5. Last Friday night

"I can't believe you did this!!" I punch Neil as we get out of the supermarket, slightly over exaggerating but a little furious

"You were being so awkward it was impossible not to!!" He dies of laughing

I shove my middle finger in his face and keep walking, knowing that he's carrying most of the bags.

**

As I get home, I surprisingly see my dad laying on the couch.

"Dad hi! We did the groceries" I say excitedly and get closer to him.

I take a good look at his face. He looks exhausted. The bags under his eyes are near purple and he looks like he lost some weight

"Dad are you okay? You don't look good" I say more harshly, wanting hi to tell me what the hell is going on

"Nothing sweetie, I've been so busy lately, I'm here now and thank you guys for getting groceries" He says almost mechanically

Neil excuses himself and goes upstairs, probably to my room in order to give my dad and I some space

I sigh and decide to ask him the one thing that we have always avoided

"Are you using again" I ask boldly

He looks at me dead in the eye and pretends for a second to not understand, before sighting and looking away "No I'm not, Alex. I'm fine." He says, and hugs me.

Two years ago he almost overdosed because of meth, which isn't something that we have talked about openly. He had been a heavy smoker after my moms death, especially weed, but he found himself falling into the vicious cycle of hard drugs and almost didn't get out. He spent two months in rehab while I was allowed to stay at home but social services came to check on me every day. It was hell, especially as a 16 year old.

When he hugs me I feel safer and more secure about his situation. If anything happens to my dad I wouldn't be able to handle it, as he is the only family I have.

**

After a few moments everything falls back into place and the tree of us are sitting in my kitchen and eating lunch quietly.

"So any plans for the week, you two?" My dad asks, interested

"Actually we have this party tonight" I say half chewing on my food, still trying to navigate through his behaviour

"That's nice, careful yeah?" He says and looks at me and then Neil. We both nos and keep eating.

**

After around half an hour we pack up and my dad goes to his office, or so he says. I'm trying not to hold this grudge against him but I hate when he acts the way he did.

"He's fine Alex. Maybe he had a rough moment but don't worry too much." Neil says while I'm looking through my closet for clothes to wear, being able to read through me

"Yeah okay. I just hated that" I say half focused, a little more relaxed and finding a black top that I really like.

After I finally pick an outfit for the night, going for orange oversized jeans, the black, sleeveless lace top that barely covers my breasts and my favorite oversized patched jacket, and Neil with his basic black jeans and baseball red jacket that he wears all the time. It is around 6 when we leave my house because we want to get something to eat beforewards.

"Alyssa ghosted me" Neil suddenly says

I look at his face and as always he is trying not to show any type of emotion but I know better. He enjoyed her company way too much and not having her around hurts him.

"I'm sorry Neil" I say sincerely, wishing I could console him in some sort of way but I know him enough to say that he would rather take his own time to deal with it than be pitied

"It's fine. I just enjoyed her company more than I should have, I guess" He says

I roll my eyes at his statement "Don't beat yourself up because of this, it's not your fault. It's fine to get attached to people sometimes. Her fault for not seeing how worthy you are" I try consoling him a little but he just nods, seemingly changing the subject

As I lock the door from my house, I see Harvey's car parked in front of his house, meaning he's back. We look their way and see Eve on the porch, seeming happy that her husband is back. She looks so beautiful. He soon gets out of the car and hugs his wife tight, and their two younger kids soon join, excited to see their father. I softly smile at them and wonder where Cindy is.

They talk a little and the kids run inside. Harvey kisses Eve while his hands are around her waist and he suddenly grabs her ass, as I feel bad for watching. Suddenly her eyes meet mine and she slightly pulls away from him, growing uncomfortable.

I don't know whether smiling at her would make the situation even more awkward, so I pretend to not have seen them and look over at Neil: "Let's go" I tell him and we walk away from my house.

After a minute or so, he speaks up "Is there something that you want to tell me?" He looks down at me and I see a slightly smiley look ok his dumb face

"What?" I ask, actually not knowing what he's on about

"You've never looked at anyone the way you look at your neighbour.. the mom" He says, slightly laughing, slightly confused

"I mean she's pretty?" I say, not really seeing where he's coming from

"Right" he nods and doesn't press further

***

After we got our food we made our way to Brian's and it didn't take us long to arrive. I've been here before, he usually throws the biggest parties whenever he can. I sigh at the sound of people cheering and screaming drunkly. I can guess that there are already around 100 people here.

As we ring the doorbell Brian comes open. He's shirtless and has a red cup in hand.

"Yooo you came" He smiles and hugs Neil and then me. We both feel uncomfortable since we're very sober and he smells like sweat, but don't say anything.

"Come in people" He opens the door for us and Neil talks to him for a while as I make my way into the house, recognising most people from my school. I find the kitchen and pour myself a cup, feeling slightly anxious

"Hi there" A familiar voice says and I turn around, seeing Casey besides me.

"Hi" I say kind of coldly but trying not to be a party pooper

"Long time no see" she jokes and I raise my eyebrows at her. Wonder why.

"Yeah" I awkwardly reply as I mix vodka and whatever juice I can find inside a cup.

"How have you been" She continues to talk to me as I can barely hear her because of all the screams around us

"Pretty good." I nod and think about the last weeks "How about you" I reply

"Good. Listen Alex.. I'm sorry for what happened between us. I was a jerk to you." She sighs, sounding a little fake but hoping I buy it, which I do.

"Yeah" I nod, not trying to make her feel better about herself

"I was wondering if you're willing to leave it behind so we can actually have a nice senior year.. it's okay if you don't want to tho. I'm not asking to be best friends again but to get along at least,, yeah." She rambles, hoping I don't make fun of her

"Sure Casey. It's forgotten" I smile at her, well knowing that it's not forgotten, but I'm honestly not holding it against her since a long time

"Okay" she smiles and hugs me. I hug her back, unexpectedly.

"Brian's 13 year old sister is drunk. It's so funny look" she says and I turn around

I see this blonde girl dancing in front of everyone while another one next to her looks frightened.

Cindy??