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“What’s this?” I enquire, my brows furrowed and my worries heightened. Is he kicking me out?
“We’re going to the city,” he responds. “Check your bag, make sure I’ve packed everything.”
I do as I’m told, hiding my annoyance that yet again he went through my things. “Everything is here. Why are we going to the city?”
“You’ll see,” gah, a surprise. I hate surprises.
Well, actually I love them, I’m just impatient for them. “No clues?”
“I need…” He makes a squelching noise with his mouth. “I need your help with something.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve belly dancing or sky diving I guess I can do my best,” he helps me into the car, his eyes distant. His mind clearly troubled with things unknown. Not even a smirk? “Tough crowd.”
“Sorry,” he mumbles and closes the passenger side door.
“Let’s play a game,” I suggest after he’s seated.
He looks at me with a quirked brow, I slap his arm. “Fine, fine. What game?”
“Well, it’s not really a game,” I twist my fingers on my lap and look out of the window to the passing countryside.
“Then what is it?”
“I ask a question, you ask a question.”
I don’t need to look at him to know he’s frowning, “That doesn’t sound like fun.”
“What’s your favourite colour?”
He chuckles, “Fair enough. It’s dark blue. Yours?”
“That counts as your question. Mine’s dark pink.” I sort through my compiled questions. “What’s the happiest memory you have?”
He blanches, his eyes widen before the shutters come down. “Pass.”
“You can’t pass.”
“I can.”
Oh… the reason dawns on me. OH. It’s a sexual one then. Okay. Moving on. “What’s the saddest memory you have?”
“Pass.”
“You suck,” I grunt and move onto another question. “You have to answer this one.”
He smirks, his eyes lit with humour, “I do, do I?”
“Yes,” nod. “Have you ever been in love?”
His smile fades in an instant, “You’re terrible. You know that right?”
“Yep.”
“Fine, yes I’ve been in love.”
Score. “With who?”
His brows hit his hair, which isn’t difficult considering the length of it at the moment. The bottom brushes the base of his neck. I like it, it suits him. “It’s my question now.” Oh, right. “What’s the happiest memory you have?”
The cheek! “You can’t expect me to answer that!” So not fair.
“I can.”
Growl. “Meeting Caleb, best day of my life.”
His face is blank, I can’t see what he’s feeling and I’m not sure why I want to. “So not when he proposed?”
Hmm… “No, that’s number two on my list of favourite memories.” I turn my body towards him. “My turn. Who have you been in love with?”
“It was a while ago,” he says with a shrug. “I didn’t know her name.”
How’s that even possible?
“I used to see her walking a lot, around town. I never did pluck up the courage to talk to her,” his eyes glaze over for a moment, I wonder if he’s still in love with the memory of this girl. “It’s stupid, I should have done. I’ve regretted it ever since.”
“Why?” I know it’s not my turn but I need to know more.
His tongue dampens his lower lip. “Because I could have had what you and Caleb had. I missed out on that.”
“You’re still young, you could have that.”
His lips twitch, “Possibly. My turn, I get two questions.”
“Go for it,” I spur him on whilst staring at his profile.
“Okay,” his gloved fingers run through his longish locks. “Tell me about your parents.”
Hmm, where to begin. “I have no clue who my dad is. My mum says he knows I exist, saw me once and never came back.” He’s about to apologize, I cut him off because it’s really not a big deal. “My mum, she loves me in her own way and she’s always supported me with everything but this and the engagement. She wanted me to have the life she didn’t.”
“That I can relate to.”
“Hmm,” I bet he can. Poor Nathan. “I was always an inconvenience more than anything. She was never mean and I was always well dressed and never hungry, it was more duty than love though.” We share a moment’s silence, I’m wondering if he can relate to this too. “Caleb said his parents were great to him as he grew up, but his dad expected things of him that he didn’t want.”
“Yes, he was the apple of their eyes.”
Dare I tread? “Why weren’t they like that with you?” Yep, clearly I dare.
“Honestly?” He blows out a breath, his left arm flicking the indicator down. “I have no idea.”
“You’re not a failure Nathan,” I tell him but I can see he doesn’t believe me. I don’t expect him to. He’s been treated badly all of his life by the sounds of it, why would he believe my word over something that’s been drilled into him for god knows how long?
“Was Caleb your first?”
My mind is still spinning with thoughts when he asks this so I don’t click on immediately. When I do I choke on air. “That’s a personal question.”
