Fall For You (EDITING + UPDATING)

(27)

"Are you planning on telling me where we're going?" Alex asks from beside me as he does up his seatbelt.

"Nope." I say, popping the 'p'. "You just have to wait and see." Up until now, Alex had done a fantastic job of not asking any questions. He followed my instructions perfectly.

"Fine." Alex smirks. "I'll just sit here, confused, hoping that this isn't an elaborate plan to kill me." He jokes.

"Don't be dramatic." I roll my eyes. "I'm not planning on killing anyone. Well, not unless you annoy me." I tease.

Alex looks at me, seriously. "Is it far?"

"Is 15 minutes give or take a few far?" I ask in response.

"No. I suppose not." Alex replies.

"Then, no. It's not far."

"You're a very mysterious girl, Gem." Alex tells me, like I don't already know that.

"Maybe I just want you to trust me. If I tell you everything, every little detail, then how are you ever going to trust me?"

"Is my trust important to you?" Alex asks and I nod. This conversation has taken a turn that I didn't think it would. "Why?" Alex asks furthering this odd conversation. I don't know how we got from him asking where we're going to us trusting each other.

"I just don't have good experiences with trust, Alex." I tell him and it's the truth. After my mother left, trust went out the window. How was I supposed to trust anyone when I can't even trust the person who gave birth to me to stick around?

Alex reaches up for my hand that's on the steering wheel. "I'm going to change that for you."

"Why?" I ask before I can stop myself. It sounds so stupid. Ugh.

"The truth is, I don't know what happened to you." Alex begins. "I don't know what made you dye your hair purple or get a your tattoo. I don't know why you're in America and not in Australia I don't know why sometimes your mood changes drastically, but I know that whatever the reason is, it has something to do with trust. You're afraid to let people in."

"Wow." I breathe. "Are you sure you want to be a lawyer or work with books?" I ask. "You could be a psychiatrist."

"I'm not trying to analyse you, Gem." Alex tells me. "You shouldn't be afraid to let people in though. You should be able to trust people enough to let them close to you."

"Really?" I ask. "I can't let people get close to, Alex." I shake my head. "The closer a person gets to you, the more chance they have of hurting you and I don't think I can handle anymore hurt."

This is the most honest I've been in a long time. Not only am I being honest with Alex, I'm also being honest with myself. I've never fully known how to articulate how my mum leaving and seeing my dad spiral into a dark hole has affected me.

"Hurt is a part of life." Alex tells me, sounding really wise. "There can be no good without a little bit of bad too. It sucks but it's true. I think that at the end of the day, it's how we choose to deal with that hurt that makes us who we are."

Don't forget to add this book to your library to get notifications when there's an update