"Thought I'd find you here." Liz said as she approached her eldest daughter.
Alice was busy cleaning glasses behind the bar, wanting to make sure she was prepared for the afternoon rush. It was Friday, and that meant for a lot of the men who frequented the Whyte Wyrm, it was their last work day of the week. The construction workers would be flooding in before long wanting to ring in the weekend with a cold beer and a good time with their fellow serpents.
The teenager looked up upon hearing her mother's words. "And how the hell would you know I was here?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.
Liz shook her head and let out an uneasy chuckle. "Oh Ali, your father told me you work here. That's all." She said with a small smile.
Alice rolled her eyes and turned back to the glass she had been cleaning. This time her actions were vigorous. Her mother brought out a side to her that she wasn't proud of and thank goodness the only thing she could do in her current situation was to scrub a glass clean.
She had been under the impression that her mother would have left town by now. It had been a week since she had shown up unexpectedly and although she would never admit it, Alice had found herself disappointed by how easily her father was letting her back into their lives. It wasn't as though he still held a torch for the woman. He spent most of his time trashing her and comparing his only daughter to the woman who broke his heart. That wasn't it but he still hadn't expressed himself in a way Alice might have preferred. He didn't tell her to fuck off. He didn't ban her from contacting their daughter. Instead he was talking to her, giving her personal updates and Alice couldn't stand it.
"You should call me Alice, nobody calls me Ali anymore." Alice said after realising she couldn't possibly get her glass any cleaner.
Liz smiled as she pulled up a stool and sat down opposite her eldest child.
Alice set the glass down with the others and took a step back to look around for something else to do. The last thing she wanted was to give her mother the impression that she wanted to talk to her, because that was not going to happen.
"Alice. Your father told me you like to write."
The blonde turned around so fast she almost felt dizzy. "He told you what?" She asked, letting out a bitter laugh. "How would he possibly know anything about me when all he does is blame me for you leaving him!" She snapped, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Alice." She said quietly, face falling because she hadn't realised the situation she had left behind.
It didn't surprise Alice to see the shock on the woman's face. She knew her mother hadn't been forced to take responsibility for her actions yet. She didn't know if she could be bothered to make sure she did because Alice wasn't sure she cared enough anymore.
"Don't." Alice told her. There wasn't anything the woman could say that would change what the last few years had been like for her, so she didn't even want to hear it.
••
"Can't we get arrested for this?" Alice asked as she reached up to grab hold of FP's hand. He pulled her up onto the ledge he was already standing on.
He shook his head, although he was lying. "It's summer break, nobody cares about this place when there's no school on." He assured her, grabbing hold of her gently just to steady her.
She looked down at where her feet were situated for just a second before she moved to follow FP over the fence. He jumped down first and reached out to help her down onto the grass. "It's different when there's nobody here." She whispered, following him as he walked across the football field. It was dark and a little colder than either one had expected it to be, but they were fine as they wandered through the very field FP brought the Bulldogs to victory last football season.
