Fallacies of Fidelity

"Where are your parents?" Alec asked cautiously when we walked through the doors.

"Gone for the weekend, thank God. They won't be home til Monday." I answered as I jogged up the stairs with him on my heels.

"So you're free tonight and tomorrow?"

I turned at the top of the stairs. He was one step below me which put us almost at eye level. Alec was a lot closer than I thought he would be. Like I could feel his breath on my face kind of close. Did it get hot in here? My eyes met his and I saw a little playful glimmer in them. If I wasn't so thoroughly flustered, I might have been annoyed with his demeanor. "I guess I am." I tried to laugh it off as I walked through the bedroom door.

"Oh uh is this your room? It's a bit... pink?"

I threw my head back laughing as I began to search. "No no no, this is Mila's room."

"What are we doing in you're sister's room?"

"I'm in the act of showing you my secret." I started rummaging through her closet. There was only a stack of yearbooks and a plethora of makeup in the back. I sat back on my heels and scratched my head. My eyes searched the room before they landed on Alec who was staring at me intently. "What is it?"

"I'm just trying to understand what it is you're doing."

I opened my mouth to answer but my eyes spotted a box under the bed. "Oh!" While I pulled it out, I started talking. "Well my parents yanked me from Africa because--" I grunted as I got the box open. "My sister has been acting very strange and my parents didn't know what to do, or what was causing it. So, here is super sleuth Julia Haddock to the rescue trying to find some clues.”

“Whoa wait really?” he asked.

“Yes, really. I don't know what happened but, she has these little triggers that set her off like a firecracker.” I muttered as I pulled out old notebooks and old novels.

“Triggers? Like what? Firecracker?” He began looking around the room too.

“Yeah, like I'll do something and Mila will fly off the handle. She normally ends up yelling at me then ignores me. But I don't really understand what I'm doing wrong. So I need to find out what happened while I was gone.” I pulled out a journal from the bottom of the box and began flipping through. “I think something happened in the summer between her sophomore and junior year. She was 16.” I was just about to give up on the journal when I realized something. “Alec?”

“Yeah?” he answered but was looking at a picture frame. After a few seconds, he put it down and came over to me.

“Tell me what's wrong with this.” I held the journal to him. His long fingers skimmed the pages and his eyebrows knit together. Holy balls. He had some nice forearms. He should always wear long sleeve shirts pushed up to his elbows.

“The pages... they're torn out. A lot of pages are torn out.” He flipped through the rest of the deep red, leather bound journal. “And there's nothing else. What did she rip out?”

I shook my head, “Something she didn't want to remember.”

“Or maybe something she didn't want any evidence of.” My head snapped up to Alec. His facial expression wiped clean and he cleared his throat. “You should listen to this.” He looked at me for permission and when I nodded, he started reading. “'Finals were a breeze. I'm top of my class, Julie. I'd like to think you'd be proud of me.'” He paused. My hand flew to cover my mouth and I stood up. “'I miss you so much. It's been hard without you here but things have gotten really good lately. I can't say anything just in case mom and dad ever found this. I wish you were here. I wish you'd at least call. God dammit Julie, I wish you'd just call me or send me a letter. You know I'm not like mom and dad. I'm not a leech.'” I choked back a sob. My chest had just ripped open. Alec stopped and looked at me. “Wait listen. 'That's okay, though. I forgive you. I'd never hold it against you. I love you so much, Julie.'” My legs felt numb and wobbly so I sat on her bed. “'This summer is going to be the best yet. I can tell. Love always, Mila.'” Alec knelt in front of me. His large hand cupped my cheek and his fingers wiped away a lone tear I didn't realize I shed.

I turned away from him. I hated people seeing me cry. I hated that weakness.

“She loves you a lot, Julia.” I heard him say.

“She loved me.” I whispered. “I fucked everything up.”

“No, I don't believe that.” Alec grabbed my face and waited until my eyes met his. “You heard me read it. She said she would never hold Africa against you. Something that summer changed that. It was not your fault.” I shook my head and tried to pull away from him but he wouldn't budge. “Tell me it wasn't your fault. Jules, I'm not letting go until you say it wasn't your fault.”

I dragged in a ragged breath and looked in his eyes. “It wasn't my fault.” I was lying. I was lying through my teeth and he could tell. Thankfully, he nodded and accepted it for now. Here we were again. Our faces were too close together. Our breaths were mingling with each others. “Alec.” His name slipped through my lips.

His eyes were flickered between my eyes and my mouth. I could have sworn he moved a centimeter closer. Then he gave a soft kiss on the tip of my nose. “Oh Julia. You are such a pain.” He stood up and a different sort of hole opened in my chest. His back was to me as he ran his hand through his hair. Alec looked back at me with a smile teasing his lips. “You're making me crazy.” My head cocked to the side. A full blown grin graced it's presence upon me. “Sweets, you're making me very crazy.” Just as quickly as his grin appeared, it vanished. His shoulder's became stiff as he looked away from me.

