I DO NOT OWN ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN THIS STORY BESIDES THE OC'S.
A Week Later-
Alex's Point of View-
I had been trying to call Tara all weekend and all week but it always goes to voicemail after 2-3 rings. It's not like it's off and goes to voicemail without any rings, it's like she see's its me then ignores it. I stood outside the Impact Zone waiting for Chris to arrive by that tram that Tara takes him on every week. I figured if she wouldn't talk to me through the phone she would at least talk to me this way, but I saw the tram coming so I begun to unlock the metal thing that Chris would use to roll over onto the cement sidewalk to go into the studio when the tram stopped I saw a different girl than Tara.
"Hey bro." Chris said.
"Hey…where's Tara?" I asked.
"She left early today….I'm Stephanie." The brunette said sticking her hand out to shake mine before she begun to undo the cords that held Chris's wheel chair in.
"Hi Stephanie…" I said.
"I'm Tara's best friend, I was supposed to be on the cruise but couldn't make it…she told me all about it earlier today." She said.
"What else did she say about us?" Chris asked.
"That you have a knack for doing things your not supposed to with your hurt leg…" Stephanie said.
"That's him…has she said any reason why she isn't talking to me?" I asked.
"Nope not at all…from what she was saying it sounded like you have been talking a lot lately…." Stephanie said as she undid the last rope letting Chris roll over the metal thing.
"Thanks Stephanie!" Chris said.
"No problem, you have a way out of here or a ride home?" Stephanie asked.
"Yeah, my sister is picking me up after the show in the Impact parking lot." Chris said.
"Okay, be safe and have a good show." She said smiling as she packed up the cords and started the tram up.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked.
"Tara has been ignoring my phone calls and now she leaves work early on Impact taping days….did I do something wrong?" I asked Chris.
"No…what you mean she's ignoring your calls?"
"It rings 2-3 times then it'll go to voicemail….it's not like the normal 5-6 like she doesn't hear it then goes to voicemail nor no rings like the phone is off…" I said.
"Let me try…" Chris said pulling out his phone calling Tara, she picked up after the second ring and he put it on speaker phone so I could hear. "Hey Tara, everything okay?"
"Hey Chris….yeah everything is okay with me, you okay? What's wrong?" Tara asked.
"Nothing is wrong, you weren't at work and you never miss a Tuesday…"
"I'm sorry Chris but something came up….Xavier put that down now…" She said as I heard the boy giggling.
"Mom, may I talk to Chris?" Xavier asked.
"Not now…go get ready to go…" She said.
"How's the boy?" Chris asked.
"He's doing good…he has a recital tonight that is why I missed….did Stephanie take good care of you?"
"Yes ma'am….Alex is here, you want to talk to him?" Chris asked.
"Um sure…" She said with uncertainty in her voice, she sound nervous.
"Hey Tara." I said when she hung up instantly after I said it.
"Your right, she is either ignoring you or mad and upset at you for something…" Chris said.
"What do I do?" I asked.
"I don't know bro…she is supposed to work tomorrow, I saw her work schedule on the wall when I went in there…" Chris said.
"Thanks Chris." I said smiling as I helped him into the studio doing my match of the night before I went home thinking of what to say to her tomorrow or what could have happened to make her mad at me, I would call her to listen to her voicemail just to hear her voice and I left voicemails sometimes hoping she will hear them in hopes she will return them, but no such luck. The next morning I got up early enough showering and making myself the best I could look driving to Universal, I stopped once to get some flowers for her since that always wins girls hearts I've been told. I walked into Universal going straight to where she works but I didn't see her in there when Stephanie walked out from behind her desk.
"Hey Alex, may I help you?" Stephanie asked.
"Where's Tara?" I asked curiously.
"She already left for the day….she had to pick her son up from the day care…."
"Which day care?" I asked.
"The one off of Sunset and Rosa…" She said.
"Thanks…" I said as I walked out heading back to my car hoping I can make it there in time to catch her before she leaves, to say I wasn't speeding would be a lie. I pulled into the parking lot seeing her blazer parked there and there was an empty spot next to it luckily. I pulled in next to her climbing out pulling the flowers with me and leant against my trunk waiting for her to walk out with her son. No more than five minutes later she walked out holding onto her son's hand and her mom close behind her.
"ALEX!" Xavier exclaimed running to the curb looking both ways before he ran through the parking lot to me, I bent down picking him up into my embrace trying not to crush the flowers.
"Hey buddy, long time no see." I said smiling.
