home ➝ ricky bowen

6- bonding

tw; ed

After a long week, it was finally Friday.

Yet on Thursday night, instead of getting ready to spend the next afternoon/night binge watching Criminal Minds, Alexis was packing up her bag for the weekend at school.

Miss Jen somehow got a reservation for one of the fanciest restaurants in town for Saturday, and made sure all the kids knew to bring something nice. Alexis was currently packing a silver sparkly dress. She didn't like it very much but it was the nicest one she had.

Also in her bags she tossed in a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, a pair of jeans, and two shirts. After she finished packing everything up, she went downstairs.

In the kitchen she was surprised to see her father standing by the island, a large pizza and a bottle of soda in front of him. "Hey. I brought home dinner."

Alexis grabbed two plates and passed him one in silence. As she got a piece with pepperoni from the box, she decided not to mention she had just gotten pizza last night while her dad was at work.

"So how's school been?" Her dad asked casually once the two had finally sat down to eat.

"Fine," she replied quietly after taking a sip of soda.

It was silent for a minute. Alexis and her Dad weren't really close; he was always at work, and since he was barely ever home, he hardly knew his own daughter.

"Have you unpacked your room?" He asked her.

"Yeah. There wasn't very much to unpack." Alexis replied.

Last year, let's just say Alexis was in a... bad place. She ended up going through a phase where she gave away most of her things. Clothes, shoes, and old picture frames with her pictures still in them to goodwill. Pillows and blankets to the homeless girl by the mall. Books and journals to the library.

She tried to convince herself it was because she wanted to do something good. Something helpful. She still told herself that to the day. But deep down she knew that wasn't true, she was just trying to punish herself...

"Are you sure you don't want to keep any  of these?" Alexis' Dad asked as he glanced through the old wicker laundry basket which was filled with a ton of his daughter's old books, drawings, and photos.

"I'm sure."

He picked up a big picture frame, inside a photo of his wife. Alexis' mom. She was on the beach with a much younger Alexis next to her holding her hand.

"What about this one? You love this picture."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "You don't know what I love." She snatched the frame from her father's hand and dropped it back into the basket. The glass cracked. "Mom's dead. A stupid picture of her won't change things."

"You know—" hearing her father's voice, Alexis snapped out of her flashback and focused back on the present, "if there's anything you want, like decorations for your room or clothes or anything, really, you can buy it. Just use my card."

Alexis shook her head. "It's fine. I don't want anything. I've got to go finish my homework."

She dumped her dishes into the sink and went upstairs.

****
After school on Friday, the drama kids all placed their bags on chairs in the audience and then had their normal two hour rehearsal.

They were working on a number which had the whole cast in it. It was one of the last dances; as Carlos said, you always have to start with the number that's the hardest and takes the longest to learn.