|| Soft || Roy Kent

Chapter Five

"Who is Alexandra Banks when she has a day off?" The melodic voice from her sister trilled on the other end of the phone. Alex, who had just finished her second cup of coffee on a slow morning at 10:00am.

"I barely know," she played along. "Last night was just a load of Friends reruns and

falling asleep appallingly early on my couch. Today the world is my oyster."

"Twenty-six years old, single, and no work the next morning and your ass was sat on the couch watching sitcoms? How disappointing!" Her sister scolded. There was a shout in the background and the rattle of something that sounded important hitting the floor. "Oi! Take it outside before I put you on the curb with the bin!"

"Well, too much fun and I'll find myself threatening the lives of two eight year olds before noon."

"Oh, don't wish too hard." Margot teased. "You could always come babysit and I could take full advantage of a day without Peppa Pig and fucking Roblox."

"Or even better, you could get mum to do it and we could have a day out together."

"Oh, you glorious little shit. I'll ring you back!" Margot didn't give Alex a chance to respond before hanging up the call, leaving Alex chuckling to herself.

"Oh, let's pop in here just for a quick minute. Ava's nearly bursting out of her clothes and I don't have nearly enough to keep up with her this winter." Margot gestured to the children's shop as they passed. Alex agreed, despite wondering if the entire day would be centered around running her sister's errands. A Tesco run for the twins' snack for their football match, a return to a department store for Margot's husband, Daniel, and now a trip to further stuff the closet of her eleven month old niece.

Wordlessly, Alex agreed and followed her sister into the shop, which was filled to the gills with displays of children's clothes, bright and seemingly expensive.

"Oh, and they're having a sale!" Margot sang, diving into the nearest rack of very gendered girls' clothes. Alex chuckled and rolled her eyes, turning to busy herself in the next rack over, possibly aiding in expediting the process.

"Uncle Roy, what do you think of this one?" A small voice called from the alcove that housed the changing rooms.

"Looks like every other jumper you've put on in the last twenty minutes," a gruff voice responded.

"Hey! You promised you'd help me decide!"

"Right, well, it's blue, yeah? Do you like it better than the other blue? Or the purple?"

"It's lavender!"

"Fucking lavender, then!"

"Bad word!"

The exchange caught Alex's attention quickly. Brows furrowed quizzically, she turned the corner to see one Roy Kent seated at the mouth of the fitting rooms, a pile of brightly colored clothes on his lap.

"Well, hello," Alex spoke up. Roy got to his feet with a start, the clothes falling to the floor.

"Hey!" Phoebe shouted, reaching down to pick them delicately up from his feet.

"Sorry, Phoebs." He quickly looked back to Alex, "What are you doing here?"

"Shopping for my niece," Alex gestured a thumb back in the general direction of her sister. "You?"

"Shopping with my niece," Roy gestured to Phoebe in front of him, who was dwarfed by the large pile of clothes she had gathered in her arms.

"Well, hi there," Alex smiled down at her. "I'm Alex, your Uncle's friend from work."