"Where have you been?" Xavier asked.
"Busy." I said looking over to Tara.
"What are you doing here? And what do you want?" Tara asked.
"Tara, don't be rude…" Mom said lightly smacking her daughter.
"Yeah Tara, don't be rude…" I said smirking when mom gave me an one handed hug. "Here Tara, I bought you some flowers." I said handing them to her.
"Thanks…" She said smiling.
"Alex, what plans do you have tonight?" Mom asked.
"I'm completely free." I said smiling as Xavier wrapped his tiny arms around my neck.
"Why don't you follow us home and you can have dinner with us? We'll have plenty." Mom said.
"Mom!" Tara said.
"Tara! Don't be greedy, we bought way too much…plus, what's wrong with some company once and a while especially in this holiday season." Mom said.
"Thank you mom, I would love to." I said smiling.
"YAY! I can show you the trophy I got last night!" Xavier said excitedly.
"Awesome!" I said as I carried him to the back seat putting him into his car seat for him and he buckled up, I made sure it was tight enough for his tiny body before I shut the door turning to see Tara.
"No funny tricks…" Tara said.
"I have none…I just want to be with you…" I said.
"Why?"
"Does it matter why?"
"Yes it does." Tara said as I ran a hand through my hair.
"I like you Tara, is that so hard to believe?" I asked leaning against her car as her mom reached over rolling down the window.
"Tara, we have frozen foods in the trunk." Mom said.
"Yeah, you have frozen foods…you don't want them to melt…" I said smiling and waggled my eyebrows a tad at her before I walked around my car climbing in and pulled out and stopped to give her room to back out, I stayed on her tail to her house remembering how to get there for later use. I parallel parked outside her house as she parked in her driveway, I climbed out of the car running up to the blazer pulling mom's door open before I went to the back of the car pulling it open grabbing a few bags to carry in when Xavier walked up.
"I want to carry something." He said.
"Here you go big boy." I said handing him a light bag and he felt so proud as he followed mom to the front door as I stood in the back grabbing another bag as Tara grabbed rest of the bags. "You have a cute boy." I said smiling.
"I've been told…I wish I could say that I had a cute boyfriend." She said smirking as I let her go into the house first and I shut the door behind me with the heal of my foot as I followed her into her kitchen.
"You have a nice house." I said looking around.
"It'll do." She said smirking.
"I bet…" I said.
"Alex, look!" Xavier said running into the kitchen holding a trophy.
"What's this?" I asked squatting down looking at the trophy he had, "1st place in Best in Show….what did you perform?" I asked.
"You want to see? Mom, may I?" Xavier asked looking to Tara, I looked up at Tara who was helping her mom put the items away.
"Yeah…mom you want to help him change?" Tara asked looking to mom.
"I can help, it's no problem." I said following Xavier to his room, his room was filled with nothing but dinosaurs everywhere, "You surely do love dinosaurs." I said as I picked one up to look at it closer.
"I love them….they are amazing…" Xavier said as he put an outfit on the bed, he begun taking his shirt off and it got stuck, "Help!" He said as I put the toy down going over helping pull the shirt off and helped put the new one on along with changing his pants. "Boy aren't you handsome in a little tux…" I said fixing this attire.
"Thanks…." Xavier said as he begun scratching, "But why are they so itchy?"
"That is with a lot of things buddy…thank god they are on your arm and not anywhere else." I said smiling as I led him out to the living room where I sat on the couch as he ran around the house grabbing things as he came back to stand in front of me.
"You ready?" He asked.
"Yes, amaze me." I said as I watched him perform a few magic tricks that I knew how to do before he had shown me, "You sure are a Mr. Houdini aren't you?" I asked as he came over and I pulled him onto my lap tickling him.
"Mom taught me." He said smiling.
"I can't hear you…I have a coin in my ear…" I said pulling out a fake coin.
"Whoa…" Xavier said as I handed it to him and he made sure it was real, he jumped off my lap running into the kitchen, I got up following him into the kitchen seeing mom and Tara working on dinner. "Mom, Alex made a coin come out of his ear." Xavier said.
"Did he?" Tara asked glancing up at me from her son as I leant against the doorway of the kitchen watching Tara flipping a sandwich on the griddle.
"See!" Xavier said showing her the coin.
"How neat is that…why don't you go change back into your clothes, dinner is almost ready?" Tara asked.
"I'll help this time." Mom said following the still hyper kid to his room as I saw the dining room table.
