Saturday.
The one day of the week that asked nothing from Alice and got nothing in return. No uniform, no schedule, no Ethan talking at him from the next seat. Just the ceiling, the pillow, and the very reasonable plan of doing absolutely nothing until noon.
He had been enjoying this plan for exactly forty-five minutes when the knock came.
Three knocks. He knew it by sound.
"Sweetheart."
Alice stared at the ceiling.
"Are you awake?"
"No."
The door opened. Helen was already partially dressed, which was the first sign that something was happening that Alice had not been informed of. She had the specific energy she got when she'd been looking forward to something for a while and the day had finally arrived.
"We're going shopping today," she said. "All four of us. Austin suggested it as a bonding thing."
Alice looked at her.
"Get up." She was already pulling the curtain open. "It'll be fun."
It would not be fun. It would be a Saturday, which had previously been a day off, turned into something with a schedule. But Helen was already moving around the room with the energy of a person who had decided the conversation was over, and Alice had known her long enough to understand that this was not a request.
He sat up.
"Wear something nice," she said from the doorway.
Alice looked at the wardrobe.
Something nice. In Helen's language, that meant a dress.
He moved through the routine without rushing. Face, moisturizer, sunscreen. His hair needed more work than usual because he'd slept on it wrong. Then the wardrobe.
He already knew what he was going for. A simple dress, nothing complicated. Clean, straightforward, fit well, no maintenance once it was on.
He also already knew, without having to think about it much, that his mother would be wearing a dress too. Helen had a way of coordinating these things. Not always matching exactly, but in the same territory, the same color family, so they looked like they belonged together. She'd done it since he was small enough to have no opinions about anything, and by the time he had opinions it had already become just a thing that happened.
He picked a light-colored one and went downstairs.
Austin was in the living room. He looked up and smiled. "Morning. You look nice."
"Thanks," Alice said, and looked around.
August was on the other side of the room, leaning against the wall, with the expression of a person who had been told they were going shopping on a Saturday and had not agreed but had shown up anyway. He glanced at Alice.
Small nod. Alice gave one back.
That was the whole thing.
Then Helen came out from the hallway. A dress, light and easy, almost exactly the same color family as the one Alice had picked.
She saw Alice and her face did the thing. "Oh, we match."
"We match," Alice said.
I wonder if mom is psychic.
Austin looked between them and smiled. August looked at the wall.
Helen looped her arm through Austin's. "Alright. Let's go."
The car was loud in the front and quiet in the back.
Austin and Helen took up most of the sound. Helen talking about places she wanted to check, Austin responding with real attention the way he always did, and occasionally one of them laughed. Easy and warm and completely contained in the front two seats.
Alice looked out the window. August sat on the other side of the backseat, also looking out the window.
After a while, August spoke. "You have any problems at school so far?"
Alice glanced at him. "No. Nothing major."
"Good."
Silence settled again. Alice watched the buildings move past.
Then he turned slightly. "What year are you?"
"Second," August said.
"Okay."
Alice looked back out the window. August did the same. Neither of them felt the need to fill the rest of it. The front seat kept going. The car kept moving.
Alice thought, briefly, that August was actually a lot like him. Then he stopped thinking about it because they had arrived.
The mall was bigger than the one Alice usually went to with Bryan and Lucy. Wide and clean, high ceilings, more shops than a person needed. Alice walked with the four of them for about ten minutes before Austin and Helen quietly drifted into their own orbit, moving from window to window, talking, not actually buying much. Just walking next to each other with the comfort of two people who were happy to be there.
Alice walked at his own pace and looked at things as they passed.
Then he stopped.
A small stand near the corner of the walkway. Bottled drinks in a cooler, and one of them was a chocolate milk he'd seen before and thought about before and never bought because it was the kind of thing he consistently decided was not necessary.
He looked at it. Looked at the price. Looked at it again.
He kept walking.
"That one?"
August had stopped beside him, nodding toward the cooler.
"No," Alice said.
August already had his wallet out.
"I don't need it," Alice said.
"I know." He bought it anyway and held it out.
Alice didn't take it immediately. "That's a waste."
"It's not going to be wasted. It's going to you."
"That's still a waste."
"Take it," August said. Flat, no argument. Just a statement of what was going to happen.
Alice took it. He stood there holding it for a second.
The feeling was strange. Not bad. Just strange. Bryan had done things like this before, but Bryan was Bryan, and this was different because August was new territory and Alice didn't have a comfortable word for it yet. It sat somewhere between awkward and something else he didn't have a name for.
