Who: Liz Ortecho & Alex Manes What: BFFs chatting and drinking on the beach, talkin' about the dreams When: Early May [backdated] Where: The Beach Rating/Warnings: Low / None Status: Complete
Alex had a huge blanket already laid out on the sand, having arrived a little earlier than he and Liz had agreed to settle in. A parasol was just off to the side, ready to be stuck into the sand if it was needed and he was wearing loose-fitting tan chinos and an oversized faded band tee, sunglasses perched on his face as he lay back. Under the shade of the parasol was a cooler containing soda and beer (because he needed to drink, even if she didn’t) which was easy enough to top up. If this had been even a year ago, he’d have been in the same tee, but in board-shorts and flip flops (clothes he had lived in during the summer as a teenager). Now he was too self-conscious of the scarring on his leg.
The anxiety twisting in his gut was soothed somewhat knowing that Liz had started having these weird dreams too. After all, if that was him, Guerin, Kyle and Liz, it told him that there was definitely more to it than some bizarre coincidence, and if they were all somehow linked together then that made it better. Or worse. He hadn’t worked out which.
When a shadow fell over him, he pushed his shades up and grinned at Liz, broad and bright and sat up. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Liz was completely at a loss for what to think about these dreams. She’d only had one, but after talking to Alex and Kyle, it appeared that they were all dreaming about going to high school in Roswell, New Mexico. It didn’t make any sense and considering Liz was a very practical person, it was hard for her to wrap her mind around all of this.
When Alex had asked her to meet up, she’d said yes immediately, not even having to think about it because it meant that she could talk to someone else about what was going on, outloud. Talking about it through texts or the internet was all well and good, but she needed to hear Alex’s voice when he talked about it and know that neither of them were going crazy.
Reaching the beach, Liz went directly to her and Alex’s old spot and spotted him right away, “We only saw each other a few weeks ago.” She smirked and sat down next to Alex on the blanket. “So how’re you doing?”
“A few weeks is a long time when I’m stuck looking at Valenti’s face every day,” Alex told her with a long-suffering sigh, as though they both didn’t know that it was hardly a hardship to stare at Kyle. Alex could do without the guy walking around half naked, though.
He rubbed the back of his neck, hand having first traversed through his hair and he shrugged. “Everything’s kinda weird,” he told her, “You?”
Liz laughed and ran a hand through her hair as well as the wind blew through it, “Oh come on, you could be stuck looking at worse people than Kyle.” She smirked and pulled an elastic out of her pocket and proceeded to pull her hair back so it wouldn’t get in the way, “I’ve been good. Looking forward to starting my new job.” She hadn’t expected to find a job so quickly, but she had come across a listing for Godfrey Industries for a Biomedical Engineer and she sent in her resume right away. “Other than that, yeah, definitely weird.”
Alex snorted. “That’s true, it’d be a lot easier if he didn’t still have that habit of walking around in just his underwear or just in a towel. The guest-house doesn’t have a kitchen so I still spend a fair bit of time inside his kitchen. And the house in general, something about Kyle not wanting me to just hang out on my own…” He waved a hand, watching Liz tie her hair back and nodding. “I’m really glad you found something so quickly, you’ll be great.”
Twisting, Alex popped open the lid of the cooler. “Beer or soda?” he asked, grabbing a chilled bottle of beer for himself. “There’s- Kyle’s been avoiding me. Some shit happened in a dream and he- he’s been avoiding me because of it. And hell if I know how to process that.” And with Guerin having these dreams that were physically hurting him, Alex felt overall kind of helpless.
“Some habits are just hard to break, I guess.” Liz laughed and playfully pushed Alex’s shoulder. She was well aware of how distracting Kyle’s body could be; after all, just a few weeks earlier she’d happened upon him at this same beach and hadn’t been able to avoid oggling him a little bit as he’d changed out of his wetsuit.
She thought for a moment, “I’ll take a beer,” She didn’t have anything to do that night so she could afford to have a few beers with her best friend, “Do you want me to punch him for you? He might be in great shape, but I think I can take him if he’s being a jerk.”
Alex grabbed two beers from the cooler and used the edge of it to pop the caps off before passing one over to Liz. Settling down where he was seated after drinks had been gained, he lifted his shoulder in a shrug, at a bit of a loss as to explain just what was going on that meant Kyle had been avoiding him.
