Off One's Rocker - Lashton

Chapter Forty-nine

Chapter Forty-nine

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"Five months Luke has been home now," Alex pointed out as Liz sat opposite him at a table. "I haven't seen your beautiful face in five months."

The blonde women blushed as she smiled widely at her once best friend. Here they were now, hand in hand, on their first proper date. "Oh, Alex."

"I'm seriously so glad you actually said yes. I never thought you'd like me this way and I'm so lucky that I have a beautiful and smart woman in my life," he exclaimed still overwhelmed his crush of centuries was now his.

"I guess I didn't want to ruin our friendship so I always pushed these other feelings aside that I had for you. But, I've always liked you. You gave me butterflies and you've always had such a kind and handsome looking face I never could really resist."

Alex smiled brightly at her, so glad to finally be out of the ward properly. He quit his job there and became a therapist alongside Sid in a building not too far away from where they lived. He leaned forward and placed his hands under her chin so he cupped it. "You look tired," he remarked. "What's been keeping you up?"

She sighed and shook her head. He's always been so caring, especially towards her and that's what she loved so much about him. "Don't worry," she dismissed. "Tonights about us, not anything negative."

"No Liz," he fought back. "I need to know you're alright. I don't want to sit here and worry about you. What's been keeping you up? I can help with sleep patterns and cures if you like?" he suggested genuinely worried by the dark bags under her eyes.

"It's nothing," she tried to push it aside once again. Even though both her sons had wanted her to raise the topic, she'd rather keep it till later so she did not get upset or half the night would revolve around it.

"Liz," he warned giving her hand a tight squeeze.

She sighed and pulled her hand away, rubbing her eyes in a circular motion out of tiredness and stress. "It's Luke."

Alex frowned growing a little concerned about what was wrong with her son. He stopped talking to the boy when he hit a healthy weight over three and a half months ago. "What's wrong?"

"He's not eating again," she admitted slouching back into her chair, so glad to get it off her chest and to a professional.

"You didn't take him to a doctor about it or a therapist. You know his past?" the grey haired man asked confused. If she was watching her son starve to death, why was she not doing anything about it?

"A bit over a month ago he started to complain of a sore throat and he'd eat less because of that," she explained not liking being questioned about her parenting towards her youngest son. He was a lot more difficult to deal with that the innocent boy he looked like. Alex should know that all too well

"And you let him?"

"He genuinely was in pain, you could tell by his expressions so I took him to the doctors," she defended.

"Signs of bulimia?" Alex questioned knowingly.

She nodded. "But as much as the doctor and I confronted him about it, he'd just lie and lie to get out of it. He made promises to me Alex. Promises I knew straight away he was lying about and he'd broken."

The man sighed biting his lip and the tricky situations. It sort of seemed like Luke was in denial he was going back to old habits and he was stuck back in the disorder again.

Alex got up from his chair and sat beside her in the booth. He placed an arm around her and pulled her in close to him, inhaling her perfume she's used ever since he could remember. He placed a small kiss on the top of her head before muttering into her hair, "How bad does he look?"

"I haven't see him," Liz admitted. "Neither has Ashton. But his cheeks are swollen, I assume from bulimia. You can tell his clothes are hanging on him again though."

"Do you think he is worse than before?"

"He's one hell of a better liar and that scares me. He's a smart boy and he knows what he's doing."

They grey haired man sighed feeling so bad that she and her family had to put up with this, they were such a good family and did not deserve this. "Do you want me to see him?" he asked running his fingers through her dyed blonde locks.

She nodded eagerly. "Ben's always away and then there is Jack-"

"Your middle one?" Alex checked in confirmation.

"Yeah. He's constantly arguing and yelling at Luke and it's really not helping."

"Why?"

Liz shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. I hate them always yelling though. It's breaking the family apart." Alex could tell she was getting upset.

"Does Jack ever talk to you about how he feels about all of this, Luke suffering from multiple disorders and the main focus on him?" the grey haired man asked, having a slight clue why the middle son was so negative towards his older brother.

"Not really, it's not angry shouting if he does. Either to me or Luke," she figured but didn't really see what relevance this had to her youngest sons eating habits and how to fix them once again.

"Why do you think that is?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I guess he's just fed up of Luke," she assumed.

Her date shook his head as he turned to look at her fully. "Have you ever heard of middle child syndrome?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head confused as to what he was talking about.

"When a middle child - typically of a family of three kids who are close in age - feels left out or neglected. Because the bigger sibling is the first born and typically an over-achiever, they are the most important and get the most privileges. A younger sibling is the 'baby' of a family and gets away with more as well as being the most looked-after. Middle-child syndrome starts when the middle child is squeezed between these two and have trouble finding their 'niche' in the family," he explained still sensing confusion within Liz.

"I don't neglect Jack," she shot back defensively not taking being accused of being a bad mother.

"No, you definitely don't," Alex reassured her, placing a supportive hand on her thigh. "But, what I am saying is there is a possibility that you pay more attention to both Luke and Ben. Ben's your eldest who has moved away and is at a university. You don't see him much, but when you do, you create a big fuss. And then there's Luke, you're youngest. He most certainly gets babied around by you, especially more so when he was younger. He also needs a lot of care due to his disorder. Do you see what I am getting at?"

"I suppose so," she sighed suddenly feeling really guilty for not seeing Jack felt like this. "But, what has that got to do with him yelling at Luke all the time? It just gets him in trouble"

"Middle children will often misbehave to get attention," Alex explained. "By yelling at Luke he's got your attention. Maybe not how he wants it, but he's definitely got it."

The blonde haired women put her head in her hands and took a deep breath. "I am such a shit mother."

"Never," Alex quickly reassured her. He placed his arm over her shoulder and pulled her in close for a hug. She leaned her head against his shoulder and looked up at him. "I never met such polite young boys. You raised them well."

She closed her eyes and then looked up and smiled at the man, "Luke really likes you," she muttered. "I think in some sort of way he saw you as a father figure."

Alex nodded. "I know. And I am going to be here for you and your family whenever you need me. I love you."

"I love you too Alex."

The pair of them spent the rest of the night laughing and joking about. They were only slightly intoxicated, but both of them felt so different around each other. Maybe that was what true love did to you.

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