Tyson POV

"Hey, Ty?" Alex's quiet voice reached my ears. "Why don't you join me?"

I opened my eyes and saw her hesitantly peaking from the edge of my bed. It reminded me of the time when we were at Angel's house; she was on the bed looking down at me lying on the floor. I remembered how I got there. And more specifically – why I got there. I recollected how she ground against me just once and how my body responded to that. What if she tried something similar now?

"I'm fine," I responded in a low voice.

"I promise I won't come onto you tonight."

"I said I'm fine!" I snapped at her, getting peeved that she figured out why I wanted to stay away from her.

"Fine! Have it your way then!"

Alex got up from the bed, taking the pillow and covers with her. I watched her in confusion as she placed one sheet on the floor next to me and lied down covering herself with the other.

"What are you doing?" I asked the girl.

"If you're not sleeping on the bed, then neither am I!"

"Why not?"

"Chyvstvam se vinovna," she muttered.

"What?"

"I said... Never mind! Go to sleep!"

"Alex?" She didn't respond and just closed her eyes. "Alex!" She fake-snored. "Alex, I know you're awake!" She snored again, only louder this time. "Damn it, Alexandra! Stop getting on my fucking nerves and answered my darn question!"

"I said I was feeling guilty... You know, for occupying your bed while you are on the floor," she responded, not opening her eyes. She seemed almost shy to admit it.

So this girl actually had a conscience, huh?

I thought about the whole situation. There was no point in both of us sleeping down here and leaving the bed empty. True, it was a single bed, but with Alex being so small, she wouldn't take up much space. And she did promise to leave me alone.

I sighed.

"Okay! We're both using the bed." I finally agreed, getting off the floor.

*****

The first thing I saw when I woke up the next morning was the still asleep and snoring (this time for real) Alex. I tried to contain my laughter when I saw her.

Her hair was a mess. Her head was tilted to the side and her mouth was gapping wide. She had twisted her body in the most unbelievable and probably spine-breaking position with her right hand covering her head and her left leg dangling off the bed. She was lying on her stomach and the pillow had somehow managed to get under it. The bed covers were now lying in a ball on the floor.

It's got to be one of the most comical sights I've ever seen!

"Alex," I called her softly. I frowned, noticing the tone of my voice.

Why was I so nice today?

"Alex!" I said less tenderly and shook her.

She groaned.

"I can't go to school today, Kevin; I'm sick!" She let out an unconvincing cough.

Who's Kevin?

"I'm not making you go to school. It's Saturday."

"Oh! I'm fine then," she replied sleepily. "I'm still not getting up though." Her forehead wrinkled as if she was trying to comprehend something. "Wait... Tyson?" Her eyes opened slowly and gazed into mine. "Why the fuck did you wake me up?"

"I was going to ask you if you wanted me to make you breakfast."

"Breakfast?!" Alex exclaimed excitedly, opening her eyes wider. "Why are you still here? Go make me a sandwich!" She ordered.

"You better be kidding!" I growled at her tone. I knew I shouldn't have been nice!

"Of course I'm kidding. I'm not in a mood for having sandwiches for breakfast today. Now go make me a waffle on the waffleler!"

"On the WHAT?"

"Waffleler? Wafflemaker? Whatever that thing that makes waffles is called. Angel told me you have one."

I looked at her amused.

"Say "waffleler" again!" I demanded.

"Why?" She asked with suspicion clear in her voice.

"You sound really..." cute (was what I thought), "... funny" (was what I voiced instead).

"No, I don't!" She pouted.

"Yes, you do. You can't pronounce "r" correctly so it sounds like "wafflelew"."

"Whatever, I'm not saying it!"

"Say it or I won't make you waffles!"

She glared at me, but I noticed a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Do you blackmail all of your guests or should I feel special?" She tried to look peeved, but I could see the edges of her mouth lifting slightly to form a smile.

"I try that with everybody but it only works on the hungry ones." I winked at her.

Next thing I know, Alex burst out laughing, falling off the edge of the bed.

*****

The uncharacteristically good mood I woke up in left me the moment I went downstairs. I searched for signs of my father but couldn't find any. He wasn't in his usual place: passed out drunk on the couch in front of the TV. I gazed through the window; his car was gone.

Probably went to buy more booze.

How he managed to drive was beyond my understanding. He was never sober, he just had different levels of being drunk. There was sober-ish (when he only had a few beers), slightly drunk (add a few more), drunk, very drunk, not-being-able-to-move-but-still-relatively-awake drunk and (my favorite) passed-out-cold drunk. I rarely saw him at level one or two. Then again I did my best to avoid him whenever it was possible.

I heard a noise and saw Alex coming down the stairs. She hadn't change back into her clothes and was only dressed in an old black button up shirt of mine that I gave her to sleep in. She looked good wearing my clothes.

Whoa, Tyson, keep those thoughts out of your head!

"You're taking too long with breakfast," she complained, looking at my face before turning away to survey my house.

