Aliens on Aventine Hill

Alice [Part 8]

The line at the gas station was hellish, and the prices on the sign were no better. Gray glanced back at the gauge on the dashboard and groaned. Running on fumes he could manage, but the car? Not so much.

So into the line he went.

By the time he was back on the road, the moon was high in the sky and his eyes itched with exhaustion. He was more than an hour late. Gray thought for a moment about excuses as he tried to keep from looking at the clock. He had some good ones, not that it mattered.

Lola's house, illuminated by cheerful streetlamps, was small pastel yellow bungalow with a rocking chair on its porch. It was just the sort of house for a university student who'd come and never left.

Gray looked longingly at the soft yellow glow of the windows on either side of the front door as he approached the front door. It swung open before he got the chance to knock, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

He flinched. Lola leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. Her eyes were sharp as she stared down at him, one eyebrow raised.

"I know," he ducked his head. "I had to stop for gas. You know what the lines are like these days. I would've gone during my lunch break, but I didn't have..."

"Grayson," she held up a hand, a smile breaking through her stony expression like a sunbeam, "I'm teasing."

"Oh."

She laughed, beckoning Roman out of the hall. Gray nodded gratefully, tousling his little brother's hair and turning to go, "Thanks, Lola."

"Actually," she stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door behind herself, "Could we talk?"

Gray stopped short, and Roman looked back at him, tugging his hand. Gray fished the keys out of his pocket and tossed them to his brother, "Go on ahead. Find something good on the radio. It'll just be a minute."

The little boy lingered nervously for another moment before heading on. Lola watched him go, waiting until he was safely out of earshot in the car before beginning, "Are you alright?"

"What?"

"You..." Lola blushed, "You just look so tired every time I see you."

"Oh," Gray turned away, trying to hide the dark circles under his eyes, "Yeah. It's been a rough couple of weeks," he offered her a weak smile, "but I'll be fine. I've weathered worse."

Lola took a deep breath, "Roman said the police had been to the house...?"

Gray cursed under his breath, "Yeah... Sunday morning. They just wanted to ask some questions about Arnold. It's not a big deal."

"What's there to ask about?"

Gray fidgeted uncomfortably, "They think he was poisoned."

"Poisoned?"

He nodded.

"They don't think you did it, do they?"

Gray resented the question, but he kept himself honest, confessing, "It's hard to tell. I answered all their questions as candidly as I could, but that's not to say they believed me. It didn't seem like they had very many leads, which..." he took a deep breath, rubbing at the bridge of his nose, "doesn't bode well."

"Well," Lola forced a smile onto her face, "I have faith that justice will prevail."

It hasn't before. Gray stared at his dirty shoes, hands tucked in his pockets, "Yeah, me too."

"And if you need anything, Grayson," Lola took his hand. "Anything at all."

"Thanks, Lola."

Her grip held him for a moment longer, "I made something for you."

"Oh?"

She disappeared into the pastel yellow bungalow and reappeared with a casserole dish, "Here. I made you this for tomorrow. I know you don't get off until eight."

Gray took the ceramic dish, "But I still haven't given you back yours from..."

"Don't worry about it," she squeezed his shoulder. "Just... take care of yourself, alright? You're starting to worry me."

"Sorry."

"Aw, it's nothing a little sleep won't fix, right?"

Gray met her eyes, biting his lip, "Yeah., though maybe more than a little."

She laughed and hugged him goodbye, "Take care."

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise," he shifted his weight to his other foot, smiling, "Thanks, Lola."

She smiled back and watched him walk down the porch steps to his car and his brother. As they pulled away, she could hear the rock blaring on the radio.