of anyone but themselves. I can't believe Doug is going to be living with us or that I might have to call him dad one day. I promised grandma I wouldn't be mad at my mom. But now I'm just sad and lonely. What if mom and Doug have a kid together? What if Doug convinces my mom to send me away? I have to do something. I can't give up.
Alex's head shot up as he heard the sound of a familiar engine roaring to life. Getting up she ran towards the front of the house her ponytail bouncing as she followed the noise to where it was coming from and stopping as in the Bolton's driveway looking into their garage. Slowly she made up the drive and smiled as she seen Troy in the garage with a car hood opened up in front of him. The sound stopped and Troy stared at the parts under the hood and looked around the garage in search of something.
"What are you doing?" Alex asked as she came closer to the car.
Troy jumped as he looked behind him at the little girl standing there with her arms behind her back trying her best to see inside the car's engine.
"Do you ever just say hello?" he said taking a rag and wiping down a long white stick.
"Do you always avoid the question?" she answered.
Troy let out a laugh as he gave into her. "I'm cleaning my car oil tank," he said eyeing her with a smile as she looked generally interested in what he was doing. "You see this stick?" He said holding up the stick he'd just wiped clean and then reaching over to unscrew a black cap and place it to the side.
"What it's for?" she asked as he lifted the stick to slowly drop it in the hole. Troy looked up at her for a moment but continued to talk to her.
"I'm checking my oil." He said pulling this stick back out.
"Can I help you check your oil?" she asked stepping closer and looking inside at all the spaghetti looking pieces.
"Why not, you seem like the persist type," he said with a smile. "What do you think?" he said showing her the stick.
"Why is it black?" she said wrinkling her noise at it. "Do you have to clean it?"
"No, the oil is supposed to be black we just got to make sure there is enough of it," He said bending down so he could show it to her better. "You see once you've gone past here you know you need an oil change," He said indicating a low level on the stick.
"Then yours is fine?" she said looking at the point where the ink did end.
"Yup," he said with a smile as he stood up and wiped off the stick, with sigh he tucked the rag into his back pocket and looked over at the blue eyed little girl standing in front of him. "Do you know what a wench is?" he asked her and smiled as shook her head.
"Well today's you're lucky day," he said with a laugh as he looked around the garage. "You want to help me do some odds and ends around the house."
"What are odd and ends?" she asked taking a rag off the counter and putting it in her back pocket as well.
He couldn't put his finger on what he felt about Alex. He immediately liked her just because she was a part of Gabriella, the like boiled over into fondness simply because he never met someone her age who want something so bad she made it a reality. Troy shrugged and reached up for his tool box, "I guess it's an odd term grownups use to make things more complicated," he said looking back down at her. "How strong are you?"
"I'm really strong, I help mom all the time and I play basketball all the time," she said happily which made Troy blink as he looked down at the little girl again. She had to be the coolest little kid he ever met. She didn't shy away from work or learning something new. She didn't let fear control her, Alex was the kind of kid who just embraced life.
He handed her the tool box and smiled as she used both her hands to carry it. Closing his hood to the car he picked up a piece of wood and led her to the front of the house. "Today, we are going to replace a step," he said grabbing the tool box and setting it on the ground.
"Why doesn't Mr. Bolton fix the step?" she asked watching him pull out a hammer.
"Because, he's older and can't do as many things as before," he said pulling the nails out of the step the old step with a grunt.
"Well then why don't you just call a handy man?" she asks taking the nails he handed her hand and putting them in the compartment with all the other nails in it.
"When you get older and your parents get older, it just becomes your responsibility to take care of them," he said removing the board from the step. "You see this board," he said holding it up for her to see.
"Yeah," she said making a show of looking at it and examining the color and make. "What's wrong with it?"
He couldn't help laughing a little at her, she was just so darn cute, just like her mother. "It's weak, see it's got a crack right here," he finally explained. "We want to replace it now because one day Mrs. Bolton is going to be walking up the stairs and she might step on it and we wouldn't want her to fall," Troy said holding the board up and turning it so she could see the side where a crack was beginning to form.
"That's the weak spot right?" she asked pointing to the crack.
"Yup," He said putting the board down on the ground. "Could you hand me the other board?" He watched her as she went over to pick up the board. She lifted it with her knees as she brought it over to him dragging the one side on the ground.
Troy took the board from her hands before any damage could be done to her or the board and smiled as he said his thank you. When made sure that the board was in place and ready to be hammered in he looked behind him to find her watching his every move. "So you play basketball?" he asked.
"Yes," she said excited to be asked the question. "I was wondering if you could show me that thing you showed the boys," she asked placing her hands behind her back.
"Why don't we finish up with this step, we'll eat a snack and then I'll show you a layup," he said with a shrug. "What do you like in your sandwich?"
"I like peanut butter and bananas."
"Me too," he said walking over to his tool box and shifting through it for four good nails he could use to hammer in the board. "I however, like mine with cinnamon," he added comparing two nails to be sure they were the right size.
"Wow," Alex said with jump, "I thought I was the only one! My mom says it's nasty, but I think it makes super-duper amazing," she said exerting her arms to show him how amazing it was.
Troy shook his head as he picked up another two nails, "Your mom always said that, it's like we're twins," he laughed. "That's so weird," he said quietly. Without hesitation he immediately stopped what he was doing. "Wait a minute."
