Distrustful Eyes (An AleHeather Fanfic)

Chapter 4

Alejandro was avoided like the plague after that.

Every time they were together in the office, they were always with his grandfather so there was no space to talk. If they so happen to see each other just the two of them, she would duck and jump for cover, seemingly disappearing right in front of this eyes. One time, she slid underneath one of the other employees to get away from him. Another time, he could have sworn she almost jumped out the window from the 22nd floor. 

Now Alejandro was used to her avoiding him. She had done it many times in the show, and even more times when they were still dating. It was usually after a fight, or when she was too embarrassed to talk to him. At the time, he found the gesture to be cute, endearing even. Now, it was annoying and downright insulting. For a grown woman, she really was acting childish.

"What do you think, amigo?" Alejandro rested his head on his hand lazily, shaking the glass of bourbon in his other lazily. "Maybe I should give up on trying to talk to her. All this pushing, it seems like it's just pushing her away..."

"Uhuh," the bartender slicked his hair back, revealing the multiple piercings on his ear. It went against the bar's protocol, but he managed to convince his manager to let him keep them on. 

"But the thing is, I don't want to! Why can't we just talk about this? We haven't seen each other in years, I just want to catch up and see how she is doing."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Maybe he could convince the boss man to let him dye his hair green again. It really sucks that he had to dye it back to black just to hold down a job.

"Okay, maybe I want an explanation. But, I mean, do I not deserve one? I spent two years looking for her! No phone calls, no text messages, not even a hint that she was going to leave me. I mean, I was in Puerto Rico for a year! Don't you think she had enough time to tell me that something was wrong?"

"Can't argue with you there." Nah, he'll just keep the black hair. It was good enough that they didn't fire him after beating up his coworker black and blue. It was his kind of place: a place where snitches get stitches.

"Duncan! Are you even listening to me?!"

Duncan Nelson's head shot up from surprise. The glass he had been cleaning was almost dropped, but he retained enough of his composure that it stayed in tact. "What the hell, man! You almost got me fired!"

"Isn't it the bartender's job to listen to the customer's woes?" Alejandro sighed, twirling his empty glass at his direction for another refill.

A tsk escaped Duncan, but he refilled the glass all the same. "If you don't like it here, then scram. I'm sure you can find a nice, lame, bougie bar down the street. I get paid either way."

After Total Drama everything, Duncan had landed himself right back into juvie. Except this time, he was too old for juvie. The bad boy crowd had toughened him up, but prison made him tougher. When Sierra interviewed him for the Where the Total Drama Are They Now? special, he had just finished serving his time. He never disclosed what they kept him in for, and no one was brave enough to ask. However, fans were delighted to hear that Duncan was aiming to join the police force. Many found the complete turn around as endearing, and a few people offered to help him. In the end, he was able to find a job as a bartender so that he could save up to join the police academy.

"Look man," Duncan said, ready to level with him, "You come into my bar, it's the first time we've seen each other in years, and you're already getting drunk off your ass and complaining about your life in front of me."

Alejandro grumbled, "I can't help it, you're one of the only people I know in this town. Can't you at least leave me with my dignity?"

"You're the one getting rid of his dignity," he mumbled, "Okay, so Heather won't talk to you. You can't move on---"