A Sunrise on the East Side

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I saluted them and nodded solemnly. "Hey..."

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Allison's eyes widened and she was nearly shaking.

"I supposedly have a job.” I answered.

“Ohmigosh… Athena!” Allison shouted and she ran into me, her arms wrapping around my neck. And we just stood there, her hugging the life out of me while I did the same, pretty much.

It was then that I noticed the guys were just sitting there. Not speaking. At all.

“Athena?” Jack choked out and I smiled. It was really nice to see them again. Well, not all of them.

“Yes, Jack?”

“Is that really you? Are you really here? Or am I imagining you?” He asked.

“No. I’m really here, Jack.” I laughed.

“Yay! My best friend is back!” He danced around happily and then ran over and gave me a hug. Rian and Matt followed suit but Alex didn’t. Good.

“Are you staying for dinner?” Allison asked, hopefully.

“Yesss!” I half-smiled and she clapped. Zack and Eli came in then and Zack smiled, knowing he did a good thing with bringing me back. Well, kind of.

“Goodie. Oh, Eli! Your shirt is all dirty! What happened?” Allison gasped.

Elijah shrugged. “Jack threw mud at me.”

Jack’s eyes widened. “Hey! You weren’t supposed to tell!” Allison glared at him. “I mean, what are you talking about, kid? You obviously fell in mud, c’mon.”

Elijah rolled his eyes. Smart kid.

“Jack! What have I told you about doing that?” Allison put her hands on her hips and Jack gulped. Alli had always been the maternal one. The rest of us were her little kiddies.

“Sorry, Alli,” he looked down and the rest of us laughed.

“Zack? Could you go change his shirt before dinner? It’ll be ready in less than five minutes.” Allison smiled at her husband and my brother and he nodded, carrying Elijah to his room.

“So, Athena, what have you been up too?” Allison asked. The guys leaned forward, all except Alex.

I sat down in a chair and looked around. “Not much. After I went to Boston for three years, I moved to Poughkeepsie and I had random jobs here and there. I bought a motorcycle last year and that’s pretty much it. I’ve been a loner.”

Allison looked at me. “I missed you, ya know.”

“I missed you too…”

“I missed you more!” Jack shouted. Rian laughed and Matt punched him in the shoulder. I felt Alex’s stare and I turned to look at him. We locked eyes for a second before he looked away. Awesome.

“I see /you’ve/ been busy, Alli,” I grinned at her and she giggled.

“I guess I have.”

Just then, a beeper went off and Allison went to get dinner ready and Zack and Eli walked back into the kitchen. Elijah sat in the chair right between Alex and me. I was beginning to adore this kid even more.

“So… you’re staying for awhile now? We really have you back?” Rian asked and I nodded.

“If I can keep the job. I mean, I haven’t even met the family yet. Speaking of which, when do I have to go over there?” I asked Zack.

“Tomorrow afternoon, around three. When the kid gets home from school.” Zack answered and I nodded again.

Allison brought over the food then and we all dug in. Alli had always been an amazing cook so her chicken parmesan was to die for tonight.

We talked throughout dinner but most of the time it was quiet. By the end, Allison had yelled at Jack six times after he swore in front of Elijah, she had hit Zack in the arm twice when he talked with his mouth full and Eli threw his roll at Alex after he spilled water on Eli. I was so happy this kid was my nephew. He could be my partner in crime.

After it was all over and Allison was getting dessert ready, we all just sat around talking randomly. Jack was cracking jokes, Matt was just laughing, Rian was texting someone (most likely Ashlei), Zack was kind of just sitting there and Alex was staring at me yet again.

“Do you have a problem?” I asked; my eyebrows rose.

The room fell silent. I hadn’t talked to Alex in six years. These were the first words.

“What?” He asked, confused.

“You keep staring at me.”

“Oh, I’m just thinking,” he said.

“And you have to stare at me? It’s creeping me out.”

“Yeah. ‘Cause I’m thinking about you.” He answered.

“What the fuck?” I asked, bewildered.

“I’m just surprised that even though it’s been six years, you’re still not over what happened!” Alex said all of a sudden and everyone gasped.

“Why should I be?!”

“I wrote a song!” Alex said.

“What? I never heard one. But I don’t care about a song, I wanted you to come and apologize in person. I waited six years and that didn’t happen.” I glared at him.

“You never heard the song?”

“No! I didn’t pay attention to anything about you guys after it all happened.” I raised my eyebrows.

“I’m really sorry for what I said though… can’t you just forget it and be nice to me again. Be happy with me? You don’t seem happy at all.”

“Oh, excuse me for not being goddamn fucking happy that my best friend killed himself and then my /boyfriend/ blamed me for the death! Fuck!” I shouted and stood up. There it was. That was the first time I had talked about it in the last six years. And I’m sure it wouldn’t be the last.

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Yeah. I decided to tell you guys the jist of what happened. You will definitely find out more behind the whole ATL/Athena problem soon. So be patient. It's my little diabolical plan. Hehe. Comment&fave? -joseeeeeey.