Morana knows she's different from other people in more ways than one. Firstly, she's sixty-seven years old but stopped ageing in her twenties. Weird things have also happened around her right after she's wished for it. But most importantly, no matte...
We all quickly made our way to Rick's car, which he had driven us there in. I held onto Alejo's hand the whole way, worried he would slip away if I didn't.
Rick got into the driver's seat while I opened the door to the back one and had Alejo climb in first before joining him. I shut the door and Rick drove off.
"What did they do?" I asked again and placed my hand against his forehead once more. He was still colder than what was normal and the layer of sweat was also still there.
"Nothing," Alejo answered and pushed my hand away.
"Don't lie to me. Just tell me," I pushed on.
"Really it's nothing."
"Why won't you tell me?"
"Just drop it, will you!" he yelled at me and turned to look out the window.
I just stared at him with my mouth slightly open. What was his problem? Why wouldn't he just tell me? It was so obvious something had happened, there was no way he could convincingly deny that. Did he not trust me? Was that it?
I turned my head to Rick and caught his eyes in the review mirror. He shook his head at me. To tell me he didn't know either or to not continue pushing Alejo, I didn't know. I didn't care much either. I was angry and frustrated.
"Whatever. Feel crap on your own. Watch me care," I mumbled and turned around in my seat also to look out the window while crossing my arms over my chest.
The silence that followed was long and uncomfortable, to say the least. It was so thick, not even the sharpest of blades would have been able to penetrate it. I myself fumed more and more for every second that passed.
How could he not tell me?
"So," Rick said after a long time while turning off the engine to the car. I hadn't paid attention to where we were going, but noticed we stood in a parking lot next to what looked to be a bar. "Maya is waiting inside, so I'll go and join her. Will you two talk so you can then join us without making everyone feel awkward as hell?"
He threw the car keys to us before exiting and leaving us alone.
I had no plan of starting the conversation. If anything, I considered getting out of the car to go back to the apartment on my own.
"It's more complicated than you think," Alejo broke the silence.
From the reflection in the window, I could see that he had turned to look at me and I followed. He looked defeated. As if all things good had left him and there was only pressing darkness around him.
"Then explain so I can understand," I answered, but didn't hold any high hopes.
"I can't," he said, and I was about to curse him out when he continued. "It's not that I don't trust you or anything like that. I just can't tell you, and I need you to trust that I have good reasons for it."
"You know, I know they hurt you somehow. So why can't you just tell me who and how?"
"Please, just trust me. It's better if you don't know."
I wanted to continue to argue with him. Wanted to know exactly what had happened so I could storm back there and hurt whoever had hurt him.
But I swallowed hard and let it be. It was frustrating. It had me upset. But I did trust him and that he had to have good reasons for not telling me.
"If they hurt you again, I'll force the truth out of you so I can beat them up," I told him.
He gave me a weak smile, but then shook his head. "Please don't," he whispered before stretching his arms out and pulling me in for a hug. It was a much harder hug than usual and I could feel the fast pace of his pulse.
After a minute or two, he let go of me and some of the fear seemed to be gone from his eyes. His smile seemed much less forced.
"Let's go in and forget about everything for a bit. Let's just have fun," he said, and I nodded.
We got out of the car and walked hand in hand into the bar.
Rick and Maya sat opposite each other in a booth quite far in. As we got closer, Rick got out of his seat and moved to sit beside Maya, giving me and Alejo the space to sit next to each other. It felt somewhat embarrassing that he did it, but I was also very grateful. With how fragile things felt between me and Alejo, the physical contact we had felt like the only thing keeping me whole.
"You really look like shit," Maya stated as Alejo sat down opposite her. "Let's do some shots to get some color back into your face."
She immediately got a round of shots before us, followed by a pitcher of beer. The alcohol seemed to have a positive effect on Alejo. He visibly started to relax and fell into friendly banter with Rick and Maya. They ended up reminiscing about different things a lot, not a topic I could particularly take part in, but that didn't matter to me. It was enough to see Alejo smiling and hear his voice and laughter. It was also incredibly nice to listen to a conversation between genuine friends as oppose to all the fake-friendly conversations the witches had forced on me.
"So, what's your further assessment of the witches?" Maya asked me after we had been there for about an hour.
"They're a bunch of phonies," I answered honestly and took a sip of my beer.
"You seemed to be getting along with them quite well," Alejo said at my side and I just stared at him in disbelief.
"You can't tell my fake smiles from my real ones? I think I might have to reevaluate our friendship," I said in a pretend hurt tone.
"You did seem very engaged in whatever shit they were talking to you about," he continued.
"Yeah, I've been trying to gain people's approval my whole life, so I've become a pretty good actress."
"Extremely good, I would say," he muttered, and my annoyance started to peak again.
"Do you really think I would like them after... after everything?" I snapped back at him.
"Whatever," he mumbled and then downed what was left in his glass before turning to Maya. "Got cigarettes?"
"You're smoking now?" I scoffed and got an eye roll as an answer.
He stood up and started walking off. Maya gave me an apologetic smile before going after him.
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