Knowing Me, Knowing You | (S/P)

Chapter 37

I hold my phone in one hand and the keys of the apartment in the other, ready to close the door, when I realize that Alexia is still standing in the middle of the living room. "Alex," I urge her. She takes a last glance around the place, before walking to the door, putting her red beanie on, and stepping outside.

We are leaving for New York today, and I'm afraid we're already late for the airport. Truth be told, Alexia insisted she was forgetting something, or that I was forgetting something, when I knew that it was just her anxiety. Either way, although she stayed over last night, her reluctance stopped us from leaving in time.

"I forgot my passport." She chirps as the taxi stops at a red light.

"You don't need your passport to go to New York." I glance at her to realize she's looking out the window, biting at her nails, a bad habit she has when she's nervous. I place my hand on her knee, giving her a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

After mindless hours of giving it a thought, I finally gathered the courage to ask her to come to Philadelphia with me. I was beyond ecstatic —almost paralyzed in shock, but yes, happy nonetheless — when she said yes.

She was still a little drowsy because of the medications she was still taking for the cold, which made me think she hadn't really understood what I was asking, and that once she did, she was going to bail out, but she never did.

In all honesty, a part of me wish she had, because then I wouldn't have had to tell her about Emily.

"Ok, what is it?" Alexia asks exasperated, putting down her book and pulling herself to a sitting position on the coach. I give her a once-over from across the room, my stomach falling to my feet, the hair on the back of my neck standing up. "You've been pacing the room like a caged animal."

Time to face the music, Nathan. Swallowing through the lump on my throat, I avert my eyes from the large window to look at her. "I lied to you." Her irritated expression changes to that of a confused one, a shadow of fearfulness momentarily clouding her eyes.

I realize that my wording might have given her the wrong idea. "Since you're meeting my parents- my family..." However much I try the words refuse to come out of my mouth. "There's something that you should know."

"You're married and have kids, don't you?" She interjects arching an eyebrow, in a way that is so Alexia, causing a half, almost invisible smile, to form on my lips. And despite her sarcasm, I can see it she's using it more for her sake than mine.

I want to run to her, take her in my arms, hug her petite body tight against me, kiss her strawberry lips. I should have told her this when I was given the chance. Although my past is my past, and what I'm about to tell her shouldn't change anything about our relationship, is still something I kept hidden from her. I know she'll have more than one thing or two to say about it.

"When you asked if I had had a girlfriend, a serious girlfriend, I lied to you." My voice comes out strangled, and I pretty much might be the caged animal she mentioned earlier. And I wish I could stop there; I wish she didn't have to know the story behind it. The fucking comedy, if you ask me.

"And?"

"The truth is that I wasengaged, Alex." The words sound strange, chocked, like if I was submerged intodeep water. I resume my pacing, not daring looking at her; I don't want to see the furrow between her eyebrows representing her sheer disappointment. 

"You were what!?" 

I wouldn't give a fuck about Emily now. I don't have the most miniscule idea of what has happened to her since that goddamned day I let her at the apartment, and I wouldn't care less if she was rotten in misery; she didn't only endanger my career for a careless slip of her own doing, but she also could have tainted my dad's reputation.