Some Scars Don't Heal

Seventeen - Thanks.

I zipped up my jacket and stepped out the door onto the pavement. The rest of the evening had been fab. I fed Jenson and Benny and helped Wendy dye her hair a startling shade of red, and taught Alex a thing or two about how to play basketball properly. I absolutely thrashed him. Maria gave me a warm hug and told me I could come back at any time I wanted. Esme was an absolute sweetie, not shy at all, and I was so pleased that she evidently wanted to be friends. It was the perfect end to a not so perfect day.

I walked down the road, my house being only a few roads away. It was going to be so nice to walk down the road without having to creep past Danny's house. I relished the thought of...what was that word? Oh yes. Freedom. I smiled, and began to skip, like a primary school child, down the winding street with the passers by glancing my way, looking concerned.

"Hey!" Someone jumped on my shoulders. I screamed, turning around, thinking of Danny, but I saw Alex's laughing brown eyes, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alex!" I scolded him. "You scared me." He chuckled and fell into step beside me.

"Park?" he suggested. "We can go on the swings and scare the little kids." I laughed.

"Sure thing."

Next moment, we were in the park on the swings. Alex was stood up on one of them, laughing as he swung wildly into the air, back and forth. I giggled as I sat cross legged on the swing, watching Alex.

"I'm going to do it!" Alex shouted. I didn't know what he meant until it was too late. He jumped into the air, off the swing, hugging his knees to his chest in a cannonball. He landed on the grass in a gawky lump with a black beanie hat. I rose, wondering if I needed to perform First Aid, when Alex's brown eyes opened and smiled at me. I wondered how he managed to do that. Smile with his eyes. And make my heart turn upside down and slide to my feet like melted butter.

"I'm fine Becky." Alex leapt to his feet, and I grinned as I stood up on the swing, gripping the chains on either side tightly until my knuckles turned white. Alex narrowed his eyes at me mischeviously and I frowned until I realised what he meant.

"No. Alex! NO WAY!" Too late. He raced round to the back of my swing and shoved my back, making me lurch forward. He kept pushing me, ignoring my strangled cries for mercy, until he was satisfied I was flying high enough, and sprinted until he was in front of me again. He beamed as he held out his arms.

"Come on Becky! I'll catch you!"

"You have got to be kidding me!" I screeched.

"No! Jump!" I stared at him dubiously.

"Come on!" Alex shouted. And to get him off my back, I jumped. Just like that. Straight into his waiting arms.

Of course, we both crashed to the ground in a laughing, sprawling heap. I was laughing so much I could barely breathe. Alex's eyes were watering and he dragged a hand across them to stop them spilling over. Without thinking about it, I reached out and brushed my thumb across his cheek, stopping a droplet in it's tracks. Alex smiled and took my hand, squeezing it gently.

We stared into each others eyes, laughter long gone now. He was so close I could count every freckle on his nose, every sparkle in his mischievous brown eyes. He leant forward, so I could smell his breath fluttering against my cheek like a butterfly's wings. We sat there for what felt like hours, before he gently put his hand to my back, pressing me to him. My hand entwined in his hair and as our lips met, I forgot everything about Danny, about how I was freezing, about what my mother's reaction would be when I got home so late. None of that mattered, not now Alex was next to me. Nothing mattered anymore.