Alex Manes (notamanesman) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-05-04 01:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alex manes, liz ortecho |
Who: Alex Manes & Liz Ortecho
What: Catching up
When: Early April, not long after Liz got home [backdated]
Where: The Ortecho's Family Diner
Rating: PG
Warnings: N/A
After biting the bullet and messaging Liz (and being irrationally pleased that she didn’t seem to be mad at him for coming back and not telling anyone, though from her post on the network it looked like she might have only just come back herself), Alex had made plans to go and meet up with her at the diner. After all, that place had been a staple of their teenage years and he wasn’t kidding when he said that the memory of the milkshakes from that place had been one of the things he’d clung to when he was on the front lines. It was stupid things like that which had kept him grounded, remembering milkshakes with his friends, sitting on the beach and watching the surfers, eating take-out out of the box because it was easier than getting busted for not cooking dinner.
Though Liz had told him what time she finished, he arrived a little early anyway, ordering himself a chocolate milkshake and a basket of fries. He’d taken to trying to eat the stuff he wanted in moderation, but only outside this door.
Dipping his fry into his drink, Alex watched the diner around him, feeling a grin tugging on his lips when he saw Liz, lifting a hand to wave at her. She looked beautiful, as ever, and in here it felt like a little bit of a bubble of the past. It was nice that some things didn’t change. He was glad that this was one of them.
Liz still couldn’t quite believe that not only had she come back to the OC, but so had Kyle and Alex. She’d known about Kyle before moving back, but hadn’t known about Alex, so when he’d texted her, she’d been extremely excited just to see those words on her phone. While her and Alex still talked often, it had been quite some time since she had actually seen her best friend and she’d been missing him greatly.
So making plans to get together hadn’t been a difficult thing to do and all day Liz had been watching the clock as well as the door, waiting for Alex to get there. She had just finished serving a table when she finally spotted Alex at one nearby and she smiled and waved back. Despite the time they’d spent apart, it almost felt like no time had passed.
She quickly headed into the back to punch out then returned to the dining area and slid into the booth across from Alex, “Oh my god, I almost can’t believe this is happening.”
Alex’s lips quirked up. “Can’t believe what’s happening?” he asked, milkshake-dipped fry being popped into his mouth even as she slid into the booth opposite him. She looked like she hadn’t changed at all since they were teenagers and he was here for it. Liz had always been radiant, Alex was glad to see that time away had just enhanced it rather than taken something away from her. “Everyone’s just converging on OC like we’ve been dragged back for some high school reunion?”
He pushed the basket of fries closer to the middle of the table; his amazing fries were her amazing fries and all that. Sharing was caring. If she could even stand them after having spent all day serving them to people.
“It’s weird, right?”
“You know what I’m talking about. I can’t believe you’re actually here.” Liz took one of the fries and was tempted to throw it back at Alex, but she realized then that she was actually really hungry and instead of throwing it at her friend, she popped it into her mouth, “It is weird, but it’s a good weird.” Having Alex and Kyle back was going to take a little getting used to, but Liz had a feeling she would get used to it pretty quickly.
“So, what have you been up to since you got back?” Liz took another fry and ate it while she waited for Alex to fill her in.
Alex just grinned at her when she called him out for being facetious without saying it. He just lifted a shoulder, unapologetic for the look she gave him and sipping at his milkshake, pulling it closer to himself like he was protecting it from Liz, even though he knew she wouldn’t steal it unless he offered.
“There’s a lot of weird going around,” he admitted with a slight lift of his shoulder. “You know-” he cut himself off, wondering if he should introduce Liz to the weirdness of another person walking around that looked just like Kyle, taking a moment to weigh up how mad at him she’d be if she found it out and told him later and he would reply with ‘I know’. “Nothing interesting on my part,” he settled on finishing. “I mean- just readjusting to civilian life.” He wet his lower lip, dipped another fry in his milkshake, popping it in his mouth. “It’s harder than I thought it’d be.”
“Weird stuff? What sort of weird stuff?” Liz knew, from conversations with her parents and sometimes Rosa, that strange things had begun going on with the county over the last few years, but somehow they were always explained away and no one really thought too much about them afterwards except for the snow. From what she’d heard, and occasionally seen on the news, it had begun snowing during the month of December over the last couple of years. Liz had yet to see this with her own eyes except in the pictures her parents sent her, but she had seen enough snow while on the East Coast that she didn’t really think too much about it.
