Chapter Text
Kyle Valenti was a lot of things.
Proud Mexican-American. Quarterback for the football team. A great friend.
Such a great friend that when his best friend of fifteen years, Alex Manes, decided he wanted to take a road trip to Roswell, New Mexico of all places and asked Kyle to drive, he said yes. He had no idea what was in Roswell that was so important. Maybe his best friend believed in aliens and kept that embarrassing fact about himself hidden. Kyle would.
If anything, Alex just looked at him with his big brown sad eyes and he didn’t have the heart to suggest a different road trip destination.
“Alex, can you let me know what’s so special about Roswell?” Kyle asked as soon as they hit the freeway, saying goodbye to their life in San Diego for the next week. Alex sighed in response before speaking.
“You’ll see when we get there.” Kyle narrowed his eyes at the vague answer, and watched as Alex curled into himself and leaned his head against the window, shutting his eyes and effectively also shutting down the conversation.
Kyle turned on the radio as Alex slept.
He was a really great friend.
--
“Alex? Come on man, wake up.” Kyle shook Alex’s shoulder gently and watched as Alex sit up in alarm. As Kyle’s worried eyes met Alex’s, Alex ignored the look of concern before taking off his seatbelt.
It was dark out and Alex looked around in confusion, before he took notice of the sign in front of them.
“The Wild Pony?” Alex asked, incredulously, turning to his friend. “Kyle, why are we at a bar?”
Kyle rolled his eyes before opening his car door. “Because I have been driving for 6 hours straight, my legs are cramping, and I need a drink.”
Alex scoffed, “You mean, you want to see if you can pick up any girls with your obviously fake I.D.?”
“I also need a drink,” he responded, ignoring Alex’s judgemental look and turning towards the entrance to the bar.
Alex begrudgingly followed after him and to no surprise, their fake I.D.s worked as the bouncer let them into the bar.
There was a black woman at the bar, with curly hair and a soft smile. Her kind face put Alex at ease. If he just sat at the bar all night, he would feel safe. While Kyle tried to mingle with drunk girls, Alex took a seat on a stool near the bar.
“What would you like?” The woman - Mimi, he noticed from her nametag - asked.
“Just water please,” he asked politely. His mom would be proud of his manners. She always had been, before she focused too much on her work and would sometimes forget about Alex’s existence. All his other brothers were out of the house, but Alex was stuck there. He knew she tried and she met Ben, who was a nice enough stepdad, but Alex just wanted his mom and she seemed to disappear before his eyes. Maybe after this trip was taken care of, he could fix their relationship.
“Everything alright sweetie?” Alex shook thoughts of his mom out of his head as he took notice of the glass of water in front of him, the condensation falling down the side of the glass. He looked up to see the bartender looking at him with worry and he plastered on a smile.
“I’m great,” he responded, before quickly grabbing the water and sipping it, trying to end the conversation.
He turned on the stool to see Kyle surrounded by three girls and Alex could only roll his eyes.
“Friend of yours?” The bartender asked him and he groaned in response.
“Best friend and current pain in the ass,” he muttered, banging his head on the bar. As he went to hit his head again, he landed on a gentle cloth and looked up in surprise.
Mimi smirked before speaking, “No blood on the bar please.”
“Sorry,” he said quickly. The mention of blood triggered something in him and he quickly got off the stool, almost toppling it over before running outside of the bar. He didn’t see the older woman’s worried look in his direction as he left, looking over into the parking lot trying to steady his breathing. Flashes of his past went through his mind.
“Clean up that blood,” Jesse Manes yelled out, kicking Alex in his already bruised ribs as he left him in the driveway.
“Alex?” Kyle’s voice brought him back to the present and Alex looked at his friend, noting the way he was swaying in place.
Rolling his eyes, he grabbed Kyle gently to steady him before looking back into the parking lot.
“Kyle, you parked the car in that spot right?” Alex asked, remembering how close they had parked to the front of the bar and how he was now looking at an empty parking space.
