Sinbound

(36) Flowers

"Have you spoken to Polly?" Bentley asks, as they sit around his kitchen.

"I would have... if she had come to see me in the past couple of days," Alex says, "I'm just going to have to get used to it."

"It's not your fault, Lex," Bentley tells her.

"What?" Alex replies.

"You haven't done anything wrong, it's not your fault," Bentley states.

"I know that," Alex nods.

"Lex... it's me," Bentley sighs, "I know you, and I know you're blaming yourself for this."

"Who else could it be, Ben?" Alex asks, "I must've done something, how come she doesn't want me anymore? She doesn't see me for two weeks, then we have a five minute conversation in which she tells me she's not my mother - I mean she's not wrong, but it hurts, and she knows that and she hasn't even bothered to come and see me since, it's been four days."

Alex takes a deep breath, "when she moved into her new house, she made me promise to go round and play the piano, she was scared we wouldn't see each other as much. Now, it seems like she's perfectly fucking fine with that outcome."

"Want a drink?" Bentley offers.

"No, I'm meeting Mar in half an hour," Alex states, "and we all know, if I have one drink, I'm going to have another, and another."

"I like Amari," Melanie inputs, as she walks into the room.

"How convenient, so do I," Alex replies.

"What have I told you about eavesdropping, Mel?" Bentley sighs.

"I don't recall," Melanie hums, a cheeky grin on her face.

-

"What are you hiding?" Amari asks, as Alex approaches her, one hand hidden behind her back.

Alex smiles at her, revealing the bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"They're for me?" Amari questions.

"No, no actually, I thought I'd go down to the police station and see if the coppers wanted them," Alex remarks, as Amari hugs her, kissing her cheek, "I love them, thank you."

"I was being serious about the coppers, but how can I resist that face, I guess I'll just have to buy them some more," Alex says, handing them to Amari, who sniffs them.

"I need to put them in water," Amari states, using her free hand to pull Alex into her house.

"Mar," Alex says, "I'm going away for a couple of days the week after next."

"Exciting, where are you going?" Amari asks.

"I'm going to London to see Ada, I was wondering if you wanted to make it a little trip, we could go to the theatre, a museum, I don't know, anything you want to do," Alex says.

"London?" Amari repeats, "is it safe for you to be going to London?"

"Indubitably safe," Alex states.

"Indubitably, eh?" Amari teases, feeling Alex's arms wrap around her from behind, as she places a kiss on Amari's head, "you heard me."

-

"This had better be good to interrupt my holiday," Polly states as she walks into the betting den.

"Where's the boy?" Arthur asks.

"In the back room, I only brought him because afterwards we're going to the museum," Polly responds.

"He wanted to come in and say hello," John says.