Part 25
The doorbell rings.
She gets up from the table, taking light steps down the
hall. She brushes aside the front door curtain and a soft gasp echoes around
the room as she sees who it is. With trembling fingers, she unlocks and opens
the door.
He looks different. Changed somehow. She doesn’t know
what to say.
An awkward silence permeates the air.
He looks uncomfortable and confused, as if he doesn’t know why he’s there.
”Hey…I’m sorry for coming unexpected like this.”
“No, it’s totally cool. I just, didn’t expect you to...
Do you want to come in?” She steps back, her hand already lifting in a gesture
of welcome.
He shakes his head. “No. Nah, that’s okay.”
“So, uh, what are you doing here?”
“The venue’s nearby so ... I just wanted to see if … to
see if … How is...?”
”Umm, good. Good. The dad’s out of the picture and school’s great. Everyone’s
easing into their normal lives.”
“Good. That’s good. Well, umm. Can you give him this?”
He slides a slightly wrinkled letter out of his pocket and hands it to her.
“Yeah. I will. But uh … there’s something you should
know.”
He looks at her then. Really looks at her.
“Alex … Well Alex isn’t—“
She can’t do it. She can’t tell him.
It isn’t her place.
”Alex isn’t what?”
She shakes her head.
“Nothing. I’ll give this to Al.”
He nods. ”Thanks Becca.”
His back is already to her before her mouth has time to
say you’re welcome and she watches him walk away. She looks down at the envelope,
her eyes caught by its whiteness and she contemplates its message.
But it isn’t her concern; she’s just the messenger. And
with one more look outside, she eases the door closed.
*
“And only then do we come to understand the significance of his vision and the importance of his work. Okay that’s a good enough place to stop for today. If you have any questions about your test marks please come see me in my office.”
Alex gathered her books and slipped them into her backpack. She was exhausted and the day wasn’t even half finished yet. She had one more class and then she had a closing shift at the Kitty Café where she worked five days a week.
“God, he knows how to drone on,” Sarah, her roommate, said as she got up from the seat beside Alex.
Alex laughed. “Isn’t that one of the sole functions of Profs?” She got up from her seat and they both shuffled out of the lecture hall.
“Sadly, it must be. It’s a good thing he’s hot.”
“Oh God Sarah, he’s like fifty.”
“Hey fifty’s the new forty.”
Alex snorted. “You didn’t just say that.”
“Well, it’s true,” Sarah said before fiddling in her purse for her tube of lip-gloss. “So, what are you doing tonight? Going out with Jeff?”
“Yeah, not so much. I have to work at Kitty’s.”
“God, you’re always working.”
“It keeps the roof over my head and food in my stomach, so you know…” Alex rolled her eyes at her friend. Sarah didn’t understand the concept of working for your living. Her parents were putting her through school and paying her portion of the rent for the apartment they shared.
Alex wasn’t so lucky. Even with a scholarship that fortunately paid for her tuition and a tiny safety net from the tour last summer, she still had very little disposable money. Most of her earnings at the café went towards rent and groceries.
She had been going to UCSB for almost a year now and full time only as of that semester. After everything had settled down via a restraining order and a court hearing on the parent front, Alex was ready to get on with her life. She had been admitted to UCSB and after finding Sarah on a student apartment search website and meeting her, Alex had moved to Santa Barbara.
Things had been weird at first. She hadn’t been in a school in a few years and the last time she had been in school, it hadn’t been the best time of her life. However as time progressed she really got into the swing of things. She found herself making friends easily and even crazier guys started approaching her. She felt as if she was finally living a real life and it felt great.
Leaving Kat had been the only drawback of the whole thing but if things went as planned, Kat would be joining her in less than two months to attend UCSB’s graduate program in sociology.
“Yeah there’s that,” Sarah sniffed. “So is Becca still coming down next weekend?”
“She is. I told her that it would make more sense if I came down since it’s her birthday but she’s all about getting away for the weekend.”
“Perfect. That means you guys can come with me to Vegas to visit my rents.”
“I wish you would stop bringing that up. You know neither of us can afford it.”
“And you know that you guys wouldn’t have to pay for anything since I’ll be driving down and you’ll be staying with me at my parents place.”
Alex shook her head. “I’m not really comfortable with that. I’m sorry.”
