The walk is so relaxing with the dim light and soft wind tickling our skin. Chloe's hand leaves a trail of warmth behind as she moves her fingers down from my wrist to my pinky finger, holding on to it for a few seconds before letting go. It's quiet outside here, apart from Chloe's heels hitting the sidewalk.
Her plan b apparently was to just slowly walk back home.
"Ian, I have a few questions for you, " Chloe's soft voice fills my ears.
I turn to glance at her seeing her looking forward into the horizon.
"I have a few answers, " I tell her.
"I want you to be as honest as you can with me."
"I always am with you, " I say quickly.
"How do you have money?"
I was expecting this question to come a lot sooner than it did.
"My aunt from my mother's side used to give me money every time she came by. I saved them all in case of an emergency, " I hear her humming at my answer.
"How come you never sneak out before? You never thought of going out and exploring the world on your own?"
Yet another question I was expecting to come, at some point.
"When I was younger, I was just too afraid to do so and even if I wanted to I couldn't. My parents always lock the door when they left, and I never had a spare key. They used to drive me to school and have a caretaker pick me up afterwards and stay with me until they came back. We live on the 5th floor so as you could see yourself is way too high for me to get down from there, " I let out a sigh.
Thoughts of the past aren't pleasant.
"You have a spare key now, " she says making me scoff.
"Yeah, they gave it to me 3 days before uni started so I could go and come on my own but still, I felt like I didn't have a purpose to go out but now with you, I feel like I do. You gave me the strength to start getting my life in my control."
As I was getting older, I started to slowly lose hope of discovering the outside world, that's why I depicted my dreams in paintings.
"My parents, of course, asked me for my programme at uni so they know exactly when I have lectures. I couldn't lie to them about them cause they know they only last three hours. My father has work from 7 am to 3 pm and my mother from 9 am to 6 pm. All my lectures are from 1 until 4 except one on Thursday which is from 12 until 3 so as you can see my father would be already back when my lectures are done. I can't be too late."
"Any more questions?" I ask.
"One more. You said you were a closed-off person, but you open up fairly easily to me, why? What is it about me that made you feel ready?"
Oh boy. How do I answer something when I'm not sure of the answer either?
"I...don't know. You made me feel comfortable and you seemed trustworthy enough to keep my secrets safe, " I gave half of the truth.
"I have some questions for you too, " I say, shifting the attention to her now.
"I have a few answers as well, " she says smiling.
"Is there something going on with you and your friend Jacob?"
She freezes on the spot as she hears my question. I was debating between asking her that or not, but it was a thought that started to bother me a little for reasons I don't know.
She chuckles and picks up her pace again.
"No, nothing is going on between us. We're just good friends. My friends think he likes me though but I'm not sure, " she says, walking a few feet in front of me.
"How so?"
"Well, Jacob is a flirty guy but a lot of the time he's just joking, so I never really know when he's serious or not. He hasn't told me that he likes me or anything either and Jacob isn't the type to shy away from things like that. I think that if he really liked me he would just say so to me," she says, shrugging.
"You know how friends are sometimes, they can get excited when two of their friends start dating. They think that just because they know both of us and we all hang out together we'll make a cute couple."
"If he asks you on a date, would you go?"
I hold my breath as I wait for her response.
"I haven't thought about that before, but I think I would go. That's if no one else came into the picture until then. If I'm not interested in anyone though I don't see why I wouldn't go."
Her answer gave me a mixture of feelings but confusion is the main one.
"So, do you like him?" I ask with an eyebrow raised.
"No, I don't have any romantic feelings for Jacob but he's a sweet guy once you get to know him. He might look intimidating at the start but he's just very protective of the people he cares about."
"Then why would you go on a date with him if you don't like him that way?" I'm trying to make sense of what she is telling me.
"Because even if I don't have feelings for him now, he is someone that I could potentially fall in love with, in the future. Plus, he is my friend so I couldn't just turn him down without giving him a chance, " she says, sinking her teeth onto her bottom lip.
I act without thinking and raise my hand to softly push her lip away from her teeth.
She gasps at my unexpected movement as I do as well.
I don't know what got to me tonight, I'm touchier than ever.
"You can hurt your lip like that, " I whisper as I pull away and take a couple of steps back.
"Yeah, well we should get going, " she mumbles, avoiding eye contact as do I.
"Yeah, let's go, " I say, picking up my pace a bit.
After 15 minutes we made it back to our apartments.
"Tonight was nice, I enjoyed it, " I say quietly.
"Yeah, me too, " she says, smiling at me whilst leaning against the door of her apartment.
As I reach to put the key into the keyhole the door flies open, making my breathing stop as I come face to face with my raging father.
Shit!
"Where were you?" His eyes have so much hatred in them it physically hurts.
"I'm sorry, " Chloe speaks up as I turn to look at her.
"Oh, Chloe, I didn't see you here. Were you two kids together? Where did you go?" My father fires one question after another.
"Oh, no I was out with my friends and I miss stepped while dancing and hurt my ankle a little. My friend drove me back and left but then I saw the elevator was out of service so I texted Ian if he could help me up the stairs, " I stare at Chloe with my mouth slightly agape.
When did she come up with all that? It was good I'll give her that but not good enough for my father.
My father can easily detect when someone is lying. He's not going to make a big deal out of it in front of Chloe but he'll make one when I go inside.
"Oh okay, I hope you feel better soon. Have a good night, " my father gives her a fake smile.
"Thank you, goodnight, " she says, taking a couple of steps back before turning to look at me.
"Goodnight Ian, " she says as she disappears into her apartments.
"We, young man have a lot to discuss, " he spats at me.
I try to go past him but it didn't work out great for me as he grips the collar of my jacket, bringing me closer to him once he closed the door.
It's going to be a long night for me it seems.
A/N
What would you do if a friend of yours asks you out?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, next one coming tomorrow!
Feel free to comment & vote ❤️
Have a nice day/night! Xx
All the love -M ❤️