Rewind

XXVIII: Places

    “Allie,” Zeke says, pulling back to break the embrace, however, his hands stay on my shoulders, keeping me in place as his eyes bore into my very soul. “Do you want me to help you make memories?” I tilt my head and he chuckles lightly at my confusion. “I mean, would you like me to take you places where you’d never go on your own? After all this is our last year and from here on you’ll go to some amazing Uni—”

“Cambridge,” I provide the information and he laughs.

“Yes, you’ll go there, I’m sure of it. And I’ll stay here in Manchester. We won’t see each other often because whether you come here to hang out with Sam and I or we’ll go to embarrass you there in front of all the other geniuses.” Now I laugh at that and he smiles so kindly at me. His right hand rises to cup my face ever so lightly. “The point is that we won’t have the opportunity to hang out much after we finish college so now it’s our chance. Let’s go somewhere, have fun so you won’t regret never doing these things when you were in college. When you’re in Uni, preparing to be the most kickass scientist ever, you’ll be really busy but you’ll be able to look back and feel content. What do you say?”

“You won’t take me hiding bodies, will you?” I ask and he laughs out loud, he even looks down and a bit of his hair falls over his eyes, hiding them from me.

I’ve noticed he’s stopped doing his hair in that quiff, now he wears it more loose and natural, it looks shaggy and like he hasn’t touched it, sometimes it even hides his eyes but I quite like it. More than the quiff. The whole disarranged look suits him better.

“Okay, I’ll cross that out the list. Something else you wouldn’t like?” he questions and I think about it.

“Only that. I’m up for anything else,” I reply and his smile is dashing, making my heart race even more, and his thumb caressing my cheek is highly distracting.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll take you places and we’ll do all those normal things everyone does. It’ll be like a first for me, too,” he realises and I nod. I highly doubt he’s hang out with friends to go to the cinema, for instance. “So, do you have a place you’d like to go first?” he questions and I shrug.

“I don’t mind where we go; maybe the cinema. Can you believe I’ve never gone to one?” his eyes widen in surprise so I nod solemnly, my hand on my chest in my most serious expression. “I told you, until this dream I was just textbooks.”

“Then we’re going to the cinema. I’ll pick the film and you tell Sam, okay?” I nod in agreement and he lets go of my face.

Zeke stands up but I don’t move because I don’t know, I just don’t move, so we end up really, really close. I hold my breath as I look up to meet his eyes and it feels like my whole body is tingling due to the proximity. I can almost feel him but we’re not really touching. This is crazy! And the smile he was wearing before slowly fades away as his expression grows serious, his eyes intense and my heart is beating too fast, this is not normal. I need to breathe in but I can’t make myself inhale some air.

“Allie,” Zeke starts to say and I gulp. My throat feels suddenly so dry.

“W-what?” I inquire because he doesn’t say anything else, but then he closes his eyes and shakes his head softly.

“Never mind. Let’s go, classes are about to start,” he reminds me and I don’t know why but I feel a bit disappointed. I think he had something to tell me, that’s why he called my name, but he changed his mind and now I’m curious.

“Okay,” I agree and I notice my voice sounds a bit deflated but he doesn’t say anything about it.

I take a step back and turn on my heels to walk away with Zeke closely behind. I’m dying to insist until he tells me what he wanted to say, but I don’t want to push him. I’m learning that people don’t always like sharing information and not because I ask them they are obliged to answer. They have the right to remain silent, after all. So I grant Zeke that. If he doesn’t want to tell me whatever he has to say, I’ll leave him be until he decides it’s time to share whatever he was about to say.