Fall For You (ON HOLD)

(16)

Everyone has a secret place. A place that they discover when they're out and about, trying to find some redeeming quality about a city they're being forced to live in. A place where they can go to just be alone,

Damien's is that place. A pizza and ice cream shop combined. I first discovered it when I moved to Los Angeles. No one knows about this place, not Kiera, Harley, Nate, Cody or Ava.

Now I'm bringing Alex here.

I don't know why I chose this place out of all places. Maybe it's because I knew it was the only ice cream place that would be open at this time of night or maybe it was because if Alex knew that I was sharing one of my special places with him, it would make him feel good.

"Why are we here?" The forever curious Alex asks me, pulling me from my thoughts. I turn off the car's ignition, undo my seatbelt and open my door.

"I'm in the mood for some ice cream." I tell him. "Are you coming in? It's my treat." I offer. I'm trying my best to be nice., trying to win myself some points with Alex. Points that will help me win the bet.

Alex unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out of the car. We both shut our doors and I lock the car behind us as we walk towards the entrance of Damien's.

The bell above the door rings, signalling that someone is coming in. Damien looks up from behind the counter.

"Gemma!" Damien greets, enthusiastically.

Damien is nothing like how he looks on the outside. On the outside Damien looks like a member of a motorbike gang with his arms covered with sleeves of tattoos but on the inside, Damien is just one big softy.

"Hey, D." I say using my nickname for him.

"Who's your friend?" Damien asks, eyeing Alex up and down.

"This is Alexander." I introduce.

"It's just Alex, actually." Alex corrects me, trying to look as polite as he can in front of Damien.

"Okay, well what can I get you Gemma and Just-Alex-Actually?" Damien asks, slightly teasing Alex, shooting a wink my way.

"Got any new ice cream flavours?" I ask, hopefully.

"Nah, not yet." Damien tells me. "The company had a special for Vegemite ice cream and I almost got it, especially for you. But it was bulk order and I wouldn't know what to do with the rest of it."

"How thoughtful." I laugh at Damien. "It probably wouldn't have tasted good anyway." I tell him. 

"Exactly why I didn't get it."

"I'll get my usual ice cream order then." I tell Damien and he nods.

"What about you, man?" Damien asks Alex.

"I'll just get the same as Gemma but vanilla flavour."

"Coming right up." Damien says and walks over to the ice cream counter. He grabs two large cups from the collection that sits beside the ice cream tubs. 

Alex and I both watch as Damien grabs a scoop of vanilla obviously starting with Alex's order.

"How have you been, Gemma? Staying out of trouble, I hope." Damien starts conversation while he works, a behaviour that I'm familiar with.

"I've been good. No, more like getting into trouble." I tease with a smirk. 

"Gemma." Damien says sternly.

"I've been staying out of trouble." I tell him and watch as he raises an eyebrow. "I promise."

"I miss having you around here." Damien says as he hands Alex the ice cream cup with 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream and a spoon.

"You know I've been busy with the whole college thing." I remind him. 

"I know. Doesn't mean I'm not allowed to miss you. The place is too quiet." Damien says, causing me to laugh slightly.

"You're such a loser." I tease him and he laughs too, throwing another wink my way. 

***

"Really?" Alex questions the moments we step out of the shop, our ice cream cups in hand.

"What?" I ask.

"You really do have sex with everyone, don't you?"

"You think I slept with Damien?" I exclaim on the verge of laughing. There's no way that I would ever have sex with Damien and it's amusing that Alex would think so.

"Didn't you?" Alex asks lamely. His eyes don't meet mine as he uses his spoon to lazily stir around his ice cream.

"No, of course not. He's old enough to be my dad and he's married with two children." I both defend and explain to Alex slightly laughing. Alex's face flushes in embarrassment at his wild accusation.

"What made you think that?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"There are just rumours that go around about you on campus." Alex admits his eyes trained to the ground. "And you were so friendly with him in there." He adds, furthering his explanation. 

"I wouldn't believe everything you hear around campus. Also friends are usually friendly with each other." I tell him, giving him some helpful pieces of advice.

"How do you know Damien anyway?" Alex questions. "He said he missed having you around the place."

"It's a long story." I reply and lean against the bonnet of my car. "I'll just eat this and then we can go." I tell Alex as I pick up a spoon of my mint chocolate ice cream.

"Sure." Alex says, his voice still soft, like he's thinking about something.

"You weren't jealous of Damien, were you?" I tease Alex, smirking.

"Definitely not!" Alex protests.

"Hmm, okay." I say, raising my eyebrows at him.

"I'm serious," Alex replies before adding, "you're not my type. I have nothing to be jealous of."

"Thanks." I reply and the conversation stops there as we both eat our ice cream.

I walk over to the bin and throw my rubbish away. Alex still hasn't finished his ice cream.

"Come on." I tell Alex.

"But I haven't finished my ice cream yet." Alex tells me, his tone slightly panicked. It's strange. Alex's behaviour when I mentioned that we had to leave.

"You can eat it on the way." I reassure him. 

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm positive."

"Okay." Alex responds and climbs in, careful not to spill anything in my car. He's overly cautious as he puts it down in the cup holder as he closes the door and does up his seat belt. He gives himself a second to make sure that everything is in order before grabbing his ice cream from it's place, holding onto it tightly.

I watch with curiosity at his strange behaviour. His mood has definitely shifted. I can't tell what he's thinking at this particular moment and I wish, for once, that I could.