Alex's New Life II: Next Generation Chapter 5
Now I know the story is still called Alex's New Life and that he hasn't been in it at all but fear not, he makes a return in this chapter. Get ready to be reunited with an old friend and don't forget to donate to Nifty here: https://donate.nifty.org/
Chapter 5
\\\ Ben ///
A stunned silence hung over us as we sat on the grass around Nick who was still crying into his knees. Danny was still fiddling with Nick's phone which we'd passed around to see the photos of the story he'd just told us. We had been shocked to see images of his bruised and battered body, especially when he looked so young in some of them, but when he told us about his dad spray-painting his bedroom walls we weren't prepared for the devastation that those pictures would show. Not only had he sprayed the walls but he'd also tagged his bedding, the wardrobes, the floor and some had even made it to the ceiling. There were a few close up shots of his guitar with the broken strings and spray paint markings on it, as well as a few of the trophies he'd earned over the years, including the one for the three legged race, all trashed by the red paint that had been liberally applied to everything in sight.
"So where's your dad now?" Noah asked, being the first to break the silence.
"He's living with his parents...my grandparents at the moment down south." Nick replied, finally looking up. His tear stained face was still red and puffy, and there was a noticeable tremble in his voice as he spoke. No matter how I'd felt about Nick this week my heart was now breaking for him; I could fully understand why he hated me and I was determined to make sure I'd change his mind.
"Do you think he'll come looking for you?" Danny asked as he handed the phone back to Nick.
"I don't know, Mum's got a restraining order against him but I just hope he thinks we're with her parents as it'll be hard for him to find them. They never stay in one place for long."
"Well he'd better not show up here or I'll kick his ass!" Danny stated with absolute conviction and we all agreed. Nick just smiled appreciatively as he seemed to be getting more comfortable with us.
"Thanks guys, and I'm sorry if I've been a complete asshole this week, especially to you Ben, it's just...I've been holding everything in for so long that it's just been a relief to get it all out." Nick replied. I gave him a reassuring smile to let him know I was ok with him now.
"Don't worry about it, we're all friends here and we've got your back if you need us." Jamie said, draping his arm over Nick's shoulder for support.
"Yeah, you can rely on us when all is said and done." Tom started chuckling to himself which confused the rest of us as we thought he was being sincere; Nick on the other hand seemed to know what he was saying and landed a half-hearted punch on his arm.
"You dick." He said with a smile, and then looked at us as we still looked confused. "When all is said and done is an Abba song." Danny and Jamie were on their feet before I could react, tackling Tom to the ground and punching his arms again as I jumped up to get some digs in; all the while Tom was in fits of giggles on the floor. Nick's tear stained face soon had a massive smile plastered across it and it was nice to see that Tom's suffering had a positive effect on him.
"I nearly got away with that one you turd." Tom whined through the laughter while we carried on laying into him.
"You know, you actually looked pretty athletic in some of those pictures; underneath the bruising I mean." Noah said as we stood back up, with Tom shaking his arms to get the feeling back. "You could always train with us if you wanted to get into better shape again." Nick blushed and seemed to be checking out Noah's ripped body. If I didn't know any better I'd almost say there was a slight look of jealousy from him. Nick had definitely looked pretty fit when he was younger, even sporting a healthy six pack, but as the years wore on it seemed his hatred for sports had made him less active and his body lost its tone.
"C'mon, it'll be fun. It's not like those competitions you were training for before; it's just more like dicking about and trying out different tricks." I said, seeing the apprehension in Nicks face.
"Yeah, I always hated working out but this stuff is actually fun and you get ripped without even lifting any weights, see?" Tom was still shirtless and started flexing his chest and abs for emphasis, earning himself a slightly appreciative look from Nick.
"And you're not in competition with anyone else; you just do whatever tricks you want and train whenever and wherever you like." Noah continued. "You're not trying to beat any of us as we're just a group of friends with the same interest, and if you want to do some tricks that you haven't mastered yet we'll help you pull them off, just like how Danny was helping Jamie earlier." Nick looked over at Danny who was beaming with pride and decided to give it a go.
