Just Fine (RE-EDITING)

Chapter Seven

Dinner, to say the least, was anything but normal. Well, in the Ackerman household, nothing was ever normal. He didn't think this family was capable of being normal in the first place. It wasn't as if they didn't try to be normal, but Alvin didn't think his family needed to be normal. He was alright with how things were. But now, right at this moment, presently, this was a different type of weirdness.

Alvin looked stiff, as if someone had pushed him into an ice bath and had left him there to freeze. Abby just drank her soup, slowly looking at her brother occasionally before she flickered at Max. She would open her mouth for a moment and then she would close it, going back to eating her soup. Diane, on the other hand, watched her son closely before she glanced at her husband, who in return looked back at her with the same expression painted on his face.

The younger Ackerman could feel the stares, he wasn't that oblivious, but he didn't heed them any attention. Instead, he continued a staring match with his soup, occasionally drinking it before he would squirm in his seat, as if he didn't want to be there at the moment. Slowly raising his spoon to his lip, he quickly gulped it and drank it all in one go. He was also shuffling his body together, as if he was scared that he might burn into crisp if he let himself move freely from the confined space of his chair.

"Um, Alvin?" Lloyd began, catching the young scientist with a sharp jolt, his spoon flinging across the floor from the shock. Alvin quickly straightened himself before he pushed the glasses against his nose, licking his lips along the way. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Alvin said defensively. Silence ventured in before he slowly looked down to the floor, searching for his missing spoon.

"Here, Shred," Max said, handing over the spoon in front of Alvin's vision. Alvin felt his cheeks reddening as he quickly grabbed it back. The object of his discomfort was acting so calm that it made Alvin feel slightly embarrassed with the way he was acting. But irritation also bubbled inside of him when he saw how Max was grinning at him, looking so cool and collected, something that Alvin couldn't manage no matter how long or hard he tried.

How could Max act so nonchalant, so himself, after what they almost did?

Alvin wasn't supposed to be the one acting like he was going to be murdered after this!

Max was the one who was supposed to be so freaked out that he would be cooped up in their room and play video games all day, ignoring Alvin. Not the other way around! Max was the one who was trying find out about his... his whatever it was that he needed to find out. Alvin never needed to find anything about himself. He knew exactly who he was and he knew exactly what he wanted to be after all this growing stage was over.

Why, pray and tell, was he the only one acting like a girl?

"Dude, you don't have to glare at me!" Max said as he raised his eyebrows in amusement. Alvin blinked for a minute or two before sighing, finally feeling the tension between his eyebrows. He somehow ended up glaring at him while he was thinking.

"I can pick my own spoon from the floor just fine, Max," Alvin said slowly before he glanced back at his parents, who were watching him with silent confusion. "But thanks."

"You're welcome, bro," Max said happily before going back to eating his soup. Once again, Alvin was left with this baring confusion in his mind about Max's behaviour.

"Alvin, dear," Diane began as Alvin quickly looked back at her. "Maybe you should get another spoon."

Alvin nodded, knowing that his mother wanted to tell or ask something more but somehow she thought it was better if she kept quiet. However, Alvin didn't want to eat anymore. He didn't feel like indulging himself with soup and let his mind do the wandering. He hated how he lost his self-restrain over things so easily just because of Max. "No, thank you. I'm done eating."