Rubble: Devil's Rose #12

Chapter 2: Nicholas Frasier

"Do you know what's going on with Alice?" Hazel questions me calmly, extremely confused herself.

"Nothing happened at work? She was just quiet?" I reply, unsure how to answer Hazel.

"She's always quiet," Tank remarks, teasing me slightly and trying to ease the tension.

"Not with me. She's never that quiet with me."

Hazel nods in agreement, slapping Tank on the chest.

"I'll go over to hers tonight. See if I can figure it out," I say to both of them, hoping to allow them to let go of their concern and focus on other things, including their two sons who are balls of energy.

After they leave, Lincoln and Colten (their two boys) trailing behind him, I wave goodnight to Carbon who was in his office upstairs. I take my phone out of my back pocket and dial Slasher's number, wanting to check in with him that it's okay for me to come by his place.

I want to be of service to Iris and him who are trying to figure out this first kid thing. But it also gives me an opportunity to observe Alice. I want to see how she's interacting with Slasher, Iris, and their baby, Zoe Tatum.

She's such a little cutie, so I wouldn't mind seeing the baby either.

As soon as Slasher answers the phone, I hear the screaming of a child in the background.

"What's up, man?" he says, sounding exhausted.

"I was going to come over make you guys dinner, help clean the house, shit like that. Wanna another hand?"

Slasher sighs in relief, and I know I'm invited over.

"I'll be there in fifteen."

I hang up the phone, so Slasher can go back to taking care of his new child and wife. I put on my helmet, throw my leg over my motorcycle, and let the engine run to let the bike warm up for a second.

When I'm ready to go, Dan Auerbach playing through my helmet Bluetooth, I head to Slasher's house. As I drive through the suburban neighborhood, I let my mind drift to what it would be like living here with a family of my own.

Right now, I live at the Westmoor and Grove Heights border, but I've always dreamed of having a family. The apartment I live in now wouldn't be sustainable for that when it eventually happens. It's not a small place, but there isn't enough room for a family to be comfortable.

And because of the location, it's not the safest either. Even though I naturally would, I don't want another reason to worry about my family.

It took me a long time to realize I wanted children. I had no idea I wanted to be a dad until way later in life when I was twenty-eight (which in my mother's head is forty-five). Compared to a lot of people that I know who knew they wanted children since they were kids themselves.

Having just turned thirty-one, I feel like it's really time to start thinking about that. I have to stay focused on my goals in life, and if having kids is one of them, then yeah, I think I need to start finding someone who would one day want to have kids with me.

I have that white picket fence dream, and it might take a while for that to happen if I don't start making moves.

When I pull into Slasher's driveway and can hear the cooing of three people at once I know I'm about to walk into chaos. I'm ready for it though, I think. This is good practice. I don't even knock on the door, and Iris bursts into tears when she sees me.

Goddamn, I didn't think I was that ugly.

"I'm sorry about her," Slasher instantly apologizes, "today has been overwhelming."

Alice cradles Zoe in her arms, smiling down at the crying child as she softly sings and sways back and forth to calm the baby. I shoo Slasher and Iris away and into their backyard to have a moment to themselves.

They need a real and honest break. No bullshit like sitting on the couch with the baby. They need a moment, just the two of them to breathe. Alice and I are fully capable of handling the baby for a little while.

Once Slasher and Iris have closed the door behind them, I get a good look at Alice and Zoe, trying not to fantasize about Alice and my baby because that's fucking ridiculous. It takes about thirty minutes to distract Zoe from the outside world and stop her screaming for her parents.

Soon enough, Zoe falls asleep in her arms, the house settling into peace and quiet for the first time since I got here.

"I'll be in the kitchen beginning the dinner process if you need anything," I state quietly, trying not to make too much noise.

Having heard the lack of noise, Slasher and Iris come back into the house, reaching out to take their sleepy baby from Alice's arms. She hands over Zoe delicately into Slasher's open arms, and the three of them disappear into the main bedroom.

Of course, Alice and I let the family have their space, so we decided to work on dinner together. It's something simple, pasta with mushroom red sauce and zucchini but it's more homemade than anything they've had in a minute due to the leftover pizza and Chinese food in the fridge.

I didn't really know how to help them out before because no one ever taught me what a new family needed. But I'm coming to think that it's less about being with the baby and more about doing the basic needs that are hard to do such as cleaning, cooking dinner, and things like that.

Taking the baby helps but it's not everything.

"Alice, can I ask you a question?"

"It is about how I left the bar earlier?"

"Yes," I admit, throwing the freshly chopped and lightly sauteed mushrooms into the pot of red sauce.

"Here isn't really the best time to talk about it," she stammers.

"Something is bothering you though, and I intend to find out what it is."

"Don't worry about it okay, Rubble? It's not that big of a deal."

"It's hurting you, Alice, which makes it a big deal."

She's silent for a moment, just focusing on the chopping of zucchini.

"I'll tell you at my place after we're done here. I'm telling you that now is not the time," she asserts, not allowing me to convince her otherwise.

"I hear you. I'll follow you home."

We don't speak for the rest of the time that we cook dinner nor for most of the cleaning. The only time we do talk is when we are asking for some sort of cleaning spray and that's about it.

Slasher, Iris, and Zoe came out of their bedroom after about an hour to eat something, but now that the baby is calm, I can tell that they are ready for their space again, not that I blame them.

Even though Alice and I haven't gotten to everything we wanted to, we say goodnight to the new family and leave their place feeling like we actually did something helpful.

I get on my motorcycle while Alice gets into her car, and I begin to get nervous about what could possibly be bothering her. It's not like I want to fix all of her problems because there is no possible way that I can do that.

She doesn't need me to do that. But I do want to make sure she knows that she's supported as she goes through whatever it is. Alice closes the door of her apartment after I step inside, the space representing her personality like nothing else can.

She doesn't have a roommate or anything, so her apartment (her super small yet cute apartment) is all hers. Sage green and lavender, her two favorite colors, along with white, light up her apartment, the only black thing in eyesight being her fridge.

I grab a glass of water, needing something in my hand while we walk. We sit on her lavender-colored couch, her white fuzzy blanket thrown over her lap.

"Talk to me, sunshine."