Cover

January 7th 2011, 4:30am. 

"Come inside, idiot," she murmured, opening her door to allow him into the warmth of her home. He dripped small puddles of water onto the polished wooden floor from his soaked hair and clothing. The blond girl who had allowed him in was setting a towel down on a red leather couch across the room; he approached her slowly. Shoes squelching and leaving even more water on the already slippery floor, he stalked around and collapsed onto the neatly placed towel, crumpling it beneath his body. Alex looked over at his friend, thinking if looks could kill how many times she would have have murdered him. Shaking his head like a wet puppy, he sprayed her with droplets of water to which she tutted and whacked him gently on the back of the neck. He chuckled.

The blond dragged her feet across the floor, with a light scuffling sound from her grey fluffy slippers, to the kitchen. The two rooms were connected, so she could see Alex over the shiny breakfast bar. Switching on the kettle, she made a sound of exasperation. Alex emulated a strong scent of candyfloss and summer rain; he had been to the local festival. 

"Alaska?" Alex yelled, his voice gravelly and followed by a childish chuckle. To Alaska, this indicated that he had been drinking again. He usually had such a smooth and gentle voice, the kind that could lull a child to sleep. It was the voice she knew well, she'd had him read to her on various occasions. Poems, song lyrics, princess stories when they were kids. To hear it corrupted by alcohol made her cringe. The disgusting substance changed him in every way from his speech and actions to his appearance and mood. He looked scruffier and more like a sex predator because of the way he always had a stupid smirk plastered to his voice. This was natural for him, but the drunk eyes and beer breath made it look disturbing rather than attractive. She decided to ignore him, it was probably best. 

Alaska pulled two black mugs from a shelf she could barely reach and scooped two teaspoons of cocoa into both. She pulled her hair up into an untidy ponytail before pouring the boiling contents of her kettle into the two cups and stirring rapidly. The clatter of the spoon against the side of the mug made her head ache, it being far too late at night for loud noise. Also, she assumed, the absence of her glasses and the swirling motion in the cups was probably accompanying the noise in her reasons for a migraine. As she carried the mugs into the living room, she caught a glimpse of her self in the mirror on the wall. Alaska knew for a fact she was far from unattractive but that was not a pretty image at all. Her messy hair looked piled on top of her head, and where the blond was commonly mistaken for white, it somehow made her appear so much older. The dark circles around her eyes were so very visible when her face was fresh of make up (not that she really wore a lot anyway). Dismissing these factors, she got over it quickly. Everyone has their inseucre moments and she didn't really want to deal with both that and drunk Alex right now. 

"Why're you ignoring me?" mumbled Alex, waving a hand in front of Alaska'a face, who was now sat comfortably in the armchair across from him, her legs crossed. She grabbed her glasses from the table and stared at him blankly for a moment. He looked a lot worse than she'd thought. Light brown tangles, made darker by the rain, hung messily over his forehead and dim green eyes that were usually quite vibrant. He was red-faced and grimy. The white of his shirt was dotted with mud and what looked like dried vomit and he had gaping rips in his jeans. Those were expensive, she had remembered him telling her. Alaska shook her head in disapproval. 

"It's difficult to conduct an intelligent conversation with someone as far gone as you are. Your dad is going to kill you by the way," she responded simply, not sounding as harsh as she wanted too. She questioned herself on holding back, he probably wouldn't remeber it by morning anyway. Too nice all the time. Silently scolding herself, Alaska didn't even bother to listen to his incoherent mumble of a response and sipped her hot chocolate quietly. "Get out of those clothes Alex."