Alex asked and asked, but Charlie wouldn't tell her what had happened with Layne. She tried annoying Charlie into telling her, but Charlie was extremely patient and wouldn't be persuaded that way. She offered to trade something in exchange for the truth, but the truth was that she didn't even have anything to trade. She briefly considered something involving a spider, but she realized she could never do that to Charlie. Mind games preying on real fear were not their thing.

She ended up going to work the next day knowing nothing more than she had the day before. She soon forgot all about it when a distraction arose; Rhea had started looking into people interested in working at the shop and was having Alex do the actual interviewing. Never having been involved in something so formal, Alex started out feeling a bit too out of her element, but she got the hang of it after about four interviews. The hardest part was narrowing it down to just a few as lots of people had applied and Alex always felt bad turning anyone away. But she managed, and she was happy with the final list of names she gave to Rhea. Once that was over, she left the shop, feeling no need to stick around.

She also did not feel the need to go home right away. It was only seven in the evening--there was no reason to hurry home like she always did. And so, fifteen minutes later, she found herself sitting down at the bar at Joey's.

"Alex?" Jo called from across the bar. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I just got out of work a little while ago and decided I didn't want to go straight home. Can I get a Jack and Coke?"

"Wow, Alex, I thought you only drank beer."

"I'm torn between being a sarcastic asshole and telling you that I'd like to branch out...and telling the truth and saying I just can't afford to buy Jack and Coke separately to make it myself and that the only time I can allow myself the luxury is here because Joey lets me drink for free."

"You should stick to telling the truth. It's honestly funnier," Jo said as she poured the Coke over the ice and whiskey.

"I'll remember that next time I'm faced with such a choice. Speaking of the truth, what the hell happened at that New Year's party? I heard the countdown start, and the next thing I knew, I was shotgunning one of those really tall cans of beer, the house was about to explode with the sound of cheering, Charlie was kissing Layne, I was a hundred bucks richer, and you were nowhere to be found!"

"Wait. Charlie kissed Layne?"

"Yeah but I'll tell you about that in a minute. What happened to you, where did you go?"

"Oh...I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone. Except Charlie." She took a deep breath and looked around to make sure there was no one waiting for a drink or anything before leaning over the counter and starting her story. "After our arm wrestle--" she directed a pointed look at Alex, who stupidly wiggled her eyebrows at her before laughing and waving at her to go on, "--I went to look for my sweater 'cause it was getting cold. I remembered it was outside, so I went to get it, and Matt and Kim were out there, talking and stuff...then they saw me and Matt was like 'hey, here's your sweater' right before everyone started counting down at ten seconds. Kim went inside, and Matt put my sweater around my shoulders and went like this..." Jo reached up and brushed Alex's cheek with her thumb before melting into laughter and dropping her hand. "Well, he didn't laugh. Anyway, there were three seconds left and he asked if he could kiss me and of course I said yes and so he did and that's kind of the whole story."

"That's it? I mean, that's really cute and everything, but that's it?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. Mike came outside right after and made us go play beer pong with him and Kim."

"So...do you like Matt?"

"I--uh..."

"You so do. You like Matt. I mean I'm not even surprised, I totally knew, but it's good that it's out here now."

"What? What do you mean you knew?"

"The way you act around him!" Alex exclaimed. "At first I couldn't tell if you liked him or if you two were just really close, but you only met him like three months ago and it's not like you talk every day, how close could you really be?"

"First of all, three months is a very long time. Second, how would you know how often we talk? I mean, you're right, but how would you know? And third, I do like him, meaning these pretty weak arguments are for nothing, but still!"

"See, I knew it! I'm never wrong about this kind of thing." Alex tapped her head.

"Oh, sure. Now tell me about Charlie and Layne."

So Alex did, adding in the events of the previous day as well. "I bet they're secretly dating."

"Nah, if they went out, they wouldn't be able to hide it. Layne's all over her as it is now, but not as much as he could be, you know?"

"Yeah, that's why I said they're probably secretly dating. They're probably better at hiding things than we think they are."

"Charlie couldn't even lie to you about hiding the remote," Jo pointed out.

"Yeah, she sucks at lying. But I don't know, this is bigger than hidden clickers and stuff like that..." she trailed off and finished off her drink. "Eh, well. You gotta let 'em grow up sometime."

Jo laughed. "Yeah, that's true. So what are you gonna do now? Got any evening plans?"

