Settling Slowly

Chapter 30 - Tips

I had some time before meeting Alexander so I did some clothes shopping, but not as much as I would have liked with only one working arm. Before today I probably would have carried some bags with my broken arm since I was only buying clothes, but there was enough wrong with it. I didn't dare accidentally making it worse. I got to Costa with a little time to spare so I ordered a smoothie thinking that fruit would possibly help my arm somehow, and then sat at a table and drew on my cast. I was only doing the outline this time, I had a wicked idea for the main decoration.

I got so focused on it that I didn't register Alexander sitting down until he waved a hand in front of my face.

"Oh, hi," I smiled. "Sorry."

"I liked the old cast. What happened to it?"

"Doc said I needed a new one," I simplified. "Just you wait until you see this one in its full splendour. How was the interview?"

"I got a call earlier." He grinned. "I'm in. You?"

"They told me straight afterwards." I grinned as much as he did.

"So you're in?"

I nodded. "Oh man this is cool!"

"I'm so glad I don't have to get to know my classmate," he sighed. "I hate getting to know people."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Even Grace?"

He shifted in his chair. "I broke up with her."

"Oh. Um... why?"

He sighed and slouched. "She suddenly got really clingy and wouldn't stop harassing me with texts even after I told her it was too much. And she tried to make me cut my hair shorter than normal."

"You realise she was probably just insecure with your relationship, right?"

He frowned. "Why would she be?"

"Because... well... you know," I said and flapped a hand at him. "Your reputation."

He shook his head a little sadly. "We talked about that. She trusted me. But... it was moving too fast." He snorted. "Who would have thought that I'd be telling a girl to slow down. I feel like I don't really know who I am anymore outside of sewing."

"Hey," I said softly and held his hand. "You wanted to go slowly because it meant something to you. And it's your right to ask for that no matter what you did before. If she can't handle that, that's her problem, not yours."

He nodded. "I still feel like... like I'm learning who I am again."

"That's because you are," I said simply. "But that's not a bad thing either. Just take some time to yourself. As much time as you need."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about. You also sound older and wiser."

"That's because I am older and wiser. Also, Grigory and I had a lot to work through. Now we're... working it out. I always knew it was going to be complicated going out with him since he was my Russian teacher and we're in different places in life. But... Well, it's working. And I've learned a lot. About me as much as about him."

He waited until I was drinking my smoothie to ask, "Can I take you to prom?"

I spat it out in his face. "What?"

He laughed as he mopped his face up. He managed to make it look sort of elegant. He laughed for a couple of minutes before I judged him calm enough to be asked why the hell he was asking me out on a date.