He could feel his ears getting warm.
August looked at him. Then something shifted in his expression and he said, "Relax. It's not my money anyway."
Alice looked at him. "What?"
"It's the old man's card." August nodded toward Austin, who was thirty meters away looking at a shop window with Helen. A small, very specific smile crossed his face. "He gave it to me this morning."
Alice stared at him.
Then at Austin.
Then back at August, who had already started walking.
"Hey," Alice said, and caught up. "August."
"Hm."
"That's his card."
"I know."
"You can't just spend someone else's money on things they didn't ask for."
"He told me to use it."
"He meant for necessary things."
"He said use it." August shrugged. "He didn't say necessary."
Alice looked at him with the flattest expression he had. August kept walking.
The problem was that August had no ability to stop.
Or rather, he had the ability and simply chose not to use it. Every time Alice's eyes landed on something for more than a second, August bought it. A book Alice had picked up and set back down. A pair of shoes Alice had glanced at while passing. A small portable fan Alice had looked at because it was making a sound.
"I don't want the fan," Alice said.
"You looked at it."
"I looked at it because it was making a noise. That doesn't mean I want it."
"You might need a fan."
"I have a fan."
"Now you have two."
Alice walked beside him holding a bottle of chocolate milk, a book, a pair of shoes in a bag, and a portable fan in its box, with the expression of a person trying to calculate how much had been spent and finding the number alarming.
"Are you doing this on purpose?" he asked.
"Doing what."
"This. All of this."
August looked at him. "No."
"Then why."
"Because you look at things and don't buy them," August said, like it was a simple and obvious reason. "It's annoying."
Alice opened his mouth. Closed it. "That makes no sense."
"Sure it does."
It did not. Alice kept walking, arms full, somewhere between confused and deeply concerned about Austin's credit card statement.
Austin, when he saw the bags, said "Good job" and patted August on the shoulder.
Helen looked at the bags, then at Alice's face. "August, you really didn't have to."
"It's fine," August said.
"Alice, did you ask him to buy all of this?"
"No," Alice said.
Helen looked at Austin. Austin was smiling.
Helen sighed. She touched Alice's arm. "Are you okay?"
"I'm calculating," Alice said.
Austin had bought Helen things too. One bag, maybe two, nothing dramatic. Normal person shopping. Alice looked at that and then at his own collection and felt something he genuinely could not explain.
August stood slightly apart from all of them, not bothered by any of it, wearing the expression of someone who had done something enjoyable and saw no reason to discuss it further.
The restaurant was clean and quiet and the menu did not have prices that made you want to put it back down. Alice sat across from August and kept whatever expression he was making very contained.
"This is special," Austin said, when Helen made a surprised sound at the menu. "Every time we're all together is special."
Helen looked at him. Alice watched his mother's face in that moment, open and happy in a way she didn't always show, and something quiet settled in his chest.
August was looking at the wall. Not rudely. Just elsewhere, waiting for the food.
Alice looked at the table.
Alright. Fine. It was a nice dinner.
Austin drove them home and helped carry everything inside. August carried most of it, which was a lot, because August had bought a lot of it.
Austin kissed Helen on the cheek at the door. Helen smiled the whole way through it. Then the two of them left.
Alice stood in the hallway. "Mom," he said. "Is Austin rich?"
Helen thought about it genuinely. A few real seconds. "I honestly don't know," she said.
Alice nodded.
"Goodnight, sweetheart." She kissed his forehead and went down the hall.
Alice sat on his bedroom floor surrounded by everything August had bought.
Clothes. More clothes. A pair of shoes he had looked at for three seconds. Another pair he had looked at for less. Books. A small portable fan. A jar candle he had no memory of looking at. A whole watermelon, which raised questions. A half mannequin. More shoes. A phone stand. Something in a bag he hadn't opened yet.
He looked at all of it.
He didn't want most of it. That was the honest answer. He hadn't asked for it, hadn't needed it, and now it was here and it was his and he had no idea what to do with it.
He picked up the watermelon.
Really. A watermelon.
He set it back down.
He stared at the half mannequin.
He stared at the ceiling.
He picked up the chocolate milk from earlier, still cold enough, and took a sip.
Outside his window, the Saturday that had started as a day for sleeping in had turned into something he genuinely could not summarize. He sat in the middle of all of it and drank his chocolate milk and decided that this was fine.
He still didn't know what to do with the mannequin.