Chap 9: The Alley

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing loudly in my ears, groaning, I rolled over and turned it off, deciding to ignore whoever it was. I sat up and winced at the splitting headache I had. There were two advil on the bedside table, with a glass of water. I quickly downed the contents and smiled but it was soon replaced with a frown as memories of last night flooded in.

My sister.

The music.

The lights.

All the alcohol.

And of course, Killian.

Who I had made a completely fool of myself in front of. Not to mention the way I kept looking at him like a creep but it's not like I could help it. My eyes we're weirdly attracted to him, I groaned and laid back. I checked the time on my phone and it read 4:30am in the morning. I sighed and got out of my bed to have a change of clothes. I cleansed my face and changed into a black tomboy outfit. I jumped back in bed to sleep through the headache but it was far gone. I tossed and turned but dream land was no where in sight. I heard Jess' door open and her footsteps going downstairs.

I got out of my sheets and followed her. I gasped as soon as I ascended the stairs. The living room was sparkly clean, no sign that there was a party. The whole place looked good as new, I joined Jess in the kitchen and grinned at her zombie face.

"Shut up." she rolled her eyes but winced right after.

"Do you know where the advil is?" She asks, eyes closed. I swallowed and shook my head as though she could see me.

"Check the drawers." I say as I gulped down a glass of juice.

"You mean these!" she says, waving around empty advil boxes.

"Oh." Was all I said, trying not to blush at the incredibly embarrassing but thoughtful gesture Killian did for me.

"You have to go and get me some." Jess' whining little voice snaps me out of my daze.

"You're the older one, it's pretty obvious you should be the one to go." I say, with a bored expression.

"You're the responsibility one, you should go and my head is killing me." She pouts.

"Are you crazy! it's like 4am and cold outside, there's no way I'm going." I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her.

"You can take mom's car and, you get to buy anything you want." She says, smiling devilishly clearly knowing that I won't say no to that.

"Where will you get the money for whatever things I want!" I said emphasizing on 'things'.

She chuckled "So will you go or will you go?" I'm pretty sure that's not how it works but heck, this is a one in a lifetime opportunity.

"Fine, let me get my jumper first."

"Here." she threw the jumper in my face then the car keys "You can go to the supermarket downtown, do not go to the alley."

"Whatever." I got up from the kitchen island and made a beeline for the front door.

"I'm serious IZ don't GO there." she yells behind me.

"Shut up!" I opened the door and was greeted by the cold wind. I jogged towards my mom's car and jumped in the driver's seat. I started ignition and turned the heat up. I drove out to Paul's Supermarket a.k.a the alley, as my sister likes to call it. The place isn't that dangerous. Sure, there are gangs, arm dealers, thieves, junkies and someone has been killed from there but nothing to be scared about. It was a 30mins drive from my neighborhood so it wasn't that far away. I played some music on the radio to get rid of the terrible silence but mostly to not think about the worst that could happen to me. I drove into a not so clean neighborhood, there we're old houses, people talking on the side of the road but kept glancing towards my direction. I arrived at Paul's and parked in the lot. I glanced at an old looking door a couple of feet away from the main entrance that has always been closed since I can remember and sighed. I've always wanted to know what's in there but the O'l man specifically told me, I quote 'it's nothing! Old people do weird things'. I couldn't agree more. I pushed the heavy doors open and smiled as the familiar smell of ice cream and coffee greeted my senses.

"Hey Pauly!" I say, approaching the old man sitting behind the counter.

"Hey child it's good to see you again, you look like you haven't slept in days!" he says chuckling to himself.

"Good to see you too, I'm fine just hangover." I smiled and looked around.

''Making good use of your mom's absence I see.'' He snickered as he walked towards me with his arms open wide. I happily accepted the hug and pulled away, his chocolate coffee aroma leaving behind a linger.

''What can I say! Young people do wild things.'' He chuckled and muttered something about being careful. I moved around looking for Advil, bought myself snacks and other things. I mean, it's not everyday that I get the liberty to buy what I want. I finally finished getting everything that I needed and went to the cashier.

"You shouldn't be here so early, it's still dark outside.'' Paul says, with a stern look on his face. He has always been protective over me. At first, I found it weird but now, he's like a father-figure to me. Always giving me advice and telling me I shouldn't walk or drive around his neighborhood at night and that I should always be with a person at all times.

"Yes I know but I had to, Jess really needed advil." I say with my best puppy eyes.

"Fine, just don't do it next time or you could at least come with someone." He sighs and smiles softly at me.

"So, how's the young man doing!"

"He's fine you should meet him, he's a good guy." I say with a grin.

"Oh of course, but no matter how good you think he is, no one deserves you little one." He says, caressing my cheek. I smile at the nickname that he gave to me when I was a little girl.

"That's what you always say." I rolled my eyes.

"Because it's true" he says sternly.

I chuckled "Will anyone ever be good enough for you?"

"Well you'll have to wait and find out, you better get going then, school is in a couple of hours." He ushers me away. I thanked him and collected everything I bought. I went outside and walked towards my car, I smirked at the Mercedes parked next to it.

This person must not know this place or just crazy for bringing that here I thought as I put all the bags in the booth. I counted them to make sure I didn't forget anything and as I expected, there was one missing. I closed the booth, locked my car and went back to Paul's. Faint light coming from the shady looking door had me stop in my tracks. I glanced over to where Paul was sitting and he couldn't see me. I bent down a little so he wouldn't see me passing and approached the door. I could hear muffled voices of people talking since I was still a bit far, as I got closer the voices got clear.

"I'm sorry boss, we will deal with this immediately." A voice booms in a thick accent.

"I expect that I won't have to come down here again" Another voice says. Every word cold and harsh. I frowned, it sounded oddly familiar. I was so deep in thought that I didn't hear another presence behind me.

"What do we have here."