For the next couple of hours we showed Nick how to warm up by properly stretching, and then started easing him into doing a few dive rolls. Nick still had some power in his legs from his athletics days and was definitely potential there for pulling off some great tricks. We took turns in teaching him different tricks as well as working on our own and by the time the sun was starting to set he'd managed a couple of decent hand springs and cartwheels, as well as working up quite a sweat. We finally decided to call it a day, gathering our stuff up as we said our goodbyes and split up to head home. Danny and I walked with Nick as we had to go past his part of town to get home anyway.
Nick seemed to be more open with us on the way home; talking about his interests and he was especially passionate when we talked about what music we all liked. I was walking between Danny and Nick and every now and then I saw Danny steeling glances at us but then looking away again whenever I caught him. He was pretty active in the conversation as well, especially when it turned out Nick didn't completely hate sports so they had a few things to talk about there. When we finally reached the end of Nick's road we stopped to say goodbye.
"Look Nick, I'm sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have shouted at you the way I did, I didn't realise you had so much shit going on." I said as I stood facing Nick.
"No you had every right to be mad at me, I've hated you for so long without even knowing you and that wasn't fair." Nick replied, looking ashamed for the way he felt. "I've treated you like shit this week and you hadn't even done anything wrong so I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." I offered my hand to Nick with a friendly smile. "How about we start again in school on Monday, deal?"
"Deal!" Nick replied with a big smile, taking my outstretched hand in his own. All the while Danny was watching us intently, looking from me to Nick and back again. We left Nick to walk home the rest of the way but not before Danny put him in a warm hug and I could see tears leaking from Nick's tightly closed eyes as he held on to the smaller boy like he'd just been reunited with a little brother. When they separated Danny had a huge smile on his face as Nick walked away, but I couldn't really figure out why.
"What're you looking so happy about?" I asked and Danny's smile went even brighter.
"Nothing." He lied. All the way home he kept that same smile on his face and I asked about it once more when we stopped at my house. Danny just replied with a mysterious "You'll see" and bounded off home; strange boy.
The next day I woke up really excited. I knew Uncle Luke was back in town and I really wanted to get some answers from him about Nick's past. Even though Nick had told us how things were for him growing up I still wanted to know about how his dad was before Nick was born. I wandered down to the kitchen to find Mum cooking breakfast and smiled as something off about the way she was acting. Looking around the kitchen I felt my smile grow bigger when I realised what it was.
"Morning Mum, hey Uncle Luke." He'd been sitting at the table hiding behind the newspaper trying to make me think he was Dad. He dropped the paper to the table and looked at me with his big, goofy smile.
"Aww shit, what tipped you off?" He asked.
"You're reading the sports pages, your car's on the drive and I can see Dad trying to hide in the laundry room." I replied nodding over to where my dad was just emerging from his hiding place with an amused look on his face. He gave me a warm hug and then stood behind Mum, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her on the back of her neck as I fetched myself a drink.
"Told you he was smarter than you think." Mum said, smiling at her brother-in-law.
"So what's all this you've been wanting to talk to me about all week then?" Uncle Luke asked.
"Brandon Heeley." I stated abruptly as my uncle's smile change to a look of contempt. "His son, Nick, has just started at school and there seems to have been a lot going on since the last time we saw them so I was hoping you could tell me more about him."
"Ben told us all about Nick's past last night and it sounds like something you, Alex and Josh ought to know about." Mum added, handing me some breakfast.
"Sounds bad." Uncle Luke said; his curiosity now piqued.
"It is, Brandon's been bullying the poor kid for years and blaming us for it." Dad replied.
"Us? What the fuck did we do?" Uncle Luke asked but Dad just shrugged his shoulders.
"Lived our lives normally but better than him apparently. Seems he's transferred that resentment on to his son who took it out on Ben at school."
"Well that's a bit unfair, so does Nick still hate you or have you kissed and made up?" Uncle Luke asked.
"We kinda patched things up yesterday, but without the kissing before you say anything." I replied, cutting him off before he could say what I knew would be coming next. "I'm not sure how he'll be with Lucas though so I'll have to fill him in later as well. It's weird though, I kinda feel responsible for his life being so shitty."
"Don't be, there was nothing you could have done about it. Until this week you didn't even know anything had happened, but I'm sure if any of us had we'd have tried to help out." Mum said. It didn't really make me feel any better though; she hadn't seen the pictures of what he'd been through and it made me so mad when I thought back to what that bastard did to him.
