"Ooooo, so, what's happening in youuuur life?" Alex asks, chirp of a voice and curiosity oozing out of her with the elongation of each vowel.
She faces me, her elbow on the table and head resting on hand, sitting beside me on the usual lunch table.
I shake my head, rolling my eyes and looking up at Tom who sits across from me before I sigh, turning back to face the Alex.
I chuckle.
"Nah, what's going on with your life," I asked, "it's not all about me," I informed her.
"Oh," she said. She seemed surprised, maybe she wasn't used to being asked that question.
I rolled my eyes at her expression that was still in shock like she was pushed back and frozen in that position even after a few moments I asked her that.
"Ya, come on." I nudged her side, smirking a bit.
She blinked a few times and then looked up to meet Tom's gaze, as if asking him for permission, she still looked too stunned to come up with a descent reply.
I faced Tom too, eyeing him, I wonder what he would do next.
This mysterious boy, always observing and quiet, yet for some reason knew all the answers and seemed to be the one we always came to.
He smiled at Alex, nodding his head and that was it before Alex bounced in her seat and faced me again.
"Oh, you know," she said, shrugging the words out as well as her shoulders. Her elbow back on the table and her head plopped back onto her hand, the curls on her head bounced still, covering the outline of her face."Same old, same old,"
"What does that even mean?" I questioned, my voice high as I whined.
"Oh, you know ... whatever," she shrugged out again, her shoulders bobbing yet again, "What's up with you?" she asked, chirping the words out like nothing.
My eyes widened, confused at her repetition of wanting to know more of what was happening with me.
I shrugged, looking over at Tom for maybe some help, his eyes flickering to me for a moment before I realized ... I didn't need his help.
I zapped my attention back to Alex, her brown curls, her electric green eyes, flashing towards me with her sweet smile, and her beautiful brown skin.
"We don't need to talk about me all the time, I'm not the main character, what's up with you?" I informed her, yet again, maybe a bit harshly but it was to zap her out of this state of asking only about me.
"But you are the main character," she chirped out, a bit confused as if it was obvious, I was the main character.
"What?" I questioned, clearly confused.
"We're all the main characters of our life, so, I'm going to treat you like one, " she said, now informing me.
"What, no... If I'm the main character, then so are you! Now, why don't you tell me what's going on with you, why don't you wanna tell me?"
She looked small after hearing my angry questions. Maybe I was being a bit harsh, because she looked so vulnerable as she looked down at her clothes and at her fingers and then up towards Tom. She looked lost, looking up at Tom for some sort of answer to her small delema. Scanning him slowly before turning back to me, her gaze low and her smile out of sight.
"I don't know," she confessed, her voice small.
"What don't you know?" I asked, my voice quiet too as I listened in.
"I don't know how to be a main character," she said, voice still quiet.
"Well, let's switch roles, you be the main character, I'll be the side character, ya," I questioned, my voice soft as if I were speaking to a child, testing my limits on how far I could go before they'd burst into tears or another fit.
Alex looked up at me slowly, her composer shifting as her gaze began to stop looking down, she no longer looked defeated, looking at my hands that were now in her's, she seemed to gain her confidence back.
"Ya? Are you sure I can be a main character?" She asked.
I nodded down at her in reassurance.
Her small smile perked to her face, curving up her cheeks as the hair on her face tried to cover her back up again, but Alex was too confident, too much of a go getter to be kept hiding.
She smiled brightly, pulling the hair that was falling to her face, tugging it behind her ear as she bounced up, straight up again instead of curved down.
She was sitting tall in her seat, yet again, as she looked straight into my eyes, our eyes a total contrast, a boring gray to an exciting green.
She bounced again as her smile stretched, maybe she was remembering something happy or our recent conversation, but whatever it was, it caused her to pull me in a fast hug, comforting and tight. Enveloping me into her warm embrace of her shampoo and conditioned hair.
I laughed and she giggled too, pulling out of our hug and then looking over at Tom.
She waved at him, smiling brightly again, a tight smile that seemed to be breaking at her skin, she was too happy, again, it was nice to see her this way.
Tom enlightened Alex with the same ridiculous wave and a cheery smile tugged at his lips. He tried to hide the amusement in him, but it wasn't working.
I laughed at the two of them, sitting beside them, Alex next to me while Tom was at a diagonal from her, I was the side character.
