Fan Fiction ❯ Changes ❯ Alexander ( Chapter 2 )

CHAPTER 2: Alexander

 

 

 

 

 

I finally put the phone down then stormed off to my room, throwing a nearby pillow at my mom along the way. I was still fuming after the phone call and desperately needed to remove myself from another potential argument. I guess I wasn't thinking about that when I decided to do a childish thing like throw a pillow at my mom. It was like I was asking for her to acknowledge me so that I could bite her head off too. I lay on my bed, face down, and buried myself in my blanket, covering the back of my head with a nearby pillow. I kept tossing and turning in an attempt to bring some attention to myself. Still though, my mom didn't answer or show any sign of being affected by what I had previously did. For once in her life, she had nothing to say. Unfortunately for her, I did, and I wanted her to hear it. I got up and tried to untangle myself from my blanket. After 3 failed attempts, I slid off the bed, the blanket still wrapped around my upper body and walked towards the washroom.

“When dad was around, you were a fun person to be around. But now…” I mumbled loudly as I opened the door to the washroom. I looked at myself in the mirror yet again, for the second time that day, and was disgusted at how much I looked like my mom.

“You're not too good looking yourself, you know.”

“I know, especially with a lot of your facial features.” I poked at my checks and made a revolted face.

“What ever. You're just upset because you don't know how to dress properly.”

“Don't even get me started on your slut-like wardrobe, Ms. Britney Spears wanna-be.”

“Stop calling me a slut!”

“Hey, don't get mad at me, you're the one that did this to yourself.”

“Just shut up will you?! God! Kids these days…” I walked out of the washroom and closed the door behind me. I peeked through the small crack in the main bedroom door. My mom was whispering to herself.

“What are you mumbling about?” She looked up at me from behind the door.

“I…I'm just sorry that I couldn't… that I couldn't be the role model you were looking for…” Was she serious? I opened the door and stepped out. I stood there for a moment, contemplating whether to go to her or not. Then she began to laugh hysterically. I knew it! Not one time in her life could she ever be serious. I hated when she did that.

“And you wonder why I can't stand you…” I grabbed my coat from the chair beside the bedroom door and headed for the main door. I needed to get away from her. Being with mom for more than ten minutes made me sick. She never understood me, let alone took things seriously.

“Wait honey, I was just joking. Come back here!” She rolled all 145 pounds of herself off the couch and attempted to stop me from leaving. When she finally made it to the door, I was already done putting on my sneakers.

“Come look for me when your head's not so messed up!” I gave her a sarcastic smile and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind me. I heard her screaming something at me. I guess it wasn't important for me to hear, seeing that she didn't bother to open the door.

 

Walking down the streets of Statesville at night wasn't as fun or lively as you'd think a place would be at night. It was like the whole town went to bed at seven. I looked into each store I passed, remembering good times like when mom, dad, and I would take long walks by the harbor, and trying to forget them afterwards when I realized that those things would never be enjoyed by me again. I sighed and walked on, feeling ashamed of myself all of a sudden. I ducked my head a little further so I was fully facing the pavement, hiding my face from the few pedestrians that passed me. I got to a cross-walk and stopped, waiting for the light to turn red and the little man to flash from the other side to signal that it was alright to walk. I noticed a girl to the left of me, around the same age and me, looking forward and totally ignoring my presence. I smiled a small, polite smile at her. If she noticed, she didn't show any acknowledgment, so I turned my attention back to straight ahead. As soon as the walking signal flashed, I scooted across the street and turned to the opposite direction of that rude girl.

Why is it that when people say, “good things always come after the bad”, it never happens like that? I mean, my life has been total crap since I was 11.Not to mention another saying that's a complete lie: “good things always happen to those who wait.” How long do I have to wait? Why don't they ever give you a set amount of time? Who is “they” anyways? Lost in my thoughts, I walked past a tattoo parlor, not watching what I was doing or where I was going. That's where I met him, well more like bumped into him.

