Starting Over

"Ashley, you're such a dick!" Alyx threw a handful of ice cream in the direction of the back room, I stood innocently by the edge of the counter and waited for her to lose steam at least a little bit.

Ashley and Alyx had been fighting all morning, evidently he had done something evil to piss her off, I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but I was exceptionally curious to figure out what it was.

It was my third day at work and I finally had the hang of things, it was pretty easy. I just got the ice cream machine mixed up sometimes.. the labels had been blacked out and no one had bothered to replace them, so sometimes the customer got chocolate instead of vanilla or vice versa.

Alyx stomped up to the counter, I could tell she was trying to calm down, but it wasn't working very well. Her face was set in a 'fuck off' face, and I wasn't even sure I wanted to talk to her right now.

I slowly inched away from her, maybe I could pass by unnoticed and sneak into the bathroom for a little bit, I didn't really have to go, but it was the only place unoccupied by an angry sibling.

I squished myself against the wall, hoping that I was somehow invisible to her, I walked quietly behind her and made a beeline for the bathroom, shutting the door and letting out a breath of relief, this was going to be a long day.

I heard the bell on the front door ding and my eyes widened in horror, Alyx was going to eat them alive. I threw open the bathroom door and headed back up to the counter, just in time to see the customers exiting the store hastily, I looked over at the counter to see Alyx seething, she had another handful of ice cream.. that wasn't sanitary. I really hope she bothered to use an ice cream scoop to get that out instead of just digging in with her bare hands, but for some reason, I highly doubt she cared about being cleanly right now.

"Alyx?"

"What?!" She turned around and was glaring, my hands instantly shot up in a defensive gesture.. as if they'd save me from her wrath. "Ugh, sorry Riley." her tone went from 'I'm going to rip your face off' angry to 'sad little puppy' she dropped her handful of ice cream in the trash can and walked over to me, wrapping her little arms around my waist and burying her face in my shoulder.

Her shoulders started to shake, but I had a feeling she wasn't laughing. I frowned and hugged her back, hoping that this would somehow help whatever had happened between her and Ashley.

Speak (or in my case, think) of the devil, and he shall appear.

Ashley came walking out of the back room and saw me hugging Alyx "Wh-" I cut him off with a sharp glare and mouthed 'what did you do?' at him.

He just shrugged and looked away, his face expressionless. Alyx pulled away a minute later and wiped her eyes. "Sorry, Riley. I didn't mean to get your shirt all soaked with tears."

She looked so sad, I couldn't bring myself to care about the wet stains on my shirt. I shook my head "No worries, Alyx. You know you can always talk to me if you need to, we may not know each other too well, but I'm super good at keeping secrets." I offered her a small smile and she just nodded in return.

"It's nothing too personal. My boyfriend was over last night and we were in my room making out, when my retarded brother opened the door on us and, honest.. no clue why, but he practically beat him to a pulp" she frowned and her bottom lip started to quiver again "after he left, he got in a car accident and now he's in a coma." A few tears fell from her eyes again.

I guess I couldn't blame Ashley for wanting to punch her boyfriend, perhaps he was just playing protective older brother? yet.. how was it his fault her boyfriend got in a car accident?

"Alyx?"

She looked up at me and wiped her tears away again, giving me a questioning look.

"How is it Ashley's fa-"

"Ash." I could feel his glare and I just waved it off. He always insisted on being called Ash.

"How is it his fault that your boyfriend got in a car accident?"

"Ashley punched him real close to his eye and it started to swell, which I guess was bad enough to impair his vision so he couldn't see the oncoming car." Alyx was the only one I had noticed that could get away with calling him by his full name.

I frowned and gave her another hug. "I'm sorry, Alyx. I'm sure he'll come out of it eventually." What the hell were you supposed to say in a situation like this? Geez, talk about a rough spot.

* * * * * * * * * * *

"Why'd you do it?"

"She's my little sister." He shrugged "Our parents aren't around anymore, someones gotta protect her."

