Welcome To My Life

I sighed. Now how was I gonna get home? I had no clue where to go… I looked around, trying to figure out how Jack drove on our way to school. I recognized the church on my left. We had definitely passed that, so I decided to go that way. After walking for a few minutes I was pretty sure I had to go right and then I took the first turn left. I kept following that road until I had no idea where I was. Fuck. I pulled out my phone. It was 7 PM already and I didn’t have any missed calls. How lovely, so many people that care about me. I wondered what lie Jack came up with as to why I hadn’t shown up for dinner. I didn’t have the phone numbers of my aunt, uncle or Jack, or anyone who lived in Baltimore for that matter, so I was pretty screwed. I didn’t have money for a taxi either. I sighed and sat down on a bench in a small park.

“Liz…?” I heard a familiar voice behind me.
I turned around. “Alex…” I muttered.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’m kind of… lost” I admitted. I didn’t want to seem two-faced and act all nice to Alex now that I could really use his help, but well, I didn’t see myself getting “home” without his help.
“I can tell” Alex said. “You’re pretty far off…”
I sighed. “I thought I was going the right way.”
“Need me to drive you home?” Alex offered.
I bit my lip. “You still want to?”

Alex sat down next to me.
“I shouldn’t have left earlier” he said apologetic.
“Don’t be silly, I was a bitch to you. I can’t blame you for leaving. It’s just… I’ve been bullied my entire life, you know, and there were always so many people just watching, not doing anything and it just... pisses me off.”
“I guess I’m just not brave like you” Alex muttered. “I can’t stand up to Jack. He’ll make my life a living hell…”
“He’s your friend…” I said.
“Yeah well, as long as I don’t act out” Alex shrugged.

“Jack’s just a bully. If more people would find the courage to stand up to him, he’d be nothing. He’s mainly popular because a lot of people are scared of him. I just want to give these people a voice, you know…” I said.
“And I think that’s great, I just don’t think I can help you with it. Jack is already pissed at me…” Alex shrugged.
“Really? How come?” I asked curiously.
“Because I did stand up for you, and Jenna, and everyone else he bullies. I told him he should stop, but he wouldn’t have any of it and got pissed.” Alex explained.

I couldn’t help but smile a little. “So hey, what are you doing here? I assume you live here somewhere?”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, I live at the other side of the park. I’m just walking our dog.”
“Really? I love dogs!” I asked enthusiastically. “Where is your dog?”
Alex looked around the park. “Peyton!” he exclaimed.

A few seconds later, a dog came running from the bushes, up to us.
“There he is” Alex said, petting the dog as he sat down in front of us.
“My parents have a dog as well” I said, while petting Peyton as well.
“Do you miss your dog?” Alex asked.
I nodded. “I just love to have animals around. They just always make me feel better when I’m down. Jack’s parents don’t have any though.”
“Yeah, I know… They’re not exactly the kind of people who'd like to take care of an animal.” Alex muttered.

“They’re not exactly the kind of people who care about anyone but themselves in general” I scoffed.
“You really don’t like your aunt and uncle, do you?” Alex asked.
“Yeah well, I just can’t have a lot of respect for people who raise their son to be a dickhead like Jack” I shrugged.
“Good point” Alex said.

“So uhm… I was actually on my way to get ice cream. Care to join me?” Alex asked.
I hesitated for a moment. Did I want to go get ice cream with him? I know I had been a little too harsh on him earlier, but I still don’t get why he’s friends with Jack and it did not make me like him more. But well, I could really use the ride home and Alex seemed like a nice guy. Also, I was craving ice cream, or any food really as I hadn’t had anything to eat yet.
“Yeah, I do actually” I nodded.
“Well, let’s go then” Alex said, putting Peyton on his leash.

I followed him to the end of the street, to a small place that sold ice cream. Alex insisted on paying and as I don’t have a job and don’t earn any money right now, I let him. After we got our cones, we sat down on a bench to eat them. We talked about all kind of things, but not about Jack, as he had been the subject of most of our conversations so far. Alex told me about his hobbies. He played guitar and he could sing (at least he thought so), which to be honest did make him more appealing to me. There’s just something about musicians that makes me weak in the knees.

I told him I would like to see him play sometime and he started laughing saying it would probably never happen. By that time we had both finished our ice cream and we headed back to Alex’s house so that he could drive me home.

“So, what are your hobbies?” Alex asked after we got up from the bench.
“I don’t really have any” I shrugged.
“What do you have?” he joked and I realized he was referring to me telling him I didn’t have friends.
“I don’t really know… No sense of direction either, or a dog, or self-restraint… I guess I don’t really have anything. Thanks for making me realize that” I said with a straight face.
Alex’s face fell. “Sorry…” he muttered.

“Don’t be a baby, I was totally kidding” I said, causing him to blush.
“Just so you know, I do think you can restrain yourself. You looked like you were this close to punching Jack earlier” Alex said, holding up his fingers about half an inch from one another to indicate how close I was.
“Trust me, if we wouldn’t have been in school I would have” I admitted.

“Well, you’re gonna have a bad time living there, then” Alex said.
I shrugged. “Jack is not as much of an asshole at home as he is at school. His parents are pretty strict and would definitely not be okay with him swearing. I don’t think they know he’s such a bully because they would not approve of it.”
“Then why don’t you tell them?” Alex asked.
“Well, aren’t you a good friend?” I joked.

“Just because Jack is my friend it doesn’t mean I approve of everything he does. If his parents could get him to stop being such a dick to random people, I would be okay with that” Alex shrugged.
“You’ve got a point there. But no, I won’t tell them because it would probably get him in trouble and whatever hell they put him through, he will probably put me through twice as much and I don’t want to risk that” I explained.

By that time we had reached Alex’s house.
“I’m just gonna let Peyton inside and I’ll be right back” Alex said, going inside.

I nodded and waited outside. Alex returned quickly and we got into his car. I paid attention to our surroundings to make sure I’ll be able to find my way home myself next time. Soon, my family’s big house appeared in front of us. Alex stopped the car in front of the house and I got out.

“Thanks for driving me home, see you tomorrow” I told Alex.
“See you” he replied before he drove off.

By this time it was 8:00. I unlocked their front door and went inside, to find Jack and his parents in the living room, in front of the TV.

Notes

Title credit: 5 Seconds Of Summer - Kiss Me Kiss Me