Give Me Strength • Elijah Mikaelson [1]

• 5

Sitting on the steps of her front porch with a cigarette between her fingers and a coffee mug next to her feet on one of the steps, Alex stared at her feet as she soaked up the sunlight from the morning, Santino had left earlier that morning to go run some errands and to buy some more liquor for her house since she ran out the night before when she and Santino started emptying the last bottle after they had their special coffee.

"Alex?" A voice says her name from a distance, Alex looks up from her feet and saw Jenna walking towards her, Alex faintly smiles.

"Jenna, how have you been?" Alex asks while tossing the cigarette bud aside into the garden next to her steps.

"I'm good, how are you? Are you holding up all alone in that house?" Jenna asks, stopping in front of the steps. "Lonely yet?" Jenna asks jokingly making Alex chuckle.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking, Jenna," Alex says. "And it does get lonely sometimes but that's why we have friends, right?" Alex says, Jenna nods her head agreeing with the statement.

"That is why we have them," Jenna says. "You should come over for dinner sometime," Jena suggests, Alex's smile fades away.

"Uh, yeah, no," Alex says. "That is not such a good idea, but thank you for the offer," Alex says, Jenna lets out a sigh and sits down on the step next to Alex, she could smell the cigarette Alex had just smoked still on and around her.

"Look, I know you and Elena aren't on good terms right now, but this problem won't fix itself if you two keep avoiding each other," Layla says, a small smile grows on Alex's lips at Jenna's kind gesture but nothing would be able to fix the growing problem between Alex and Elena.

"It isn't just Elena and myself, Jeremy and I aren't on speaking terms either," Alex says. "So it's best if we just avoid each other and stay out of each other's way," Alex says, taking in a deep breath. "Besides, you have enough to stress over, I don't want to add more by getting into a fight with them or something," Alex says. "I mean, who knows, I might get them addicted to heroin or something, maybe get them drunk before school," Alex jokingly says, making Jenna chuckle, Jenna knew about Alex's addiction and didn't judge her, which was rare considering everyone basically judged Alex about her life choices.

"Oh, aren't you funny," Jenna says with a wide smile on her lips. "But the truth is, we all have to get a little drunk sometimes," Jenna says. "Just to get through some days."

"But not for 24/7..." Alex trails off.

"That is also true," Jenna says. "I know you're in a bad place, but keep in mind, if you need somebody, I'm here," Jenna says. "I care about you," Jenna says, Alex slowly nods her head.

"I know you do," Alex says.

"And if you need anything and I do mean anything, just come and ask," Jenna says.

"Oh, careful I might just take advantage of that offer," Alex jokingly says.

"I'm hoping you will," Jenna says, they sit in silence for a moment. "So uh, I gotta ask you a favour."

"Anything, but just give me like a two-day notice if you're coming for a sleepover," Alex says causing Jenna to chuckle.

"Haha, okay, I will," Jenna says. "But that isn't the favour," Jenna says. "There are a bunch of historic books in that house over there," Jenna says and points to the gilbert residence. "And I need to clear up some space, mind if I store some here until I can find another place to store them in?" Jenna asks.

"Sure, I'll make some room and you can bring them over later," Alex says.

"Thank you, you are a lifesaver," Jenna says while standing up. "I will see you later"

"See you," Alex says, Jenna walks away from her home and crosses the street to return to the Gilbert home, Alex picks up the coffee mug from the ground and stood up, taking a sip from the coffee as she enters her house to retrieve her car keys so she could leave for school.

•••

"Thank you again for keeping them," Jenna says as she and Alex placed the books in the closet near her front door.

"It's no problem if you ever need them my door is always open for you," Alex says. "But no promises that it will always be this quiet when you come by," Alex says, Jenna nods her head understanding what she meant.

"I'll keep that in mind," Jenna says. "So uh... have you changed your mind about my dinner offer?" Jenna asks.

"Nope," Alex says. "It's still not a good idea, and it's better to stay clear of them," Alex says, Jenna nods her head with a frown on her face. "Okay, wait... why are we unpacking the box? We could have just pushed it into the closet," Alex says, as it dawns on her.

"Oh fuck... we could have," Jenna says. "Dammit," Alex pushes the half-unpacked box into the closet and stood up from the floor.

"I'll put them back in later," Alex says, Jenna stood up from the floor. "So uh, anyway, trust me, Jenna, it's just not a good idea, but you can come and eat here if you want to have a conversation with me, but I can't promise that I will have food."

"You don't have food?" Jenna asks becoming concerned.

"Not what I meant," Alex quickly says. "I meant something decent," Alex says, her fridge was barely filled with food and her cabinets were filled with liquor bottles or completely empty.

"Right... well, my offer still stands if you want to come and dine with us," Jenna says, Alex closes and locks the closet door.

"I'll keep your offer in mind, but I doubt I will be over," Alex says.

"Thank you," Jenna says. "I should probably go, so I will see you around," Jenna says making her way to the front door.

"Yeah, I'll see you around," Alex says as Jenna opens the front door. "Enjoy your evening,"

"You too," Jenna says and closes the door once she was outside, Alex walks towards the door and locks it before going to the kitchen to see what she had to eat or drink.