“Oh crap, Sorry. I wasn't paying…” As he turned around to look at me, I was taken aback. He looked like a god. His face was like the morning sun. His hair was jet black and shiny, like a newly polished stone.

“It's ok, don't worry about it. Here, let me help you up.” He held out his hand and I took it. His skin felt like a baby's bottom: Soft and smooth. “Um…can I have my hand back please?” He smiled a heavenly smile as I turned 5 shades of red in less than a second. Lady luck was finally on my side.

“Sorry.”

“That's ok…” I kept staring at him. He was just…so…hot… “I'm Alexander…Alexander Lawrence…” He paused and scratched his head. I kept staring. I acted like such a nerd sometimes. “…You can call me Alex…if you want…” I was making him feel uncomfortable, I could tell, but I just couldn't stop smiling. When I felt like my “drooling faze” was going to kick in, I blinked a couple of times and stopped staring, closed my mouth, and brushed myself off. Pull yourself together, Samantha. Just tell him your name and you'll be fine.

“I'm Samantha Fisher. You can call me Sammie.” Actually, anyone that hot could call me what ever pleased them. I wouldn't care.

“Nice to meet you, Sammie.”

“Same here.” I smiled my best genuine smile and shifted my body weight to the opposite side. I was feeling my old popularity traits coming back and I wasn't about to push them away.

“You live around here?”

“Yea, about ten minutes from here. What about yourself? You're new around here, right? I haven't seen you before.”

“No, not really. I've been here for four years actually. But I wouldn't blame you for thinking that. I don't go out much.”

“Why's that? Statesville is a great place to be. There are so many things to do.”

“You sound like my mom.” I giggled and blushed, getting that much closer to a tomato. “I guess if you have someone to do things with, it's more interesting.”

“No siblings?”

“I'm the only child. My parents were planning to have another one but they decided to get divorced instead I guess.” Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why was I bringing up my problems?

“Don't worry. I know how you feel. My parents are separated to.” How much better can Alex get?!

“It's a little hard to get use to I guess.”

“I'll say! It took me months to realize that my dad wasn't coming home anymore.” I smiled at his statement, thinking the same thing, and averted my attention to the pavement. I noticed an ant walking past my foot. I was going to step on it, but what if Alex liked ants? I mean, I already look like a loner, I don't want to add “ant killer” to my profile. “Do you live around here?” My head shot up when he asked.

“Yeah, I live just around the corner actually.” I couldn't help it, but I began staring at him again, like my life depended on it. He was just so… hot, cute, fine, I don't know. He reminded me of my favorite book when I was little. I couldn't read the words at the time, but I could stare at the pictures for hours.

“Is something wrong?” darn, I stared too long again. I was now beyond tomato red as I quickly averted my eyes to the pavement again.

“No, nothing's wrong. I was just looking at… at the sign on the road. Yeah, it's like really dirty…or whatever…” God! I really need to stop lying. I was loosing my composure.

“Really?” he smiled at me, sending me the message that he knew that wasn't true. He saw right through me. He offered his hand to me again, motioned over to a bench across from the tattoo parlor. “You want to sit for a while? I've been walking all day I could sure use a brake.”

“That sounds good.” Taking his hand, we walked over to the bench and sat down. We didn't sit too near to each other, but then we slowly moved closer to each other.

 

We sat down for about 30 minutes, talking about different things. The “divorce” topic seemed to come up a lot. But it didn't bother me. It actually felt nice to talk about it to someone that understood me. That or it was just nice talking to Alex. I told him how I felt about the whole thing and what happened today over the phone with my dad. He told me his stories too. Most of them were just like mine. We laughed together and then it was over. A lovely conversation with a stranger. Alex sighed, and got up.

“Well, I better get going. I got a few more things to do. Nice meeting you Sammie.”

“You too.” Alex stood up and extended his hand to me to help me up. “So I guess I'll see you around?”

