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04. A Date

“Allie?” Nate asked, his tone giving away his concern.

“Hmmm?” Allie looked up at him.

“You okay?” He frowned at her, wondering why she had zoned out like that.

“Just thinking...” Allie mumbled. It was the first time she had been able to think about Troy and not cry.

Allie had loved him, she really had. Maybe a part of her still did. She missed him, at least, she missed the warmth, the safety, the love that came alone with him. Her mind began to wander again and she  wondered what he was doing now...

“So how’d you end up here?” Nate asked, noticing Allie’s eyes begin to glaze over again.

“What do you mean?” she asked right back.

“Well you’re Australian, so why are you in London?”

“You’re Italian, why are you?”

“That’s different, I didn’t cross any oceans to get here! Come on, I told you a story, now it’s your turn,” Nate debated, finishing off the last of his McDonalds.

Allie grudgingly agreed, “My dad’s some kind of family psychologist, he doesn’t work in the field, but back home, he designed a couple of different programs to help kids in different situations and families, and it worked wonders, so many drop-kicks ended up in good places and with jobs. The company sent him heaps of different places in Australia, sometimes we went with him, sometimes we didn’t.”

“We?” Nate interjected, “It’s not just you and your dad?”

“It is now... My sister, she’s at University in Australia,” Allie left out the part about her mother and her brother, she didn’t think she could talk about that to anyone just yet.

It wasn’t that Allie had never spoken about the accident, but the times that she had were when it had just happened, when the funerals were going on, when she was surrounded by people that she had known for years. Since Allie left her home, she hadn’t spoken a word about it, not even in conversation with her father.

“Anyway, dad was connected with an agency over here, and they wanted him to come and work with professionals to build up some more programs and put them all into place. So they set him up here, they’re paying for me to finish my education, which is why we’re in the new place, it’s closer to the school and I start next week actually.”

“It must have been hard to just up-and-leave...” he said understandingly.

Allie shrugged, it had been hard, but it had kind of been good timing too. It was right about when Allie had needed a brand new start, she just hadn’t been able to take advantage of it. Things fell apart and Allie was left broken. There was no other word for it.

“It was... I left a lot behind... But it might have been just as hard to stay,” Allie admitted with a  sigh.

“Wanna explain...?” Nate didn’t push the subject, but nor did he try and hide his curiosity.

“Maybe some other time,” Allie smiled. She was incredibly conscious of the fact that she had still only just met him, and she didn’t know him. Honestly, Allie knew that she had one too many trust issues, she was completely comfortable and open up until a point where everything hit the massive brick wall she’d constructed to hide herself. Nate seemed to understand, because he switched the conversations direction away from the touchy topic.

“So, back to school next week, huh?” He gave her a grin that emphasised his mocking tone.

Allie groaned and rolled her eyes, “I’m definitely not looking forward to it.”