I know, another upload, and so soon. Well, this chapter I had written not long ago, because I was going to put it before the whole 'meet the family' thing in the last chapter, but then I felt it flows better if it was put in after instead.
Here we see Nina open up just a tiny little bit (it takes a lot of effort from Alec to get her to open up later on in the story. Lucky for us all, he hardly ever says no to anything!)
I really enjoyed this chapter as it brings a few laughs here and there, and I am going to bring more of Nina's aunt and uncle into the story in the upcoming chapters, so that you can understand why Nina is the way she is (although she is strong, there are some things she is not willing to open up about).
Anyway, without trying to give too much of the story away, here it is. You know what to do (Vote, Comment etc.)
Also, please hold on for later uploads. They still need to be written, so bare with me :)
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When I got home from meeting Alec's family, I was exhausted. Although I had fun, it was still a bit weary for someone to know about Alec and I, even if they were accepting in their own way.
The next day, I spent most of my free time in the art class, as the deadline for our art projects were coming to a close and we were due to start a new one soon. Poppy soon joined me, bringing a large array of food, mostly sandwiches and fruit, with her. She said she had noticed that I was heading here and she thought I might need some sustenance, but she looked almost as though she was trying to disguise a small smile that kept appearing on her face. Whatever that smile meant, I was thankful for the food and her company.
My project was completed by Thursday, which allowed me to relax and enjoy the peace of my free time on Friday. Or so I thought.
"Oh my God, where have you been all week, girl?" Melissa asked as she sat down next to me in Maths class.
"I've been around. I just had to finish my art assignment before the end of the week."
"Oh," was all she replied, with a look of boredom on her face. If there was one thing, aside from the many things Melissa couldn't understand, it was art. Apparently, it was 'too hard'. Whereas for most people, it was something to do, an outlet to be creative, for girls like Melissa, unless it involved painting her nails, then she didn't want any part of it.
"You've been spending a lot of time with that Poppy girl as well," she said in an almost patronizing tone. Her expression was one of disdain, one which I didn't care for. I may not have known Poppy for all that long, but she was just one of those people you could just get on with immediately. There was always something to talk about, whether old or new, and it was always easy going. Never forced, or even strained.
"We have art together. And she's a friend," I said. From the look of surprise that came over Melissa's face, I may have been a little forceful in saying that, but I was simply defending Poppy. She was one of the nicest people you could ever meet, and I never understood people's need, especially girls' need, to be horrible to one another. And it wasn't as though Melissa even knew Poppy!
"Well, sorry," she said, slightly dragging out the apology, even though there was no remorse behind the words. "I didn't know you were such good 'friends' with the band guys."
I knew she was being deliberately spiteful, which caused me to scowl at her, even though she just turned away and began talking to someone else.
Just as I was beginning to settle down as the class was about to start, I felt something hit my neck. I looked down and saw a small piece of folded paper sitting at my feet. I bent to down to pick it up and looked around to see if the teacher was paying attention, and lucky for me, he wasn't.
I unfolded the paper and saw neat hand writing scribbled on the page and I began reading it.
'Nice one. Next time see if you can shock her enough with your 'friends' by getting her to actually freeze in place. It would do us all a favour. Oh, and officially welcome to the 'band guys', where your colourful ways shall never be overlooked. Especially with a fire like yours.'
I didn't even have to look at the back of the class to know who had written the note. There was only one person who referred to me as 'colourful'. Although, I was surprised to see he hadn't addressed it to 'Red'.
I turned around anyway, only to see a smirking Alec sitting at the back of the class, leaning against the back legs of his chairs. He saw me looking at him and I gestured to the note in my hand, which he only smiled at. Right before I turned away, I saw that he had winked at me, which as usual, made my cheeks burn.
As I was taking notes in the class, I couldn't help but agree when Alec said I had 'fire'. In more ways than one, I thought as I held a hand to my cooling cheeks.
