"Yeah, well, we all do stupid shit," Alex said, "only to see in hindsight how dumb we are." When she looked into his eyes, he expected another illusion. Not this time. Instead she was just confiding in him. That's what friends did, and Alex knew he wasn't the greatest friend ever. He was still learning how to do that. When loyalty was important. When it was right to point out when someone was acting dumb. When he crossed a line and when being right wasn't the wisest time. Sometimes even apologizing even though he'd never get an apology back from someone for what they did.
He mussed up her hair like an older brother might due to a younger sibling, even though he was sure Fred was older than him. "Yeah, but you're a badass fucking bitch. We all carry shit with us. Mistakes we've made that we can't go back and just erase. But if we stay there, we'll never learn from it." He sounded less Alex, save for the language, but only because the events of the past two years were teaching him that. Let it go. Move on. And do what you need to do when you have the opportunity to.