"There's more to it as well and I don't think you're gonna like it but I'll let Ben tell you the rest when you see Alex and Josh." Dad stated.
"Alright then sunshine, get the rest of that down your neck and we'll go up to the farm." I wolfed down the rest of my breakfast, showered and hopped into Uncle Luke's car as quickly as I could. I'd always been close with Uncle Luke and as he and my dad were twins it was almost like having a second father. He'd never properly settled down like Dad did when he married Mum; he had a couple of relationships during my lifetime and even a few before but nothing too serious. Most of the time he spent travelling around sorting out their comic store empire and enjoying the money that came with it, whereas Dad was keeping things simple and modest while investing for my future.
We turned into Alex's street and I looked out the window at the house where Alex had spent some of his teenage years. His parents had moved to the coast a few years ago to spend their golden years relaxing by the sea, so the house now had a young family living in it. We pulled up to the gate of the farm and I jumped out to let Uncle Luke drive in. As I closed the gate he parked the car and I walked towards the house to join him. Making my way across the yard I looked around to see if anything had changed since I'd last been there as I hadn't actually visited the farm for a few years. We used to at least spend every Christmas here but since Alex's parent's moved away they sometimes spent Christmas at the coast, either that or we went to see my grandparents, who had also moved away, so the old tradition silently died away.
It wasn't like I avoided the place but I wasn't really friends with Lucas or Sammie so I never really had a reason to visit. Nothing had really changed in that time though; the property was still laid out around the central courtyard with the main house to the left of the gate, the stables ahead but slightly off centre and the more recently built cottage on the far right. To the rear of the property were a few barns and outbuildings; some were just for storage and farm machinery while the others were more like work rooms. Josh and Alex created most of their artworks out there but I noticed one of the buildings had definitely had a makeover since my last visit.
I re-joined Uncle Luke as we made our way towards the main house and I thought about the last time I'd visited when Alex and Josh were still living in the cottage. As the twins grew older and wanted their own space they decided to switch houses with Bryan, Josh's grandfather, because the main house was too big for him and reminded him of his late wife too much.
Uncle Luke stopped at the kitchen door and was about to knock when he looked in through the window. Stifling a laugh he motioned me over to take a look, then quietly turned the handle and opened the door gently as we both tried not to burst out laughing. He didn't really need to bother as there was music blasting out and Alex was dancing with his back to the door, holding a mop in one hand with his other fist pumping in the air like the rock god he was pretending to be. We quietly stepped in and Uncle Luke suddenly slammed the door shut behind us.
Alex span round with a yelp to see us laughing our arses off at him. He quickly turned the music off so he didn't have to shout over it.
"You scared the shit outta me!!" He shrieked before finally gaining his composure and smiling at us. "You could've knocked first you bellend."
"And miss this? Not on your life." Uncle Luke said, still chuckling at Alex's appearance. He stood there shirtless in his jeans but had an apron with a full length French maid's outfit draped over his torso. What made it look more ridiculous was the way his lats, pecs and shoulders spilled out around the sides of the apron, leading to the brawny arms with bright yellow rubber gloves covering his hands. He soon realised how stupid he looked and tugged at the rubber gloves, tearing them easily in the process and then dumping the apron on the counter before snatching the shirt he'd left on one of the kitchen chairs to cover his torso.
"So what're you doing here anyway? And Ben as well, not seen you in a while, how's it going kiddo?" Alex asked as he leant back on the counter with his arms folded across his chest. Even with the tight shirt on it was still evident that he had a fantastic body, not huge but definitely ripped and solid.
"I'm good; we just needed to see you about a new kid at school. Have Lucas or Sammie mentioned a kid called Nick to you this week?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think that's the one Sammie met yesterday. She said he's a nice kid and a damn good musician but that's about it, why?"
"He's Brandon Heeley's son." Uncle Luke stated, making no effort to keep the disgust out of his voice.
"Ah shit, is he back in town?" Alex sounded just as disdainful upon hearing the name from his past.
"Just Nick and his mum, there was a lot of trouble with his dad apparently. I finally found out yesterday why he has such a problem with me and Lucas though." I replied.