*****
I spent most of the Saturday in my room, as I usually did, in order to avoid my aunt and uncle. Not that they went out of their way to make conversation with me. But they always were quick off the mark to criticize anything I did. Like last night, there were still some faint paint stains on my hands as we were having dinner, and my aunt dived right into how one should take personal hygiene seriously. Which I'm not saying is something I don't do already. It's just that, Suze likes to spend an unhealthy amount of time in front of the mirror, just so she can prefect her lipstick. Which is something you wouldn't catch me ever wearing. I hated make-up with a burning passion!
As it was the weekend, Suze and Simon would be out with rich clients or 'friends' for the majority of the time, and so I would have the house to myself. Even so, I still kept to my bedroom. It was my little haphazard, messy and cluttered haven, in this sterile and isolated house. I had completed my homework throughout the day, and as the night began to set in, my floor was littered with random sketches and drawings, as well as pens, pencils, charcoals and pastels and an array of junk food, such as Red Vines, bags of chips and soda cans. The atmosphere was made more rebellious as there was a Ramones CD playing in the background.
I was lying on my stomach on the floor, putting the finishing touches to a random drawing, when I heard a small tapping on the panes of glass from my window. I looked up from where I was lying on the floor, but nothing was there. All I could see was the dark sky. Thinking I had imagined it, I went back to my drawing, only to hear the same sound again. Knowing I couldn't be imagining it now, I got up and made my way slowly to the window. Just as I reached it, a large dark shape came into view.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" I screamed, taking unsteady steps back towards my bed in the middle of the room.
"Seriously, scream louder. I don't think people in China quite heard you!" A familiar and yet annoyingly amused voice spoke from the shape that was crouched on the porch roof that was situated below my window. Perfect for sneaking out. Or in.
"Alec?" I took a few steps toward the window, only to see his amused face looking back at me. His hair was hanging around his ears in its usual disheveled and yet rakish mess. His pale green eyes were sparkling from the light coming from my bedroom and as usual, he had that irritating smirk plastered on his face.
"No, it's your Italian lover, coming by for a late night visit." He said, as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. I scowled at him as I moved to the window and opened it so I didn't have to speak too loudly.
"What are you doing here?" My heart was steadily returning back to its normal rhythm after being scared out of my skin. Alec moved forward and let himself in through the open window, which caused me to move back again, in order to make room for him. He looked around my room with the most avid expression on his face. He took in my bed with the vivid quilts and random bits of clothes on top of it. He took in the bookcase in the far corner, which was stacked precariously with anything and everything. He looked at the floor, covered in random artwork and junk food, as well as the odd shoe here and there.
"Nice room," he finally spoke, looking at the deep blue and dark purple walls. "Colourful. Just like you." He smiled a genuine smile when his eyes landed on my bemused face. After all, it was just an ordinary bedroom. Although, compared to this house, it was the most colourful room. Every other room was either white or beige. Talk about boring!
"Good taste in music too," he said as he made his way over to my desk, where my i-pod was sitting in its dock and speakers. The desk itself was cluttered with books, pencils and CD's. He picked up the closest CD on top of the pile, which happened to be by PJ Harvey.
"What are you doing here?" I repeated again, but this time I was less angry and more curious. He returned the CD back to its pile and turned towards the sketches on the floor.
"I told you. I'm here for a late night visit." He said each word with slow deliberation as his voice took on a suggestive edge. I just stood there, completely shocked. My mouth was opening and closing and small part of me registered that I must look like a gold fish. When he looked up however, my pale white face reddened in a matter of seconds, a new record, even for me. His green eyes were shimmering with a mischievous glint and his lips were twitching, as though he was trying to fight off a smile.
"You are so easy," he chuckled, shaking his head at my reaction. Instead of scowling however, I picked up the nearest thing to me, which happened to be a packet of Red Vines and threw them at him.
"That was not funny," I said trying to sound stern, even though there was a small smile on my face. He caught the packet as it hit him in the chest.
