Roommates (An Alex Ernst Fanfiction)

48: Bailey

"Are you glad to finally be home?" I ask Alex as we're almost done with our drive home from the airport.

"To be honest, I'm just really excited about seeing Bailey and Jasper again," Alex giggles.

"Me too. I really hope Carly and Erin took good care of them while we were gone," I say.

Carly and Erin never really hung out with the vlog squad at the same time that Alex and I would, but we had met a couple times and I thought they were pretty nice. David has invited them with us to Florida, but since they couldn't go, David asked them if they could pet sit with Dom instead to make sure he wouldn't kill our animals. They, of course, agreed.

"I think they did. At least I hope so," Alex says, as we pull into the parking garage.

As soon as we're parked, we hop out and grab our luggage from the trunk. Then, we walk side by side out of the parking garage and into the elevator.

Both eager to see or pets again after being gone, we rush out of the elevator as soon as it opens, and down the hall as quickly as we can speedwalk.

Alex fumbles with his keys when we reach the door, before finally opening it to reveal David, Dom, Carly, and Erin standing behind it, talking in a hushed tone.

"Uh, hey guys," I say, breaking the quiet conversation.

David looks over at us with red, puffy eyes, and the other three look very serious and upset too.

"What's wrong?" Alex asks them, and I feel a sense of worry.

"Alex, Dakota, we're so sorry," Carly starts out, worrying me even more now.

"What? What can you possibly be sorry for?" I say, awkwardly laughing a little.

"You see, we woke up yesterday morning and found Bailey laying still in her cage," Erin starts, and I feel my breath hitch in my throat.

"So we looked over at her to find her not moving or breathing. We brought her to the doctor and they said she swallowed something sharp, like a piece of plastic or something, and she died from it," Carly finishes, and I feel the tears start to pour out of my eyes.

Alex and I both drop our luggage in shock after she says this.

"No. No. You fucking idiots! You fucking killed my baby! You let her die!" Alex screams, tears pouring down his face as he says so.

"Alex, calm down, it wasn't anyone's fault," Dom says.

"Yes it fucking was! I left for three days, and you kill my damn bunny!" He yells, now sobbing.

I walk over to him and wrap an arm around his waist.

"Alex, calm down. Let's just go into our room okay?" I ask him, rubbing his back soothingly as I still cry myself.

His arms slump as he nods, and I guide him to our room as we both continue to cry.

As soon as we're inside and I close the door, Alex let's out shrieking sobs and falls limp on top of our bed. His sobs make me cry even harder as I walk over to him and hold him in my arms.

He rests his head in my chest and wraps his arms around my sides, as I stroke his hair soothingly. We both continue to cry into each other, until finally after a couple of minutes, my cries turn into shaky breaths.

Alex continues to cry, just much quieter now. I rub my hand up and down his back, holding him as close to me as possible.

"Why did this have to happen to her?" Alex asks in between cries.