Alex showered and changed into basketball shorts and a band T-shirt she stole from her brother, despite not being into the same kind of music. He was into punk and rock bands while Alex liked listening to the music they played on Radio Disney, an AM radio station that only came in clear half the time, and when it did, there was usually some static in the background. But Alex liked the late 90s/early 2000s kids' stuff. Not that Jess' taste was bad. She liked some of it, just not most, and preferred her own, especially the Backstreet Boys, with Brian being her favorite. Liz loved it because it was the closest to Alex being a "normal" girl so far, along with liking The Rock. Liz saw it as her daughter's first crushes while Alex just really liked them and blushed in embarrassment whenever Liz would point it out while either of them were on the TV.
Once dressed, Alex brushed out her short, shoulder length hair in the bathroom mirror. For the rest of the late afternoon and into the evening, she would switch between Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel on the TV in the living room, while fighting her WWE fighters in their wrestling ring set on the coffee table until her mom got home.
Cartoon-wise, Alex's favorite to watch was Hey Arnold, because it was about a group of misfit kids living in the New York area like her. She had a soft spot for Arnold and a couple of the other kids, but enjoyed every single episode, regardless of who was in the spotlight. She even felt bad for Helga sometimes, despite her always being mean to everyone, including Arnold, the boy she had a weird crush on. Alex had asked Jess once what he would do if a girl secretly liked him, but would constantly be mean to him, and secretly kept a photo of him.
From what Jess saw of the cartoon character and heard from Alex, he told her, "I would run in the opposite direction and take out a restraining order," and explained that was what a stalker does when she mentioned Helga having a shrine of Arnold in her closet.
But knowing Helga was paid no mind by either of her parents a lot of the time made Alex still feel bad for her and comparing Liz to Helga's mom, Liz actually paid a lot more attention than hers does on the show. Not that Liz was Mom of the Year or anything. Alex still wished her mom would listen to them more. As Jess always tried to instill in her little nieve head: Liz is gonna do what Liz wants and neither he nor Alex had any say in it, especially when it came to the guys she sometimes brought home. As she was getting older, Alex could see what her brother meant. However, unlike him, she felt torn. She did not know why, but Alex did not want to let go of the hope she had for their mom. At the same time, she felt closer to her brother and uncle. Her uncle, being more laid-back and nicer than Jess, always told her not to be too hard on their mom, so maybe that's why she could never fully let go.
Alex jumped when she heard the front door being unlocked later that evening, twisting around in that direction. She heard her mom call for her to come undo the top lock. "Coming!" she called back and jumped up to dash over and let her mom in.
"You finally remembered to lock the door this time, sweetie." That was Liz's way of praising Alex for her efforts. She closed the door behind her.
Alex offered to lock it back for her, but couldn't find the courage to admit she had forgotten and received a lecture from Jess already.
"How was school?" Liz called back over her shoulder while heading towards the kitchen.
Alex followed behind at a slower pace. "Good," she shrugged causally.
"Make any friends yet?"
She leaned her arms on the kitchen counter while Liz set the pizza down and grabbed plates from the cupboard. "Not yet."
"I got a call from your vice principal at work, said she noticed you stayed late before running off." Great, so that woman did see Alex there and called after all.
"Am I in trouble?" Alex asked nervously.
"No, sweetie, of course not. I guess I should have called the school to tell you to walk home." Liz passed Alex a plate. "I was so busy thinking of what to do with your brother. I'm surprised I thought to write it on the message board."
Alex took the plate. "Why did you send Jess to Uncle Luke's?" She asked, curious to hear Liz's side of what happened, if it matched Jess'. Of course, she'd believe Jess over Liz.
Liz opened the pizza box to grab a slice. "Well, he's been getting into trouble lately and not listening to reason. I have to work. I can't just take time off to deal with the bullshit he keeps getting into, so I figured since your uncle is good at fixing things, he would know better than me. And I don't want his bad influence to affect you. One problem child is enough." She took her plate over to set it on the table and headed to the fridge. "You want anything to drink, sweetie?"
Alex was grabbing a slice of pizza for herself while listening to her mom's lame excuses, not realizing Liz had asked her a question even when she repeated herself.
