This love

The Question Game

Leah pulled up into her driveway and parked the car, very effortlessly if I do say so myself, she gets out of the car and goes to get my stuff from the boot
"Leah leave it I can get my things myself don't worry" I say getting out of the car
"it's no problem Alex" she says giving me a sincere smile
"Alright, thank you" I say as she goes to open the front door, as I walk into the house I scan around the area, it's exactly how I thought it would look like, down the hall into the living room she has a shelf full of most of the trophy's she has won along with medals and framed shirts
"Welcome to my humble abode" she says setting my suitcase and bag down on the side
"It's a lovely place I must say" I reply looking around
"I'm glad you like it" she says to me genuinely "right I'll show you to the guest room and you can sort out all your clothes and everything there" she says to me before walking up the stairs
I follow close behind her and she shows me to my room for now, it's a nice room, it's relatively big with a double bed and bed side drawer, also a clothes drawer and a nice painting hung above the bed
"Make your self at home" she says before leaving the room. I keep most of my clothes in the suitcase - only taking out the ones I need now - as I'm not sure how long I'll stay here for,
"Leah! Do you mind if I take a quick shower?" I ask walking half way down the stairs
"No go for it the towels are in your room in the bottom drawer!" She replies
"Ok thank you" I grab the towel and some clean clothes and go to take a shower
Once I'm out of the shower and all changed I tie my hair into a messy bun and go downstairs to Leah
"So do you wanna watch a movie or head to bed, I know plane rides really take it out of you" she says smiling towards me
"Can we watch a movie then go to sleep?" I ask her"
"Of course we can! What movie?" She asks me as she takes the remote and sits down
"please please please can we watch Rapunzel?" I beg her giving her a flash of my signature smile
"Alright alright calm down we'll watch Rapunzel" she replies laughing
"Yay"
Leah brought in some snacks from her kitchen and set the bowls on the table in front of us
"So we have gummies, popcorn, drinks and chocolate, help yourself" she says smiling as she goes to sit down
"Should we order food"? She asks me
"Are there any places open right now?" I ask her unsure since it's 5 in the morning
"Yeah, how does sushi sound?" She asks me
"Sounds great" I reply taking my phone out to order
"Erm what are you doing?" She asks pointing at the phone in my hand
"Ordering food.." I say a bit confused
"Uuuh no, nuh nu, I'm paying" she says to me
"No Leah come on-'' before I can say anything else she takes my phone, puts it out of my reach and orders the food on her phone
"Next time im paying" I say to her huffing 
"Next time huh?" She says to me smirking
As she says that I look down and laugh while shaking my head in embarrassment

The food arrived and Leah and I are watching the movie
"you know in a way Gothel was good to Rapunzel" I say using the chopsticks to put a piece of sushi into my mouth
"Sorry?" Leah asks me in disbelief of what I just said
"Yeah, she clothed her, fed her, educated her and not to mention she would travel ages just to go and get her paints" I ramble on to Leah
"Yeah but she wasn't allowed outside, like at all" Leah says now turning to look at me
"I think she's just being dramatic" I say rolling my eyes
"You're unbelievable" Leah says letting out a laugh and slumping back into her seat

We've finished watching the movie and I'm helping Leah out in the kitchen
"You know I kinda expected this to be awkward" she while focusing on her task of washing the dishes
"Yeah I get what you mean but it just seems almost natural" I reply drying the dishes that Leah had washed
"It's kind of weird you know? I don't know much about you but here you are in my kitchen" she giggles
"It is weird isn't it?" I say laughing while wiping won the counters "how about after we've cleaned the kitchen we play a game that I like to call the question game?
"I'm intrigued... let's do it!" She replies smiling

