| Chapter Eleven |
He sat there in the chair, looking completely disinterested in her. His eyes wandered as his mind thought about something else, or was it someone else? This behavior was different than what she was normally used to. Usually his eyes were intently glued on her every move, as his mind thought of only her, and sometimes of the road to recovery he was evidently on. His focus on things have changed, but not all for the worst. �Michael, Michael,� Alexis said as she moved her hand around to try and catch his glance. �You seem so far away, what�s up with you?� Michael shook his head and veered his attention to her. �oh,� he gave her a half smile. �Sorry I was thinking about something.� �Yes I can see that, care to share?� She asked as she crossed her arms over her chest, waiting to hear what he had to say. �I�ve just been thinking lately. I�ve been doing so much better since I started talking to you. It�s like my whole life has changed.� His smile grew larger, as he dramatically stretched his arms up and placed them behind his head. �I have a girlfriend now.� Bingo, Alexis thought to herself as a smile came to her own lips. She nodded her head at him �She�s beautiful, no more then that she�s� she�s just wow. She makes me feel like someone special when I�m with her. She understands and accepts me for who I am with no questions asked. She�s great, smart too, she�s been helping me with school.� Michael�s eyes became all dreamy as his voice showed the same feelings. �I�m so happy for you Michael. I�m glad your life has made such a drastic turn for the better. This was all your doing you know. You made this change because you wanted to; I just gave you a little push and helped you along the way. I want you to understand even though you�ve come this far and done so great, I don�t want you to think it�s all over and there will be smooth sailing from now on, because everyone hits a bump in the road. The obstacle is getting back up, dusting yourself off and keep right on going.� He nodded his head at her as he cast his eyes downward, as if he didn�t want to hear that there was a chance everything might fall apart again. �I know that,� his voice was timid at first, but then grew stronger. �My mom, she�s been doing better too, she�s not at 100 percent yet but she�s getting there. I can tell she wants to get better.� Alexis sat there smiling at Michael. He was a whole new person sitting in front of her. A person who she had helped come out of a depression and into a world he could say he loved to live in, when just about two months earlier he had tried to take away his life. There was always a chance he might relapse, but that didn�t seem to be in his near future right now. She would always go back and check on Michael to make sure he was doing well though. You really never knew with teenagers, but she had hope for Michael. Alexis took pride in his achievements and her face showed it. �She�s been home more often, and you�ve been talking to her too right, I even heard you attended one of her meetings correct?� Alexis asked him. �Yeah I did, and yes she has been. I think it will work this time.� �I think so too Michael.� I really do hope so, she thought, for your sake. Michael looked down at his watch, �time�s up doc. I�m out of here, promised my girlfriend I�d met her at the mall, that�s where everyone�s at.� �Ok well you have fun and see you the day after tomorrow.� �Ok I�ll be here,� he said as he shut her door behind him. Alexis gave a loud sigh as she wrote some things down on the file placed in front of her. After finishing with that she put it away and pulled another one out. It was a new patient she would be seeing today for the first time. She rubbed her eyes to get the tiredness out, and blinked a few times to focus in on what was in front of her. Her stomach growled as she tried to read. She lazily laid back in her chair and looked over to the clock on the wall. �12:30, that would explain the hunger.� She said aloud. She swiveled in her chair and faced the window behind her. It was a nice day out, just a few white clouds in the sky, standing out in that light blue color that swallowed you whole. The sun shined through, lighting the path to wherever life had to take you. Her eyes landed on that pond again, this time a group of small children dressed in hospital clothes were sitting in a circle on the ground. There were a few nurses with them and one was reading to them. A tear came to her eye as she realized that those were the terminally ill patients. Some of those children wouldn�t live to see another day, let alone another day as beautiful as this one had turned out to be. Alexis lifted her hand to wipe away the tear that was rolling down her cheek. Happy thoughts think happy thoughts, she thought to herself as she looked away from the children. Marissa had left that morning and made it back home at noon. She had called Alexis to let her know everything was ok. Also to tell her that she had a great time and couldn�t wait to see Joey again. �That�s one boy I wouldn�t mind having a one nightstand with.� She had said jokingly. Her stomach growled again and she took this as a warning to go get herself some food. �Pizza delivery.� Came a raspy voice from the door as a person walked in uninvited. A man walked into her office wearing a cap and his head was cast down. He wore old baggy jeans with an old shirt, sunglasses covered his eyes. The man made his way toward Alexis�s desk. �Excuse me,� she said turning her chair around. �But I didn�t order any pizza, I think you have the wrong office.� �No I have the right place.� The man said still keeping his head down. He seemed to be straining his voice as well. �No I�m telling you, you don�t because I didn�t order pizza.� Alexis was getting a little annoyed now, not to mention the tiniest bit frightened at the way this man was mysteriously hidden. He was now standing right in front of her. He placed the pizza down on her desk, and he leaned forward. His hand reached toward his face and he lowered the sunglasses. �You sure you didn�t order this ma�am?� His voice sounded normal now and relief washed over Alexis along with surprise and joy. �Humm�on second thought, maybe I did order that pizza,� she said as she stared into those blue eyes. �But I have no money to pay for it.� His face moved closer to hers. �I have a few ideas on how you could repay me ma�am.