Intrepid » n.h. au

Chapter 10

"Angel," I call, since she's looking outside the window now. "Angel, who the hell-"

"I fell, okay?" She interrupts me, "I was... I was mopping the floor last night and I remembered I forgot my purse so I went to get it, and when I walked out I... I fell. I fell and hit the counter."

I blink again and lean back in my seat, taking in her entire appearance in. "You don't have your purse with you now."

She knows I'm saying that because I'm testing her; obviously I know that no such thing as a purse is the reason she's got that yellow bruise under her eye. I just want to push her until she breaks and tells me the actual truth. And I have a feeling that that's not going to happen, and I'm also trying to ignore that little feeling.

"I... I needed it yesterday because I didn't have time to put my make-up on at home," She says and sits up. Lies. "So I needed to bring my make-up bag with me and I had to put it in a purse."

"Right," I say, playing along. "And I'm guessing you put your make-up on today, then?"

This time she blinks, and looks away for a couple seconds. "I was lacking time today too. And since I was in a hurry, I forgot my purse."

If she wasn't lying, she probably wouldn't even care to give me this much information. So now when she feels like she needs to give me an explanation for everything, I'm not exactly 100% sure she's talking the truth.

"That's bullshit," I say and Angel rolls her eyes, but still refuses to look into mine. "Tell me what the fuck happened to you."

To my slight surprise she chuckles, and shakes her head as she taps her fingers against the table. "Where's marijuana when you need it?" She mumbles to herself and before I can react to that, she runs a hand through her hair and looks at me. About damn time.

"I fell. That's one of the human things I do," Angel tells me, and I actually can't believe that she thinks I'd drop it this easily. Last time I saw her there was an extremely angry man knocking on her door; and now she comes to work with her face looking like that.

"No you don't," I shook my head, "You don't just fall, people don't just fall-"

"Oh, I fall," She chuckles, now nodding. "I fall all the time."

Leave it to me to wonder if she meant that literally or figuratively. I tilt my head to the side and keep watching her for a few seconds, during which her humorous smile disappears and she's looking down again.

It actually hurts that she doesn't think I'm worth the truth; it's either that, or the fact that she doesn't even trust me. Yet somehow, I can understand her – she's known me for less than two weeks. And I've already realized that she's never just going to tell me something she's not comfortable with. Hell, even the things she is comfortable with, I have to drag them out of her. Like now, I've wanted her to spit the truth out more than ever before, but I guess I knew in the back of my mind it wouldn't happen just like that.

Doesn't make me any less hurt, though.

"Me too," I say after a long silence, and Angel looks up at me with a frown; she's probably forgotten what we were talking about. "I fall too."

"Don't pull that shit on me," She narrows her eyes and shakes her head, and even though she's potentially actually annoyed, I can't help but laugh a little. "If you think I'm gonna sit here and have a deep-ass conversation about falling, you can leave right now."

With that, she stands up and starts walking back to the counter, where her co-worker is, unzipping her jacket in the process. After a few moments of watching her leave I stand up too, and follow her to the other side of the room. Only she goes in a room behind, and I stay at the counter.