Ali paused a moment, glass halfway to her lips as Joseph began to explain about what was going to happen next – she knew nothing about the mafia lifestyle. She knew the rumors that went around school, but she didn’t know if there was any truth behind any of them. “To be honest...this is about the only nice dress I have...and my mom and I got it for my junior prom – I just ended up not going because she was so sick...it literally had the tags pulled off today.” She admitted softly with a slight shrug as she took another sip from the glass, once her stuff arrived – if it arrived, he’d see that she didn’t have any super nice clothing. After all, the ring on her right hand, the necklace that lay against her tanned skin both belonged to her mother than her father had bought for an anniversary gift. 

She studied the young man in front of her as he explained that he wouldn’t treat her poorly and that he’d never hit her, but she wasn’t completely sure if she believed him – what would really stop him? After all, now that Henry was gone, she had no one to run to – Henry wouldn’t have helped her even if she managed to run away from this, he’d just take her right back. She watched him as he tried to speak through hiccups, it was kind of cute – though she wasn’t sure if he was always this drunk or if something had happened. She didn’t feel as though it was her place to push. She didn’t know him well enough to try pushing his limits to get information he may not be ready to give her, Henry never handled her questioning well and with him being the son of a mafia leader – the stakes may be higher. 

Ali watched him as he stumbled past her and in the direction that he’d pointed which she was going to guess was the direction of his room, she had nothing to sleep in – in fact she was realizing she hadn’t eaten anything since school. Drinking on an empty stomach probably wasn’t the best idea, she could feel her head getting fuzzy. She paused a moment as Joseph turned to ask her to come to his room at some point in the night, promising he wouldn’t try anything but that he wasn’t used to sleeping alone. That raised some questions, but it was questions she didn’t feel like asking now. As Joseph disappeared, Ali silently wandered around the living room – continuing to drink from her glass until it was gone. 

She carefully set the glass down, the foggy feeling becoming heavier – it had been a few months since she’d drank anything, let alone an empty stomach. Henry had tightened restrictions, making it a point to stop anywhere the high school kids were known to party to make sure Ali wasn’t there. Some nights he would even sit around the corner from the house to catch her trying to sneak out, it ended her partying rather quickly because she hated the consequences that Henry dished out. She sighed softly, slowly following the way Joseph had gone before – finding him in his bedroom asleep, lights still on like he’d fallen asleep as soon as he’d laid down. He’d smelled like alcohol; she was sure he’d been drinking for hours. 

Ali bit her lip a moment, flicking the lights off after studying the nice furniture in the bedroom – it was huge just like the rest of the apartment. The bedroom was the size of the large living room in the house she’d grown up in, but this was his bedroom – the entire apartment was larger than her house. She slowly moved toward the bed, watching his back rise and fall with each breath. She was slightly concerned with his reaction if she laid down, but where else was she going to sleep? She slowly slipped off her heels, gently sitting on the edge of the bed as she ran her hand through her hair. She remembered the nights she and her mother would sit in her room, her mother telling her a story as she braided her hair for the night – she missed those days. Now they were mere memories that she clung to. 

The young woman pushed the thoughts away, she needed sleep – she was sure the next few days were going to be stressful and fast paced, she would surely be busy – after all, she was getting married and didn’t have a dress or anything for a wedding. They didn’t even have rings, but they’d just been told about this today. Yet surely, this had been in the plan for weeks if not months for there to be a wedding in two days – unless that was just something that happened when you were marrying into the mafia. Ali pushed the thoughts away; she was just causing herself more stress than she needed. She glanced toward Joseph once more, watching the rhythm of the rise and fall of his back before she slowly laid down – a soft sigh escaping from her lips as she stared at the wall, millions of thoughts suddenly entering her mind.