Under Blue Light: an Alex Rider fanfiction

Alfredo's

Taking a nap after lunch turned out to be a bad idea. It was midnight and Abby was awake. She snuck out to the balcony on her tiptoes, as not to wake up Alex.
Outside, she saw the hotel's parking lot and the roofs of the houses in the distance. She wished she could have gone to see some sights. It was such a waste. The one time she's in Europe, she can't even explore the place.

A weak and cold wind blew her hair out of her face. If Abby wasn't wide awake before, she was now.

"Can't sleep?"

It was Alex, who had spoken. He was standing in the doorframe. His hair was messy, it pointed in all kinds of directions. It reminded Abby that spies were just regular people too. Or atleast, they have been, at some point.

"I slept too much during the day because of the jetlag. That, or it's just the european air wearing me down." 
Alex chuckled.
He was a bit jetlagged too but he was used to it.

He went to stand next to Abby to enjoy the view. He found it calming that all the lights were out everywhere. Only a few lampposts shined light on the streets.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag then.", he said, addressing the conversation they had during lunch. Abby glanced at him to see if she could read something from his face. There was this exhaustion again she had noticed a few times now. Was he letting his guard down? Either way, he was exhausted but she wasn't sure if not only physically but mentally too. He started, when he was 14. It could explain a lot about Alex. Then, Abby thought that there were people out there, who made him do it. She struggled to grasp this horrific reality.

"What kind of person..."

"I know." 

He sounded defeated. Like he was aknowledging that what they did to him was wrong.
Neither of them said anything else for a while.

Alex smiled to himself.

"Your turn.", he announced.

"Huh?"

"Tell me a story about your job." 

Abby had to take some time to think of something good.

"All right but I don't know if I can compete with you."

"Shoot."

"One time, Taylor Swift was having a shoot somewhere near Hilo and one of her dancers got sick and while I was examining her, I got to meet Taylor and that was pretty cool.", she told him with excitement in her voice.

"Impressive.", Alex commented.

She smiled at him and then went back to look at the parking lot. A car passed by, briefly disrupting the silence of the night.

Alex kept looking at her. He contemplated whether he should keep talking to her. He wanted to but he was scared of somehow ruining it again.
He wanted to touch her cheek again. He wondered what it'd feel like if he touched her whole face. Or her neck. Or her arms... 
No, he must not think of these things. Just thinking of this made him feel like he was violating her privacy, like he was a pervert.

He forced himself to look away.

"Can I ask you something?", Abby spoke.

"Mhm"

"Why'd your parents let it happen?"

He knew this question would be coming.
It's better to rip the bandaid off, instead of pulling it down slowly. It's better to jump straight into the cold water, instead of torturing oneself by going in slowly.

"They died when I was small and my uncle and a housekeeper looked after me. Until my uncle died too, so it was just me and her... They blackmailed us and she couldn't do anything against it."