Dragged.

6: A Secret? How do you know?

"Oh no, Lana. What did I do? I didn't mean to say that, and now he probably thinks that I'm coming on way to strong. You got that idea in my head about him being too nice, and the dresses, and I just started think about him more like that."

"Oh honey, that wasn't my fault. You've been thinking about him like that since the moment you laid eyes on each other. I can see it in your aura, ha!" she laughed out loud at my distress. "As for the him closing the door thing, I think it was just because it was out of the blue, and men don't do well with confrontation, good or bad"

"So you don't think I blew my friendship with him?"

"No, I just think he needs time, maybe you should run into him tomorrow at the bean bar, and see what happens from there. As for me I gotta dip out. I have my cousins wedding tomorrow, and I need to get my shit ready and laid out. As you know, I'm not the greatest at waking up early to get ready." She smiled and gestured towards the door. I got up to walk her into the front hall, and she turned back towards me, "he likes you, I can see it, but he is scared. I can also see that he has a secret." She nodded, and rubbed her temples like some sort of fortune teller.

"A secret? How do you know? He doesn't seem very secretive to me. In fact he shares a lot with me." I stared puzzled as she turned around and unlocked the door. I rushed up, and opened the door for her, and she stepped into the hall. I didn't get an answer, so I spoke up again. "Hey, Thanks for coming, maybe we can go shopping one time, or something like that."

"I don't think that's necessary, you already have every nice dress ever made." She half smiled, and I frowned.

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I laid in bed wondering. Wondering why Lana would be so mad at me for something that was out of my control. I suppose I could have said no to all the nice dresses, but they were so beautiful, and I didn't want to say no. I also didn't understand why Patrick had closed the door on me. I knew why, but I just didn't understand his feelings. They came off like he felt the same way, but then he closed the door in my face.

I had a recurring thought that maybe he didn't want to be seen with me in public, but maybe he just thought that I was too up front about everything. It was nearly 2am in the morning and I wanted to march over to his house and ask him what happened, but there was this unwritten rule that made that a huge no no. I would have to go in the morning, but maybe that would be an even bigger turn off. Maybe I should just give him some space, but I couldn't. I needed to talk to him. I needed to explain myself. It wasn't even that big of a deal. I called him cute because he was staring at me. He was cute! He was perfection! He was my dream guy since day one when he called me a saint for being nice to him. I just needed him to know.

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10am rolled around and put on my favourite jeans and a sweater. I put my hair in a big messy bun and walked out the front door in my slippers. I got half way down the hall and turned back to go put my shoes on instead, when I saw three sticky notes on the door.

The top one read, "I was going to come call on you, but it was already 2am, I want to see you!" Then the second one said, "I'm sorry about last night, I need to talk to you" and the third read, "Meet me at Duchess Park at 3pm if you can." I was taken aback. He was at my door when I was thinking of going to him. He was just on the other side of the wall wishing to talk to me, as I was wishing to talk to him.

I walked back into my apartment and took off my slippers. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and a bowl of cereal and plopped myself on the couch amongst the dresses. They needed to be put away, but I still hadn't even had time to try them on. I had been even more nervous to try them on now that I knew that they were thousands of dollars' worth. I even tortured myself with the thought of giving them back, and I would if he asked me too, but I didn't want him to, because that meant that he didn't want to see me anymore, that we were done.

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I scrambled for my keys. I had lost track of time and it was now quarter to three. The park was about ten minutes away, but I hadn't even made it to the garage yet.

"Yes!" I yelled. "Here they are!" I said pulling them out of the couch. I ran down the hall gripping the sticky notes in my hand. I ran into the elevator almost missing my opportunity, when Scarlet, my neighbor two over held the door open for me. I huffed and puffed and thanked her. She didn't say anything and just nodded her head in acknowledgement. I got out of the elevator, and jumped in my car, now with only eleven minutes to spare.

I got to the park at 3:02 and saw Patrick sitting on a bench kicking around bird seed that was always there in abundance. I didn't say anything and sat next to him. He looked at me and then kicked around at the dirt some more.

"Hey," he said, almost two minutes later.

"Hey, I'm really sorry! I kind of jumped the gun last night, I was just fee..." He cut me off.

"No, no please don't apologize, I'm the one that should be sorry." He said quickly and quietly, almost like he was sad.

"Okay, well are you okay?" I said, making my voice quiet to match his.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." he stopped and turned towards me, "did you mean what you said? You know, about me being cute? Cause I was just thinking and I don't think that anyone has ever said that to me before." He turned back to look at the ground.

"Uh yeah," I said a little confused. "I did." I continued.

"Cool, well I think the same about you, except I think the word is more like.... Beautiful." He said bashfully, not even looking me in the face. "I kind of wanted to tell you the other day, you know, if you put the dresses on. It would give me an excuse, you know?" he smirked and let out a little laugh. I was confused. I knew we had this awkward mutual feeling, but I didn't know that it was like this.

"Can I ask you something?" I said, unsure if I should have said that.

"Yeah, sure!" Pat said, looking at me again.

"Do you have a secret? You know something you aren't telling me, that you want to. I get that feeling from you, and I feel like it has put up a wall between us. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." I said, wanting to take it back instantly. "Never mind, I take it back." I said, making myself look even more stupid.

"No uh, actually I do. I do have a secret, and you're right, I feel that wall too. That's why I brought you here. If I tell you though, I need you to know that I'm not like all the other guys, and I'm not trying to move fast here for sex. I am well aware that we have known each other for only eight days, but trust me, I am not trying to get into your pants, or anything of that sort. I really like you, and I do in fact have a secret. A very big one. One might even say it's a game changer. I've been trying to get to know you before I tell you without it taking too long so you would think that I was hiding this from you. I was going to tell you..." he paused.

"You can!" I said grabbing his large hands.

"But I'd rather show you."