"Oh, I beg to differ." He looked down at the sweet packet in his hands and helped himself to a vine. "Hmm, Red Vines. Why am I not surprised?" I knew this was a dig at my hair, but I also knew he was just kidding.
"So are you going to tell me why you're here, or did you just come here to eat all my sweets?" I made my way back over to where I was sitting on the floor and Alec sat down on my desk chair, with his boot clad feet up on my desk, still munching away at my Red Vines.
"I came here to show my dear wife a night out on the town." He smirked as he said this, and although my cheeks flushed a little bit, I didn't bother telling him off. There was no one around to hear him anyway and even if they were, it wouldn't deter him. I looked up at him confused.
"Why?"
"Zach and the guys are playing this bar and I thought it would be cool if you went along to hear them play. In fact if you like The Ramones, you'll definitely like them."
"Oh."
As his words sunk in, I found myself actually wanting to go and hear them play. I loved music and I remembered Poppy telling me that their music was actually pretty decent, considering they were still high school kids. Throughout the time I took to think about this, I saw Alec watching me intently, as though gouging my reaction.
"So, what do you say? You in?"
"Yeah, okay," I said, surprising myself a little. I was willingly agreeing to spend my free time with Alec. But then again, I was going to hear Zach's band play and so most likely I would also spend some of my time with them too. Which I had to say, was sounding more appealing with every second.
"Cool. Grab your jacket."
Alec stood up and made his way over to my open window as I put on my black jacket with lots of silver zippers and pockets.
"You know, you could use the front door," I pointed out to him as he sat on the ledge, half in, half out.
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that," he smirked devilishly at me.
As I made my way out the window, I was just hoping I wasn't making a bad mistake.
*****
The bar was a trendy place, not completely packed and yet, not barren either. It was mostly filled a few high school kids, seniors most likely, as well as college kids and some older adults. Zach's band were amazing. The music they played was perfect for me. I stood in the crowd of people, swaying to the music slightly with Alec standing besides me. I could feel his eyes on me from time to time, but I didn't care. He was right. I really did like the music they played. It was slightly classic rock and yet, it had a fresh sound to it.
When we first arrived, I told Alec not to let me drink, which of course, only made him laugh hysterically. Although, even I managed a small smile. He was probably thinking that I made a habit of getting drunk with perfectly good strangers.
The night held so much carefree appeal to it, that I didn't want it to end. Even though I was exhausted from school and the homework I had been completing earlier, now, standing with Alec and his friends, laughing and making jokes and talking about music, endless music, I felt invigorated. The fact that I loved punk music was another winning point with Zach, who I was talking to. We talked about everyone we liked and even talked about books on the punk era.
This was where I belonged, I suddenly thought. Not with Melissa and her cronies, and guys like Justin. It was here, with Zach listing off bands, Trang, Poppy, Talcott, and Will talking about anything that came to mind. Even, I was startled to realise, with Alec, who was adding his opinion freely and making jokes, that made me laugh so much.
I hadn't felt this free in such a long time. A part of me was sad to realise that the last time I felt like this was with my parents. Especially my dad. He always encouraged me to be myself. And no one else. I missed them so much, that eventually, even the loud talk around me, stopped making me feel free. I found myself forcing tight smiles, and making myself answer when spoken to.
I thought this all went unnoticed. I was wrong.
"So, what happened back there?" Alec asked me, as we were walking in the general direction of his motorbike. We had said our goodbyes to everyone and were now going home ourselves. Poppy had made sure to take my phone number, so that she could call me the next time they had a gig. And in return, I had promised to be there.
"What?"
"Why did you go all quiet back in the bar?"
"Oh. It was nothing," I smiled, hoping he would drop it. I should have known by now that he wouldn't. Typical.
"It didn't look like nothing to me." He stated bluntly. We had reached his bike and he was now leaning against it, with standing a few steps away from him. My hands were playing with the handles of his bike, and I could still feel his intense gaze boring into me.