Alex finally turned away from Tom, and their little game of waving, and she smiled at me yet again, reassuring me as she looked straight into my dull eyes. She made my eyes feel and look special. I guess Andrew wasn't the only one who could make me feel special and maybe wasn't the only person who saw me.
Before I could think too much of that, Alex began to speak again.
"SOOO?" She asked, looking from side to side, "What should I start about?"
She looked at me now, waiting for a reply while I just shrugged, a smile tugging at my lips now.
"Okay," she said, dragging the words out as if realizing the rest was up to her, she rolled her eyes, "Ugh, fine, I guess I'll tell you about MY life." She shook her head, trying to hide her excitement, but it didn't work on us, she was too happy and of course wanted to tell us what was happening in her life.
We all looked at her, the suspense rising as we waited for her to continue, even Tom was inching closer to the table to hear Alex's small voice begining to bubble out of her.
She was confused at this of course and gave us concerned looks, we brushed them off and then she finally began.
"I don't know, I guess, ..." She didn't seem to know where to start, but her eyes glowed as thoughts began to pop in her head," I don't know how to be a main character, um,.. because of my mom," she told us, now the flow of thoughts coming to her, "it's just that, my mom, well, it was always about her and her life, it didn't matter what I wanted in life, you know,"
She stopped to look over at me, nodding her head towards me to signify the "I know" part, and I did know, so I nodded back.
"She was like the star in our home, she had all the fancy clothes and makeup, walking around our house like a queen and leaving me to do all the dirty work, and she'd go and do anything, because, whenever I asked for something, it was like I was crazy or as if what I asked was impossible to think of. She always would go out, meet some guy, have a blast while I only wished to do that, sure, I'm young or whatever, but come on," she pouted that last part out, sighing a bit, but continuing anyway.
"Plus, she always would make this excuse of 'we live in the small town, we're not big stars or rich, so, we gotta stay at home and we can't spend all our money on dreams,' but whenever I told her we could be stars, she'd be like 'what, no, the small town, I can't leave it, it's the life', ugh!"
She sighed once again before continuing, her head low as she said all the words out.
"So ... I told her about how I wanted to be in New York, and you know, visit and maybe some day live there, and I told her about my wish and how we gotta stop being cowards of these stupid routines and just live! You know what I told her, this weekend, I just walked up to her while she was in the kitchen, I wasn't backing down, and said it all and ...well..."
She stopped talking, leaving us all on hold, it was like her story transported me in every detail, from the way her mother dressed to the end where Alex was in the kitchen telling her mom all of this. The anticipation to know what Alex did next, kept both Tom and I on the edge of our seats, scared to know what would happen. I could tell we both were feeling this, it was like the air had shifted, dark all around.
Alex sighed again, shrugging, keeping the anticipation to grow.
"And... Well... I told her all of this and she said okay....and... she booked tickets to New York for around like winter break or something," she said casually, like it was no big deal.
"Oh my god!" Both Tom and I erupted in joy, excitement and exhilaration, any emotion or action that meant happy, that was us. The big news, finally, the anticipation was over and we could breath again.
It seemed to be the complete opposite of what Alex was expecting because she bounced up in confusion at the two of us, like seeing us there was new news. Slowly smiling in awe at the two of us, it seemed she was realizing that what she did was a big deal.
We both bounced up as I gave her a big hug while Tom reached for her hands that were now on the table.
I squeezed her tight as Tom complimented her.
"I'm so proud of you," he cheered, "you're so strong,"
"Yes, you are," I told her, squeezing her even tighter, letting myself get suffocated underneath her chest because Alex was still reaching over the table for Tom's hands.
My eyes shut in excitement.
"Oh, ya?" Alex questioned softly, her small smile playing at her lips, surprised at our reactions and slowly turning proud of herself too.
"See! You're the main character!"
She chuckled out nervously, probably blushing hard, not only from her confession, but it seemed to be from the neverending hand holding that Tom and her were doing on top of the lunch table.
Their fingers caressing over each other, with each stroke a secret they told each other, their eyes never leaving one another, finding it comforting just to be in each other's views. They felt safe.
Pride and admiration in both of them, all of us.
It seemed they both found reassurance from this, at least I know Alex did.
The room was no longer dark, now that the news was out, and our explosion of excitement came.
The room was glowing with the yellow florescent lights and the orange autumn sun from outside.
Alex and Tom only looking at each other, a blush from her side and pride on his, it was adorable, sweet and safe.
While I was there, the side character.