If the biggest guy he'd ever seen came out of now where and sucker punched him it still wouldn't describe the breathless three minutes that passed between them. Turning around he zeroed in on her with a panic as he suddenly took a more detailed inspection of this little blue eyed girl. She was sitting on the ground now twirling a blade of grass between her fingers. She had her mom's curls but those curls were a distinct sandy brown color. Her eyes looked back at him and they were the clearest blue he ever saw, the kind of blue that looked back at him in mirror every morning.
The warmest trickle of sweat clawed up his back and he took a step towards her. "Alex, how old are you?" he asked as casually as he could while walking back over to the steps. Bending down he took a deep breath as he stared at the wood, trying to work out the math from all those years ago.
"I just turned eight two weeks ago in February," she said innocently looking back at the step he placed his hand on.
So that means Gabriella must have had her when she was 18, he thought to himself. His chest constricted as he instantly fell back so that he was sitting on the grass across the path from her. His mind raced back to prom night slowly counting the months in his head, the nails fell from his hands into the grass. They graduated in June three days after prom, nine month later made February. Troy looked back up at Alex and really looked at her. Alexandra Montez, Troy Alexander Bolton. He had a daughter.
"What's wrong Troy?" Alex asked looking up at him with concern. "You don't look so well."
"Huh?" Troy breaths came out in sharp pants almost as if he'd been running for hours. "Nothing's wrong," he lied looking down into the grass and beginning to pick up the nails.
"Is it the heat?" Alex leaned back on her palms, "It's always summer here, not like back at home," she frown. "Grandma say I have to stay hydrated because it's so hot out here and I'm not use to it."
"Could you hand me the hammer sweetheart?" he said kindly as he watched her get up from where she was. He couldn't take his eyes off her, he couldn't bring himself to look away from her. There was a surge in his chest an immediate knee jerk reaction to keep his eyes on her almost afraid to miss a moment of her life. He already missed so much. He watched her as she reach for the hammer and began walking back to him using both her hands to hold it out to him.
"Thanks Alex," he said still unable to take his eyes off as she now looked at the step.
"I can put a nail in?" she asked looking back at him.
"Yeah," he said without hesitation, instantly getting up to stand he came over to kneel beside her demonstrating what he was going to do and why the nails had to be hammered in on the four supporting beams. When the nail was hammered in he handed her the hammer and allowed her to finish pounding at it until it was all the way down.
The rest of the afternoon was whirlwind he hadn't been prepared for. Once the steps were done Troy went into the house and came back out with two sandwiches. He cut off her crust and sliced the sandwich in half not entirely sure if that what he was supposed to do. They'd sat side by side in the grass examining their handy work while exchanging favorite foods and stories behind fresh scabs and faded scars.
When they finished eating Troy got out the basketball proceed to show Alex how to do layups as he promised. The more time he spent with her the more obvious it was. The more sense it all made, the more put together the last nine years had become. It was angry, he was hurt, he could barely contain his heart from beating so rapidly, his fingers from shaking and his mouth from constantly going dry. How could keep this from him? How could she not tell him about her?
"So where were you born?"
"Right here," Troy said bouncing the basketball, "I was raised in this house," he said pausing to point back at his parent's house. He passed her the ball.
"And you were my mom's best friend," she said bouncing the ball like he taught her and aiming for the basket.
"The best," he said sharply, "we did almost everything together." They even had a kid together, he thought to himself as he bit the inside of his cheek for the fifth time. "I even taught her how to play basket ball."
"No way," Alex bent her knees as she was told before tossing the ball with all her might. "I didn't my mom played basketball."
They both smiled as they watched the ball go through the hoop. "Like a pro." he praised proudly before going for the ball.
"Did you and my mom date or something?"
The question caught him off guard. He wasn't so sure about what to tell her; then again he wasn't so sure what she already knew or didn't know about him. "Not quite," he said opting to tell her a form of the truth and passing her the ball. "You got enough for your interview yet?" he said noting the time and how late it was getting.
"You didn't answer the question Troy?" she said matter-of-fact as she held the ball under her arm.
"You're just like a real life reporter,"
"Do you talk to real life reporters a lot?"
"As far as I'm concerned you are a real like reporter," he teased, "I'm an NBA star I know what a real reporter sounds like."
Suddenly the backdoor from next door slid open and Gabriella appeared out on the porch, "Alex?" she called looking around and letting out a sigh of relief as she spotted her daughter in the next yard on the basketball court with Troy. Crossing her arms over her chest she hoped her eyes weren't as puffy as they felt. When she came up to the small fence that separated the yards she smiled at Alex. "Alex, dinner is ready. Why don't you go inside and eat?"
With a groan she let out a sigh and looked up at Troy, "Thanks for spending time with me today," she said with a small smile.
"No problem, how about I give you a lift over the fence," he said reaching out his hands to her.
"Make sure you wash your hands," Gabriella said as she watched with a small smile as Troy hoisted Alex up and over the fence. Alex was off in a run towards the house shouting her see you later's over her shoulder as she disappeared inside.
Silence fell over the two adults as they stood on opposite ends of the fence. After a moment of awkwardness Gabriella took a deep breath ready to murmur her own thank you's before heading back inside when Troy cut her off. "Were you even going to tell me?"