The connection

Chapter Forty one - Coming clean

Chase

Well that didn't go exactly to plan, I pretty much had expected her to shut me down but after Josh had spoken to me about this Nate guy I just couldn't get it out of my head. And now to know she could still hear me in her head, even if it was just this once. It gave me some sort of hope that she wasn't as closed of to me as I had thought. 

I watched both Alex and Natalie exit the coffee shop and watched after them for a minute before pulling out my phone and typing out a text.

I tried, it didn't  work...I told you she wouldn't listen to me.

I found Josh's number and hit send. If I wanted Alex to listen to me I knew I'd need some actually reliable information to tell her. Even as I spoke to words to her I knew I sounded like a jealous ex. I shook my head and stood up from the seat, my foot knocking into a bag on the floor. I looked inside and saw something silky red inside, a dress more than likely. I picked it up reluctantly and considered handing it in behind the counter in case she returned to collect it but I couldn't bring myself to do that so I held onto it and made my way back to my car with the bag in hand.

******

Alex

"So are you going to tell me what he said to get you so riled up" Natalie asked with an accusing tone as she looked over at me.

I had been miserable the whole car ride home. I'd barely said a word.

"It's not what he said it's what he" I stopped myself before I could finish. I couldn't exactly say I heard his thoughts and now I was in a complete head spin because I thought I'd closed myself off to that. I let out a sigh of frustration before noticing that we had pulled up outside my house. Natalie cut the engine and turned to face me.

" listen Al I know you've been through a lot, and there always seems like you are holding back form telling me everything that really went down with you and Chase, but please remember I am here for you. You are my best friend and I'd never judge you no matter what" 

"Even if I sound crazy" I asked with a joke

" even if you sound crazy" she smiled back at me. "What is it, I know there's something you're not telling me" she pleaded.

Could I really do this. Tell her what had really gone on with me and Chase, us hearing each other's thoughts, how intense it was. Surely she'd think I was mad.

"Nat I want to tell you I do, but honestly it will sound crazy and I don't know if I could stand for you to think that I was really losing the plot" 

"I won't think that. Whatever it is you can tell me. I can see it's something that's really bothering you. Did something happen with you two that I don't know about?"

"I guess you could say that...you know when we first got together and it was like zero to a hundred miles an hour straight away"

She nodded "yeah, it was a bit out of the blue I suppose"

"Well, it was like I was drawn to him. We were drawn to each other. There was some sort of connection between us that neither of us could deny, it was like we were magnets pulling towards one another"

"Okay" 

"But it wasn't just that, we could...we could hear each other..."

"And..." she urged me to continue

"No not like that, Natalie we could hear each other as in we could hear what each other was thinking. Get inside each others heads. It was intense" 

"Your saying you could read each other's minds" she asked quizzically 

"Yeah I guess so. Don't ask me how it happened or why, it just did one day until we shut each other out...until today"

"You heard each other today" she asked 

"No, well I heard him...We learnt to block it off, shut each other out but he must have wanted me to hear him because today I did. After all this time I heard him again and it freaked me out. That's why I ran out of there....do you think I'm crazy"

She chuckled "Of course not, I mean sure it's not the sort of thing you hear everyday but it's definitely something some people say they can do. Like seeing the future and stuff, maybe hearing peoples thoughts is a special gift you have or something" she shrugged

"No, Nat you don't get it. I don't hear people's thoughts. It's just Chase. Him and me, that's all we hear...no body else" I whispered the end part. I could feel her eyes on me.

"Sounds like you two have some sort of intense thing going on, thank you for telling me. I know I probably don't have the right thing to say back to you but I must say this is making a few more things make sense now even if it does seem a bit strange. You two always seemed to be locked in these intense staring contests... now I know you were probably just having a private chat inside your minds" 

"Yeah...sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you or anything it was just something that seemed so crazy, even I didn't really believe it at the time"

"Sooo you don't hear anyone else then, not Nate one Josh" she asked with a raised brow.

"No" I shook my head "definitely not, there was something familiar about Nate and at one point I thought there might be the same crazy connection...when he touched my face my skin felt tingles...like I used to get when Chase touched me but not quite the same. But I don't hear him"

" tingles...sounds interesting" she smirked 

"I think that's enough of me spilling my secrets for tonight, I already sound like a lunatic" I laughed as I reached for the door "how about we catch up tomorrow, I'm exhausted and really want to get to bed"

"Fine fine, I know I'm pushing it but this conversation is far from over, I have like a zillion questions for you. I really do appreciate you opening up to me though Al"

"I'm glad I did. I feel like the weight of the secret has just been lifted off my shoulders and thanks for being so chilled out about it. I thought you might freak out on me"

"I'm glad you feel better, there's no way I'd freak out on you. I've known you long enough to tell when you are being serious about something...I'll call you in the morning" she waved as I exited the car and watched her pull away.

I did feel better now I didn't have to hide this part of my life from her, I wished I'd had the courage to tell her sooner but at least it was out in the open now. I unlocked my front door and headed up to my room to get ready for a shower, I was just about to change when I heard a tap at my front door. I raced back downstairs half expecting Natalie to be stood there with one of her questions on the tip of her tongue but no one was there. That's funny, I could have sworn I heard the door. As I was about to turn to close the door I noticed a black shopping bag on the doorstep. I picked it up and peered inside at the deep red silky material, my dress. My mind flashed back to earlier, I must have left the bag at the coffee shop when I stormed out. Chase did this, he must have seen that I'd left the bag. I looked out into the darkness but couldn't see any signs of him or his car. At least he'd had the decency to leave me alone I guess, I peered out into the darkness one more time and whispered under my breath

"Thank you" before closing the door and returning to my room.