Ex's to Lovers

Chapter 4

In which Alfred's bad mood costs him a lot

Natalya stared at him a few more minutes, and Alfred, realizing he was still holding an egg, quickly hid it behind his back. Finally, Natalya broke the silence, and Alfred was finally able to breath a sigh of relief. 

"I understand." 

That was all she said in her silky-yet-terrifying voice, before turning and stalking inside. Alfred let out a breath of relief, dropping the egg onto the grass behind him as he prepared to make a getaway, and the egg cracked and split open. Just as he regained control of his legs enough to move, the door opened again, and Natalya stuck her head back out. 

"You have to clean this all up."

Alfred froze. Natalya seemed to be struggling with something she wanted to say, then spat the words out coldly before retreating inside again and slamming the door. 

"I'll help you." 

Alfred didn't really understand how her going inside was supposed to help him clean Ivan's house, but he assumed she meant that as in "I'll help you by letting you live so you can clean up this mess" and hurriedly scurried for the hose he knew Ivan kept around the corner of the house, having been sprayed with it before. And that's how Alfred somehow found himself cleaning his enemy's house from the eggs he had thrown at it under the hot afternoon sun. 

Personally, Alfred was blaming Gilbert. 

If his weasel of a friend ever showed his face around Alfred again, he would smash said face in. Gilbert for once, seemed to have an intelligent idea, and wisely chose not to show his face. So it was that Alfred was hot, tired, and in an all-around bad mood when he got home. He stomped into the kitchen, grunted a hello to his brothers, who wisely chose not to answer, made himself a sandwich grumpily and stomped his way upstairs for a cold shower. Seeing as his outdoor activities had not ended well, Alfred chose to stay inside his room to play video games for the rest of his night. 

He'd later regret that that he had not spent more time with his family, especially his brother Mathew, who just so happened to be close with Ivan's older, collage-age sister who Ivan was visiting. If he had, Mathew might have asked Alfred what Ivan's older sister, Katyusha, had meant when she texted him saying that Ivan was staying at her house with a broken heart, regretting breaking up with Alfred. Maybe Alfred could have taken that chance to clear things up, before Matthew went away all Sunday to visit his friend the next town over. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and both Alfred and Ivan received an unusual reception back at school on Monday. 

"Hey, Alfred," Michelle grabbed Alfred by the arm and pulled him to the side before whispering in his ear, "Are you okay? You don't have to force yourself to smile, it's okay." 

Alfred gave Michelle a strange look, and she flushed, dropped his arm, and took a step back. 

"A-anyways, I'm here for you!" 

Then Michelle turned and disappeared. That was the first of many of that type of greeting, and by the time Alfred finally figured out what was going on, it was too late. 

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