Chapter Text
Stalker- a person who harasses or persecutes someone with unwanted and obsessive attention.
To say she was excited, would be a gross understatement. Today Alex was going to see her brother for the first time since she moved out of country five years ago. He is picking her up from the airport soon, and he's warned her to remain "nothing but friendly" with his best friend and roommate, Dan. Honestly he is so overprotective sometimes.
"Allie!" That would be him. She turned to see her thirty year old brother almost in tears. He's always been so emotional. She made my way over to him and walked into his embrace. She suddenly realized how much she missed his smell. He smelled like home. It made her feel safe even if only for a moment.
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten me over there in the land of the free Al!" he joked.
"Phil I've called everyday for five years you ass." she responded holding back her own tears. When they finally released each other, Alex saw a nervous boy with curly brown hair fidgeting about five feet away from them. Well this must be Dan.
"Phil! You never said your roommate was cute!" she exclaimed effectively catching the attention of and embarrassing both boys. Poor Dan only stuttered while Phil began to lecture her on why dating his best friend was a terrible idea.
"Oh Phil save it," she began. "I could never cheat on..." she began to trail off. Shit. "Nice going Al," she thought to herself. "You've kept the secret for two and a half years and now you blurt it out within ten minutes."
"What was that?" Phil became very interested very quickly.
"Oh nothing. Aren't you going to introduce me to the guy I'll be sharing an apartment with for a month?" She blew his question off with ease. She was getting too good at that. "Oh! Of course!" he exclaimed seeming thankfully to have forgotten all about her little slip up.
"Dan, this is my sister Alex. Alex, this is my very best friend and roommate Dan. I expect you guys to get along well, but not too well okay?"
"Yes sir," she saluted. Mocking him causing Dan to chuckle. He shot her a glare, and she figured for the moment her work here was done. Alex pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and saw Ash had texted her. Hey Al! Be sure to call us when you land. We all miss you especially Miles... It's getting a bit annoying please hurry. She chuckled and let James know she would be taking a call. He smiled and nodded his head as she dialed Ash's number. One ring... two rings... three rings.... and finally she heard her best friends voice.
"Ash! I already miss you!" she said trying to communicate her love for her through the cell phone from four thousand miles away.
"I miss you too Allie! Your little poser is getting harder and harder to deal with every second that you're gone," she teased referring to Alex's boyfriend who still seems stuck in his teenage rebellious phase from time to time. In the background she heard a familiar voice,
"Is that Alex?"
"No you dimwit it's President Trump. Of course it's Alex," Ashley replied boredly.
"Give me the phone!" Miles yelled.
"No way dipshit leave me alone!" Ash replied. Then there was rustling and random shouts of profanity before Luke yells,
"Can you guys not just put the call on speaker phone and get along? Fucks sake." Alex giggled a bit and finally heard a greeting from Miles. After catching up with her friends she eventually let them go. Then Dan, Phil, and Alex went to dinner and she spent my first night in their apartment. Little did she know how drastically things could change so quickly. Things between Miles and her, things between Ash and her, even things between herself and her brother.
***
It never stops. Not after days, weeks, months, of ignoring it. Dylan sure is persistent. He promised as long as she kept quiet about him he would leave Ash and Phil out of it. Why won't he just leave her alone? Oh well. No harm. No foul. As long as no one gets hurt she could handle a few creepy messages. At least he hasn't gotten violent again.
"Hey Al, you up for breakfast?" Phil asked timidly knocking on her door.
" Sure," she replied. " How many brands of cereal do we have this morning?" He opened the door and showed Alex a recipe for pancake mix.
"You're kidding right? Last time you cooked we had to call the fire department," she teased.
"Hey! I've gotten better! The past is in the past," he defended himself looking genuinely hurt for a minute.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming," she said cracking a small smile. "This overgrown boy will be the death of me," she thought. They went to the kitchen attempting the recipe. Of course they got flour and pancake mix everywhere. It was almost like in the movies. They eventually got six or seven pancakes out of the remaining batter, and ate two a piece leaving three for Dan when he woke up. Phil mentioned he was a late sleeper. As Phil and Alex cleaned up -starting with her washing the dishes while Phil dried them- her phone began to ring.
"I got it!" Phil exclaimed. "Who is this?" Phil answered. Alex's brow furrowed. No caller ID? Must be a telemarketer or something.
"An old friend of Lex?" Alex flinched. Oh. It was Dylan.
"Hand it to me Phil. I lost a lot of contacts recently. No one calls me that anymore, so it must be a friend from high school or something." Phil handed it over, and Alex answered.
"Hello?"
"Are we alone?"
"Phil I'll be right back okay?" she walked back towards the guest room.
"What is it Dylan?" This was getting ridiculous.
"I just called to tell you good morning sweetheart. Who answered the phone? I know it wasn't your boy toy you slut." She flinched at his harsh words.
"That's none of your business Dylan. Good morning and goodbye."
"What's the rush babydoll? It's barely past ten. You got somewhere to be?" His voice stung more than his fists ever did. It was a reminder that this would never be over.
"Again going into none of your business territory. Goodbye Dylan." At that, the conversation was over.
What Alex hadn't accounted for was accidentally entering Dan's bedroom, and he just witnessed an immensely confusing one sided phone call. He didn't have time to react. Her walking in woke him up, and the conversation was over before he could let her know her bedroom was another door down the hallway. This Dylan guy seemed to piss her off pretty bad. Dan wondered why she put up with it. "That is none of my business. Jesus! Phil is rubbing off on me," he thought. "It's probably just some crazy ex anyway." He pestered Phil until he agreed to bring him a coffee in bed and pretty much forgot about the strange phone call between Alex and Mystery Douche. Later Dan wished he hadn't.
Alex's POV
After her phone call with Dylan, she went back to the kitchen.
"Who was it?" Phil asked flipping a pancake and almost dropping it over the side of the pan. Alex giggled and responded saying it was an old high school boyfriend asking to catch up and get coffee sometime. Phil scrunched up his face and said they were definitely trying to get back with her and that she deserved better. She nodded and hugged her brother tightly.
"I've missed you loads," she said her accent already poking through after one day back home. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head.
"I've missed you too Al," he said. They pulled away and he flicked her nose. "You're gonna make me burn the pancakes!" And he was back to the pan. Alex rolled her eyes and smeared some batter on his face. He simply stuck his tongue out. Alex excused herself to the restroom and on her way back to the kitchen, she saw Dan in the hallway. She gently grabbed his sleeve asking him to hold back a bit. He seemed anxious.
"Hey Dan?"
"Oh! Yes?"
"Sorry to startle you, but I wanted to thank you for taking care of my brother these past five years. He's happier than when I left and I think that's all thanks to making better friends, like you, while I was gone." She gave a small smile and he looked at her a bit confused at first, but soon his face lit up.
"It's been an honor to be Phil's friend all these years. No need to thank me." he responded sarcastically smiling straight back at her.
"Do me a favor? Keep taking care of him when I leave alright? He'll never admit it to anyone, but sometimes he needs someone too. He can't always be the someone that's needed, ya know?" Dan just smiled and nodded his head as if he understood perfectly what Alex was talking about. She quickly thanked the tall boy and gave him a quick hug before going back to the kitchen. She helped Phil butter the pancakes before calling Dan in to eat; they had a lovely breakfast and all sat down to watch T.V. once they were full. Alex sat next to Phil and cherished these moments hoping she'd live to come back to London again someday.