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anxious, wondering if Alley snuck out a back door somewhere.
    He
was just getting ready to go in when he saw her exit with a big bag and an even
bigger smile. She threw the bag in the back and got in smiling.
    “I
see you found something,” he said, starting the car.
    “That
store is so cool, and the lady told me that they get new stuff every day. Maybe
we can stop if I come with you to visit your grandparents again,” she hoped.
    “Oh,
you will come with me again,” he demanded, and she smiled. “And, yes we can
stop again.”
    They
actually talked all the way home, and Alley was very open with him as they
discussed unimportant issues and she even laughed a little.
    “Can
we get pizza tonight?” She asked.
    “How
about I make us pizza?”
    “Okay,”
she agreed as they got closer to the house.
    “Alley
jump in the back,” Trevas demanded as they neared the gate, seeing the man with
the camera duck behind the stone post. Alley saw him too and dove to the back
seat.
    “Stupid
fuckers,” she exclaimed.
    “Watch
your mouth. He is just trying to do a job like everyone else.”
    “Are
you defending the paparazzi?” She asked in disbelief.
    “I
guess so, he has to work too.”
    “And
you think being a slime ball is a job?” She asked, with her teenage attitude
back.
    “I
think if you are going to be in the spotlight then you have to take one with
the other,” he explained, trying to bring her back but it was too late. She
opened her door, grabbed her bag of thrift finds and slammed the door behind
her, heading straight to her room.
    “One
step forward and two steps back,” he said out loud as he walked into the house.
    Alley
didn’t come down all evening and refused to come and eat the homemade pizza, he
again fixed her a plate and sat in the refrigerator. He listened for her to come
down, and it was later than she normally did. It was almost one in the morning
when he heard her in the kitchen. He dressed and walked out for whatever reason.
    “Do
you have to fucking get up every time you hear me up?” She asked, annoyed that
he was there again.
    “Do
you have to stay locked in your room and wait until the middle of the night to
come down and eat?” He answered her question with a question. “And stop talking
like that, it sounds horrible.”
    “Fuck
you,” she shot back and he laughed, and she shot him a dirty look.
    The
microwave dinged, and she took the plate of homemade pizza. “Just turn around
so I can go upstairs,” she demanded.
    “Why
do you insist on running around half naked?” He asked. “Please stay down here
and eat. I’m sorry I upset you earlier, and I can understand how you feel about
being put in the middle of the spotlight. I know you never asked for it or
wanted it, and I agree that it is not fair to you that you are forced to live
in a bubble because of who your parents are.”
    Alley
calmed down and breathed a deep breath. She wasn’t expecting an apology and it
kind of blindsided her. She bent to take a fork from the dishwasher, but the
cleaning lady had put them away. “I have to walk to the other side of the
kitchen to get a fork,” she stated, and he turned around on the stool. She wasn’t
expecting him to understand why she hated being put in the middle of something
she didn’t ask for, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about his sympathetic synopsis.
    He
slid a stool to the end of the bar and let her slide it the rest of the way,
not wanting to see her half naked body. He still hadn’t gotten the image of the
last time out of his mind.
    “Oh,
my God, this is awesome,” she boasted, taking a bite of the pizza.
    “Flip
on the game,” he told her, and she did.
    She
moved first and took another bite. “No questions this time,” she demanded,
talking around the pizza in her mouth.
    Trevas
moved and countered. “Okay, no questions but if I win you have to do something
that I want you to do and if you win I will do the same.”
    “Like
what?” she wanted to