Ashley and I had closed today, Alyx left early to visit her boyfriend in the hospital. I had left a little bit before Ashley but he had caught up to me, and for some reason, just wanted to chat. Kind of odd, but whatever. I wasn't going to complain as long as he remained civil.

I nodded, not really understanding where he was coming from. I had never had any siblings, so I didn't know the loyalty or protection an older sibling felt.

"What happened to your parents?" I glanced over at him and he visibly stiffened, I guess I shouldn't have asked that. "Sorry, you don't have to answer. I suppose I shouldn't have even asked."

He shrugged it off and we walked in silence for a little while.

"We have an older brother."

"Sorry?" I turned to look at him, I had nearly entered my own little world, and hadn't been paying a whole lot of attention to anything but walking in a straight line.

"Alyx and I, we have an older brother."

"Ehm.. Okay?" My voice was laced with confusion, hell.. I was very confused. What did an older brother have to do with ANYTHING?

Ashley let out a sigh, as if frustrated. "He's three years older than me. So he's twenty two." He looked over at me to make sure I was following along. It took all I could to not roll my eyes, I wasn't stupid. "Anyway, he's always been... unstable. But he took it to the extreme awhile back." He sighed again, this time out of exhaustion. I just nodded my head along in the appropriate spots, waiting for the story to unfold. "Well, five years ago Alyx and I were at our uncle's down the road, we'd often go there to hang out with our cousin, Hannah. Anyway, while we were there something just.. snapped inside of him, none of us really know what prompted it, but he set our house on fire while my parents were sleeping. They didn't make it out."

What the hell? Was he being serious right now? What kind of son would do that.. I kept raging the mini-war inside my head, contemplating if Ashley was telling the truth or not, as he continued speaking.

"He just stood outside.. waiting for the authorities to arrive, waiting to get caught. He was charged with first degree murder and sentenced to prison. Haven't seen him since and don't really want to see him again."

The air fell silent again and I shook my head. "But, wait.. You said your parents owned the Ice Cream Shop and just left you and Alyx in charge."

He looked over at me like I was stupid, but I could see the hurt in his eyes.. this had to be a hard subject to talk about, I just wondered why he opened up to me about it. Geez, last I knew, he hated me.

"Our adoptive parents, we call them mom and dad because they treat us like their own kids. Mom was never able to have kids, so they entered into the adoption program, they had a few foster kids before us, but when we walked in I guess she saw us as people she could reach" He shrugged and stopped walking. "This is my stop."

I hadn't even realized where we were going, but it turns out, he lives two streets over from me. I looked at the house in front of me, it was two stories, a light beige color. I could see Alyx pacing in what I assumed was her room from one of the windows upstairs. I turned to Ashley and nodded.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at work.. later?"

"Yeah, see you later." He nodded and walked down the sidewalk to his house.

I sighed, not really wanting to walk the rest of the distance home, I pulled out my cell phone and punched in Mason's number, after a few rings he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mason, it's Riley."

"Oh, hey. Sorry, didn't look at my caller ID." he was just like my mother in that way.

"No problem, hey do you think you can come pick me up? I'm just a few streets away, but I don't want to walk home."

"Did you get lost?"

"What? No. I was talking with a co-worker."

"Oh okay, sure. I'll be there in a couple minutes."

He hung up and I did the same, walking slowly down the street. Ever since his run in with my parents he had been a little distant, I'd tried talking to him, but he always found a way around the subject. I just wished he'd open up and talk to me about it soon.

His car rolled up next to me a few moments later and I hopped in.

"Thanks, babe." I looked over at him and smiled. He just nodded. "Are you alright?" I questioned after he didn't say anything.

He just nodded again.

The rest of the short ride was spent in silence, we pulled up to the house and I got out, walking towards the front door. When I didn't hear the car turn off, or him shutting his door, I turned back around and saw he was still sitting in the drivers seat.

I walked back to the car and stopped at his window, he rolled it down and looked at me "I'm going to a friends."

"Oh, okay."

"Bye, Riley. I'll see you later."

I nodded and stepped back from the car, watching him drive away.

See what I mean? Distant. I hoped he didn't do anything stupid tonight.