Suddenly, I felt edgy. This place was a shit hole. Everything was old, cheap and dirty. It had old, mostly broken, cheap furniture and old cheap torn wallpapers that had lost their colors years ago. To top it all up, it smelled of cheap alcohol and cheap cigarettes. It usually didn't bother me; I grew up here, I was used to it. But right now I was anxious to see Alex's reaction. Her face was blank.

"Well?" I questioned bitterly. "How do you like my five star residence?" I swung my hands as if I was showing the place off.

"It's a house." Alex said evenly.

"I know it's a house. But don't you think it's a beautiful one?" I asked sarcastically.

"Tyson, we both know this place sucks."

"Don't know what you're talking about; I personally find it's very charming and cozy!" I kicked one of the empty beer cans that were scattered around the floor. "Just look at all the lovely furniture!" I added sardonically, pointing at the old, stained couch and sofas and the rickety table, tilted to its side due to the lack of two of its legs.

Alex took a deep breath and released it slowly.

"What do you want me to say, Ty? Obviously you didn't like me not saying anything. Obviously you wouldn't like it if I gave some compliment without meaning it. And now you are sulking because I told the truth and didn't sugarcoat it for you?"

"What can I say; I'm a hard to please boy," I replied tartly.

"What a coincidence! I'm a hard to please girl," she used the same sharp tone of voice as me and then sighed again. "So does the waffle offer still stand?"

I stared at her in disbelief. We were quarreling a moment ago and now she was asking for breakfast? What the hell?! I was just about to tell her to go fuck herself when I took in her demeanor. That look on Alex's face... did she change the topic to try to calm me down?

"Are you trying to distract me?" I queried coolly.

"Not working, huh?" She gave me a sheepish smile. "Look, Ty... I don't want you to be upset because then you'll just chase me away. And believe it or not I... Well, as irritating as you can be... And trust me: you are really, really irritating sometimes... But regardless, I... That is you..."

"Alex, you're babbling," I noted evenly.

She took another deep breath.

"Mamka my!"

I wasn't sure what that meant, but I suspected it was a cuss.

"I don't know..." Alex went on. "I guess I just... I guess I like having around somebody on my level to fight with. To bring some excitement as oppose to knowing for sure that I'm going to win. Yeah, I guess that's what I meant..."

Seeing Alex's cheeks redden as she spoke I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. She was just so cute!

"So how many waffles do you want?" I asked, turning my back to her and walking towards the kitchen.

"Depends on how big your waff..." She caught herself before she could let it slip, "... waffle-maker is."

"Come and see for yourself!" I gestured for her to follow me. "Oh! And, Alex?"

"Mhmm?"

"It's nice to have you around to fight with too!"

My good mood was back.

*****

Alex POV

I was sitting on Tyson's kitchen counter. I didn't trust the chairs; they looked like they would brake any moment now. Tyson himself was washing the dishes we used during breakfast. I offered to help him clean up but to my immense relief, he declined. Washing dishes had always been my most hateful chore.

As he put the last dish on the dryer, the boy leaned on the counter next to me, angling his body so he could face me.

We'd had quite a peaceful breakfast. We hadn't argued a single time and just joked around. I didn't even know the boy had a sense of humor and it was a pleasant discovery.

I smirked at the thought and Tyson smiled at me. I could get used to that! Maybe we could be friends? It felt nice spending time with him when he was like this. But I was too naïve if I thought this time of serenity would last. I should've known something bad was about to happen.

We heard the front door opening with a bang, followed by an irritated and slightly slurred male voice.

"Damn car broke down two blocks away!" The voice was getting closer. "Better go fix it, boy, 'cause I'm gonna..."

The man stopped speaking when he entered the kitchen and saw me. He looked baffled for a second before a repulsive grin appeared on his face. He scanned my body with such a lustful glint in his bloodshot grey eyes that it made me want to smack him. Only then did I remember I was sitting there in nothing but a shirt and panties.

"Well, well, well..." He trailed off taking a few faltering steps. "What has my boy brought here? I don't like him having his whores in my house..." He got even closer and the stench of alcohol assaulted my nose. "But perhaps I should rethink that if they look like you, doll!"

"Stay away from her!" Tyson spat venomously at who I guessed was his father.

"My house, my rules, boy!" The man barked back at him but didn't take his eyes of my barely-covered legs.

I felt Tyson grab me by the arm and jerk me off of the counter. He quickly dragged me upstairs to his room, but before he could close the door we heard a voice shout from bellow:

"Use protection when you fuck her, boy! I'm not feeding another bastard!"

The boy shut the door with such force that it bounced off its frame and he had to close it again.

"Get dressed, Alex," he said with an emotion-drained voice.

"Tyson, I..." I started hesitantly, not really knowing what to say.

"I said get the fuck dressed damn it!" He bellowed and I let out a shriek, jumping up in the air. I quickly leaned down, took my jeans from the floor and put them on. I started to unbutton his shirt to replace it with my top but Tyson's voice cut me off.

"Leave it!" He demanded quietly and grabbed my wrist once again.

He hauled me out of his room, then out of the house and kept dragging me with him for a while. He finally stopped, pointing at a bench a few feet away.

"That's the bus stop," he announced coolly before leaving me on my own.

I guess being friends was out of the question now.