Incomplete

Chapter 27, Alexander

"Alexander Ethan Gray! You come down here right this second!" My father's voice startle me as I'm lying in my bed on a Tuesday afternoon watching netflix. I sigh and swing my legs over to the floor. It doesn't take long until I'm in the living room with an angry old man sitting on the couch. I lift a white wooden chair in front of him and sit down.

"What's up dad? You had fun in Florida?" I casually ask to ease the tension. My dad narrows his eyes at me, studying my face.

"Jonathan has told me some stuff I did not want to hear," he announces sharply, his gaze locked on me.

"Yeah, that little brother of mine talks very much, mostly just shit," I tease and put a smirk on my face. Jonathan is so going to pay for this.

My dad is never mad at us and most of the time he is cool with me staying out late. He has never been overly strict so I take situations like this frivolously.

"You drove my car without asking for permission!" My father raises his voice all over again and crosses his arms. "You don't even have a license!"

"I can drive safely and you know it." I furrow my eyebrows at him. Why is he making a such a big deal out of this? Because I didn't ask in advance?

"And you've been drinking lately," he states and my head snaps up to him. Dad has always been extremely against alcohol because of an unfortunate event that happened a few years ago.

"Did Jonathan tell you that?" I spit out.

"This isn't Jonathan's fault, so stop blaming him. He's worried about you," my father exclaims. He exhales and shakes his head. "You need to put your life back on track."

"It isn't that easy," I mutter angrily and run my hand through my hair, frustrated and furious with my brother all at the same time.

"Of course it isn't. Don't you think I know that?" Dad stares at me. "But that doesn't change the fact that drinking away the pain isn't gonna help you in the long run and will only cause you more problems."

"Sure, I won't drink again, happy?" I stand up and start walking towards the front door.

"Where do you think you're going young man?" Dad shouts from behind me. "We aren't done yet!"

"Anywhere, as long as it isn't here!" I yell back and slam the door shut as I step outside.

It's a windy day and I'm only wearing a thin white t-shirt. I sigh and analyze the red brick house on the other side of the road. Max's blue Audi is in the parking lot so he better be home for my sake.

I trudge to his front door and ring the doorbell. It takes a couple of minutes before it flies open and reveals Max's lovely mother. She looks at me and her eyebrows lift up as she sees that I don't have any shoes on.

"Mrs.Thompson, is Max home by any chance?" I ask courteously.

"Yes, he's in the basement," she nods and steps aside so that I can walk past her. I give her a quick smile which she returns.

Both Max and I have transformed our basements into sick gaming rooms. It was an idea we got when we were around ten years old. Our parents allowed it, oddly enough, and now it's a space where we can be alone without getting disturbed every two seconds.

I make my way downstairs and catch sight of Max's messy jet black hair. He is playing on his new playstation 4.

"Sup?" Max says as he notices me. He pauses the game and turns to me.

"You wouldn't have some alcohol here now would you?" I blurt out and put my hands in my pockets.

"Yeah I have some whisky upstairs," he gestures up with his head. "May I ask you what's the sudden need of it?"

"Shitty day," I state and meet his eyes.

"Wanna talk about it?" Max seems doubtful and even a little bit worried. That isn't something I see often, most be a creation Georgi manufactured on him.

"I'd rather not."

"You sure?"

"God Max, can I just get the fucking whisky or not?" I'm beginning to lose my patience. Max sighs but stands up.

"Wait here, I'll be back down in a second," he says and gives me one last glance before he steps out of the room. I frown and sit down on a fatboy in the corner of the white room, looking up at the ceiling.

As promised, Max returns quickly with two glasses in one hand and a full bottle of whisky in the other. Max takes another fatboy and tosses it in front of mine after putting the glasses and the bottle on the table besides me. I lift an eyebrow at the other glass.

"What? You can't drink all of this alone." Max smirks and nods towards the bottle and picks it up once again. Then he pours the booze in the glasses. "We're gonna be so hungover tomorrow at school and I'm gonna blame you when it happens."

"Easy there, you took that second glass all by yourself," I defend myself, putting my hands up in surrender. Max elbows me gently.

"At the same time?" He asks.

"At the same time."

We count down to three and drink up every last drop of the content inside the glasses.

"Isn't your mom gonna kick you out of the house if she finds out we are drinking under her watch?" I wonder, not wanting to get Max in any trouble because of my bad manners. Max thinks about my question for a minute.

"Probably," he confirms my assumption but then continues. "So lets not let her find out." I grin at his answer and we take another cup and pour it in us.

A couple of hours pass by and a little under the half whisky has disappeared from the bottle. Max and I have talked about anything and everything.

"Do you remember when Dylan peed his pants freshman year?" I ask. Max laughs and nods a million times. I join his laughter and it's hard to stop. Everything is so funny when you drink.

My head's spinning like crazy and even aching a bit but I don't mind. The good feeling and being able to forget about everything around you is totally worth it.

Suddenly Max gets an urgent need to grab his phone. He types something in there.

"Fuck," he mutters when his typing isn't going as planned. I can't stop laughing but Max's face became serious as soon as he picked up his cellphone. He turns the speaker on, calling someone. The phone beeps a few times before the person answers.

"Hi honey, what's up?" I recognize Georgi's voice and chuckle. I should have guessed he would call Georgi, it's all he does these days.

"Do you still like me?" Max asks, sounding almost sad. Is he for real?

"Um yeah, why wouldn't I? Did you do something?" Georgi seems confused.

"I'm a jerk and I like you very much," Max says to the phone. Yep, you're a jerk, can't argue with that.

"Max, are you drunk?"

"It was Alex's idea!" Max protest.

"Don't blame this on me dude!" I call out rapidly.

"You realise that you both have school tomorrow?" Georgi asks us in disbelief.

"Crap, I forgot about that. Alex why didn't you remind me?" Max curses annoyed.

"I fucking did, you idiot," I defend myself. Why does Max blame me of everything all of a sudden?

"I can't believe you guys..." Georgi sighs.

"But you do still like me?" Max questions panicked, turning his attention away from me and back to Georgi.

"Of course I do, stupid."

"Good! See you!" Max shouts to the phone and hangs up.

"Skunk," I name him.

"Skunk? Where did you get that from?" He wonders and begins to laugh and I join him all over again.

***

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