Kyle squinted his eyes as he faced the parking lot, as if the car would appear in his line of vision before turning to Alex. “Alex, the car is missing!”
“No shit, Sherlock. You have keen observational skills,” he deadpanned.
The sound of the door from the bar opening was just background noise to Alex as he tried to think of what could have happened to their car.
“You boys okay?” Mimi let the bar door shut behind her as she took out a pack of cigarettes for her smoke break.
Alex tensed at the cigarettes, reminders of the cigarette butts his dad would burn into his arm, before shaking his head.
“Our car seems to have… um… gone missing.”
Mimi winced, “Wyatt Long.”
“Who?” Kyle asked, sobering up as he digested the news that his car was missing.
“Local asshole and thief. He probably stole it.”
“So let’s go talk to him. See if we can get the car back,” Alex suggested, suddenly feeling brave. What could be so bad about asking him for the car back?
“Probably not a good idea boys. He’s racist, homophobic and usually right after he steals a car, he takes apart the car and sells the parts for money.”
The boys looked up at her with twin faces of disbelief, before Kyle groaned.
“My mom is going to murder me.”
“Not unless we get murdered here first. We have no car, no clothes and nowhere to go,” Alex pointed out, not really sure if he was even being sarcastic about the murdering part.
“If you boys don’t mind, I have two couches that you can sleep on for the night. You can go to Sanders’ Auto Shop tomorrow about trying to get a car there working so you can continue on your trip.”
“Really?” Alex asked, biting his lip, not wanting to be an inconvenience.
Mimi only smiled. “Not a problem at all. You can meet my daughter Maria. She’s about your age. It’s just the two of us, so it’s a bit lonely. Nice to have some company.” She put her on Alex’s shoulder gently, rubbing her hand up and down in comfort.
“Okay, but only for one night,” Alex stated, looking at Kyle who could only nod in agreement.
Mimi winked as if she knew more than she was letting on. “If you insist.”
--
“Welcome to our humble abode boys,” Mimi opened the door and let them walk in. Alex noted the unusual decor of the home, but there was a comforting aroma that put him at ease. Living at home when his dad was still in the picture was an abusive prison and living with his mom and Ben now was just filled with silence and missing family, even with his mom there - she was never really there anymore.
Mimi’s house reminded him of what kind of home he could have had. It made Alex freeze where he stood.
“Mom, are you home?” A voice called from the kitchen. Alex and Kyle looked in the direction the voice came from and came face to face with a beautiful girl with the same natural curly hair as her mother.
“Maria, meet Alex and Kyle,” Mimi introduced the pair to her daughter, who took in their appearance with a raise of her eyebrow. Mimi excused herself to go to the bathroom.
“More strays mom?” She asked loudly as her mom walked past her, amused. Alex looked at her in confusion and Maria caught the look on his face.
She could only laugh in response, shaking her head. “You two aren’t the first people she’s offered our couches too. When people come to this town and have no place to stay, my mom will offer the couch to them for a night or two. She once invited two lost Mormon missionaries who didn’t know how to say no to my mom and they ended up trying to sell us on their religion.” Kyle laughed at that and Alex’s mouth turned up, as if he was trying not to laugh himself.
“Did it work?”
“No, but my mom tried to sell them some Wiccan supplies in return and they ran out of here so fast the next morning.” The boys both broke into hysterics at that and Maria walked to the hallway closet to get them blankets and pillows.
“Here ya go boys,” she offered them the items and they gratefully took them from her.
“Thank you again for letting us stay with you both,” Alex quickly said in appreciation for their act of kindness.
Maria could only nod, before a smile took over her face.
“Don’t worry about it. Did you plan on staying in this town for long?” She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
“Oh no, just the night. Your mom mentioned that we can go to some car service place called Sanders to get a car to use for the rest of our trip.”
Maria smirked. “Good luck with that. Goodnight boys.”
Kyle and Alex looked at each other in uncertainty, but shrugged their shoulders and got ready for bed.
Maybe tomorrow would be better.