"Alex!" Liz raised her voice, but only so Alex would hear her better.
It still made Alex jump once more. "What?" She jerked her head over in her mom's direction.
"I asked you if you wanted anything to drink," she said, holding the fridge door open.
"Oh, um... Is the milk bad yet?"
Liz reached for the milk to check the date. She took the cap off to sniff it, instantly turning her head away. "Yeah, smells like it." She took it over to pour down the sink. "I'm off Sunday, so we can go shopping then."
"What about breakfast?" Cereal was the only thing she could make to eat in the morning.
"Well, take some cereal in a baggie or eat it dry here. I don't know what else to tell you. I can't get off before then and the store closes in about an hour." Liz threw away the empty jug and grabbed a beer for herself.
Alex watched her mom head back over to sit down at the table out of her side view. Since she had her pizza, Alex carried it over to continue watching TV. The cartoons were over with the Nick at Night time slot playing those TV shows like Full House and Family Matters.
"Why don't you turn that TV off and come have dinner with me?" Liz called over to her when Alex sat down on her legs at the coffee table. "I wanna hear all about your day."
"No, thank you," she told her mom politely, while also trying to be defiant.
"Come on." Liz tried to convince her youngest some more. When she couldn't, she went over to grab the remote and do it herself.
"I was watching that," Alex protested, looking up at her mom.
"You were probably watching this all evening since you got home. Come have dinner with me for once." Liz tossed the remote onto a nearby chair. "We haven't done it since you were little."
Alex muttered, "Yeah, because you're never here," under her breath.
However, even though she didn't catch exactly what the kid said, Liz heard her mumbling about something. "What was that?" She turned back on her heel, placing her hands on her hips.
"Nothing." Alex picked up her slice of pizza and took another bite.
"Alex Amelia, get your behind over to that table." Liz pointed a finger at the table with her other hand still on her hip.
Alex remained sitting on her legs, now staring at her pizza slice while she chewed.
"What has gotten into you tonight?" her mom asked. "Why are you ignoring me? This isn't like you."
Alex couldn't speak, but felt the tears appear once more as her little heart raced and her chest tightened. She hated whenever she was upset, she would start to cry.
Liz groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, shutting her eyes. She took her hand away to tell her, "You don't need to cry about it. I just want us to have dinner together. It's just us now, sweetie."
For some reason, hearing it out loud it was just them now broke the dam and caused more tears.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Liz asked as if confused.
Alex tried her best to wipe the tears away with the back of her hands, trying not to get grease in her eyes, but more seemed to keep coming.
"What? I'm not a mind-reader, you know. Is it Jess?" Liz sounded frazzled and confused by this point. She never could handle whenever Alex easily broke down. The kid was the complete opposite from her brother, who rarely showed any kind of emotion except for anger, which was why he and Liz fought all the time. Sure, Liz tended to go crying to their uncle whenever she had gotten them into trouble, but having to deal with it from the other side seemed to make Liz uncomfortable.
Liz sighed when Alex wouldn't say anything. Eventually, she kneeled beside the coffee table and folded her arms on top. "I'm gonna miss him, too, but I can't juggle his bad attitude, taking care of you, and work all at once, sweetie."
Suddenly, Alex spat out, "You don't juggle anything! All you care about is you!"
Liz jerked her head back, now sitting up straight. "Excuse me?" She seemed confused about what Alex meant. "You know I care about you."
Anger was rising to the surface. Alex had never felt this much anger before. She always tried to keep the peace. She hated whenever her mom and brother fought, or when her mom would argue with her uncle, or one of her guys, and never spoke up when she needed to, to avoid more of it. But, knowing Jess was gone, and now Alex would basically be all alone. It was all too much for one small ten-year-old to take.
"I don't want to be here with just you! I want Jess!" Being a quiet kid, Alex rarely yelled or screamed. In fact, pretty sure no one knew if the kid had it in her.
Liz tried to deny what her daughter was saying was true. "You don't mean that, sweetie. It's okay to be upset over Jess having to go live with your uncle, but you shouldn't say mean things. That hurts my feelings."
"Good!"