“I mean, Kyle and I started having some sorta shared dreams,” he told her, “which is screwed up. We both dreamed that he was an absolute asshole at school,” which he hadn’t been. Alex had come out to Kyle, and then Liz, and twisted his rings nervously while he’d waited for their acceptance which had come far more easily than anything had in his dreams. “And I dunno, I guess he’s just feeling bad about it? Even though it’s not real?”
Liz thanks Alex for the beer and took a swig of it as she listened to Alex recount his dreams to her, “I mean, I could understand why he might feel guilty about how he’s acting in the dreams.” She really didn’t understand how these things worked, but from talking to a few people on the Network, it appeared that these dreams were somewhat normal. However, it was the shared dream part that baffled her the most, “Have you tried explaining that to him?”
Alex looked guilty for a moment, ducking his head and squinting out at the water, shifting on the spot and leaning forward, one leg bent and he rested his forearm on his knee, hunching over it. It was as much of an admission that Alex hadn’t spoken to Kyle as anything and he wet his lower lip, sipping silently at his beer for a few seconds before he lifted his shoulders in a shrug.
“Kinda hard when he won’t stay in one place long enough to actually talk,” he pointed out quietly. “I- Also I’m not-” He wasn’t great at talking. “My track record with successful conversation is upsettingly short.”
“Alex, you need to talk to him or get him to talk to you.” Liz hated the thought that her two best friends weren’t communicating at the moment especially since they lived together, “What is it with you men and not being able to communicate?” Liz teased lightly, bumping Alex’s shoulder with her own before she took a swig of her beer, “I mean, I could always talk to him, if you wanted me too.” She wouldn’t say anything to Kyle if Alex wanted to try and handle this situation on his own, but she wanted to offer regardless.
For a moment, Alex thought about Michael, and how communication was really something he was terrible at. He followed Liz, taking a swig of his own beer and watching people jogging past on the sand. “I’ll corner him,” he said quietly, “I really need to get better at communicating in general.” He smiled, “And sharing stuff. I’ve been told I’m secretive.” His eyebrow lifted and he smiled a little, challenging her to agree. Or disagree. “I blame the Air Force.”
“Good. He needs to be cornered.” Liz smirked and took another swig of her beer, “And there’s no reason to be so secretive now. I mean, unless something is actually a secret, but otherwise, you’re not sworn to any secrecy oaths or anything like that.” Sometimes Liz wondered what exactly Alex had been up to in the Air Force, but she knew that for the most part he wouldn’t be able to tell her even if she asked. “So, besides Kyle being a bit of a jerk, what else has been going on? Been up to anything fun since you’ve been back?”
“Literally nothing,” Alex told her honestly with a little grin. “I’ve been pretty boring, to be honest. Set up my own business and I’ve been spending more time than I’d like at the VA clinic but other than that I’ve not done much. You? Other than picking up shifts for your dad.”
“Oooh, your own business? That’s awesome, Alex.” Liz took another swig of her beer. She had always been proud of her best friend and now was no exception. “Why have you been spending so much time at the clinic? Is everything alright?” She couldn’t help but be a little worried about Alex, “Other than my new job, not too much. Yeah, still helping my parents out when they need it. I think I’m gonna help them look for another waitress so that they won’t need me there as much and I can focus on my new job more.”
Alex frowned into his drink and he took a slow breath. “I- uh- I got hurt pretty bad out on my last deployment,” he admitted, “So I have regular check ups to make sure I’m healing okay and-and I have to see the VA psychiatrist and stuff.” He rubbed the side of his head and looked away, out at the water, discomfort crawling over him like a spider.
Liz’s brows furrowed as she watched her best friend and after a moment she leaned in to rest her head on Alex’s shoulder, “Well, I’m glad you’re doing alright and that you’re here and I get to see you again.” Part of her wished that she hadn’t asked about details about the VA clinic, but she also knew that it was unlikely that she’d ever know what had happened if she hadn’t asked and if nothing else, she just wanted to know that Alex was okay.
Alex turned to press a kiss against the top of Liz’s head as she rested it against his shoulder, shifting slightly so he could wrap his arm around her and keep her close in a half-hug, tipping his head to rest it against hers. “Yeah, Liz, I’m good,” he told her softly. “Promise.”
And being here with her - with Kyle - was helping more than either of them would ever know.