If Alex noticed a hush fall over the house with his revelation, he didn't show it. Dante had had to loudly clear his throat to get Alex to elaborate.
"Why...?" Dante spread the word over a series of long syllables.
"How would I know? We drive up to my house and my mom's just sitting in the one of those red lawn chairs we pull out for the Fourth of July with a beer in her hand, just watching the dress I've seen her look at a thousand times burning in that weird fire pit we have in the front yard."
Dante remembered Alex's mother's history with alcohol, "Was she drinking…?"
"Nah, the bottle was closed. I checked. I think she was just holding on to it. I didn't really stick around to find out though. I'd already dealt with way too much shit for one day."
Alex lifted his eyes away from his phone to Naya's direction, "Sorry."
"S' okay," Naya replied with an understanding nod. "Continue," she urged Alex.
"I also had this one with me, so it just didn't seem like a good idea to talk to the lady burning things on the lawn, mom or not." Alex bumped his shoulder, causing Gloria's head to jolt with the motion. She clicked her tongue with annoyance, her eyes still half closed. Gloria readjusted her head and snuggled back into Alex's arms.
"We barely slept last night," Alex explained, "We were staying in that motel off the highway."
Dante cheeks turned a shade redder. He'd known that motel all too well.
"It was a combination of the walls being way too thin and all the other tenants doing things that were not sleeping. We just ended up talking to each other the whole night to distract us from all the… noise," Gloria shuddered from her half asleep state.
Freddie joined them at the table with Alex, Gloria, and his plate carefully balanced on his arms. Naya, noticing that Freddie's plate was considerably less filled to the other ones he'd filled, mindlessly picked a piece of her bacon and put it on his plate. Freddie smiled at the gesture, but Dante felt like someone had twisted his heart.
"But what are you going to do about your mom?" Freddie asked as he took a bite from the piece of bacon Naya had given him.
Alex leaned back in his chair and sighed in exasperation, "I don't know man. Maybe it means she's moving on? Maybe I have to book a room at a mental hospital? I'll figure it out when I get home. But I don't want to think about that right now."
That put a definite stop in the conversation. The next topic of discussion was obvious, it was just a matter of who had the balls to bring it up.
Naya beat them to it when she stood up out of her chair to add dramatic effect, "There's no point dawdling over the issue, let's talk about me."
"First of all, I'd like to say thank you… and sorry. Sorry for dragging you guys into this mess, my mess, but thank you for catching me. Yesterday, it all made so much sense, like it was such an escape, but now I'm just lost. I can't even really remember my reasoning for yesterday. I guess something changed between then and now."
Naya stole a glance at Dante, who squeezed her hands twice, before going on, "I know what I did wasn't fair to any of you, and I am so grateful for everything you've done, but I just wish there was, I don't know, something I could do for you guys?"
The most unlikely of the group spoke up. "Naya, I know you haven't been with us for a long time, but we're all family here. A very messed up family, yes, but still family. If Dante's vouching for you, then that makes you one of us. That means we don't need squat from you. If you ever need us, we'll be there. That's just how family works," Alex said.
None of them were expecting that from Alex. It became increasingly clearer to Dante that Alex truly was the dad of the group. The one who made sure they were in line, but would also unconditionally support them, no matter how deep in shit they were.
Gloria was next. "Alex is right. We're all kinda screwed up, some more than others, but we need each other. I pushed everyone away for the longest time, but now I'm realizing that if I'd talked to someone, they could have told me how stupid I was being. Plus, I have a feeling I'm going to be stuck with these guys for a while, and I'm really gonna need a girlfriend on the squad." Gloria winked at Naya, a playful smiling tugging at her lips.
Naya could feel something in her chest. It wasn't its usual hollow feeling. No, quite the opposite. She could feel her heart swell up, like her chest could hardly contain it. For the first time in a long time, she'd felt accepted. And for the first time ever, she felt like she had a family. Dante wrapped his arm around her waist and rested his head on her hip, telling her everything she needed to know.
The peaceful breakfast setting was disturbed by the ring of the doorbell. Freddie got up to answer it.
"Is it my mom?" Dante asked.
"No, she said she was going straight to work," Freddie replied as he reached the door knob. As Freddie opened the door, he froze in place.
The group at the table could see Freddie visibly shaking, with a single sweat drop beginning to form at his forehead. There was muffled talking on the other side, but the door was blocking their line of sight to see who was at the door. Dante unlatched his arms Naya and approached the door.
"Freddie, who is i-"
When he got to the open door, he could see the source of Freddie's paralyzing fear. That being the fact that two police officers were at his house.