"You know what, fine. If that's how you're gonna act, then why don't you go to bed? Obviously, you're tired, and cranky, and past your bedtime." Liz stood up and took Alex's plate. "Go on. If you're gonna act like a brat, then go to bed."
"Mrs. Robinson says not to go to bed angry," Alex pointed out defiantly. If Jess was there, he'd probably be trying not to laugh at his sister's first attempt at being defiant.
"Well, she's not your mom, I am." Liz then insisted on sending Alex to her room.
Alex jumped up and sprinted to her room, slamming the door shut. Normally she would flinch whenever Jess did it, from the sudden noise it makes, and slamming the door herself was no different. She reached up to her bunk to grab her giant action figure of The Rock and dropped on Jess' bunk instead, not wanting to climb up the ladder. She finally let the tears pour out as Alex cried into her brother's pillow as she held onto her toy that was about the size of a Barbie doll, like a Teddy Bear, wishing Jess was there.
From down the hall, she heard a knock on the door. Liz answered it, which Alex heard Mrs. Robinson's voice.
"I was taking out the trash and heard Alex screaming. Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine, Mrs. Robinson. Thank you for the concern." Liz wished her a good night as if to end the conversation.
But Mrs. Robinson never took the hint. "I never heard that girl speak no louder than a mouse."
"She'll be fine, I promise."
Since her big brother wasn't there, Alex took the second best option she had and dashed back out to where the women were talking. She pushed around her mom and grabbed onto the older woman around the waist.
Mrs. Robinson was taken by surprise, but did not push the little girl away. Instead, she held her arms around her like a grandmother would. "What is wrong, sugarplum?"
Knowing Mrs. Robinson did not like Jess, Alex couldn't tell her. All she really needed at the moment was a hug, anyway.
Liz let out a defeated sigh. "Alex, this is getting ridiculous. Get in here."
Alex continued to hold on to the older lady and Mrs. Robinson was not pushing her away. Instead, she continued to offer some comforting words while brushing a hand along Alex's hair.
Eventually, Liz reached out to pull her daughter away from the older lady. She politely thanked Mrs. Robinson one last time before shutting the door and locking it, using her foot to hold the door shut. Once the door was locked again, she released her hold on the kid's arm, who wasn't even struggling.
"What in the world has gotten into you tonight?" Liz asked of her youngest, her hands on her hips once more. "You didn't even act like this when you were two."
Alex looked everywhere but at her mom. Now that she had gotten it all out of her system, Alex remained silent.
Liz lowered herself to the kid's level to look up into Alex's gaze. She reached over to move some hair from her face, placing it behind Alex's ear. "What happened to my sweet Alex? Huh?"
Alex stepped back, away from her mom's reach. "I want to go live with Uncle Luke, too," she finally admitted in her mouse-like voice again.
Liz swallowed at first as she quickly sniffed in, as if to hold back her own emotions. "I'm sorry you feel that way, sweetie, but you can't. You're staying here with me."
Fresh tears appeared. Alex still could not meet her mom's gaze. Instead, she forced her feet to turn and headed back to her room. This time, she shut the door gently. Alex went over and laid down on her brother's bed again, scooping up The Rock in her arms. She turned over to turn her brother's stereo on, switching the radio over to AM where it was already on Radio Disney since AM was mostly talk radio and Jess only listened to FM. That is, if he did listen to the radio. Otherwise, he usually played CDs or cassette tapes.
There was a gentle knock on the door before it opened.
Liz stood in the doorway. "You know, I was hoping for some quality time with my best girl after the craziness the last twenty-four hours have been."
Alex laid on her side, hugging her favorite wrestler to her as she stared into the darkness of the room. The only light was from the billboard next door and from the doorway Liz was standing in.
Her mom waited for some kind of last words. When she got nothing, Liz told her, "Good night then. I should be home on time tomorrow, so maybe we can try dinner together again." With that, she closed the door and left Alex alone for the rest of the night.
A minute passed before she got up to grab one of her own CDs, and switched through the tracks of a Backstreet Boys CD until Alex got to their song, Show me the Meaning of Being Lonely, and dropped back down on the bed.
She silently sang along while taking in the familiar smell of her brother's shampoo from his pillow, eventually crying herself to sleep.