"Um, no. Not today. But Stone said he and the guys are gonna hang out at his place tomorrow. You should come down there when you get off of work."

"Maybe I will," Jo said. "Shit, I gotta go see what that guy wants. I'll see you later if you're still awake when I get home."

"Yeah, see you. Thanks for the stuff." Alex reached out and grabbed Jo's head, leaning over the counter and planting a kiss on top of it before letting go and jumping off the stool. "Later."

Jo laughed and waved after her before going over to the new customer. Alex left the shop and went home, finding Charlie reading her book. Alex didn't keep asking about what had happened with Layne; instead, she put on more Eagles music and pretended she was the one in love.

✩✩✩

Work was easier the next day. All she had to do was call everyone who'd gotten the jobs at the shop and finish setting up for the opening party. It was quick work, and she was able to leave for Stone's place at around six in the evening.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Alex asked when she saw who opened the door.

"Jesus Christ, Alex, you can at least pretend to like me," Jerry replied, putting a hand over his heart.

"I don't have to just pretend," Alex flirted, reaching up to pat his chest when he'd dropped his own hand. "Now move it. I came to see Stone, not you." Jerry rolled his eyes but couldn't keep a grin off his face as he opened the door a little wider to let her in.

"You could stand to be just a little nicer, you know?" Stone said as he appeared at Alex's side, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"And you could stand to be less of a bitch. How are you?" She turned to give him a hug.

He laughed and shook his head as he hugged her back. "Pretty good. Come here." He led her into the kitchen and took a beer out of the fridge, handing it to her as he said, "The Terminator is on TV."

"Wow, it's like I have everything I need to survive," she remarked.

"I know, right? Come on, everyone wants to hear about the job."

Alex took that for sarcasm, but it wasn't. Her friends really did want to know all about her new job--what she did, what the store was like, what kind of stuff was sold there, and if it was true that shows were going to be held on the roof.

"You guys should all come play there!" Alex suggested after answering the question regarding the roof. "I don't remember exactly how much Rhea said, but she's gonna pay the bands really well. And you get free drinks and stuff."

"We're there," Sean piped up.

"Cool—hey, this is a good part. I'll tell you more about that later."

They turned to face the screen and watched the movie, occasionally making little remarks about it as they did but otherwise staying quiet. As the evening went on, more of the group showed up, including Jo and Charlie, and it became something of a little party, but not crazy. They stayed up until 3 in the morning talking and playing random board and card games and just enjoying being in each other's company. Eventually, some of them started falling asleep and the guyswho lived there all turned in, which prompted a few "damn, we're not as young as we used to be" jokes. Alex made sure to participate in the making of those comments, not feeling at all tired herself. But she was just joking; she knew her friends worked hard, so when she saw that they were all asleep she quieted down so as to not bother them and went outside for one last cigarette.

She stepped off the back porch and onto the springy green grass of the yard, almost feeling sorry that she was crushing some of it under her boots, but that thought didn't occupy her mind for long. She took another few steps and stood in the middle of the yard, taking in everything around her for a moment. The smell of the smoke coming from the cigarette between her fingers...the howl of a dog and the scolding yell that stopped it...the music coming from the radio of the car that had been parked in the neighbor's yard since Stone moved into his place...the pale light the moon was casting around the yard. She thought of her friends and of how lucky she was to have them, and everything was okay.

She shrugged her flannel off and placed it on the ground, sticking the cigarette in her mouth as she sat down and lied back on the shirt, putting her hands behind her head to hold it up as she stared at the moon. Everything's okay.

The sound of slow footsteps brought her out of the trance she was in. There was no need to look and see who it was--she recognized the hesitant pattern of the feet making their way over. "What are you doing out here?" came the question in a deep yet soft voice, confirming Alex's guess that it was Eddie.

"Getting some air..."

"Doesn't the cigarette defeat the purpose of that?" Eddie asked as he put his own flannel on the ground to her left and sat down next to her, moving to fully lie down after a second.

"Don't ask questions I don't have the answers to, Edward," Alex said, passing him the cigarette.

"Fine. Do you have a favorite city?"

"That's...random."

"But is it a question you can answer?"

"I think so. Um, Seattle. Yeah, yeah, I love Chicago, but this city treats me better. You?"

"I can't decide. But I get that. That's one of the things I like about this city, to be honest; I feel like it likes me back."

