Remember: Alex and Aro (boyxboy)

Chapter 14

October, 2016, 9 months ago.

My father is dead. He's been dead for more than ten years. I'm not sure which one is more tragic: that my estranged father is dead or that I never knew he was dead at all. Before I can even disguise my tears, Olive has noticed, reaching for a tissue to dab away tears in a motherly fashion that she's never done before.

"I'm so sorry you didn't know before, lad. Yer wouldn't answer my calls." She holds out her hands in an almost apologetic fashion before clutching my face with them. "It's alright, though. I can tell you where he's buried."

She flourishes a piece of paper in my direction and it amazes me that his burial details have been at her side all these years.

"I loved him, you know." She says softly. "But he wasn't faithful. He was an absolute womaniser. I guess that's what drew me to him. His charm." She pulls a face at the memory. "Do you know how old I was when I met your father? Sixteen." She gives me a knowing look and I nod.

She's told us this story a million times. Mam and Dad met in some tacky bar when she ran out of her parents house to get away from them. Sweet sixteen wasn't so sweet for her. "I was head over my heels from the moment I saw him. He was six years older than me but he looked so gorgeous in a business suit." She breaks off for a second, smiling.

"He made my heart stop beating." She blushes like the schoolgirl she once was. "He was a business student. Last year in university and I thought he'd be a brilliant provider." She shakes her head and scoffs at her naivety. "It wasn't such a great relationship as you know." She looks at me.

How could I forget? There were endless arguments and police officers clogging up the living room on Saturday evenings or after nights out. Cruel sneers from school children who thought their drugged up parents were better than ours.

I was so glad to get out of that shithole neigbourhood. "You probably think you're better than us now, don't you?" She lifts her nose, sniffing. "Think you're top of the food chain because they sent you to private schools after they took you from me." She looks envious.

I scoff at her. She thinks I've had the easiest life ever. They act as if I came from a privileged area with wealthy parents which was so far from the truth. "Mam, you say that as if my life was the simplest." I grunt at her.

"I was juggling court trials and mental health issues. It was difficult!" I break off before I can get too angry and lose it. I take a deep breath and continue.

"College and university weren't handed to me on a silver platter. I had to work for it. Hard. I studied and got my qualifications." I throw it in her face and she scoffs at me.

"I never thought you'd ever achieve as much as you have. It's been a proud moment for me even though I wasn't there, you're still my son." She grabs at my hands again.

"Mam? I've arranged a meeting with Carl's social worker. I'm seeing him tonight." I blurt and she blinks a few times. "Great." She smiles, patting my cheek. "Make sure you tell him I said hello and that I love him." She prompts seriously and I feel that familiar sense of jealousy again.

"Are you going to tell me that you love me, too?" I give her an offended look and she runs a hand over my face, down my cheek. "Of course I love you, Alex." She says solemnly though her words don't reach my heart.

I rise from my hard plastic chair, collect up my jacket and throw it on hastily. "I better be off. I've got my meeting with the social worker." I offer her my cheek to kiss and she takes me up on the offer, pecking it timidly.

"Tell me tomorrow if you managed to ask Carl again with the living arrangements." She demands and I succumb to the eye roll. Seriously, Carl again. Since when is everything about him? "Yeah, alright." I huff with just a small amount of attitude before leaving through the swinging doors.

          *****************

"Mr. Danvers, I'm aware you arranged a meeting with us to discuss the living arrangements of Carl Edwards, your brother."
I cut off the middle aged woman before she can continue. "Cut the formalities. My name is Alex, nice to meet you. Now can we move on? We all know what I'm here for." I give both of the social workers a firm look.

They exchange glances that clearly read as: rude, stop interupting. I continue on regardless. "It's not as if this is a first time meeting. I've met Carl; he's in my maths class." I add blatantly and they stare at me.

"What? I've mentioned this already with the man who answered my call a few days ago." I huff at them, recalling the dodgy sounding guy on the end of the line a few days ago.

The woman leans forward then, in interest. "We've no recollection of this alleged phone call." She sniffs as if I'm lying. Alleged phone call?  I'm transported back to my fjrst meeting with my social worker at eleven.

She was so condescending. She was a disbeliever in everything I said as if I was one big liar, covering for my mother. "Tell me what really happened, Alex."
"But that's not the truth is it?"

Those were the type of things she used to say. The eye rolls Carl's social worker is giving me is sending me right back to the past. "The alleged phone call happened, Miss Whatever your name is." I snark, as I can't see any name tag or badge.

She looks mildly offended before shrugging as if she expected this sort of behaviour from me. I resist the urge to revert back to teenage attitude and instead allow myself a small scoff at her.

She sighs deeply again, looking at me as if she has no desire to be here at all. "Mr. Danvers. Since Carl is sixteen, nearing seventeen, he will have the choice of who he lives with." She narrows her eyes at me.

"Is your mother completely out of the equation? She only has another five years of her sentence." She points out, reading facts from a file and I wince. Since when are our lives recorded like fictional characters?

"No." I mumble, finally giving up on my facade and reverting back to upset and annoyed. "She's dying. I'm all Carl will have when she's gone." I sigh, rising from the desk and heading to the office door to leave.

"Meeting terminated." I slam the door behind me.