I stood up and touched his arm. He was making me crazy with his ridiculous mood swings.

“Come on, you need to get dressed.”

“Dressed? Dressed for what?” I asked.

“My secret. A deal's a deal. I have to tell you my secret.” He disappeared in the hallway so I had to run to keep up with him.

“Hey, wait can't you just tell me?”

He stopped and turned. “I can only show you.” Alec pointed at my bedroom door. “Yours?” I nodded. He turned to go away but I caught him by the arm again.

“Where are we going? I mean how should I dress?” I rephrased.

“Dress kind of warm.” He took a step before speaking again. “And try to disguise yourself a bit.”



Alec's POV

How could I be so incredibly fucking stupid?

I didn't know what my father had meant when he said 'don't get distracted,' but now I did. My fingers pulled at my hair when I returned to Mila's room. I was breathing fast, trying not to punch something.

Julia was a distraction.

I can't believe how fucking idiotic I am, “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” I muttered. With a sigh, I began putting Mila's things away. When Julia had told me about her sister... it was just another unexpected side of her I didn't think would be there. This would all be so much easier if she was a small minded spoiled brat. I couldn't even compare her to Mila now that I could see that she too had a soul. “Dammit!” I said as I shoved the box under the bed. I stood and was about to leave the bedroom but the picture frame on Mila's dresser caught my eye again.

It was of a younger Mila sitting on the hood of an old Mazda model. She looked a few years younger than she was now. She was caught in mid laugh with a smile that took up half her face. A very contrasting difference to the somber Mila now. What really caught my eye was the background. The car was sitting on a cliff so you could see the city below. A city that was definitely not in New York.

“Alec?” I jumped and turned quickly. Julia was standing in the doorway with a puffy vest covering her sweatshirt. She was piling her long hair into a winter looking beanie before she put it on her head.. It even had a little puff at the top. Cute. She pulled out a pair of aviator sunglasses and wiggled them a bit. “How's this?” She seemed more shy now. I knew full well it was because of me.

“Uh'” I stuttered as I put the frame back in place. “Sunglasses? It's going to take us awhile to get there. The sunglasses won't serve a purpose at night.”

“Ah, well I had these specially made for me by a friend a long time ago.” She knocked on the frames of them. “They look dark.” Julia put them on. “But when I put them on, I can see just the same. No light dimming or anything. It serves the purpose of disguise.”

“Holy shit. Really?” I asked, coming closer to her. I couldn't even see her eyes. “Wow, must have been one hell of a friend.”

“Well, he owed me a favor.” She said offhandedly. “Oh wait, I almost forgot.” Julia reached in her beanie and pulled out strands of hair until it looked like she had short, choppy, jaw-length hair. “How about now?”

“Jesus, you look completely different. How the hell did you come up with a disguise that great?” I asked. She really did look like a different person.

“Let's just say I've used this disguise before.” Julia smirked at me.

“Well, let's get out of here.” I said.

I turned off the light and closed the door. I was about to mention the picture to Julia, but thought better of it. I'd tell her tomorrow. Once we left the mansion, it took us a total of 10 minutes to get to the shop.

“Um, what are we doing here?” She asked with wide eyes.

“Getting my car.” I answered simply.

“You already have a car. We're using it.” She said as I got out of my car.

“My other car.” Julia jumped out of the car and looked around. “Come on Jules, the neighborhood isn't that bad."

“It's not that, it's just--”

“Alec? That you?” A deep grumbling voice I knew too well called out to me.

“Yeah Rex!” I yelled back. A tall, strong man came out of the mechanic shop. He had on his standard coverall painted in grease. He was bigger than me, by far. I tried so many times to weasel out his workout routine to no avail. “Jules this is--”

“Julia Haddock.” My head snapped back to Rex who had on a mischievous grin on his face.

“Rex Foley.” She replied with a tight lipped smile. Her whole body was rigid while Rex seemed relatively at ease. I probably looked like some sort of cartoon character with my mouth open as my head went from facing Rex, to facing Julia, then back again. “I've been meaning to see you, dickhead.”

“I'm sure you have, you little fucktard.” His grin spread wider. I tried to form words but I couldn't seem to do so. “You owe me money.”

“Put it on my tab,” she finally shut the car door and folded her arms across her chest.

“Wait, hold up. How the shit do you two know each other?” I eventually said. They both were still staring at each other so intently I thought they forgot I was here.

“Yeah, Julia. How do we know each other?” he asked like he had just dared her to say something.

With a great huff, Julia turned to me. She hitched her thumb towards him. “Rex the ex.”