Alex let out a very soft chuckle at that response. "See, you understand."

The song playing in the car in the yard next to Stone's ended, and another began: Don't Let Me Down by The Beatles.

"This is my favorite song," Alex said almost inaudibly. She heard a faint little rustle and correctly assumed it was Eddie nodding his head.

"I like it," he replied after a moment, his voice just as quiet.

They looked up at the stars and listened to the song, neither feeling any need to try to fill the silence with anything that didn't come naturally. Alex was coming to find that this was something she loved about Eddie's company; she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but he brought with him a sense of peace and a strange assurance that it was okay if she didn't have anything to say. Most other people weren't like that.

"Do you believe in fate?" Alex suddenly asked him.

"Not really, but I'm not sure. Do you?"

"Kind of. Being an idiot and getting myself into tons of trouble...that's all me. But I don't know what I did right to find myself in this pretty perfect spot here. That wasn't me."

There was another little rustle and Alex looked over to see he'd turned his head to face her. "I think it was. But what makes you say it's perfect?"

"I'm under all these stars and the moon. I'm not cold and I'm listening to my favorite song. And then there's the best part: one of my favorite people in the world is right here next to me."

He didn't answer with words; the look in his eyes said it all. They turned to look at the sky again, both silently mouthing "don't let me down" along with the song at the exact same time.

Stand By Me by Ben E. King came on right after that, and Alex had to appreciate the fact that her second favorite song had come on right after her number one.

"I'm glad I'm alive," she said, not really sure why she'd said it out loud, even though she really meant it.

Eddie took his right hand out from under his head and lifted it as he rested his elbow on the ground so his arm made a kind of "L" shape. Alex hesitantly did the same with her left arm, unsurely taking a loose hold of his hand just to have him lace his fingers through hers and give her hand a little squeeze before slowly lowering both onto the soft material of the flannel on the ground.

Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling In Love came on right after Stand By Me, and both of them laughed. "Aw, man, that's just...this would be such a moment, you know?" Alex said.

"What are you talking about? We are having a moment. Don't ruin this, Alex."

They laughed again, but neither could deny it: that really was a pretty perfect 'moment.'

Several songs and only a few small exchanges of words later, True by Spandau Ballet began to play. Alex tried to hide any feelings toward the song, but Eddie must've felt the way her hand tensed in his because he almost immediately asked what was wrong.

"Nothing, this song just kind of reminds me of...someone."

He turned to face her. "A guy someone? If you don't mind me asking, I mean."

"You can ask. But yeah, a guy someone."

"Someone you dated, or...?"

"Yeah. The only guy I'd ever dated for real, actually."

"You can tell me to fuck off if you want, but...what happened with him?"

"Things kind of went south, I guess." Alex sighed. "And we both got into some stuff we shouldn't have. I ended up turning away, he didn't. Eventually I realized that it wasn't just that he didn't--he couldn't. And by the time I got to understanding that, it was too late."

"Wait, so he's..."

Alex nodded. "Yeah. It's been around 10 months, if my count is right."

"Oh, that's...recent. I'm sorry, Alex, I had no idea, and asking was probably a bad idea--"

"It's okay, really. I gotta move on at some point, I've accepted that much. And I'm never gonna fully do that if I never talk about him. You can ask whatever you want."

Eddie hesitated. His curiosity had risen to a level that made it impossible to resist asking his next question, but he wasn't sure if he could actually ask, or if he really wanted to know. But even so he cleared his throat and inquired, "who was he?"

Alex had to mentally prepare for a second before she could answer that; saying his name aloud for the first time in almost a year was going to be a trip. It's no big deal, she said to herself, what's in a name?

"Andy Wood."

✩✩✩

see, i set that up so it would be peaceful and less painful. i was originally going to go with a much harsher route, but it was seriously starting to look like i straight-up hate my character, so i didn't and ended up letting her off easy. i hope that's alright :')

also...y'all hear something?

BECAUSE I DO NOT

a good 99% of this chapter was not planned. the 1% that i did plan was literally: have them watch The Terminator. so i don't know what i'm going to do with this grand mess i have created, but i'll think of something.

anyway, thanks for reading! remember to stay hydrated and safe, have fun, listen to good music, be what you wanna be, and stay sober for Layne (who's currently sitting in a tree with Charlie). until next time!