Down End Road

I felt my throat dry and my tongue become thicker and thicker and thicker. "What?" I said. He ripped his hands away from mine.

"Why were you talking to Henry Dale about the order of Adams?!" he interrogated. I felt my blood boil. He was ignoring me because of a history lesson?!

"That's what this is about?!" I yelled. My voice sent a vibration that shook me to my marrow and I could tell Alex was affected by my sudden outburst too."We agreed to be friends. And friends don't ignore each other. If one friend is concerned about the other friend they don't ignore that friend. No the friend talks to the other friend and they resolve the issue. They don't distance themselves and make the other feel hurt and suffocated, they talk it out!" I screamed at him.

The tears in my eyes were too heavy to contain and before long a steady stream of them were spilling from my eyes. I saw hurt flash across his features, and to my utter surprise, remain. "You were talking about the order of Adams with Henry Dale. What was I supposed to do?" He said.

"Talk to me, thats what." I said. He flinched at my harsh words.

Then anger took over his expression and a fire flamed in his eyes. "I am not trusting people only to have my trust broken again. That is something I just can't do." He explained.

"I didn't do anything wrong." I clarified. "All I did was talk to Henry and before long we were talking about how the order of Adam's portal, and how it supposedly has dragons in it." I stated. A look of realisation and regret took over his face and I finally felt a small kernel of relief that he understood his mistake.

"I'm sorry. It's just that your parents-" I cut him off right when I heard the word parents.

"I am not going to make the same mistakes they did." I pledged. "And just because my parents did something wrong that doesn't automatically mean I'm gonna' too. You know me better than that, Alexander Griffin." I lectured him.

"Do I really know you better than that. Really? Because I did not know you were the type of person who had red lacy bra's." Alex justified. I felt my lips seal shut in embarrassment before a reluctant smile formed on my lips and I barked out a laugh.

Alex joined my chorus of laughter. I doubled over and fell on the floor. The tear stains on my face slowly drying. My laughter died down and all that was left was a quiet heave of my breath as sadness swooped over me. "You know me Alexander Griffin. Whether you accept it or not, you know me. You're just scared to get attached to me." I told him.

"When I heard your conversation I felt so scared. I didn't want to lose you because you were plotting some evil rebellion or something. I can't lose you Myra Remington. Not when we're so close. Thats why I thought that if I distanced myself from you, I thought that if we weren't so close letting go and saying goodbye would be easier." He whispered into the quiet sad air of my room.

We were both laying on the floor. "First off, if I were planning a rebellion you would know it. I am terrible at hiding things from people, mainly because I have never had to. But still." I started with a joke. "And second, I would never betray you like that. Not without telling you or something." I guaranteed.

"I think, deep down I know that, I think I always have." Alex whispered. My fingers grazed his, a peace offering. He spread his palm wide and I laced my fingers through his. Content to lie on the floor in the peaceful silence, with his hand laced through mine.

---------------

We had packed up for my trip and had spent the rest of the day in my room and after promising to go out to town together the next day, Alex relented and let me invite Ally and Maverick over too.

We ended up playing scrabble and uno and Monopoly. We had ordered two large pizza's and brought out some soda's.

"Ugh, I miss having a pint in London." Alex grumbled. I lifted my brow in surprise. I had never taken Alex as some one who drank. Personally, I was partial to a shandy or champagne every now and again, but things like Beer just never appealed to me. I told Alex as much.

"Didn't think you drank anything." Maverick commented, I shrugged nonchalantly. I moved my gaze over to Ally, who was quietly scrolling through her phone, a harsh blue light illuminated her face.

"Hey you good, you look pretty intense." I observed, nudging her arm. She looked up a little dazed.

"Oh yeah just having a bit of a family crisis. My brother apparently swallowed a lego and is now at A and E. He's going to be fine just, you know my mom's a bit... Freaked." Ally said.

My eyebrows must have been hidden in my hairline by how high they were raised. "Hey Ally, maybe you should call them." I clarified. She nodded her head like the thought only just occurred to her.

"Right maybe I should." She hopped up and Maverick followed suit. Fumbling for an excuse to follow her around like a lost puppy. I bit my tongue to stop myself from laughing at him.

Alex and I began to pack away, him on clean up duty and me packing away the scrabble board, since I had graciously hosted. As I began to fold the board I stopped myself looking at the words spelled out on the board.

Eight words in particular stood out to me. Enamoured. Undone. Infatuated. Beguiled. Enchanted. Smitten. Captivated. Love.

I remembered Alex laying the particular tiles out on the green board, and him winning with little grace. A curious part of me wondered why he had specifically chosen those adjectives, especially since they all connotative to one thing.

Being in Love.

Or something close to it.

Tongue sand-paper dry I picked up the board and unceremoniously slid the tiles into the green cloth bag. A pang of relief slithered through my veins when the bag swallowed up the insinuating letters.

I couldn't afford to think like that about Alex. We weren't ready to feel anything more than platonic emotions toward each other. Not when we could barely be friends without our whole relationship crumbling into ash.

As if sensing my train of thought, Alex cut through the silence. "This was fun, you prepared for the Washington trip?" Alex said.

I snorted in reply. "Its so trippy that everyone calls the school road trip to Colorado, the 'Washington trip'." I joked. Alex let out a breathy laugh.

"Yeah well, when normal people ask us why we are so excited telling them that we're going to Colorado for the summer is kind of weird. Plus calling it the Washington trip adds to all the excitement." He explained. I laughed at that. We used confusing terms for bragging rights and hype.

"But you didn't answer my question. You ready for the games?" He asked again. I nodded my head. I felt jittery just thinking about it, but I knew that if I just put the nervousness aside, I was fine.

"Yep, just gotta get a dress for the ball. Which we are doing tomorrow I believe?" I said, popping the 'p' on the yep. I was still gobsmacked that a guy had agreed to go dress shopping with me. It just showed me I really shouldn't listen to the movie stereotypes, and that I had zero experience with those of the opposite gender.

"Yeah." I picked up the board game and turned around to put it back in it's place when I collided with something extremely solid. I looked up and was pinned underneath Alex's chocolate brown gaze. I felt the threat of the board game slipping from my hands, loom in the air.

The space between us -or lack thereof- made my stomach summersault relentlessly. My breath hitched when he leaned in a fraction closer. My eyes were on the brink of fluttering closed. Before my foggy brain could do anything stupid without my full approval, we both stepped back and mumbled our -unnecessary- apologies.

He left soon after, and I leaned against the dark wooden door as it shut closed behind him. I slid down the door, my breathing still uneven from the previous encounter.