❪ 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 ❫

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗍𝖾𝖾𝗇 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━
alex. ╱ act one, chapter fourteen.
❛ why does he always hurt me ! ❜

𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙇 𝙇𝙄𝙁𝙀 !

TALIA DIDN'T THINK that this would be how she would be spending her Wednesday evening. She didn't think she would be sitting in her car, driving through a dangerous neighborhood in search of her drug-addict brother. If there was one thing Talia never liked to talk about, it was her older brother. He wasn't hidden to her friends but he was almost a foreign subject. Talia wasn't the one to show her true feelings that much, she liked to keep it to herself, and not having it be a burden to others.

Her brother seemed to enjoy randomly popping in and out of her life whenever he pleased, usually on the hunt for a place to stay or some money. It hurts her to see her brother act this way, but she can't do anything about it. It's not her decision for him to act this reckless, it's his. If he wants to inject heroin into his veins, nothing can stop him, it has to be his decision to end it. But nonetheless, it's still mentally exhausting for Talia to constantly deal with this. Sometimes when there's a large amount of time that has passed when she hasn't heard from him she gets horrible dreams. Every time she would close her eyes, she could see her older brother dead in a ditch.

And that scared her immensely.

And it's not like her parents would ever do anything about it, once they found out about his addiction they dropped him quickly. And if she as much as talked to him, Talia would have the same done to her. Her family life you could say is fucking dysfunctional. That's why she never goes home and never talks to her parents. Talia used to admire her parents but once the Romano family climbed the social latter her parents changed. Turning into these status hungry people that didn't give their kids the time of day. It was disheartening, the once loving family was cracking at the seams, and Talia seemed to be right in the middle of it.

Talia was always put in the middle of the fights that the Romano family had, her fading brother on one side, and her parents on the other. They always made her pick sides, then there was point where she couldn't do it anymore. She left, and it was the most freeing thing that she could've imagined. The heavyweight that she carried due to her family no longer existed, and she made a new life for herself. And even met some YouTubers that she would soon call her family.

Flashforward two years, and her brother still found a way to worm himself into her life. 

Talia had just dropped off David and Natalie at the airport when her brother texted her. A mixture of many emotions was thrumming through her body from the text. It had been months since she had heard from him and it was so sudden that she was in no way prepared for something like this. She was panicking as she looked at the text, not knowing what to do. She was alone. It wasn't like she could run and go get David to help her out with this, she watched him board his plane.

David was the person who knew everything about the drama with her brother, he was the one who would support her and help when it came to Alex popping in and out of her life. But now she was alone and he was on a plane to Chicago.

She could see the panicked texts Alex sent and a feeling in her gut made her answer the texts, and immediately the twenty-nine-year-old was calling her.

Now Talia found herself eyeing many suspicious-looking people as they glared at her car as she drove down the sketchy street. Fear was bubbling in her stomach, as she glanced down at the address her brother had sent her. With her heart pounding, she pulled over in front of a ratty house that was the apparent address that Alex gave her. Her eyes never stopped looking around, in fear that something was going to happen to her or her car.

A loud smack on the window made the short black-haired girl jump in her seat out of fear. With a glare, she met Alex's gaze as he was laughing in amusement outside of the car. She pressed the button to unlock the passenger side door, and soon the chill December air washed into the heated car. Alex had a cheeky smile pulling at his lips watching her as he slid into the heated leather seat.

He sighed contently, eyes falling over the small car. "Damn Talia nice car,"

She let out a scoff, before pulling away from the curb and continuing down the street. "Thanks, David got it for me,"

Alex let out a teasing whistle, making Talia tense up, "What he your boyfriend or something?"

"No, he's my best friend,"

"Well, he must want something from you since he gave you such a nice car," Alex mentioned rubbing his hands down the passenger side door, admiring the leather. "I mean come on, did you suck his dick or something?"

Talia whipped her head towards him with anger flushing at her face, Alex almost recoiled at her rough gaze, but instead, he gave her an amused smile, knowing he got a rise out of her. "Listen asshole, David's just my best friend, got it? And maybe you would remember him if you weren't so high off your ass all the time,"

Alex slowly lowered himself into his seat at the harshness of her statement, leading a quiet tension-filled silence to fill the car. Talia had a tight grip on the steering wheel as she gritted her teeth, hoping it'll stop more angered words from bubbling up.

After five minutes of the empty quiet, Talia quickly gazed over to her brother who was lost watching the passing lights of LA. "Where am I taking you? The half-way house on 54th again?"

Alex stayed quiet, lightly picking at his fingernails, "I was hoping that maybe I could stay at yours for a few days,"

There it is.

Talia let out a hopeless sigh, lightly hitting her head on the back of her seat, "Why?"

"I don't want to spend Christmas at some homeless shelter, and I doubt you're going home so why not spend it together?" Alex explained, but Talia knew there was something he was hiding from her. He probably wasn't welcomed there anymore. Talia was just getting tired. She pulled into a random diner's parking lot, giving them an opportunity to talk. Putting the car into park, Talia turned to meet her brother's hesitant gaze.

"Alex, why did you call me?"

Alex's face froze, but soon scrunched up in confusion, "I needed a ride and I wanted to see if you wanted to spend Christmas with me,"

"Alex come on, we both know that if you called me, you would need a lot more than a ride," Talia sighed, feeling unresolved emotions begin to bubble up.

"Okay look, I just need some money,"

Talia leaned her head back as she let out a shaky sigh, her voice began to crack from emotion as she spoke. "For what now?"

Alex rested a soft hand on her arm, a feeling of guilt racking through his body upon seeing tears begin to trail down Talia's cheeks. "Look, I just owe my dealer some money, and then I'm done. I'm quitting Tal, I promise,"

Talia pulled herself further away from Alex as she wiped her tears away, sniffling lightly as she let out a humorless chuckle. "Oh what like last time? Or the time before that? Alex I can't keep doing this,"

Alex felt like he got slapped, her words hurting not only her but him also. He unbuckled his seat belt in a hurried fashion. Anger rising in his body by the minute. From not only the statement but he knew he wasn't getting the money. "Thanks for believing in me bitch,"

Talia recoiled, feeling a slight sting from the derogatory term. "Alex I love you, but I can't give you the money I'm sorry,"

"If you loved me you would've given me the money and let me stay with you,"

Alex ripped himself from the vehicle, and Talia quickly reached out to grab his wrist, tears beginning to free-fall down her cheeks. "Alex wait,"

The tall brunet hissed at the contact from her tight grip, pulling himself away from her as if she burned him. "No, and I hope you know if you find me dead, just know it's all your fault,"

With those last words, Alex slammed the car door shut, soon shoving his hands into his pockets before exiting the diner parking lot. Leaving his hysterically sobbing little sister in her car, feeling no guilt but she, on the other hand, was painted in it.

↝↝↝↝↝ 𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐀𝐘𝐒... ↜↜↜↜↜

GIF MADE BY THE LOVELY sunsetswerve  

A DOUBLE UPDATE BUT A HEAVY CHAPTER

Imma just leave this here .

Oop we got another real life chapter. meet Alex! Kinda vvvvvv toxic, Talia don't deserve that kinda treatment. The next chapters gonna be pretty sad, and a more emotional side of Talia. I apologize, but hope you enjoy nonetheless!

I hope you guys enjoyed!

BUT IMPORTANT THING.

What did you all think?

I really would like your feedback on this, so please leave a comment.