Part 24
A week had almost passed before the guys heard anything from Alex.
Richard and Charlie had called them in for an impromptu meeting to discuss Alex’s fate. They had just settled into their seats when Charlie began.
“We’ve gotten word from Alex,” he raised his hands before the guys could speak. “Let me finish. We got a letter just this morning. You guys might want to read it.” He handed Lance the paper, as he was the closest and motioned for him to read it.
Lance looked around at the other guys before clearing his throat and reading the letter. “Hey everyone, by the time you get this letter I’ll be long gone and I have no plans to come back. Unfortunately, I’m no longer safe with you guys. By now Chris has probably told you the reason for my sudden flight and I just want you to know that right now I am safe. I hope knowing my reason for leaving will excuse my breach of contract. Richard, Charlie, everyone, I’m sorry for putting you all in this position.
Because I can’t come back, I won’t be able to fulfill my duties. All the money that was given to me in advance should still be on the band’s bus in the safe. I want to give it all back to you to make up for putting you guys in this bind. If it isn’t enough and you’d prefer to do this legally, which I can’t blame you for, you can send a letter to the address on the envelope.
I just want you guys to know, that my time with you was the best of my life and I wish I could have hung out with you longer. I hope the rest of the tour kicks ass; I know it will actually. So that’s it, I guess. It’s been good. - Alex -”
Lance put the letter down and looked up at his friends. They were all reeling from this news. We all thought he’d come back, Lance thought. Now they knew he wouldn’t.
JC had been the one to explain why Alex had left and they didn’t begrudge him for leaving. They just wished he had shared his problems with them earlier. They could have kept him safe against his dad. They fully believed that. Now it was too late to do anything.
“I don’t want us to go after him for this. The kid’s already had enough shit to deal with,” Lance finally said in the now thickening silence.
Joey nodded. “Yeah and I don’t want to take his money either.”
Justin and Chris agreed. JC remained strangely silent.
“So, we should let him go without even a slap on the wrist?” Charlie raised a brow.
“Yes. What’s the big deal, Chuck? Tom said he’s over the bug that got us into the mess and he’s coming down tonight. Send the kid his money but don’t do it before I get a chance to write something to him. I’m going to miss him and I want him to know that,” Chris said and leaned back against his chair.
There were noises of approval around the table and Charlie gave them a small smile before looking over at Richard, who just shrugged. “Alright, alright. I wasn’t going to do it anyway. I liked that kid.”
He promised not to send the money out until they had all written a personal note and finally closed the meeting. They all walked out comforted by the fact that Alex was safe and they at least had a place where they could find him.
Chris wondered if he should have told the guys that Alex wasn’t a he. He would have, he told himself, had JC not insisted on sharing the story, making it difficult for him to add the little detail. He was a little glad that he didn’t have to admit to the fact that Alex was a girl. JC would flip at this new revelation and the poor shmuck wasn’t doing well as it was.
Chris looked up as the object of his thoughts walked passed him. JC had remained quiet through the entire meeting and he hadn’t been himself all week. Chris had thought that knowing that Alex was out of harm’s way would have eased the worry that Chris had been seeing in JC’s eyes but the news hadn’t helped at all. If anything, JC looked even worse than before.
Well there wasn't anything he could do at the moment. When JC wanted to talk about it, he would. Chris just hoped that it was sooner rather than later. A discontent JC wasn’t any fun at all.
…
The letters and the money came two days later but they didn’t reach Alex right away. Alex had decided that it would be safer to use Becca’s address instead of her sister’s. So, the letters were sitting in Becca’s mailbox when she went to check that morning.
She glanced at the big brown envelope and because the label was from Jive, she rushed to her phone and called Alex.
“Hey, B,” Alex greeted.
”How did you know it was me?” Becca asked.
“Caller display, stupid. What’s up?”
Becca made a face at the stupid comment before she spoke. “You got a letter from Jive.”
“Oh?” Alex faked nonchalance but Becca knew better.
“Yep. You sound occupied. I’ll call you back later if you want to talk about it. Bye.”
“Becca!” Alex shouted. “You better not hang up on me. What does it say?”
Becca stifled a laugh. “Umm, I don’t know. Do you want me to open it?”
“I’m going to fly over there and slap you if you don’t open it,” Alex said, only partly kidding.
This time Becca did laugh aloud. “Okay, calm down.” She used the sharp side of her key and slipped it under the envelope flap. Once it was opened, she slid the contents on her coffee table. “Okay there are five smaller envelopes in it.” She lifted the first one and brought it against the light. “The first looks like it has a cheque in it. It’s thick so there’s probably a few in here.”
“Are you serious? They sent me the money? Does that mean they’re just going to go after me legally?”
“No I don’t think so,” Becca said smiling at the note on the back of the envelope. “There’s a message on the back and it says, “This money is yours. You earned it. All of it. Charlie.”
Alex could feel tears start to form in her eyes and she closed them before they could fall.
Becca continued to look at the contents. “The rest are personal letters to you from the guys.” She lifted each, “Chris, Joey, Lance, Justin and umm, that’s it.”
Alex opened her eyes and said quietly. “No JC?”
“No. I’m sorry.” She looked again but came up with nothing.
“Oh…okay.” Alex checked back the hurt she felt at hearing this and asked Becca to send them to her as soon as she had the chance.
“I will. Hey, are you okay?” Becca asked.
Alex decided to be honest. “No, not really. I’m sure he has his reasons. It doesn’t matter anyway, right? I decided that it would be best to cut my ties with them anyway. It’ll be easier this way. So, it’s fine. Yeah, it’s fine.”
“Uh huh.”
“Right, so yeah. I applied to the college over here and a couple others close by,” Alex said changing the subject.
“Oh My God, Al. Seriously? That’s great! With your grades you could go anywhere.”
“I wanted to apply to UCLA and USC but they’re too far out of the way. It doesn’t matter though. I thought I didn’t have any hopes for school and now I do.”
”That is so awesome, babe. Let me know which one you decide on when you get
accepted to all of them,” Becca said, laughter in her voice.
“I will. Anyway, I should go. Kat and I have a meeting with a lawyer this afternoon about what to do about our father.”
“Oh man. That’s today?”
”Yeah.”
”Well, good luck.”
“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay. See ya.”
”Bye.” Alex hung up the phone and got up to change for the meeting. She was
finally getting control of her life and it felt amazing. She just wished that
the life she’d had for the last couple of months could be part of it too.
*