If These Sheets Were States

26. A Recipe for Disaster

Bella put her foot down as she approached a set of traffic lights, the amber light showing as it threatened to turn to red. She sped by the lights, refusing to stop as Alex sat in the passenger's seat, not knowing how much to trust her driving. He looked at her and smirked, knowing she was satisfied at her attempt in beating the traffic lights. They eventually pulled up to the entrance of what appeared to be a small park. A small, dead park at that. It was empty and there were leaves scattered across the grass. Bella parked the car up and they sat there.

"Where even are we?"

"We're out of that town, for now."

"You mean, you drove us an hour.. to come here?"

"Yes. Because this places has meaning."

"Why?"

"Just come with me and trust me."

"After that driving, I don't know if I can." Alex laughed as he winked at her. She came round to his side of the car, grabbed his hands and pulled him from the car. As he walked off, she locked the car and caught up to him and began walking alongside him. She laced their fingers together, and he didn't stop her, just looked at her and smiled, placing a kiss on her forehead. Bella squinted as she looked ahead and started walking towards a bench that was in the shade of a huge willow tree, the branches draping down around the bench.

She sat down and started scratching at the dirt on the panels of wood.

"What are you doing, may I ask?"

"Just.. look. Come here."

Alex leaned in close to the bench, his hand resting on Bella's back, as he smiled faintly at the writing engraved. "Izzy?"

"Yes. That's what I used to be called when I was a kid. Alex, my Mum used to bring me here all the time when I was small. I miss it. So much. I miss her. Even though she was a prick. So sometimes if I really can't control anything, I come here and just sit and think. I think back to when everyone was.. alive and happy and fine. When everything was good and not fucked up."

Alex sat down next to Bella and pulled her in for a cuddle, scratching at the bench himself. Bella moved so that she laid over his lap, looking up at the branches of the willow tree, the small leaves. It made her feel at peace with the world. It made her feel like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

Meanwhile, Alex was chipping away at the wood with his nails, occasionally wiping the mess away and looking at what he was engraving into the arm of the bench. He sat doing this for a while, whilst stroking Bella's hair with his other hand, as Bella's eyes slowly closed.

"Lucky her, nodding off." Alex grinned to himself, brushing her cheek with his fingers as he smoothed out her hair. It was wavy today, maybe a result from the night before.

- - - - - POV: Zack - - -

"I think we should just ring them back. We can't avoid them forever man. It don't work that way and you have to go eventually."

"Yeah, I know you're right. I just don't know what to say!"

"It's not difficult. It can't be. Surely."

"Well have you ever done this before?"

"I can safely say.. no." She twiddled her phone between her fingers.

- - - - - / - - -

"Bella.. baby, wake up. I got a surprise for you." Alex gently shook Bella. "Oi, lazy. Wake up now, come on."

"What? What surprise? How long did I even fall asleep for? What the fuck?"

"Never mind that, just focus. Right?"

"Right.."

Alex beckoned for Bella to sit up next to him, which she did, following instruction. Alex stood behind the bench, in line with where Bella was sitting. He placed his hands over Bella's eyes as she laughed and kept them closed, asking him repeatedly what he was doing. He just laughed and said nothing, which made her question him even more, as he started to shift her body around so that she was sitting in the most weirdest position, that no sane person could ever consider comfortable.

"You ready, baby?"

"Erm, I think so. Well. As soon as you remove your hands from my eyes, I'll be able to let you know!"

"Alright, brave." Alex removed his hands and pointed at a spot on the bench, at which Bella leaned in closely to see. Her heart rose up in her throat as she looked at the marking that had been recently engraved into the bench. She guessed this is what Alex had spent his time doing whilst she had napped. "Oh, shit, your phone is ringing. You better answer it, it might be Paige."

"Ugh, do you mind?"

Alex shook his head as Bella nodded a 'thank you' and answered her phone, walking away from the bench slightly and bumping into leaves and branches from the willow tree every now and then.

"Paige, where have you been? What have you been doing? I've got a feeling I know, but I don't want to say anything in case of it sounding absolutely, ridiculously stupid."

"Well I do have some news to tell you, but I want it to wait until I see you, okay? And I don't want you to tell anyone."

"I promise. Can I have a hint?"

"Maybe. But not today. I just thought I would ring you to let you know that I'm fine, so you can stop pestering me woman, and get on with your life with lover boy, okay?"

And with that, Bella hung up the phone. She went and sat back down in front of Alex, who was looking down at his phone and frowning. It turned out he had received a text from Zack, who had just said that he was fine and there was nothing wrong. Once again, they shared a wry glance as Alex shook back to reality and pointed to a fresh marking on the bench.

Bella sat back in shock, her hands covering her mouth as she tried not to let too many flies find their way in.