� He closed his eyes and dipped his head to meet her lips. Alexis responded to his touch, giving back her own at full force. Their lips parted and he softly placed a few more on those lips that he just couldn�t get enough of. He smiled into her eyes as he pulled away and stood up. He pulled off the cap and sunglasses and pulled up a chair to her desk. �So do you kiss all the pizza delivery men like that?� JC asked with a chuckle. �Only the cute ones.� �But you couldn�t see me so how did you know I was cute?� �Oh I could tell.� She said with a laugh. �You can tell huh. Well I hope you�re hungry too.� �Yes I am.� She said as she moved forward to lift the top of the pizza box. Inside was a large pizza with extra cheese, pretty plain, but it will do she thought. �Wasn�t sure what toppings you liked so I figured you could never go wrong with cheese.� �No you can�t.� She said as she took a slice. �Thank you,� she added before biting into it. JC grabbed his own slice and began eating. The thing that had been kept in the back of her mind for the last 24 hours popped back to the surface. �The article, the article, you said you�d talk to him about it,� the little voice in her head kept repeating. �Did you read the Sunday paper by any chance?� Alexis asked JC. �No I didn�t, why?� He asked curiously. �Well there was an article in there,� she paused, took in a breath and thought about how to word this. �An article about you guys, well more then just you guys.� She couldn�t continue, she wasn�t sure what to say or how to say it, so she just pulled out the whole page of the newspaper where the article was found. She placed it in front of him and let him read it for himself. �Nice picture.� He said after a few minutes, and then leaned back in his chair. Now it was his turn to think of what to say. �Alexis, I don�t care about this kind of stuff, it�s bound to happen, people were bound to see us there that night. I don�t care what people write about us or speculate or say. We just have to ignore it, yeah it might be hard, but the question is are you willing to ignore it and continue, cuz I know I am.� His eyes looked expectantly into hers. She smiled at him. �Yes, yes I am willing to continue. I was just; I was just disturbed I guess by the article. I didn�t expect something like this so soon. The fact that someone was there, watching, saw Marissa and I get out of your limo and walk through the back. That�s just a little scary, and that picture, that was the strangest thing, I don�t remember,�� she trailed off. �Yeah neither do I,� JC told her honestly about the picture. �I guess I was lost in something else.� He said smiling, looking down at the picture. �I guess we both were.� She told him. �You have to realize this will be happening a lot, and I�m sorry to tell you but it�s only the beginning. They will try to find out more about you and no matter how hard I try to keep it a secret, and I will, they always find out somehow. They always find out everything.� �Yeah I know that, and I think I could handle it. I just wanted to hear what you had to say all about all this.� �And did you like what you heard?� �For the most part, yes.� She gave a wide smile. �Humm�for the most part, would you like to elaborate?� �It won�t be easy for me to get used to reading about stuff like this in the paper, or have people follow us around like this. It�s rather unnerving to tell you the truth. And the fans, that�s another story all together.� She said as she nervously pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. �But I thought about it, and I do think it�s worth it, all that is worth us seeing where this leads.� �I�m glad we see eye to eye on that.� He said as he gave that heart-melting smile. �And I will be there with you each step of the way, you won�t be alone in facing reporters or fans or anything, I promise you that.� He said noticing for the first time how scared she really was about all this. �As long as you promise then I�m fine.� Their hands reached across the desk to meet. They finished their pizza and Alexis had about 10 minutes before her lunch break was officially over. She was feeling a little daring now so she asked the next question with ease. �How�s Tyler doing?� The light that had been in JC�s eyes since the moment he walked in the door faded at the mention of his brother. �He�s, he�s doing fine, I guess, haven�t talked to him much since that day..� his voice was low and it trailed off. Alexis felt the anger boiling inside her. �You haven�t talked to your mom have you?� �Why is it that you want me to talk to her, I don�t get it?� JC asked, a mixture of confusion along with anger in his voice. �Because, because she knows something she hasn�t told you yet JC, and she needs to.� JC stared at her blankly. �And how would you know this. You know what, I don�t want to know and I don�t want to talk about it ok? Please respect that?� Alexis was about to open her mouth in protest, he needs to understand she thought. �Please Alexis, if my mother feels as though she needs to tell me something she will.� �She needs a little push in telling you JC. Ask her, just ask her.� Her voice raised a notch as she finished the sentence. She couldn�t stand seeing him hurt this way, the way the sparkle had left from him at the mere name of his own brother was just wrong. �I don�t know how you could know something about my family that I don�t, or claim to know my mother.� He had gotten angry now and Alexis was beginning to regret ever brining this up. But she figured if he was enraged about this that would give him the motive to bring it up to his mother. Her face was tense with anger at his last comment. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She thought this was the time to end this and leave it up to him. �Ok JC I�m sorry I ever brought this up. I won�t mention it again.� She paused, and spoke under her breath, �I�m sorry I tried to help you.� �I don�t need your help in this matter, it will be taken care of between my family and me.� JC told her in the calmest voice he could. There was a long moment of silence as each thought of the words that had just come out of their mouths. �I, I better get going.� JC stuttered awkwardly as he stood up from his chair. �Yeah, ok my next patient should be here soon.� She said not making eye contact with him. He quickly walked out the door without saying good-bye or giving a second look back. Chapter 12 |