“Yeah, okay mum, see you soon.” Ali spoke into her phone. It had been a couple of days since the night she told me that I should leave her. We never got around to calling Gabby back. We were parked at a fuel station about 3 hours from Ali’s home. I had just paid for the fuel and Ali was looking at the hot food.
“Hungry?” I asked her. She shook her head no. She looked sad. To be honest I wasn’t quite surprised that she was sad after getting off the phone to her mum. Her mum always had a way of making her feel like shit. I bought her a ham and salad sandwich anyways, knowing if she wouldn’t eat it, I would.
“Come on.” She mumbled, grabbing my hand and pulling me out into the seating area. She sat a table in the back corner, glass walls surrounding us. She slumped slightly in her seat as I sat across from her, pushing the sandwich towards her.
“Eat.” I demanded.
“No, Jarred, it’s okay.”
“Ali, you haven’t eaten since we left my place. You need to eat. At least eat half. Please.” I pleaded. I hated seeing her like this. She sighed in defeat and picked up the sandwich, unwrapped it and took a bite.
“Thank you.” She mumbled around a mouthful of food, a small smile dancing on her lips. I looked over Ali’s shoulder and out the glass behind her. Outside, rain heavily poured down, playing a calming song as it hit the tin roof above both Ali and I.
“So Ali,” I looked back at her and saw that she was already onto the other half of the sandwich, “why on earth, did we have to stop at this petrol station? Why this one specifically?”
She smiled sadly but her eyes lit up with frosted lights and crinkled at the sides as she did so. I stayed quiet for a couple of minutes while she finished off the sandwich. I watched her as she watched the rain. She finally finished and she turned her face back towards me, looking at me, a large suspicious smile spread across her face.
“Come with me.” She demanded, standing up and pushing her chair in. she waited for me to do the same thing. As soon as I was standing and had tucked my chair in, she grabbed my hand and dragged me outside into the rain and then quickly darted to her left and pulled us undercover. She leant against a wall and peeled her shoes off. I was just wearing flip-flops so I didn’t bother.
“Ali what are we-“
“Ready?” she interrupted excitedly. Shitshitshitshit what is happening? I though as she grabbed my hand again and pulled me out into the rain. There was a small water feature, the water probably about ankle deep. She stepped into it, and dragged me along with her.
“No, no, Ali, no!” I exclaimed as I stumbled into the water feature. The rain was still pouring at a steady rate. She didn’t stop though. She walked right through it and onto the road. She started jogging, my hand still in hers. I struggled to keep up with her but soon after she started jogging, she stopped. I took in our surroundings and noticed we were standing on a wooden deck looking out to a pond. Even in the rain, the scenery she was showing me was extraordinary. It was unforgettable. As I looked out at the pond, I saw turtles bobbing their heads above the water for air, I saw frogs jumping around the edges and swimming through the water. There were even a few eels. I looked at Ali; her hair was mostly wet and sticking to her face. She was wearing some little, just- above- knee length black dress and was barefoot at this point in time.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she questioned quietly, looking up at me through the rain.
“Yeah.” I breathed, looking back out across the pond. The rain drops creating ripples in the water. I felt Ali’s hand slip out of mine, and she was on the move again. I followed her to a small wooden play fort with a rusty tin roof. The wood was old and mildewed and was falling apart; large industrial sized nails were sticking out of the wood at odd and dangerous angles. I knew an outcome of touching the thing would be multiple splinters. But Ali didn’t care. I watched as she grabbed one of the splintering ladder reams and climbed up no problem at all. I was beyond astonished that she would even touch the thing.
