Second Chances

forty

a l e x

"Did you get dad a gift?" Ryder whispered in my ear the moment I took my seat beside him on the couch.

"Yeah. There's this whiskey he really likes that I got, why?" I raised my eyebrow, already suspicious of what he could be planning. "You forgot, didn't you?"

He grinned at me. "Can I have in? I'll write my name on it then buy him a gift and write both our names on it and say it's an extra gift from the both of us."

"Dad will know I'm the only one who's going to think of giving him that whiskey. Maybe ask Lexi," I suggested.

"Fine," he got up, probably to look for said sister, leaving me a whole lot of space on the couch to lay on.

I stared at nothing for a while, contemplating on the meaning of life, you know, the usual Monday night thoughts, until I heard a voice I couldn't recognize. Weird.

"Alex," Jackson's voice came up from behind me, and I sat up to see what was going on. "I want you to meet someone."

My immediate reaction to hearing those words was to panic.

Who am I meeting? Was my hair okay? Who am I kidding, I was just lying down on the couch two seconds ago, it was probably a mess.

I scrambled to make my hair look presentable before turning around, facing Jackson and a pretty girl standing beside him. She looked familiar, but I was probably just mixing her face up with someone I met for a work thing.

"Hi, I'm Alex, and you are?" I introduced myself and smiled, extending my hand out to shake hers.

She stared at my hand and looked at Jackson before he spoke. "This is Siena, my girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you," she returned my smile, but still didn't shake my hand.

Okay, I was too used to shaking people's hands when I introduce myself.

"Sorry, it's a habit," I apologized, lowering my hand. "Come sit. I wanna get to know the girl who finally took my brother out of the market after so many years."

"Yeah, of course," she took my invitation and sat on the couch beside me. "Jackson told me he was close to his siblings."

I stared at my brother expectedly, waiting for him to leave. "Hope you bought Dad a gift. Ryder needs one. Go look for him."

He seemed to get what I was hinting at and mumbled something under his breath as he walked in the direction of the kitchen to look for Ryder.

"So," I turned back to the brunette sitting beside me. "Have we met before? You just look very familiar, but I can't quite figure it out."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. But I do have a younger sister. Maybe you've met her?"

"That's a possibility," I acknowledged. "What's her name?"

"London," she replied. "London Davis."

Who would've known? That's why she looked familiar. Her sister used to date my boyfriend.

What a small world.

"Yup, that's it. London Davis, studied in Columbia, right?" I had to make sure I was getting it right, although I was pretty positive that we were talking about the same girl. "Around twenty four years old? Twenty three maybe?"

Siena nodded. "She's the one."

"Hmm, small world," I let out a forced laugh.

"You don't like her very much?" she guessed. In her defense, she did seem more likable than her sister.