Dominating Hearts

Chapter 14

We stood staring at the huge gate blocking our path for about 10 mins, not blinking.

"Right. So what are we exactly doing here?", I finally broke the silence, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Alex to speak.

"Thought you'd never ask."

I tilted my head to the side, "Wait.... you were waiting for me to speak first before you'd tell why exactly we are here."

"Uh- huh."

"Okay... that's stupid."

"What? I just wanted to make it dramatic."

"Right...."

"Well, anyways, you nosy girl.", I scrunched up my nose at that, as Alex flicked it with his finger, "This is my uncle's place. It has been shut down for quite some time now... actually it has been like 12 years since this place has been opened to the public. My uncle gave me the keys to this place, because he doesn't want to do anything with this place."

"Why?", I interrupted.

"Since his daughter died when I was just six years old, he'd gone to a state of depression, he just lost the motivation to do anything after that. This place used to be grand, I remember with all the people and the laughter, the happiness....", Alex trailed off, his face taking over a painfully cold expression.

Jaw clenched, he breathed out deeply, as a vein bulged in his forehead. Gusts clenched, Alex was lost to me.

Taking a deep breath, I cautiously touched his shoulder, scared to pull him out of his thoughts, yet wanting to shake him off from where he'd zoned out to a dark place.

"Alex?", I whispered.

He suddenly jerked away from my touch, as he turned to face me. His eyes were wide and he look frightened like a child.

"Let's go in", he shook his head before turning away from me completely, not allowing me to see his expression.

What was that? I wondered. Why did he look so....off?

"Are you coming?", he called out, pulling out a bunch of keys from his pocket to unlock the gates to the fair grounds.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere was thick and tense.

All throughout our date(or whatever it was), Alex was closed off.

I couldn't figure him out for the life of me. One minute, he was a boy full of life and the next he was like death, cold and unforgiving.

I loved the side of him where he was teasing and playful, it allowed me to keep up. But the other one, desolate and aloof where he'd stay quite and non-reactive, was confusing and quite frankly scared me. He was good at hiding his emotions.

Alex seemed to be like an open book, but time told he was not. Despite what one would believe.

______________

"I'm terribly sorry for ruining today", Alex runner the back of his neck as he stood at my porch along side me.

"It's alright.", I shrugged.

"No", he sighed,"it's not."

"Actually, you're right. You were kind of a jerk today."

Alex's green eyes stared into mine as he cracked a small smile.

"Well finally. Someone who can tell the truth to my face."