Tayla Story - 006

"What if we tell each other the things about Alex… that we don't like?"

"You have my attention."

"What if we tell each other the things about Alex… that we hate?"

"Now we're talking."

This is perfect. You might think it would be more enjoyable, positive, to talk about the parts of Alexander that we like, but no this is definitely better.

On the off chance that Alexander comes back home soon and finds out about this, if we speak about him like he's a perfect being or something he'll gloat and bask in his glory for weeks.

I can't possibly have that.

This is the only chance we have to show things from a perspective other than his own. I'm sure he'll leave the bad parts out, so we can't let him away with that. We have to make the most of this opportunity.

This was a fantastic suggestion on Kayla's part.

Alright, let's start our character destruction of Alexander.

"Have you ever noticed that he has really ugly feet?"

"Yes," Kayla laughed, "they're really wide for some reason. And hairy."

"Have you ever seen Lord of the Rings?"

"Yes."

"I think his feet look like the Hobbits' feet."

The two of us laughed. And hard, like two friends who had known each other for a lot longer than we had.

Kayla spoke up next, "have you noticed how he picks his nose when he thinks no one can see him?"

"Yes. And rips his nails?"

She nodded.

"I can't stand it. It's like so obvious that that's what he's doing."

"And yet he doesn't realise."

"Sometimes when we're just walking around, he'll just drift off and stop focusing. Like he can't even hear me."

"Yeah that happened a lot before too. One time, Alex almost walked out onto the road in front of a car."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Wow, that's scary. He almost died simply because he wasn't paying attention.

Makes you think about when you walk around with earphones in. Or even when you're just a bit tired.

Knowing Alexander, however, I'm sure he didn't think anything much of it.

"I think he doesn't try hard enough to get along with people," Kayla said, "maybe that's changed now if he has a beautiful girlfriend like you, but he always struggled meeting new people, making new friends. It's like he just wasn't willing to put in the effort."

"Hmm… I don't think he's that bad, but… well… maybe. He doesn't talk to people he doesn't already know all that much, and even when he does it's only because it's important. Like, he doesn't get along with my best friend, though she doesn't help much either, and he's polite to the rest, but they don't talk or anything."

I hadn't ever really noticed, but Alexander's quite awkward now that I think about it. He doesn't like talking to new people, and he's often abrasive, bordering on rude, when he does.

It's strange that I'd never noticed that.

Maybe… I hadn't really been looking. I'd been ignoring that part of him. Yes, I know people find him rude, but I didn't pay that much attention to it. I just thought it was because they didn't know him that well. I mean, he's so nice to me.

But everyone else?

I don't know if he even has any friends.

He fell out with Arthur around the same time the school year started.

Him and AJ are friendly, but I'm not sure whether you could say that they're friends.

Elis and Caroline both dislike Alexander; in Elis' case, bordering on hatred until that recent incident with Caroline.

I don't know of anyone else in his life, apart from the people I just named. Is that because he doesn't have any other friends?

He tells me stories about his workmates all the time, but not friends from school.

So, I think it must be… that he doesn't have friends at school.

He always says that he hates it, and is thinking about quitting.

He'll never get a good job, however, with his fake identity if he doesn't even have a good education. Which is why I always encourage him to stay in school.

"Hey, you there Tayla? You were zoning out just like Alex does."

"Sorry, that made me think of something."

Or a lot of things. Or have a minor crisis.

I don't know, take your pick.

Anyway, the two of us continued on after that, lamenting on Alexander's many shortcomings. Though, I think I'll leave off the details from here on out. I don't want to be too mean to him. A lot of it is just petty stuff, after all.

And no matter what faults he has, Alexander is still incredible. He's still the man I fell in love with, after all.