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Ophelia sat awkwardly on the couch, watching as Alex paced around infront of her with a unreadable expression. He didn't know how to react and she didn't know what to say, "Can you just say something?"

"So are you like... back now?" Alex asked as he stopped infront of her, causing the girl to stand up as well. She took a step back and eyed him slightly, he grew taller over the last ten months.

"Yeah, for good. Well I think, i've got a court date with my Dad but chances are looking really good." Ophelia spoke softly toward him, still not knowing what to say.

"Yeah well we all thought you were here forever last time and then you left for ten months." Alex snapped at her as Ophelia sighed and looked away for a second.

"I know you're upset and mad at me but you don't understand, Alex. She's my Mom, what was I supposed to do?" Ophelia asked him, getting angrier by the second.

"Stay. Why would you want to go back to her when people loved you here, when your Dad loved you here, what I loved you here?" Alex asked her, his voice louder than usual to show his annoyance.

"Loved?" Ophelia asked with a hurt look, the past tense word hitting her harder then expected.

"What did you expect, Ophie? I didn't think you where coming back! No one did." Alex said to her as he waved his arms around, something he always did when he was annoyed or angry.

"I love you." Ophelia said as she grabbed his arms, watching as he looked away from her.

"You can't just show up almost a year later and expect us to be us again." Alex said to her softly, looking down at her with a much softer look.

"I know that, and i'm sorry. It was just easier to stay away, but you're right... I should have just stayed here where people actually cared about me." Ophelia said as she let his arms go, not bothering to call him out how he reached for her the second she let him go, but once he realized what he was doing, he pulled his arms back down.

"I'm sorry about your Mom, you don't deserve that." Alex said as he was the one to wrap his arms around her this time, pulling her into a hug that they both thought about every day they were apart.

"I just hope she's having fun in Narnia or Transylvania or whatever." Ophelia said, making Alex laugh at her. His laugher sent a vibration through his chest, bouncing into her ears as she smiled at the feeling.

"I'm glad you're home." Alex spoke again a few seconds later before the sound of a curtain was heard. Lydia, Elena, and Penelope all standing behind it and stumbling out the second it opened.

"Papito, have you and the white child connected again?" Lydia asked hopefully as she walked toward the two.

"Yeah let's not talk about them connecting." Penelope said with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, have you guys connected again? Is Alexphia a thing again?" Elena asked hopefully with a goofy smile before a knock was at the door, Penelope opening it immediately considering how close she was.

"Sorry to intrude but I forgot to give Alex his jacket back." a pretty girl said as she walked into the apartment, walking toward Alex with the coat in her hands.

"Oh, right, thanks Nora." Alex said awkwardly as he glanced between Ophelia and Nora.

"Who's this?" Ophelia asked with a smile, not thinking anything of it.

"Hey, i'm Nora, Alex's girlfriend." she introduced herself as Ophelias face fell as the tension in the room became so sharp you almost felt it.

"Girlfriend?"

"Okay, i've got our itemarary all planned out. First, Alex, I will drop you off so you can buy your stupid sneakers. Then, Ophie gets dropped off at yoga class to pretend shes exercising when she's actually just sampling all the ice creams across the street. Then, I will drop Abuelita off at the fish market and get to the over watch finals before the first gladiator is fraged." Elena spoke the next morning as she drove the car, Ophelia sitting in the back with Lydia, while Alex glanced at her through the mirror every now and then.

"Non of those nerds are getting fraged." Lydia sighed from the back seat as she held a hand to her head.

"Anyways, I need to be dropped at the fish market first before all of the Cuban crabs are gone." Lydia explained with a wave of her hand.

"Crabs?" Ophelia asked her with a eyebrow raise.

"Cuban crabs?" Alex added in to her question with a look of confusion.

"The strongest ones crawl their way to the top so they are the first to go, those are the cuban crabs." Lydia explained as Ophelia nodded her head with a half smile.

"I wonder if they have crab flavored ice cream." she spoke out loud while looking out the window.

"Would you try it?" Alex asked, clearly just trying to keep a conversation going.

"I don't know, would you try not moving on so fast?" Ophelia snapped at him as Lydia laughed loudly.

"You've been gone ten months." Alex said in disbelief as he waved his hands around.

"Yeah, and I haven't even laid a finger on a guy since." Ophelia explained as Elena was the one to laugh now.

"I wouldn't lay a finger on a guy if you paid me to." she laughed as Alex simply rolled his eyes at her.

