✔ Run Baby Run ✖ punk hood au

xxiv - vistation rights

c a l u m:

I shouldn't be with Gwen. I was no good for her. I was a horrible influence; I was caught up in a dangerous job and to be honest, I didn't deserve her. But Gwen makes my heart stop. It's like one touch of her fingertips and a surge of electricity runs though my system and I can't think about anything else but her. She has this hold on me that I can't shake off, can't eschew. And although I shouldn't be with her, I couldn't imagine being without her.

I held onto Gwen's hand as I drove through the dark streets of Sydney, towards the outskirts of town. The music was on low, and Gwen quietly hummed along, surprising me in the process. I didn't even know she knew who Green Day was, much less liked their music.

"Where are we going?" She suddenly asked. She hadn't questioned me in ten minutes and I knew it was coming.

"To visit a friend," I replied.

"Michael?" She guessed and shook my head.

"Can I ask you something?" I changed the subject.

"Yea, anything," Gwen replied, the two of us glancing at one another briefly.

"Can you tell me about your life back home?" I guessed my question really surprised Gwen because she looked at me with wonder, mouth agape but with no words to speak. So I just continued, "I mean, I know things about you but only about your life now in Australia."

"Well what do you want to know?" She smiled, giving my hand a squeeze in assurance.

"Everything," I told her.

"Well, to start things off, I'm adopted," she began and immediately my head snapped in her direction.

"Wait, what? Really?"

"When I was still in the womb. My biological mother was a teen mom and wouldn't be able to take care of me so after finding the perfect couple, I was adopted at 16 weeks,"

"You don't look adopted," I commented, causing Gwen to giggle.

"Do adopted kids have a look?" She questioned.

"I mean, aren't adopted kids normally weirdos with dark problems?" I assumed.

"That's so weird," she continued to laugh, causing me to laugh too. "Where did you even hear that?"

"TV and movies I guess," I shrugged.

"Well contrary to whatever you're watching, I'm perfectly content as an adopted kid," she declared, giving me a head nod.

"Does it make you mad? Knowing that your mum didn't want you, I mean,"

Gwen shook her head, "not one bit. Things happen for a reason. I was meant to get adopted. My real mom knew she wouldn't be able to provide for me so she found people who could and I couldn't be anymore blessed."

She always surprised me. I didn't even know it was possible for Gwen to be so positive; so fùcking happy-go-lucky. She saw the good in everyone. Hell, she somehow saw the good in me and that was the best thing about Gwen. I was a screw up, a dangerous badass, and she had no business being with someone like me. But here she was, sitting in a car with me, unaware of where we were going and yet she still trusted me.

About ten minutes later, I took a left turn, slowing down at the next traffic light. I quickly glanced at Gwen and as she observed her surroundings, she knew exactly what we were doing.

"Why are we here so late?" Gwen asked, just as I passed through a pair of wrought iron gates.

"Why aren't we here late?" I was in a sassy mood.