Old home sweet home - part II

She dropped her backpack near the bed; old habits died hard. Alex let go a large sigh. She had just arrived, but she already felt tired.  At least, there on her old bedroom, surrounded by the white and grey colors, she felt somewhat at peace. It was great seeing her family. Alex really did miss them. But they were part of a memory she wanted desperately to forget. A past she wanted to bury. Wasn’t it the reason she went away in the first place?

The doorbell ringed on the ground floor, distracting her from those thoughts, followed by a squeal. Alex immediately ran down the stairs, jumping a few steps.

– Mom, what’s wrong? – she urged, alarmed, looking for possible intruders.

But Ella was too absorbed with the visitor to answer. When Alex finally realized who her mother was hugging tightly, she felt her shoulders relaxing, and a start of a smile formed on her lips.

– I missed you too, auntie – Megan answered back. Raising her head, she finally seemed to notice Alex standing there. – Yo. – she greeted with a wave. Her left arm, covered with tattoos, holding a guitar strap.

Her mom noticed her too. – Alex, look who came to visit us! Now, tell me the truth, you guys really are planning on giving me a heart attack? This can’t be a coincidence! All three of you.

Megan laughed. – Nah. I just thought of passing by since I was around.

– Aw, you’re a sweetheart, Megan – said her mother, gently pinching her cheeks. – I’m glad you came, it’s always nice to see you. Go upstairs and rest a bit. You two should catch up while I bring you something to eat.

– Thanks, auntie – said Megan.

Her mom went back to the kitchen as the two of them were standing in the middle of the living room.

– Hey – Alex finally greeted her friend.

Megan raised an eyebrow. – Hey? C’mere already and give me a hug!

Crossing the living room, she met Megan with a hug and littles pats on her shoulders.

– It’s good to see you, bro – said Megan, pushing her aside, checking Alex from head to toe, as if she was an apparition. – How long has it been? Three? Four months?

She shrugged. – Something like that… It’s good to see you too. But weren’t you in a tour?

– It just finished a couple of days ago. I’m taking a little break.

Alex squinted her eyes. – And decided to come back to Birmingham for a break? What’s the problem?

– Nothing, bro’. I just came to visit. Chill.

Even though Megan smiled at the end, a glint on her eyes indicated something different. She was hiding something. But Alex decided to not pressure her on. After all, their friendship was like that – a silent understanding. If Megan had a problem, she would speak when she felt like doing so.  They weren’t people to freely talk their mind about emotions or nothing complicated, but at the end of day, they always understood without needing an explanation.

Megan dropped on the armchair when they got to Alex’s room.

– Ah, I missed this place – she sighed. – My old sleeping spot.

Alex scoffed. – Don’t you have a better bed now? There’s a bunch of people requesting for you to sleep on their hotels.

– Nah – Megan waved her hand. – This place’s still the best. It’s like the first time you travel, y’know? You can go to different places, but the first memory will always seem a little bit better.

– It’s just an armchair, though – Alex pointed out.

– Bro, even your carpet was comfier than my old bedroom… And less noisy.

Her voice soured at the end. Megan, just as Alex, grew up on Birmingham and like her, she left the place as soon as they graduated. Megan didn’t have a good relationship with her family, to say the least – her parents were alcoholics, got an unpredict pregnancy during their teens and always fought over that; she was the blame of their misery, it didn’t help that the abortion pill didn’t work and her mother made a point to emphasize that every time she got drunk, even throwing a bottle of whiskey on the girl’s head.  Even though her grades were terrible, Megan’s talent resided in music – Alex even thought of her friend being a musical genius.

They met on a detention class and she liked the fact that Megan didn’t make any questions, or even if she did know Alex, she just treated her normally. They soon started going together to school after that, and when Megan got seriously injured during one of her parent’s quarrels, and after begging Alex to not talk to anyone about it, she agreed with the condition that the girl lived hidden in her house, until she could find a place of her own.