"Who's got a problem with me?" Lucas asked as he entered the kitchen. The funny thing about Lucas when he was at home was how differently he acted. At school he was flamboyant and effeminate, fully embracing his gay side as a cocky, outgoing dance student, but here he was just being himself; soft spoken, straight acting and...I dunno, humble? He wasn't obnoxiously outgoing like he was at school, but he wasn't shy either. I started to think that if maybe this version of Lucas was around more often we might have been friends.
"Mini me!! How's it going kid?" Uncle Luke beamed, embracing his namesake in a big hug. Lucas looked like he'd just thrown his clothes on his slim frame as he just wore some loose tracksuit trousers and a faded black vest.
"Hi Luke." He replied, releasing the hug. "Who were you talking about before?"
"Remember that kid I told you about the other day? I found out why he doesn't like us." I replied. I started to explain what Nick had told us and as the story wore on he could see Alex getting more agitated as more details were laid out. When I told them how Brandon had trashed his room, all because of some comics Alex just shook his head sombrely.
"That poor kid, does Sammie know any of this?" He asked.
"I don't think so, not unless Nick's told her."
"Why don't you guys go and kick back in the studio for a bit? I need to talk to Alex about something." Uncle Luke said, leaving no room for argument. Lucas didn't seem to mind though, but I felt a bit apprehensive as I hadn't spent much time alone with him over the years. As we left the kitchen to cross the courtyard I heard Alex ask if Uncle Luke was going to see Summer now she was back but the door closed before I heard the response.
"Sooooo...Been a while since you've been here." Lucas said to break the silence.
"Yeah, a couple of years I think. What's happened to the studio?" I asked, looking over the new paintwork.
"Since we moved into the house Dad had more room to set up his art stuff in one of the spare rooms so this got made into a place for me and Sammie to do our things."
"What about Josh's sculpting, didn't that take up a lot of room?"
"Yeah but we converted part of that barn so he uses that now." Lucas pointed out the barn near the stables that I hadn't noticed before. The place looked more insulated and cosy now but there were still huge stones and tree stumps scattered around outside the oversized doors.
"Where is Josh anyway?"
"He's out with Sammie and Gramps looking over some stately home that wants some new sculptures or something like that, I didn't really ask." I was slightly relieved that they weren't around. I always found Josh more intimidating than Alex as he was a lot bigger and much quieter. Alex was pretty funny and it was quite easy to forget about his body when you were laughing and joking with him but Josh just always had that mix of being quiet yet formidable that made me feel on edge, even though my dad said he was a complete softy. As for Sammie, I always felt weird around her, like I wanted to get on with her but never seemed to know how to act.
Lucas opened the solid wooden door to the studio and I noticed that no one could actually see what was in the building from the outside. There were a few windows higher up and a couple of skylights but no windows on the ground floor. When I finally saw what the building contained I was amazed at the difference.
It was split over two floors, although the upstairs was just a mezzanine looking over the floor below. The ground floor was really wide open with a hardwood floor and a huge, graffiti mural painted on the back wall spelling out the twin's names. The left side was clearly all Sammie's as there were a few musical instruments scattered around as well as a soundproof booth in the corner with a drum kit in it. The right side was pretty empty except for a few wall mounted speakers for the stereo system, and the whole right wall completely mirrored from the front of the building to the back. Up on the mezzanine I could see a couple of couches and a big screen TV, which looked like a pretty cool chill out area for when friends were over.
"Wow, this place looks awesome now, you've even got your own dance studio." I gushed, turning in a slow circle to take it all in. "I bet your friends love coming over."
"Yeah I guess." Lucas replied and I could see a slight look of sadness in his eyes. "So now that we've established why Nick doesn't like me, what about you?"
"Huh? You mean why doesn't he like me? Pretty much the same reasons I guess."
"No, I meant why don't you like me?" He asked and I was momentarily speechless.
"When did I ever say I didn't like you?"
"Oh come on! Our dads have been best friends for years yet we barely see each other. We could've been really close as well but you always seem to avoid me." There was real bitterness and hurt in his voice. "Even when you came here at Christmas time it always seemed like you were being forced to come, and you did everything you could to stay away from me."
"That's not true." I replied, only half believing it myself.
"Really? Are you sure it's not because of...you know..."