Your Head's Only Medicine

24 Floors

A.N. Hi, this is about as canon as I can make it. The only major difference is probably relationships. This is also posted on ao3.

☆☆☆☆
2016

If you were here with me
You'd say,
"You don't wanna die tonight
Take one more breath to clear your mind
Every moment's relevant
Bittersweet and delicate
Tomorrow may not come again"

Her knee hurts. It always does. She's gotten used to it. She's gotten used to a lot of things. It's her own fault, so she's not going to say anything. It's her fault she's sitting on the poorly carpeted hotel room floor by herself. Her knees tucked into her chest and her hands gripping the smuggled bottle of Hennessy like her life depends on it. She didn't used to like the taste of Hennessy before her. She still doesn't, and maybe that's one of the reasons she's all alone.

Her phone rings. It's Kelley. The ringtone made it obvious. The defender decided it would be a good idea to record herself singing, "ALEX PICK UP YOUR FUCKING CELL, IF YOU DON'T YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!", in her best screamo impression. It was very effective sometimes. Most of the time Alex kept her phone on silent, and maybe that was another reason she was all alone.

Her phone, luckily, hadn't been very far from her. It had just taken some mildly clumsy stretching to reach.

"Hello?"

"I just saw her leave. I'm so sorry, Al. Do you want me to come over?" Kelley asked, her voice much more soothing compared to her ringtone.

Alex nodded, then remembered a tad too late that Kelley couldn't see her. "I'm on my way, Alex. Don't worry."

Alex nodded again because who even cared anyway.

Kelley knocked on the door softly, Alex scrambled to it, only stumbling once. She opened the door with minimal trouble.

Kelley gave her that look she knew she was going to give her. That look of absolute pity and empathy, that look that said 'I'm so sorry, and I wish I could fix everything that's happened to you even though it is undoubtedly your fault and your fault alone'. Or maybe it didn't say all of that, Alex just wanted it to. She wanted someone to yell at her, kick her in the kneecaps, anything to make her feel something other than sorrow.

"She left me." She's not sure she even actually said those words outloud, but Kelley's face softens even more if possible and she just gathers Alex in her arms and soothes. And Alex begins to cry, she cries like she just learned the meaning of the word and needed to taste it on her tongue a couple of times before truly grasping it. She cries. She sobs. She bawls. She feels. She feels for the first time in months and maybe that was the main reason she was alone, save for Kelley.

And it was her own fault. She asked for this. She asked to be angry and alone in a hotel room in Rio. And her wish was granted immediately, so why was she so damn upset?

☆☆☆☆

An Hour Before

She licks her lips as she opens the hotel room door. She's not happy. They lost. The lost the Olympics, and so fucking early. She could've played better, she should've played better.

She's being waited for. She doesn't want to be. She doesn't want to be waited for, or talk to anyone. She just wants to be angry and alone in a hotel room in Rio.

She was never one for controlling her temper. It didn't help that, it seemed like she was always suspected to. It wasn't fair. Nothing ever was.

There's a general chaos about the room. As far as anyone knows, she lucked out with a room to herself, but that isn't really the case. There was only one bed and they had been sharing it. It was made when she left, but now looks a hurricane rushed through it.