– So, what news? – Alex asked.

Megan seemed to ponder for a while. – I got this offer for signing a contract with the HF Hotel.

– Nice. Did you accept it?

– No, I’m thinking of turning them down.

– Why? Isn’t the offer good?

– Yes. But I think Mathew, my manager, has some personal stuff with them. And y’know, I owe you both this job, so I guess turning them down it’s what I should do.

– You don’t owe us anything. Just do what you think is best. – Alex paused, then added. – And before you turn them down, ask Mathew about it, I don’t think he would agree with you on this.

Megan sighed. – Yeah… I guess. What about you?

– I just started playing Rise this week.

– Ah – said Megan, then furrowed her eyebrows. – Since when you started liking Katy Perry?

– What? No. I meant the game, from Monster Hunter.

– Ah. Good. – sighed Megan, relieved. – I heard they even made a movie.

Alex shook her head. – Don’t even tell me about that shit. Whenever they make adaptations of games it always goes bad. Besides, there isn’t much story to do a movie about Monster Hunter.

– You always say that, though. – pointed Megan. – The resident evil one was not that bad.

– Of course, if you ignore all the holes in it. – she argued.

Megan had a playful smirk, but Alex didn’t seem to notice. – Aw, c’mon, it wasn’t that bad. The story was kinda nice.

Alex quickly got as stiff as a tension wire. – Nice? What the hell did they do with Claire?! And why Chris would be in a prison looking like a maniac?! Besides the fact that…

Megan burst into a laugh. – Okay, okay. Chill out, bro. I was just joking – she cleaned a tear from her eyes. – I know the game version is better, besides they didn’t even add Ada, that woman is hot. Just for that, it’s already a crime.

– My point – agreed Alex.

– Yeah. Wasn’t she your first wifey? – asked Megan, looking around the room. – You even had some posters of her. Did you take them out?

– You liked her too, so fuck off. – then reluctantly added. – And no, the poster was getting humid, so I placed it on a box.

– Figured it. – said Megan with a broad smile. – You even made me play on your old PSP and I don’t even like horror. I couldn’t even scream, or auntie would hear us.

– It wasn’t that scary… – she contested.

– Easy for you to say. You didn’t even flick your eyes when you were playing.

Alex rolled her eyes. – That’s overreacting already.

– Seriously. – insisted Megan. – I don’t know what scared me more, you or those zombies.

They laughed.

– You’re the worst – added Alex.

Megan snorted. – I’m the best, you meant to say. By the way, did you bring the Switch?

Alex raised her eyebrows. – Is that even a question?

– I’ll take that as a yes. – she said. – C’mon, place something for us to play.

Finally reaching for her forgotten backpack on the ground, Alex took out her Switch and both of them started playing together. They stayed like that for a while, with Megan occasionally making remarks as Alex guided her friend through the zones. Her mother came in with snacks, and for some time, it was like nothing had changed, and they were still the little ol’ kids from before. Somehow, that feeling wasn’t entirely bad.

Megan finally got bored and started strumming on her guitar, while Alex continued to play. She mainly sang songs from other artists than her own and Alex would join the chorus by humming.

Abruptly, the music stopped.

– Hey, can I borrow those Lord of The Rings books of yours? – asked Megan. – They’re still here, right?

– Wow, that was out of nowhere. – she commented. – But yeah. I think they’re in the closet. They might be a bit dusty. It’s been a long while since I read them. Why?

– Gotta start someday, no? – Megan replied, rummaging through the closet.

– Yeah, but what made you interested all of a sudden?

She heard the sound of her friend fanning the book.

– It’s just… I met this girl. – said Megan. – A really cool girl. She’s into that kinda stuff. So, I thought of maybe reading it.

– Wow, there’s no limits for you when it comes to sex, huh? – Alex retorted, while she tried to capture a monster. – Even up to reading Tolkien.

