Haven

Chapter Three

After the most amazing shower, and having took my time getting ready I made my way back downstairs to Alex. Although he's stern and kinda boring, I find myself excited to go back to him. Maybe because he's the first person in a while to show me any type of affection. I finally felt like I might just be able to cope with the whole foster thing. It obviously helped that I wasn't leaving anything behind. Other than the constant need to be ready to fight. I think in another life I would've probably been shy or quiet. I've always been forced into being vocal, argumentative and feisty. It didn't come naturally to me at first, but after 15 years it certainly did.

As I return to my seat at the island in the kitchen, my mind wanders back to what my social worker said. Nearly all kids that age out of the system, end up dead or incarcerated within a year. One year.
I hear Alex speak and shake my head, to try shake all of those scary thoughts.
"Jaida, don't shake your head at me, just do it!" He warns me. Seriously.
"What did you say? I wasn't listening." I tell him, one minute he's saying he knows it's a tough transition, the next he's barking orders and getting upset if I simply don't hear him.
"I said, grab some knives and forks for us from that drawer please." He says pointing to the drawer on the opposite side of the island.
"Okay." I mutter, would it have been so hard to get them himself when he sat down. Asshole.
I toss a knife and fork down on his side and bring the other set to my seat with me, and when I look up he's giving me that look again.
"What now!" I throw my hands up in frustration.
"You can't just throw things around, had you just did as you were asked in the first place I wouldn't be getting after you at all!" He bites back, putting a plate in front of me. Even though I wanted to punch him in the throat, the food looked delicious.
Then I started to think back, when had I had my last home cooked meal? I came up empty. No idea. I sigh, and again shaking the thought from my head.

When I look up, just about to start eating, Alex is looking at me in exasperation.
"What's wrong now? You just keep shaking your head." He asks, beginning to eat.
"Nothing it's a habit." I tell him, getting annoyed. "I haven't been somewhere like this before, sometimes I think of things I don't wanna think about and I shake my head. Not everything I do is aimed at you." I tell him, and make the executive decision to ignore whatever else he says and enjoy my first meal in days.
"Okay, fair enough, I'm sorry." He says in quiet surrender and thankfully just lets me eat my dinner in peace. If things keep going as they are here, it could be my last meal for a while due to the fact I'll lose my temper and end up back with that damned social worker.
We finish eating in silence, neither of us offering up any kind of conversation. It was his best quality, he could just shut up and be there without pointless, incessant blabbering. When I'm finished eating, I gently place my knife and fork on the empty plate and look at Alex pointedly.
"Thank you for dinner, it was pretty good." I admit, looking back at the empty plate.
"Would you like some more?" He questions, pleased I'd eaten presumably. I shake my head no. I had forced myself to eat the last of it, just cause it was too good to leave behind.

Alex clears his throat, indicating he had more to say. And probably nothing good, either.
"Since I'll doing all of the cooking, I think you should do the clearing up the dishes after." He proposes in such a way that it sounds like a suggestion, but I get the distinct feeling it isn't. I sigh. What do I have to do to earn a night off in this world. I shake my head again, realizing I really need to break that habit as I come back to reality and focus on Alex again.
"If you say so." I cave, because I really wanted to get to bed time.
He chuckles, shaking his head. "I do say so." He says, seriously. "You are aware that most teenagers have chores." He jokes, as I stand up to collect his plate.
"You are aware that I'm not most teenagers." I clap back, as I begin the tedious job of washing our dishes.
Alex begins to put away the left overs, before responding. "I aim to change that, if I have to be the annoying, overbearing parental figure in order to do that, then so be it." He says, snarky.
I roll my eyes, ignoring him. He has an answer for everything, is this really what having a parent is like? Constantly losing every battle? Always having to do what they say? Clearly, it's more overrated than I could have imagined.
My mind wanders back to what he said about chores. As in more than one.
"So chores?" I question, hoping to get an elaboration of sorts.
"What about them, Jaida?" He, of course, needs me to actually ask him the question.
"Well what other slavery am I to be subject to, Alex?" I drawl, the same stupid way he asked me.
"Looks like there'll be need for more of our little chats before the night is out." He muses to himself. 
"I haven't decided yet, I'm also new to this. I could just go with what my own parents expected of me, if you need an immediate answer." He barks, in such a way that makes me wanna retract my previous question. "If not, which is the answer I'd recommend, then I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I know myself."
I nod my head, drying off my hands having finished with the dishes. "Okay then, sorry."
"Are you?" He questions, pinning my eyes with his as soon as I turn to look at him.
"Yes, I am." I say, trying to appear sincere and contrite. "I'm not good at this, I've never had to worry about anybody and nobody else has ever worried about me." I admit, quietly. "You're going to have to bare with me." Or he could send you back! The voice in my head taunts. Fact.
"I'll give you one last chance, there's a way of speaking to me Jaida, and that little performance isn't it. The very next time you speak to me like that, you will not like the result." He warns and I nod quickly. Thus far, he isn't exactly much of a chance giver.
"Why don't you go pick out a movie, whatever you'd like. Within reason!" He tells me. "The living room is just down the hallway to the left, I'm sure you can work your way around a tv?" He kinda asks, giving me a chance to say no. But I don't. Maybe a movie night is exactly what I needed. Most of the time, I didn't really have a clue what I needed, but all of the time I never got it.
I shake the thoughts from my mind, unsure of why all the negativity is rearing it's ugly head at once.
"Yeah, I'll go have a look." I murmur, heading in the direction he sent me.