Something Special

Chapter 5

"Hey Cass! I'm home." Alex tosses his car keys on the hall table and goes in search of his sister. Eventually he finds her in the games room playing ping pong against the table. "Oh hey." she says brightly, kissing him on the cheek. "Ew." Wrinkling her pert nose she backs away from him. "You stink."

"Hey. You try running a 5 miler and see how nice you smell." He replies before picking up a paddle and letting the table down. "One on one?" He asks innocently, knowing he was much better then her was. She pales but nods. "Kay. You serve."

He thrashed her 7-22 ("You're older then me!") before chasing her up the stairs to her room. He stops just in the door frame and pinches his nose. "I can come no further!" he declare theatrically. "It is a girls room and alas, I am not a girl!" She giggles.

"Well obvs!". He goes to his room then, realising how desperately he needed a shower.

The warm water soothed his aching leg muscles and calms him down. Tara had made him worked up. With her mysterious bruises and cold demeanour. Usually girls lapped up his touch but not her. He hadn't missed the way she flinches away whenever someone touches her. Especially him. Wrapping a towel around his hips he pads across to his docking station and sets it to shuffle. He then dresses in a old pair of trackies and an old white t-shirt. He was drying his hair of when he hears his mum downstairs. "Alexander. Get here now!" he winces. It must be bad if she used his real name. "Coming." he calls. Running down the stairs, only stopping when he stubs his toe on the banister. He hops into the kitchen to find his mother stood by the island. Holding his shoes in her hand. "I am not your maid Alex." She exclaims. He sighs. "I stubbed my toe to hear you moan at me! After I had a long day at school! I'm being unfairly treated." she lobs one of the shoes at him and he catches it with ease. "Gotta be quicker then that if you wan to catch me mum!" The next one didn't miss. "Ow." He says, rubbing his shoulder. "Abuse!" he picks it up of the floor and kisses her on the cheek. "Lovely to see you too." After depositing his shoes in the cupboard he walks up behind her and gives her a hug.

He loved his mum more then anything in the world. She let him follow his dreams of being an actor even though it meant changing up her whole life. They moved from Scotland to live in London when he was 9 so that he could got for auditions and get a better chance at being an actor. They'd left his dad there and his mine apparently didn't regret it in the slightest. She was now his agent and together they had paid for an amazing house in Central London. But she didn't let the fame get to his head. Which was good.

"So how was school?" She says with a smile.

"Fine. I had to go for a 5 mile run though which sucked. But appart from that it was average." She makes a thoughtful noise in the back if her throat.

"Okay. Well were having salmon for tea in about an hour so go and do some homework."

"Kay mum." he say kissing the top of her head. When he got upstairs he pulls out Tara's notes and begins to patiently copy them out word for word. When mum called him for dinner he was feeling pretty confident about the use of a spleen so he put away the books and went willingly towards the food.

...................................................................................

"Waitress!" says the impatient customer. Tara scurried over. "Is everything ok sir?" she asks fake concern costing her words.

"No. My soups cold. Go and get me a new one." If Tara hadn't desperately needed to keep her job she would of told him that where to put his soup but instead she picks up his plate and nods. "Of course sir. One moment please." She walks to the kitchen and finds the chef. "Oi, Bernard. Table 9's soups cold. Please fix it!" the fat chef picks up the plate and sighs. "Some people are never happy!" She nods sympathetically.

"Service!" she hears someone call and and she walks over to the plates. "Two pizzas, a chicken and some garlic bread for table 6." she reads out. "Got it." she picks up all the plates with expert skill and carries them over to the table. The restaurant was packed and she was being run of her feet but she kept that smile fixed on her face and was glad she was wearing flats.

She returns the now piping soup to the grumpy man, who grumbles something about taking her time. Tara's smile wavers but she doesn't show it. Instead she turns on her heel and marches back to the kitchen. The rest if her night dragged as she placed plate after plate of food in front of people. When the clock hits 9:45 she finally stops. "Hey Bernard." She calls. He pops his head out of the kitchen. "I'm good to head home right?" he nods before returning back to his steamy kitchen. She had 25 minutes till the last tube train left so she usually didn't work any later then quarter to ten. When she did she had to walk which was a killer seeing how it was nearly an 45 minute walk to the outskirts which is where she lived.

Turning the collar of her jacket up, she puts her head down and braces her shoulder against the fierce wind. It was a 5 minute walk to the station from the restaurant so she stops off at the 24/7 McDonalds and grabs some chips. At the station she crumples the cardboard packet up in her hand. The only other person there was an old man who looked very out of place. When her train came she gets on. Not surprised to find in practically empty. The ride was usually about 9 minutes so she picks up 'Wuthering Heights' and continues to read. After the ride she had to walk for 15 minutes to get to her block of flats.

The journey wasn't that bad. The journey to school was the worst as it takes 50 minutes to get to the school as it was a little bit outside of London. Hence the golf course nearby. As she unlocked the door she breathed in deeply. The air smelt musty but the flat was silent. Her dad was still out. He worked at the auto- fix centre but after work he usually went out to drink with his work mates. That gave her a little bit of time to tidy up and watch tv before he got home.

"Tea." Tara declares. Walking to the kettle, "tea is most definitely needed." At the kettle boils she lets her mind wander back to today on the golf course. From when he caught her singing her favourite song up until he saw the marks her dad had left on her. He'd easily been able to see they were handprints. He just didn't know who's. Tara automatically pours the milk into her cup without thinking. Sighing when she see's her mistake she dumps it down the sink.

Her dad was a firm believer that tea without milk was the devils drink and whenever he saw her drinking it he, would take her to the sink and scald her bare skin, so she'd gotten used putting milk in but whenever she was on her own she relished in the sweet, black tea.

Taking a sip she grins. This, for her was one of her favourite times if the day. Without dad there she could finally act normally without worrying but she could also take a break from covering her skin up. Turning on most of the lights in the house she puts on her workout clothes and starts to stretch. She controls her breathing and then begins to extend her leg, high above her head. And then, when all the muscles in her legs began to scream at her she puts it down and does her other leg. Sinking into splits she wraps her delicate hands round her tiny feet and pull.

She did this every time her dad wasn't here. It put her in such a relaxed mood. But even with her stretches complete she still couldn't get Alex out if her head. The amusement. Then the shock. And finally something she wasn't used to seeing. Worry. Cradling her tea in her hands, she wonders. Why did he care so much about her. The only reason he was taking any interest in her was because he needed to use her notes for bio... wasn't it?

And suddenly Tara wasn't sure.