"Anyways, Abuelita, I cant drop you off before Alex and Oph. I just got my license so i'm not allowed to drive anyone under twenty unless a adult is present." Elena explained while glancing at her grandmother in the mirror.

"Egh, what the police don't know won't hurt them." Ophelia said with a shrug of her shoulders, leaning her head on the window.

"Does it have to be me?" Lydia asked with a odd look.

"No, any adult that can sit there and do nothing." the girl in the drivers seat answered with a shrug as she slowed down at a red light.

"I have just the person." the older woman explained as Ophelia gave her a confused look.

"They say staring at the phone doesn't make it ring, may have taken twenty years but I proved them all wrong." Dr.B said as he slapped his knee, Ophelia shook her head from where she was crammed between the two adults in the back. Dr.B continued to laugh as he leaned forward and messed up Alex's hair causing the boys eyes to widen to fear.

"Yeah! That's what i'm talking about, Leslie!" Ophelia announced as the two high fives quickly.

"How many times do I have to tell you i'm sorry?" Alex said in disbelief as he looked back at her.

"Until your lungs collapse, which might be sooner rather than later if you look at me again." Ophelia said to him while leaning forward to shove his head back into the front part of the car.

"What do you mean you decided not to buy the shoes? Shoes are your entire personality!" Elena yelled at Alex after having to pick everyone up again, a in pain Ophelia in the back, groaning every other second.

"Okay I thought about it and I realized these ones are what brought me and Nora together, I couldn't replace them." Alex explained as Ophelia groaned even louder from the back seat as she clutched her stomach.

"Oh, my poor white child. This is why you do not get weird flavor ice creams." Lydia explained while flattening out the girls locks.

"A pair of shoes is what you and Nora were brought together over? Bitch, I can top that!" Ophelia said from the back seat between painful pants, getting wacked in the head by Lydia at the language.

"I thought you were my dead aunt coming back to haunt me!" Alex explained as Ophelia nodded her head.

"Tops some stupid shoes!" Ophelia shouted at him again before grabbing her stomach in pain.

"Don't you throw up in this car, Ophelia!" Elena said to her with a serious expression.

"Is she gonna be okay, doc?" Alex asked Dr.B as he looked at him through the mirror.

"Oh, i'm sure." Leslie said as he waved him off, Alex giving a crazy expression before slumming in his seat again.

"Anyways just drop us off at home." Alex explained while throwing his thumb back at Ophelia.

"Ugh, no i've already missed the first two matches." Elena pouted.

"Okay, yeah, yeah we can go. I can keep it together for your match, Elena. I can keep it together-" Ophelia went on before yelling out in pain, being muffled by Lydia throwing a hand over her mouth.

"See, she's fine! And we're almost at the arena so we're all going." Elena said annoyed as she took a right turn quickly.

"Great, the parking lots full." she sighed while looking for a spot.

"Well just park somewhere else."

"Yeah, like at home."

"I'm not gonna miss the final."

"Oh! Spot! Spot!"

"Elena, can I puke in your car now?"

"No!"

"And open meter and it's Sunday, free parking!"

"We are gonna make it, we are gonna make it!"

"Wait, I don't wanna make it!"

"Yes we do, I can't go home, there's nothing waiting for me besides darkness." Leslie said as he corrected Alex quickly.

"Alright, i'm getting that spot. Hold on!" Elena announced as she did a quick turn, Lydias crabs began to fall out of the small cooler she had making Ophelia yell out and jump out of her seat, crawling into the front and falling on Alex's lap.

"I don't want crabs!" Ophelia announced loudly as she looked past Alex and into the backseat to see Dr.B sitting there with four crabs crawling on him.

"Do you need me to get you anything?" Alex asked as he helped Ophelia into her bed after they left the match, her still in pain but bearable now.

"I'm fine, Alex." Ophelia said with a sigh as she got comfortable on her pillow, opening her eyes quickly as she felt her shoes being pulled off.

"Sit up." Alex said while helping her take the small jacket off her shoulders before she fell back on the pillow in the work out clothes she never used. Draping the blanket over her body, he watched a tired grin spread across her face.

"Thank you." Ophelia spoke softly, not being able to help herself.

"Ophie... i'm sorry about Nora." Alex said after a second of silence.

"Don't be, I should have never left you." Ophelia mumbled as she slowly drifted off, her words slurring but Alex caught them. With a sad look he adjusted the blanket around her arms better before pressing a kiss to her forehead and turning the light off before heading back to his own apartment, a look of hesitation and regret lingering on his eyes the whole walk there.

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ophelia trying to hate alex even though she's clearly in love with him is my new favorite thing.