Elizabeth Alice Bexley
Somehow, though, it is not quite so easy.
The fact is that Alex is different. Ryan likes his friends in Manchester, but Alex is not like them in almost any way, apart from a hinted love of football that the two of them never bothered to discuss further (because Ryan is not a football fan, and never will be). Ryan cannot quite imagine, somehow, drinking cheap lager in parks with Alex, or eyeing up the girls with their lobster-burned thighs and tiny skirts and miniscule lunches peppered with chocolate. He can’t imagine Tom interacting with Alex without a nasty fight breaking out.
(Though something tells him to be wary of assuming Tom would win that fight. For a skinny kid, Alex is deceptively strong, and there’s something just a little dangerous about him.)
In time
