Chapter Text
Alec skipped through the pictures on the screen without really looking at them anymore. He had already memorised every single smile, cheer and loving touch in them. The bride and groom had had the best time ever, and every single guest had been truly happy for them, enjoying the ceremony and the reception to the fullest. It hadn’t been a large wedding, but everything had been carefully planned. It was obvious that the couple had designed every detail of the celebration of their union with great care and devotion and, judging by the speeches that their friends and family had given, they were bound to be happy. They truly loved each other.
Alec let out a sigh.
“Uh-oh… Someone’s sulking.”
“I’m not sulking,” Alec retorted, looking away from the screen. Lydia, his business partner, was leaning on the threshold of Room B, a hand on the large bump of her 7-month pregnancy belly. The lights in the rest of the studio were already off, and Lydia was holding her purse and umbrella, ready to leave. Only then did Alec notice it was raining, as he had been so immersed in editing his latest photographs.
“You think I don’t notice, but every time you work events connected with milestones in people’s lives, you get all gloomy and negative.”
“Nonsense,” Alec said. “I simply regret that this part of the job is not as fun as attending the party.”
“Sure,” Lydia replied, quirking an eyebrow. “Anyway, I’m done for today. I just got off the phone with the woman who’s booked you for Friday 26th. I couldn’t make her understand we wouldn’t give her a refund of her wedding photos if she got a divorce, and I am exhausted.” She rolled her eyes while Alec snorted. “John’s already parked around the corner. If you need any help later at this event at Brooklyn College, text me.”
“Don’t worry about it, Lydia. You’re the one who should be reminded to text in case she needs anything,” he said, gesturing towards Lydia’s baby bump.
“Oh, please… I’m lucky enough the pregnancy is not giving me too much trouble. I won’t end up in the ER for staying up a little later than usual in case John needs to bring you a lens or something.”
“I’m still looking forward to being a godfather. I don’t want to risk the kid hating me even before they’re born.”
Lydia smiled in amusement. “Okay. I will go to bed. But I will leave the phone with the sound on, in case you call.”
Alec smiled. “Say hi to John.”
“I will!” she said cheerfully, already on her way to the door. “I hope you can grab a few bites during this faculty dinner! And don’t forget your umbrella! Have fun!”
“Thank you!” he replied in sing-song, raising his volume too. He looked at the time and saw he still had two more hours until he had to leave.
He probably wouldn’t ever admit it out loud, but Lydia had been right—after all, she had known him for years. He was always there for the big moments. The milestones. The happiest days in people's lives.
It’s just that they were never his.
Alec got home way later than he had originally intended. The Spanish Renaissance professor had been such a pain in the ass! Alec had few friends, but he thought this guy might have none if his only or best choice at making small talk at his university event was the photographer. Not only had he not let Alec work in peace, he had relentlessly attempted to prove that he knew more about photography than him.
Alec was in such a bad mood that, even if he went to bed, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. So, after making himself a cup of tea, he decided to get some simple chores done instead of leaving them for the next day. He emptied the dishwasher, picked up the clutter in the living room, and sorted the laundry that he had hung out to dry.
His dryer had broken down a few months ago, and each week, he told himself he would get a new one installed. But there was always a busy weekend, or extra hours at the studio, or lazy mornings, or hosting his siblings for a Star Wars marathon. He could have probably told Lydia he would take a day off, but that would only make her work even more to compensate for his absence, and he couldn’t do that to her. At least not until she was back from her maternity leave. Thus, he was already used to leaving the clothes out to dry overnight on the winged clothes airer he got from Amazon.
He had almost finished folding every single item when he noticed that a sock was missing. He kneeled on the floor, looking for it in the corners of the balcony and behind a few pots, but it wasn’t anywhere in sight. Then, he checked all the way back to the laundry room, in case it had fallen down at some point, but he didn’t see it either. Finally, he double checked inside the washing machine, and… nothing. Maybe he had put only one sock in the washing machine in the first place? After all, this wasn’t the first time this happened, and maybe this was the missing sock that he had missed the previous time.
Deciding that he would solve this riddle later, he simply finished sorting the clean clothes, folded the airer, and got back inside. By then, it was already 4 am, and, despite his exhaustion, Alec decided to get a bit ahead with work.
When he sat down in his study, he told himself that he would just download the pictures. Then, he also decided to crop those which needed to be reframed. And why wouldn’t he fix the shadows and highlights, while he was at it? Which, eventually, led to eye corrections, and to focus balancing, and to exposition levelling, and, thus, he ended up turning his computer off four hours later, and finally crashing on his bed at 9 am.
His head was buzzing. His eyes hurt. His brain was telling him that it was daytime and that he was supposed to be up, but his mind was not even capable of processing his sister’s text message in which she asked him how the event had gone, most likely sent after she had already returned from her morning run while having coffee and some veggie bagel for breakfast.
He let out a last groan and then tried to relax, thinking he only wanted to wake up if a major earthquake struck New York.
Which happened at noon. Or, at least, something very similar to it.
Alec was snatched out of his comfortable sleep by the clanking engine of the elevator. Of-fucking-course , he cursed, smashing a pillow on top of his head, in an attempt to muffle the noise.
Every Saturday was the same. His neighbour would have guests over for lunch, and they would always come up to the sixth floor one by one. Each one of those times, the elevator, which was wall-to-wall with Alec’s bedroom, would wake him up. And not only that, but they would either whistle or talk loudly on the way to his neighbour’s door, making Alec’s anger levels rise as high as the Chrysler building. He waited for it, knowing it would inevitably happen.
“Mommy!!!” came the cheerful scream of a little girl, who stomped across the hallway.
Alec groaned.
“Hello, sweetie! How was your night? I’ve missed you!” a woman said.
In his grumpy drowsiness, Alec thought that you would have to be very lame if you couldn’t go even for a single night without missing your daughter. And if she was as annoyingly loud all the time, he wouldn’t even bat an eyelash if he had to spend a night away from her… hell, not even a week.
The muffled voices of the family walked away to their own door, and eventually, a thud indicated that they were home.
Finally .
Alec tried to breathe out his annoyance, still absolutely spent.
Until the elevator woke him up again.
Three more times.