Tuesday evening

[alec_leads]

Alec closes the door to his room and leans back against it. He's always heard about how your life can turn upside-down in a blink of an eye. He never thought it could actually happen to him. Even when Romilda died, the basics were the same.

But now...

He sits down on his bed. Maybe Mom and Dad just had a bad fight. Mom could have misunderstood. Nothing makes sense.

(Except it all totally makes sense and he just doesn't want it to.)

He picks up his phone and calls Ginny.

Comments

[ginginevra]

Ginny's thrilled to leave off doing homework!

"Hey, handsome," she chirps. "What's up?"

[alec_leads]

"Hey," he says, smiling a little.

"Do you, um, have time to talk? I need you."

[ginginevra]

Wow, okay, not just an everyday phone-call-with-the-boyfriend, then.

"Yeah, of course I do."

[alec_leads]

"It's not coven-related," he assures her.

"My mom just told us that my dad's not coming back like we thought. He has an apartment in San Diego. Which is really... I'm having trouble believing it's real."

[ginginevra]

"Oh. Jesus, Alec, I'm so sorry," she says quietly. She's really not sure what else to say in response to that news.

"Do you want me to come over?"

[alec_leads]

"I don't-"

It's a school night, but his mom is in her room crying and Alyce's door is locked and his parents are probably going to get a divorce.

"Could you? Jeez, I have to call Trixi, too. I don't know if Alyce is going to need a ride to rehearsal or not."

[ginginevra]

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes," she says, already pulling her things together. She'll tell her parents - she'll tell them something. Mostly even the truth, probably. "Do you need me to bring anything?"

[alec_leads]

"No?"

He has no idea what she could bring.

"Thanks, babe. Don't drive fast, okay?"

[ginginevra]

"I won't break the sound barrier, how's that? I love you."

[alec_leads]

"Love you, too. See you soon."

When she hangs up, he tries knocking on Alyce's door again. No response. He calls Trixi who tells him that Alyce just texted her to come pick her up early. He tells Trixi what's happened.

Five minutes later her hears Alyce stomp downstairs and slam the front door. She won't miss rehearsal tonight, at least.

Alec goes down to the living room to wait for Ginny.

[ginginevra]

And Ginny's soon knocking on the front door. She really doesn't know what she's going to say or do; she's hoping she'llbe able to figure it out when she sees Alec.

[alec_leads]

Hugs will be great.

He waits for her to get to the sidewalk before he's out the door and in her arms.

"I'm so glad you're here."

[ginginevra]

"Hey," she says, and holds on tight. Hugs she can totally do.

[alec_leads]

He doesn't do anything but cling for a minute or two more.

"Come on inside," he finally says. "I feel like I'm dreaming and I can't wake up."

[ginginevra]

She takes his hand tightly and follows him inside.

"I don't know what to say," she admits.

[alec_leads]

"Yeah, neither do I."

He starts up the stairs.

"It was a bad scene, though. I- could I just tell you what happened? I think if I talk about it, it might, I don't know. Make more sense?"

[ginginevra]

"We can talk about whatever you want. I just wanted to - I mean, that's why I came."

[alec_leads]

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

He heads for his room, closing the door behind them.

"Just- Mom made dinner, which- she hasn't done in a while. She wanted us all to sit down and eat together. And she just started crying in the middle of it."

He sits on the edge of the bed, looking a little lost.

"Alyce was- she was being a bitch. She always is with Mom these days. They've always kind of pushed each others' buttons? But Alyce said something really awful about Dad coming home to the usual mess, and Mom just froze. And then she said Dad wasn't coming home. They were separating, and she didn't know what would happen, but he had an apartment in San Diego now, and-"

He runs his hand through his hair. "Alyce started screaming and crying, saying Mom drove Dad away, and I didn't- I didn't know what to say- and Mom kept crying and it felt like the world just kind of dropped out from under me."

[ginginevra]

"God, Alec," Ginny whispers, and wraps her arms around him tightly. "I'm so, so sorry."

[alec_leads]

So far, Ginny is doing and saying exactly what Alec needs.

"I just- When Dad started working a lot, he told me to look after them. I don't buy the 'man of the house' crap, but I tried. I can't- I think-"

This is what hurts the most, and it's the hardest thing to admit. "Things have been fucked up a really long time, but I couldn't do anything about it. I mean, how could I? I cooked and I did dishes and I tried to make Mom feel better and I tried to make Alyce feel better, and when Dad was home, I tried to make sure everyone was happy and getting along, and that's all I could do. Right?"

[ginginevra]

"You should never have had to do any of that," she says, resting her head on his shoulder.

[alec_leads]

"I didn't know what else to do. I love them. All of them."

He wipes his eyes.

"We weren't always like this. We used to be- to be a family."

[ginginevra]

And now she's back to not knowing what to say, so she just kisses his cheek and keeps hugging him.

"I'm so sorry," she says again.

[alec_leads]

Words aren't going to help much, but hugs? Alec feels a little better already and a lot less alone.

"I'm so glad you came over."

[ginginevra]

"Of course I did. You're my guy."