Once we are finally done in the kitchen we go into the living room and make ourselves comfortable on the sofa
"So what is the question game?" She asks me curiously
"We take turns asking each other questions and each of us have to answer honestly and if you really need to you get one pass" I say to her
"Alright then I'll go first, I'll start easy, when's your birthday?"
"29th April"
"That's exactly a month after mine" she smiles
"Ok my turn, what are your biggest interests?"
"Football, of course, I'm actually studying accounting on the side and I'm learning the piano" she says to me proudly
"That's really cool, I could see you as an accountant" I say
"Thank you, alright where are you from and what countries have you lived in?" She asks me
"Well I was born in Spain, Barcelona as you could probably tell by my accent and when I was twelve I moved to England, when I was eighteen I signed my first contract with Sony and moved to the US" I reply
"Wow that amazing, I mean signing your first ever contract at eighteen is incredible"
"Yeah it was a dream come true, I always thank my lucky stars that I got that opportunity. Alright my question, are you close with your family?"
"Oh yeah absolutely, my family are always at all of my matches, club and international, I'm really lucky to be playing for a team that's based so close to my family so whenever I have days off I go visit them" she says "what about you? Are you close with your family?"
Oh god, I knew this question would come up soon but it still rattled me, she probably saw my change in expressions as she quickly spoke up
"You don't have to answer that question, I can tell it's a difficult topic"
"It was bound to come up soon so I might as well tell you, I'll start from the beginning if you don't mind?" She simply nodded along in anticipation
"I was born in Spain, you know that already, I had an amazing life in Spain, I had my best friend, maddie, I could say a lot about her but ill spare you the details, all I'll say is that she is one of the most selfless and the most kindest people I have ever met, my childhood growing up was amazing, my family was well off and my mum and dad were happy and gave me as much love as they could, or so I thought, when I was 12 I moved to England, and luckily for me Maddie moved too, we both joined the same school and it was incredible, but when I was fourteen my mum passed away, cancer, it broke me, I wouldn't leave my room for days, I stopped going to school for a bit and stayed in bed, it affected my dad just as bad, but in a way much, much worse than I" I stopped talking for a second because I could feel that all too familiar lump in my throat
"It's ok, take your time" Leah say's sympathetically, taking my hands in hers
"He would go out every afternoon to the pub and get as drunk as possible, and when he was home he would down bottles of alcohol, and to make very thing worse, he would take all his anger out on me, beat me till I was unconscious, verbally degrade me, objectify me, then finally, one day I decided that I had had enough, I came back from school and I packed a bag, a simple bag, a few clothes a pair of pyjamas, a pair of shoes and a picture of my mum, it had a message written on it from her, I read it when we I'm feeling sad or lonely at the fact that she is gone, I picked up my bag and left before my 'dad' got home, I ran as fast as I could to the only person I could trust then, Maddie

Flashback

"YOU FUCKING PEICE OF SHIT" he shouts at me, making me flinch back
"You're so fucking useless! You're the reason she's gone, she didn't want to live anymore because of you" he spat before throwing an all mighty punch to my face, then kicking my ribs, again and again and again, till I lay there unconscious

I was running as fast as my legs could take, he could be home anytime now and if he sees me I'm done for
Tears were streaming down my eyes as I so desperately tried to find the comforting house of my best friend, at last, I found it, I steadied my breathing and rushed up towards the front door, knocking three times before taking a step back and waiting, a few seconds later the door opened and Maddies smile quickly turned into a frown
"Alex? Are you ok? What happened?" She says worriedly opening her arms for me, I jump into them clutching onto her shirt as tight as possible
"I'm so done with him Mads, I'm so done, I can't take it anymore, I don't want to be here anymore" I cry into her shirt, tears drenching it
"Shh it's ok Al I've got you, you're safe now" Maddie says leading me into her living room, the only sound you could hear were my cries and wails of help

End of flashback

"Maddie and her family took me in, they took my da- James to court, they won the case and custody over me, I lived with Maddie until I was eighteen, after signing my contract with Sony I moved to the USA, I promised Maddie that I would never forget her and that she would always be my best friend, and that I'd visit her and her family every year, and so far I've kept that promise, and I don't intend on breaking it"
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Word count: 1820