“I hope so. That is, if you get out more.” He snickered and I gave him a smile. We said bye to each other and I turned around towards home. I felt like leaning over to hug him, but it would feel awkward. It was only today that I was graced with his presence. I neared the second corner towards the dreadful house I called a home, and heard laughter that unfortunately sounded awfully familiar.

 

Sammie! I wasn't expecting you to be here. What are you doing?” it was my mom, just like I guessed. I was kind of surprised at seeing her though. I only left home about an hour ago and already she's on a date with number 1000. Or is it 2000?

“You'd like to know?”

“Um…yeah! I believe that's why I'm asking.” She turned towards her date, smiling awkwardly at him.

“Well, I'm just looking around. You? don't get me wrong though, I don't really care.” She gave me a fake smile and I returned the gesture.

“If you must know, my boyfriend and I are going to Le Chateau Tiff. He's treating me to a nice dinner.” I glanced over to her side and notice a well dressed man. He looked to be about 30 or 40 and he was well groomed. He reminded me of those rich people in British soap operas.

“Boyfriend, eh?”

“I believe that's what your mother said.” He smiled as if to make the comment sound nice. I didn't buy it, so I started with the “questions”.

“How old are you?” he turned towards my mom and shifted his weight side to side. I was making him feel uncomfortable.

“You've got a protective one here. I'm old enough, little one.”

“Since when did being 16 make me little?”

“It's a figure of speech. You should know that. You look smart…”

“So you mean you're like… oh I don't know, 50?”

“Not that old.” He laughed, but I knew he was insulted. I could tell by the way he looked at me. “If you must know, I'm 30.”

“And my mom?” I glanced at her in disgust. She dressed like a prostitute. She had a really mini jean skirt on (I could see her underwear) and a black halter top on that was rolled up to show of her new belling ring.

“Why, you don't know my age? I'm your mom for crying out loud!”

“I prefer the term guardian. You didn't really take the “parental role” in my opinion.” She was about to open her mouth, as if to gasp from my answer to her statement, but when her “boyfriend” turned to look at her, she dropped her expression back down to a glare.

“How old is my mom?” with his attention still towards the slut on his arm, he answered my question.

“29?”

“Are you asking me?”

“No…I'm telling you. She's 29. Just look at her!” he smiled at her and she leaned over and kissed him. I scrunched my face and turned away. When they finished, I took a few steps towards them. I felt like getting up in his face. I was taller than him, not by much, but tall enough to look down on him.

“Did she also tell you that she once was married?” My mom stepped in again. I think she was catching on to what I was doing.

“Actually, I did tell him that I was once married. I also told him that unfortunately, you were the result of that horrible mistake. Now, why don't you run along home? You shouldn't be out this late. It's way past your bedtime.” I felt like running up to her and grabbing her neck, squeezing until no more air came out of her. I wasn't born out of wedlock. I was born 2 years after the marriage. What a liar.

“You know, it's funny how all of a sudden I have a bed time. No, I won't go home because I don't have to. It won't make a difference. I mean, you are after all an educated 41 years old. I think you can figure that out for yourself.” I smiled at my mom and waved good bye as I walked away from the couple, heading back to the tattoo parlor. I hid behind the corner and turned around. My mom and that guy where arguing. It was quite funny. They were yelling at each other and making a big deal. People stopped and stared, others kept walking but laughed.

 

When mom finally got the hint that she wouldn't be getting a free dinner that night, she stormed off, opposite the direction of home, and opposite the direction of me. I stood in the alley for a while, thinking about what to do next. There was nothing to do, so I decided that I would go home and watch some late night TV. Kicking an empty pop can along the way, I took in my surroundings. Talking to Alex previously made me begin to notice Statesville a little more. I smiled to myself when I got to the apartment and was waiting for the elevator to reach ground. Alex, a sight not easily forgot. I wondered if it was just luck, or it was destiny for me to meet Alex. When the elevator came, and I stepped inside, I said hello to the old lady in the corner. She smiled at me and waved, then went back to staring at the light on top of the elevator door. I felt good. I felt happy. And happiness wasn't something I felt very often.