"Whoa, that thing is collecting some dust." I said walking towards it stopping in front of the now carpet area putting my hands in my pocket.
"We never eat there, well we used to but never have the time anymore…" Tara said as I turned around walking back going into the kitchen with her grabbing paper towels and finding her wood duster. "What are you doing?" She asked turning to look at me.
"I'm going to dust it off and we are going to eat there tonight, I can do chores…did you not know that?" I said smirking as I got mere inches from her face when I did so.
"I thought you were only good at annoying me."
"That too." I said smirking as I walked past her to the table cleaning off the table and chairs.
"Do you always eat at a dining room table?" Tara asked as I walked past her tossing away the dirty towels.
"Whenever I am with family and having a home cook meal….right now I don't because I am the only one that eats there besides Chris and we don't cook at home a lot, well we do but its usually not at the same time…" I said as I leant back against the counter.
"Your welcome to eat more home cooked meals with us…Chris is welcomed here too." Mom said walking in.
"Where is Chris?" Xavier asked standing in front of me to look up at me.
"He's at home, he has a doctors appointment tomorrow." I said.
"How is his boo-boo?" Xavier asked.
"He'll find out tomorrow." I said.
"Xavier why don't you wash up now, dinner is ready." Tara said as she pulled down four plates and I helped her put a sandwich on each plate along with scooping corn and chips onto each plate and carrying them out to the table, "Thanks for helping." She said.
"I love setting the tables….it's always my duty at every family holiday get together." I said.
"Where is your family?" Mom asked as she pulled out a seat.
"Let me get that." I said pulling it out more and pushed it in when she sat, I did the same with Tara then helped Xavier into his seat.
"Why are we sitting here?" Xavier asked.
"It is something we should have done a long time ago, this is more family oriented….we are going to start eating her more often." Tara said.
"Okay mom, it's a lot easier for me…" Xavier said.
"So, where is your family?" Mom asked.
"I'm from Detroit but I share an apartment here with Chris when we are filming…" I said.
"Filming?" Xavier asked.
"They film our wrestling and play it on Thursday's….have you watched it?" I asked.
"No…mommy won't let me…" Xavier said.
"We'll watch it after dinner." Mom said.
"I'm liking your mom more than I should…" I said as I bit into the sandwich, "Is this the fried peanut butter and jelly?" I asked tasting the melted peanut butter and jelly.
"Yep, I told you that I'll cook it for you…." Tara said smiling.
"You need to try banana's too." Xavier said.
"Have you had lasagna?" I asked.
"No…what's that?" Xavier asked.
"It's an Italian dish, my family has a special recipe for it." I said.
"Next time you come over, you have to cook us that recipe." Mom said.
"My mom loves her Italian food." Tara said.
"Do you?" I asked.
"Much…I'm surprised I'm not Italian because I love it that much." Mom said.
"You would love my family then." I said smirking as I took another bite, we discussed family heritages and telling Xavier about what ancestors and what heritages are and trying to explain things to him the whole dinner.
"Time to go bathe and get ready for bed Xavier." Tara said.
"But mom, I wanted to watch wrestling…" Xavier said putting his bottom lip out.
"Bathe now and you'll watch wrestling until you fall asleep." Tara said.
"Okay!" Xavier said running to his bedroom as mom went to help start the bath water as I help collect the dishes and help her wash them.
"May we talk?" I asked leaning against the counter next to the sink.
"If you dry." She said nodding to the dry towel.
"Okay…" I said grabbing it and begun drying after she finished washing them.
"What do you want to talk about?" She asked.
"Why have you been ignoring me?" I asked.
"I haven't been ignoring you." She said not looking me in the eye.
"Really? Really Tara?"
"Fine, I've been ignoring you….like it matters." She said shrugging.
"It does matter, why have you been ignoring me?"
"Why do you want to be with me?" She asked stopping to leant against the sink letting the water in the sink just run
"Because I like you…."
"What about Xavier?" She asked as she put a hand on her hip, I could tell she was emotional about this and was truly frighten that I was going to leave her.
"I love Xavier, you truly thought I would leave you after I met Xavier didn't you?"
"Yes I did…."
"So much you didn't want to face me….thanks for nothing." I said putting the plate away before I left the kitchen.
"Alex! Where you going?" Xavier asked as Tara came into the door way drying her hands, I looked up to her before I looked down to Xavier and mom came out.
"Chris called and I need to return his call…" I lied as mom looked from me to Tara as I ruffled the kids wet hair going out front going to my car sitting there running my hand through my hair not knowing what to do.