Alex Wars

Chapter Six: Secrets, Secrets, and...You Guessed It

"You live in that?"

Wes gave me a dull look. "No Alex, I live in a box behind it."

I snapped my gaping mouth shut. "Don's sass me Wes, I just wasn't expecting you to live in some sort of castle."

"It's not a castle!"

It was a castle. One that rivaled in elegance with Elrond's home in Rivendell. With glowing floor-to-ceiling windows, massive marble pillars and intricate details probably carved by faeries, it was fancier than Georgie's house, or any elf's accommodations for that matter.

Wes pulled up to the very front doors, where a butler grabbed the keys he handed over.

"Uh, not to be rude," I said, the awe still in my voice. "But your car kind of sticks out worse than R2D2 roaming the Shire." For a guy with a huge home, he certainly didn't look the part while driving a beat-up Toyota.

Wes rolled his eyes. "That's the point, princess."

I followed him inside, a new wave of appreciation for good taste rolling over me. "I'm not the princess here," I snickered.

"Welcome," Wes' grandmother called from the top of the grand staircase. The lady sure knew how to make an entrance.

"Hello, Mrs. Westbrooks," I greeted politely.

She waved her hand as she slinked down the staircase to meet us and lead the way to the dining hall. "Please, it's Abigail or Ms. Abby," she said. "Now, what do I call you?" Wes watched me with interest.

I thought about Wes' theory. "You can call me Al, I guess," I said, blushing. I could feel Wes' eyes boring holes into the side of my head.

"Nonsense," Ms. Abby said as we sat down at the banquet table. "That sounds like an old man and a probable former lover of mine." I giggled and Ms. Abby's blue eyes softened. "What is your full name?"

I blushed a deeper red as someone placed a chicken and vegetable dish in front of me. "It's uh, Alexander, ma'am," I coughed out. I heard Wes snicker.

Ms. Abby's thin eyebrows shot up. "An interesting choice of name for a young lady," she commented. She glanced at her own Alexander while he just smirked at me.

"My parents were expecting another boy," I said sheepishly.

"Funny then, how you're the only girl," Wes smirked. "She has four brothers, gram. Middle child."

"Four!" Ms. Abby exclaimed. "How do your parents keep up with the five of you?"

I coughed. "We're pretty good kids," was all I said. The subjects of interest lightened as we succumbed to table talk. Wes still wasn't directly nice to me, but at least he acted civil in front of his grandmother.

When dinner was over, Ms. Abby decided that she and Wes absolutely needed to give me a tour of the place. Wes excused himself from the very start, smirking at my panicked expression at being alone with his grandmother.

"He's gone to clean his room," Ms. Abby clucked. She led me around to the kitchen, the bedrooms, and the study. We stood in front of the fireplace in her personal library and I gazed at the family portrait above the mantle.

"You have a lovely family," I commented sincerely, gazing at the five figures in the portrait. It was an old one, I could tell, since the young boy smirking at me had to be Wes. Ms. Abby looked younger too, more blonde than grey, as she sat next to a beautiful blonde woman whose brown eyes were shining. Behind them stood two men, one looking exactly like a middle-aged Wes and the other a senior Wes, except both had blue eyes.