Sarah turned to Alex with a pleading look on her face. “Look, you have to come with me. My parents invited my hated cousin Andrea to spend time with them next weekend and I know I’ll have to baby-sit her. If you don’t come with me, I won’t have any fun. Please Alex. Besides I kind of told my ‘rents you’d be coming with me on the drive so they’d feel okay with me driving down.”
Alex sighed, well aware that she’d never hear the end of it if she didn’t go along with Sarah’s plans. She would just pick and pick until Alex finally said yes. Besides, it wasn’t like she had to pay for anything and Becca would probably love to go to Vegas again considering their last visit was cut short. Suddenly a feeling of foreboding came over her at the thought of going back to the city. She brushed the feeling away knowing she was being ridiculous. What could happen?
“Okay we’ll come with you,” she said finally.
Sarah clapped her hands in glee. “You will not regret this Alex. This is going to be so much fun. I know it.”
…
“This is going to be so much fun,” Becca said giddily as she got out of Sarah’s BMW.
“I hope you’ll still be saying that after you meet my cousin,” Sarah said straight-faced.
Alex climbed out of the car and looked at the house. It was quite beautiful. Alex made note of the tile roofing, the cobblestone paving and the pristinely white stonewalls of the house before she went to the backseat of the car and took out her backpack.
“She can’t be that bad,” she said walking up beside her two friends.
“Tell me that after you’ve met her,” Sarah scoffed. She pulled out her suitcase out of the trunk and slammed it closed before turning back to Alex. “Okay, so don’t forget what you’re telling my rents if they ask you how I’m doing in school.”
“You’re the poster child for hard working students everywhere,” Alex said dryly.
“Okay, when you do that for real try to be a little more convincing,” Sarah said before rolling her suitcase up the pathway to the house.
Becca turned to Alex and they shared a laughing look. “She’s kind of crazy,” Becca whispered.
Alex laughed. “Kind of?”
Becca grinned. “I’m glad we’re doing this, Al.” She picked up her bag from where she had rested it on the ground and slid it onto her shoulder. “I have a good feeling about this trip.” She started walking up the pathway before Alex could respond and Alex could do nothing but follow her.
They climbed up the stairs and walked through a cobblestone courtyard before reaching the front door. Sarah still had a key so she unlocked the door and walked right in.
Alex felt awkward as she followed Sarah into the house and stood awkwardly in the hallway as Sarah threw her keys down on a side table and called to see if anyone was home.
“In the kitchen,” someone called in response.
Sarah turned to them and grinned. “We made it just in time for dinner. Throw your bags on the floor for now. We’ll come back and get them later.” Leaving them to do as she said, she slipped around a corner and disappeared out of sight.
“Umm…?” Becca gave Alex a sidelong look.
Alex shrugged and put her backpack up against a wall and Becca snickering a little did the same. That done they quickly went in the direction Sarah had gone and hoped they wouldn’t get lost.
As it so happened, the kitchen was right around the corner so quite quickly and unexpectedly they found themselves in the kitchen’s doorway.
Alex glanced around the room and noticed that Sarah had already made herself comfortable on one of the stools beside the kitchen counter. A woman Alex assumed was Sarah’s mother was placing a steaming dish of vegetables on the table in front of a man and a young woman.
They all looked up as Alex and Becca stepped fully into the room and Alex froze as the young woman’s face came into clear view.
Sarah hopped off the stool and quickly made the introductions. “Mom, dad … oh and Andrea, this is my roomie Alexandria Greene and her friend Becca Washington. Guys these are my parents Nancy and William Stratton and that’s my cousin Andrea,” she mumbled the last part.
Becca might have responded to the introduction, Alex didn’t know. She was so shocked by the fact that Sarah’s Andrea was in part her Andrea. Andrea from the *NSYNC tour. Andrea who’d crushed on her last summer. Andrea who thought she was a boy.
Or had.
Andrea scrunched up her face in confusion for a moment and Alex knew it would only be moments before she connected the long haired, skirt clad girl in front of her with the glasses wearing, baggy clothed boy she knew last summer. Alex silently cursed Sarah for introducing her by her full name. Alex might have been able to get away with it had Andrea not known her name. People only saw what they wanted to but there was no way that Andrea could miss the name connection. Alex really wanted to run and hide but there was nowhere to go. Besides, it was too late. The damage was done.
Alex knew it was over when Andrea’s eyes suddenly widened and her face suddenly lit up in comprehension and bewilderment. This was it.
She was dead.
*