She ate another fry as she watched Alex and smirked when he became protective of his milkshake, “Well I’m here, if that helps to make it easier.” She didn’t know how much help she could really be, but she had to offer anyway; Alex was one of her best and oldest friends after all.
He sipped at his milkshake and thought about telling her he’d met someone who looked exactly like Kyle, and that the person who had looked exactly like Kyle had thought that he was someone else (who was called Caleb) who looked exactly like Alex. He thought about the things he’d seen on the network posts and then just shook his head.
“I know,” he said softly, knocking her foot under the table gently with his own. “Coming back’s just a lot to unpack and I’m struggling to- I dunno, come out of military mode?” He’d gotten so good at keeping secrets, at keeping people at arm’s length and out of his business that thinking about letting people in was a trial enough in itself, let alone how to work out a way to tell his best friends that- Never mind. He dislodged the thoughts with a shift of his body weight and another sip of his drink, going back to pondering about telling Liz about the Kyle replicant.
Fuck it.
“Kyle has an actual doppelganger.” He popped a fry in his mouth and waited for Liz to digest that news.
Liz smirked as Alex knocked her foot under the table then reached across and placed a hand on one of his, “Just keep coming back for milkshakes and I’m sure you’ll be out of military mode in no time.” She may not have been in the military like Alex, but she knew what it was like to come back and have to change modes all of a sudden. She’d had a routine in Boston and now everything was out of whack and she hated that and was still trying to get used to her new, temporary, routine.
She was just reaching for another fry when Alex dropped that bomb on her and her brow furrowed, “What? What do you mean he has a doppelganger?” That had to be the strangest thing anyone had ever said to her.
“If I keep coming back for milkshakes and fries, Liz,” Alex said patiently, though his expression was amused, “I’ll turn into the Pillsbury Doughboy. And that isn’t a good look on anyone.” Least of all him. He’d have to get back to some kind of physical exercise to stay in shape once he left the Air Force properly, since he wouldn’t have training and drills to work with.
He watched the expression on her face shift a little and he cleared his throat, ducked his head to hide the smirk before he got it under control before he looked her dead in the eye. “I’m saying the world hates us both enough that there’s another person out there wearing Kyle Valenti’s face, almost completely identically. I thought he was Kyle, right up until I spotted his coffee order and noticed he was still kind of dressed like a jock.”
Liz couldn’t help but laugh at Alex’s comment, but it didn’t last long once the topic shifted to Kyle’s supposed doppelganger, “But how is that possible?” She knew that people would say that everyone had a look alike, but usually that didn’t mean an exact replica, “And you still know Kyle’s coffee order? That’s impressive. Really. But back to this look alike….how?” It just didn’t make any sense as to how that was possible and now she kind of wanted to see this doppelganger just to see for herself if he actually looked exactly like Kyle.
“How what?” Alex asked, “I have no idea of the actual genetics behind it, you’d have to ask Kyle. The guy’s name is Tyler and he looks exactly like Kyle. It’s weird.” He stirred his milkshake and shrugged his shoulders. “Apparently there’s another me, too, but he’s younger with longer hair.”
Liz’s brain was just trying to wrap itself around the fact that there were, apparently, two Kyles, but then Alex had to go and tell her that there was someone else who looked like him too, “Am I being Punked? That’s not possible, Alex. People can’t just look exactly like other people unless they’re twins or related.” If he’d wanted her to believe him about Kyle, he really shouldn’t have gone the extra mile and said the same thing about himself.
Alex lifted a shoulder. “Believe me or don’t believe me,” he told her, “but Tyler and I had half a conversation where we each thought the other was someone else and that’s all kinds of damn weird.” He rubbed his temple, then pushed a hand through his hair and shook his head. He was wrapping his head around that himself, and he might not have believed it if he hadn’t seen it himself. He resolved that next time he ran into Tyler - if that was going to happen again, which it might - he would get a photo of him. Hell, if he could get Kyle and Tyler together that would be even better.
Though, the two of them together would likely short-circuit something in his brain. He was a little worried that living with Kyle was going to do that anyway.