"Ah. How... fun." And she disappeared upstairs.
Claire sighed. "Haley's at a complicated age."
"All ages are complicated," Alex said, with a dryness that made me smile. "Some are just louder."
Dinner passed with measured questions and evasive answers. Claire wanted to know about my parents, my grades, my plans for the future. Phil wanted to know if I could juggle (no) and if I'd ever tried to sell a house (also no). Luke wanted to know if I could teach him to negotiate like I'd negotiated with Earl.
And Alex, the whole time, watched me. Not with her analytical gaze from before, but with something warmer. More human.
When dinner was over, Claire insisted I help her clear the plates. While she washed in the kitchen, she lowered her voice.
"Leo, I have to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
"Alex is... a special girl. Very smart, mature for her age. But she's also very young, and you..." She paused, searching for words. "You're two years older."
"I know."
"And you spend a lot of time with her. At the bus stop, at the library, sometimes in the yard."
"Yes."
Claire stopped washing. She looked directly at me, and for the first time, I saw not only distrust in her eyes, but genuine concern.
"What do you want with my daughter, Leo?"
The question was direct. I could give her an evasive answer, a polite formula about friendship and neighborhood. But something in her gaze, in the way she held the plate with wet hands, made me tell the truth.
"I don't want anything from her, Mrs. Dunphy. I want to be with her. Talk to her. Learn from her." I paused. "She's the most interesting person I've ever met. And not because she's smart. But because when I talk to her, I feel like someone finally understands me."
Claire looked at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, she nodded.
"When Haley was fifteen, she started dating a seventeen-year-old. Dylan. You met him, right?"
"Yes."
"I did everything I could to make him uncomfortable. To let him know I was watching him. To protect her." She paused. "And in the end, the only thing I achieved was pushing Haley further away, making her see me as the enemy."
"Mrs. Dunphy..."
"What I'm trying to say, Leo, is that I know you're not Dylan. I know you're not here for the same reasons." She handed me back the plate she'd been drying. "But I also know Alex is younger than Haley, and you're older than you seem. And even though I trust her... I don't know if I trust you."
"In time, maybe," I said.
Claire smiled. It wasn't a warm smile, but it wasn't cold either. It was the smile of a mother who has decided to give a chance, even if she's not sure it's the right decision.
"In time," she repeated. "Now go to the living room. Phil wants to show you his magic trick collection. And please, pretend you're impressed."
Later, on the porch
Dinner was over. Phil was in the living room showing Luke a coin trick that clearly wasn't working. Claire was washing the last dishes in the kitchen. Haley was still locked in her room, on the phone with Dylan.
Alex and I were sitting on the porch steps, looking at the stars barely visible between the city lights.
"My mom interrogated you," Alex said. It wasn't a question.
"A little."
"What did she ask?"
"What any mother would ask. What I wanted with her daughter."
"And what did you tell her?"
"The truth. That I wanted to be with her, talk to her, and that she was the most interesting person I'd ever met."
Alex fell silent. For a moment, I thought she was offended. Then I saw her smile, a small but genuine smile.
"You really said that?"
"I really did."
"God, that's so cheesy," she said, but her voice held no reproach. "My mom must have thought you were crazy."
"Probably."
She stared at the stars, her hands resting on the steps, her fingers brushing against mine without touching them.
"You know?" she said after a while. "Today didn't turn out so badly."
"No?"
"No. The bike got lost, my dad made a fool of himself, my mom almost killed someone. But..." She paused. "But you were there. You talked to that man. You stayed at the stop. You came to dinner."
"And that made it less bad?"
"No," she replied. "It made it... different."
The wind moved the leaves of the trees. In the distance, a car passed with its headlights on, illuminating the empty street for a second.
"Leo," Alex said, her voice lower. "Are you going to stay? Or are you going to leave like everyone else?"
"Like who?"
"Like the boys who get close because I'm smart and then get bored. Like the ones who want me to help with homework and then don't look at me in the hallway. The ones who think I'm weird and go off to hang out with the normal kids."
The question hit me in the chest. Not because it was hard to answer, but because it revealed a wound Alex had been hiding behind her sarcasm and perfect grades.
"I'm not going to leave," I said.
"How do you know?"
"Because when I moved to this neighborhood, I didn't know who I was. And you... you helped me figure it out without realizing it. Just by being who you are."
Alex looked at me. Her eyes, behind her glasses, glowed in the streetlight.
"That's really cheesy," she said.
"I know."
"But it's okay," she added, and smiled. "It can be cheesy sometimes."
We stayed on the porch until Claire called us to say it was late. I said goodbye, walked to my house, and from my bedroom window, I saw Alex linger a moment longer on the steps, looking toward where I had been.
The system, somewhere in my consciousness, showed a line of text. It wasn't a point, nor a warning. It was just an observation.
Organic connection: Strengthening.
The observer has ceased to be invisible.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you enjoyed it, leave a Review and Power Stones.
✅ Early access to 10 new chapters
Join The Bro Code Level on Patreon
👉 https://[email protected]/cw/Day_bluefic
@=a
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Claire interrogated Leo in the kitchen.
Phil did magic tricks that didn't work.
Luke asked for negotiation lessons.
And Alex asked the real question: "Are you going to stay? Or are you going to leave like everyone else?"
What would you have said to Alex? 💭
Thanks to everyone who reads, follows the story, and supports with power stones. You're the reason this story keeps going! 🚀💎
Comment, follow, and support with power stones. 🌙💫❤️