Finders Keepers

I was sitting on my bed, going through a photo album. I was flicking through pages and stopped when I saw the photos on the two pages. My eyes scanned them one by one, and I didn’t know whether I should cry or smile.

There was one photo of me, Alex and our brother Daniel in the backyard of our house in England. Then there was a photo of me, Alex, Daniel, my mum and dad in the living room. Most of the photos were me and my brothers.

My eyes stopped at a photo of Mum and Dad. Mum was wearing a wedding gown and holding a bouquet of flowers, whilst Dad was in a suit. Alex was standing next to Mum and Daniel was standing next to Dad. Mum and Dad were smiling widely, while Alex and Mark were just staring at the camera like a bunch of idiots. Me? I wasn’t in the family yet.

Well, let’s see. My family is actually a lot more complex than it seemed. Dad married a woman named Regina and Daniel was born. Two years later, they divorced and Daniel went with Dad. Six months later, Dad married Isabel and Alex was born but their marriage only lasted for a year. Dad moved to England, bringing his two sons with him and that was when he met my mum, Wendy Trucia. After a year of dating, they got married and then I was born. But Dad being the ladies’ man he is, got caught snogging another woman aaand the divorce was up. Mum was Dad’s longest wife, though – they were married for almost ten years.

So they got divorced and Dad moved back to America with Alex and Daniel. He almost brought me with him but Mum disagreed. I swear their argument about me back then was so bad, they were actually throwing things at each other. Me and my brothers would hide in my room and play or go out of the house, pretending nothing was happening.

My brothers and I exchanged Skype usernames so we could stay in touch. After Dad’s divorce with Mum, he remained unmarried for a few years. He married Rosie around three years ago and moved to Kansas three months ago. Mum is still single until now. Sometimes I’d like to think that she still loved Dad.

When Daniel committed suicide a few years back, Alex and I went on Skype and just cried together through our webcam. Ever since then our relationship was a lot tighter because he was my only sibling left and the same reason goes to him

I took the photo of five of us in the living room and stick it on the wall next to my bed, along with other photos that I also had stick. Someone knocked on my door softly and Alex went in, sitting on the edge of my bed.

He smiled when he saw the photos I was looking at. “Having a nostalgia?”

I nodded. “Pretty much.” I closed the album and looked at him. “So what are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to remind you your job is starting in thirty minutes.” He looks at what I was wearing. “And seeing from what you’re wearing right now, you’re going to need twenty minutes to get ready and the gallery is quite far from here if you walk. I’ll drive you.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Alex. That’s really generous of you. You can actually go now so I can be ready in less than twenty minutes.” He laughed and went out, closing the door behind him.

I got up and starting to get ready. Shower first.

- - -

I got out from the car and closed the door. “Thanks, Ale!” I said through the open windows.

“Do I need to pick you up later?” he asked.

“Nope. I’m going to grab dinner with Zack.”

He squinted his eyes in suspicion. “Penny, is there something you aren’t telling me?”

“Nope. Bye!” I ran into the gallery so I wouldn’t have to hear him questioning further. He could do it at home.

After me and Zack kissed a few weeks ago, we’d gone out on a few... dates. But we weren’t a couple – hell, I don’t even know how he feels about me! Yes, we go on dates. We kiss on the dates. I don’t even know what we are. Biggest possibility: friends with benefits. Of course.