love like fools ➙ glee

five ; gift of a friend.

Alicia crashed onto her pale blue duvet, blonde hair flying, her phone held to her ear. She let out a laugh as the covers swept up, some of them covering her eyes. That didn't stifle the voice in her ear, the one that sounded excited, compared to the panic she assumed he might have felt. She did like when people caught her off guard -- at least, when it was good.

"So you're going to help Kurt audition for kicker?"

"Try out," Finn corrected. She didn't see the difference. "But, yeah. I mean, the more crossover between football and glee, the better for everyone, right? Less slushie facials, less annoying nicknames."

She didn't think that was the only reason Finn agreed to help. "And because you genuinely want to help him out. Because you care about everyone in glee club."

"Well, I mean, yeah. I guess there's that, too."

A soft laugh escaped her lips. Finn trying to downplay things was always amusing to her. It may have only been a few weeks, but she knew him too well to believe it. "Of course, you guess. I'm sure Kurt is going to do amazing at his audition--"

"Try-out."

"I think it's really sweet of you to help him out. He needs a good friend like you. I know he has Mercedes, but . . . it has to get lonely for him sometimes."

Silence fell between the two. She could tell Finn had never considered that. A sudden flash of panic hit her over how exactly Kurt Hummel may react if he found out she had implied he was lonely. Before she could retract her statement, a slamming door startled her, causing her to jolt upright. Faint voices argued downstairs.

"Uh, you there?"

The arguing grew less faint. Two women's voices. Familiar ones. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Have fun with Kurt."

"Please don't say things like that."

Under normal circumstances, she would have rolled her eyes, teased him, or possibly lectured him. Now, she hung up, tossing her phone onto her bed before heading to the first stair down. She lingered to see if she could hear anything.

Eavesdropping had never been one of her favorite hobbies, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"How long are we going to keep pretending this isn't happening?" Alicia recognized the voice of Mariana, her mother's best friend. It was low and strained.

"Please, Mari. Not today."

"You've said that for a thousand days already, Arabella." Alicia froze. She had never heard Mariana call her mother anything other than Ara. They always used their nicknames for each other. Come to think of it, she'd never heard anyone else call them either of those things.

It must have been some special best friend thing.

"You know what happened with Benjamin better than anyone does. Even Alicia." She was so shocked to hear her name, she nearly stumbled down the stairs. "I can't risk that happening again. Not to me or my daughter."

"Do you really think it would?"

Silence. 

Alicia had begun to wonder if her mother would answer before she finally did. "I don't know."

There was an uneven huff, as if someone had choked on air. Alicia heard her mother say Mariana's name, but it was too late. High heels clicked against the hardwood floor and then -- the slamming of a door, far louder than before. It rattled the picture frames on the wall.

Slowly, Alicia made her way downstairs. It wasn't a choice. Whenever she knew a person was upset, she immediately had to be there.

Her mother was standing in front of the door, face devoid of all emotion. She was alarmingly pale, and when Alicia looked closer, she noticed that her hands were trembling. "Mom?" she whispered, placing a hand on her arm.