– No! Just wanna read Lord of The Rings. What’s this Tolkien thing?

Alex sighed. – You’re a lost cause. Well, at least she seems to be a good influence on you. How did you meet?

– I was coming back from my tour. – she said, turning the pages. – I actually went to London first before coming here…

A pause.

– I’m listening. – incentivized Alex.

– I had a meeting with the shareholders of the HF Hotel. – she continued. – But I don’t know much about these numbers and things, so after I met them, I left Mathew to discuss the important stuff with them and went looking around. I guess I gave myself a little break – Megan laughed dryly. –  Leaving the city, there’s this small villa, it’s part of their business. I mean, even if I’m not signing with them, I should at least take a look what they have to offer, right?

Alex nodded.

–  I met her there. – continued Megan. – She was listening while I sang.

– So, a fan then?

– No, that’s the thing. – explained her. – She didn’t seem to know who I was. I mean, I wasn’t singing for a crowd, I was just chilling in the pool late at night, I thought no one was around. I guess I missed her there.

– How are you so sure she didn’t know you? – Alex inquired, doubtful.

– Well, ‘cause she offered to cover for me.

– What do you mean?

Megan laughed. – She thought I was sneaking in.

– Seriously?

Alex looked at her friend, and Megan nodded.

– Yeah. She thought I was a starting singer that performed for the Hotel. – she shrugged. – It was convenient, at least. She promised to keep quiet about the “sneaking”, if I didn’t tell anyone that she was skipping her shift. It was a deal.

Megan closed the book. – And… – she frowned. – Hey, this is Tolkien.

– Yup. – agreed Alex.

– Fuck.

– Yup. – then hushed her friend. – Keep on going. I want to know the rest of the story.

– Oh. So… – she continued. – We talked for a long time. It was actually fun to spend time with a girl without our clothes off…

– Jerk.

– Hey! Aren’t you listening to my story? – objected Megan. – So, keep it down. As I was saying. – she cleared her throat. – We had fun talking, that’s when she told me about the books. After that, things got a little bit steamy…

– I knew it.

– Wait. Let me finish – she pleaded. – We were just kissing. Then we moved to a more private room, she said we wouldn’t get in trouble ‘cause the room was empty. But we didn’t do much else besides kissing. We were both tired and I guess we kinda slept midway.

– Just sleep. Clothes on and everything – answered Megan to Alex’s unspoken question. – When I woke up, she had disappeared, leaving only a note behind for me to call her. But there was no number.

– Did you try asking about her? – asked Alex.

– Yup. I did everything. I even asked some of the staff about her, but they said no one named Alice worked at the night’s shift. I didn’t know her surname, so I couldn’t go further.

– So, her name’s Alice?

– Yeah. – Megan sighed. – I guess she ditched me.

– Well, she left a note, no?

Megan rolled her eyes. – You crazy? If a girl leaves you a note telling you to call her, but don’t give any numbers, it means they don’t want you to call them. Got it?

– How are you so sure of that?

– Just trust me. I know.

Alex ceded. – If you say so.

A knock on the door distracted them. Adrian entered the room.

– Hey, mom’s calling for dinner, let’s go? – his eyes moved from Alex to Megan. – Hey stranger. Seems like I just get news from you from papers now. Getting famous, aren’t you?

Megan laughed crossing the room and giving Adrian pats on his shoulders. – Hey man. I missed seeing you earlier.

– Sorry. I had to take a call.

– Still working a lot?

– Yeah, nothing’s changed.

– Man, you’ve got to give yourself a break – scolded Megan. – Do you wanna die before your 30s?

– I might take on that – he said, and they both went down the stairs, discussing.

Alex was about to join them, when her cellphone vibrated, and a message popped on her screen.

Hayley: Hey, I hope you didn’t forget about me. We’re still meeting on Monday, right?

Alex: Hey. Of course, I didn’t forget you. And yes, we’re definitely meeting.