The Long Haul

Chapter 16

The house was silent as Jay and Alex walked in, the tension palpable. Jay looked at his sister, the shadows of the night playing on his face. "Go to bed," he commanded, his voice carrying a weary edge.

Alex hesitated for a second, part of her wanting to say something, to justify her actions, but the weight of exhaustion and the events of the night silenced her. She gave a slight nod, making her way to the bed, where she kicked off her shoes, face planted, and fell asleep within minutes.

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Jay hadn't slept much after bringing Alex home from the hospital. The whirlwind of emotions from the previous night — anger, fear, disappointment — still echoed inside of him, but above all, a simmering concern for his sister dominated his thoughts. Dawn was breaking when he finally made his way to Alex's room. She was a sprawled mess on the bed, still deeply asleep. Her face was scrunched up in discomfort, likely due to the hangover she'd be waking up with.

"Wake up," he barked, not bothering to hide his annoyance as he pushed on her legs to jolt her.

Alex groaned, her head throbbing painfully. She squinted against the light, struggling to sit up. "What time is it?" she croaked, her voice rough.

"Time for you to get up," Jay retorted, crossing his arms. "We need to talk."

She rubbed her temples, trying to make sense of the sudden wake-up call. "Can't it wait?" she pleaded, not in the mood for another confrontation.

"It's waited long enough," Jay snapped, his patience clearly thin. "Get moving. We'll talk in the kitchen." With that, he left.

After a long mental debate whether she was going to force herself up or not, Alex walked out of her room slowly, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. Every step echoed louder than it should have in her throbbing head. Jay was already seated at the kitchen table, coffee in hand. His usual calm demeanor seemed tighter, more controlled.

She slid into the chair opposite him where he'd left a glass of water for her. She took a sip, while trying her best to look contrite. She knew she'd messed up last night - at least from her brother's perspective - and the extra alcohol hadn't done anything to help the situation back at the hospital. However, talking was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

Jay took a sip of his coffee, not removing his sight from her, before replacing his mug on the table. "Alex, tell me about last night," Jay said calmly.

Alex looked pretty much anywhere but at her brother. "What do you mean?" she asked, clearly trying to stall.

Jay gripped his mug with both hands, keeping his demeanor under control. He'd sworn to himself this morning that he wouldn't yell today, and he was determined to follow through. "You not only went to a party and drank but you straight lied to me about the debate team. I went to the meet last night."

That grabbed her attention and her eyes flung up to meet him for the first time this morning. She vaguely remembered something being said about the debate team last night, but honestly, most of her memories of the consultation room fight were fuzzy at best. "You what?"

"Yeah, I went to the school. I was trying to be supportive or whatever, but I was in for a surprise when I found out you've never even been a part of the debate team."

Her defensive walls immediately went up. "So you're checking up on me now?"

Jay took a deep breath, refusing to feed into the rising anger around him. His voice remained steady. "If you didn't lie to me so much, I wouldn't have to."

Alex was hungover and tired, so it wasn't a shock when her own anger started to flare up. "Maybe if you'd relax a little bit and just let me live, then I wouldn't have to lie to you!"