"I'm not taking you back home until you tell me." I scowled at him. A part of me knew he was going to do this.
"You can't do that!" I said indignantly.
"Watch me," was all he said, shrugging his shoulders with casual ease. I looked him in the eyes, and I saw curiosity and concern, all marred into one big pit full of emotion. I sighed, knowing that I had no way out of this.
"I don't want to talk about it," I said quietly, silently pleading with him to drop the subject.
"Does this have something to do with home?" I looked up at him, only to be met with an unfathomable expression on his face.
"How do you do that?" I asked, momentarily distracted by his guess.
"Do what?"
"Guess things so easily." I saw his lips curve up slightly at the corner, a small twitch of humour.
"You're very easy to read. It must have something to do with your, er, fiery, temperament." I felt my cheeks burn once he said this. And again, as was normal for dear old Alec, he smirked.
"Or maybe it's just because you bring out the worst in me," I said in a fake sweet voice. He just laughed at this, and it wasn't long before I found myself laughing along with him.
As we both calmed down, I noticed that I had moved to lean against his bike also, so now we were next to each other. After a moment of comfortable silence, Alec decided to break it, continuing with his line of questioning.
"So, does it have something to do with home?" I sighed again as it became frustratingly clear that he wasn't going to let this go.
"Yes. And no."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I was thinking about my parents. Just the way things were tonight at the bar. The way we were all laughing and having fun and just listening to people play music. It reminded me of my dad and how we were when I was little." He was silent for a moment, contemplating what I had just said.
"So, your dad often took you to bars to listen to music then? A bit odd, for a little kid, don't you think? What did he do? Smuggle you under his coat?"
As flippant as his comment was, it eased the tension that had dropped around us and it made me laugh, which judging by his face, was his prime purpose. I found it different talking to Alec about this. I never really talked to anyone about my parents, as they would either not understand and not even listen to what I said, like my aunt and uncle would do, or they would offer me sympathy and look at me with pity. And those were two things I did not want. Especially when nine times out of ten it was fake and forced.
I preferred his light jokes that made me smile, which oddly, made me look at the past in a new, almost happy way, rather than the usual depressive way I used to do.
"Yeah, something like that. He even slipped me a few beers when no one was looking," I joked, a smile pulling at my lips. Alec's eyes were dancing with mirth and contained laughter.
"Ah, so that's where you got your high tolerance for alcohol from? He started you off at an early age, huh?"
I couldn't help it anymore. Once again, I burst out laughing. I had the mental image of my dad, handing me a bottle of beer under the table, whilst my little eight year old self, was knocking it back like there was no tomorrow.
"So, why do you live with your aunt and uncle?" He asked after out laughter subsided. Even though I never told anyone the specifics, I found that after our laughter, I didn't mind Alec knowing.
"It's like I told your family, my parents died when I was fifteen. My aunt and uncle are the only family I have left, so I was made to live them."
"I take it from that overly enthusiastic comment, you just love living with them, right?" His voice was dripping with heavy sarcasm and I snorted in response.
"Oh yeah, it's a dream come true," I said, matching his tone. "It's like living in a hospital, it's so bloody clean. God forbid someone doesn't use a coaster or else you might get coffee rings on the table."
"Yes, well, we all know what a bitch those are to get rid of," he said in serious voice, with the most deadpan expression. I couldn't help but laugh and he began to chuckle as well.
"Well, you saw my room," I carried on explaining to him. "The rest of the house is the complete opposite. Its either white or beige, both of which are the most boring of colours ever known to man!"
Alec was looking at me as though my little rant was the most fascinating thing I had ever said.
"Hmm, they sound absolutely ghastly," he spoke with a really good fake English accent. I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I guess that's why your room is almost like your sanctuary, or more like your territory. You've marked it with all your colours," he smiled, perhaps recalling all the deep blues and rich, dark purples. "It's your."
I was surprised that he held such insight. Who would've have guessed that Alec Crawford could be so perceptive?
I guess he was full of surprises.
*****