Princess

“Sorry about that just now.”

I raised my head from the pavement that I had been staring at. He wasn’t bringing me out of the gates; instead he was taking a roundabout route to their garage. Going in by their house would’ve been faster but I guessed that Dylan wanted me out of Jenna’s path fast and this was the best way. “No, that was okay… Um, is there something about Jenna that I should be worried about?”

“Huh? No. Why?” He didn’t seem to be looking at me, distracted.

He had acted like there was. I didn’t reply him, knowing that the silence would leave more for him to wonder about than an actual answer. There were things that I didn’t have to tell him.

We stopped in front of a gleaming Aston Martin model and I eyed it with slight nervousness. Why was Dylan showing me a getaway car?

“My dad thinks that all families can afford luxury cars like this.” He patted the car gently, but not lovingly. There was, in fact, a gleam of hate and I took a step back knowing that it didn’t bode well. “So let’s take it out for a ride.”

Crap.
***
“Thank you for your generous offer, but we just can’t…” The lady shot us a slightly watery smile but eyed the car hungrily. It was apparent that she would agree to it if she thought it was a real offer but I guessed she just thought that we were nuts, willing to offer an Aston Martin for absolutely nothing in return.

“Lady, I understand that your charity is in dire need of a donation and I’ve heard that you guys are organizing an auction off for valuable items donated from wealthy donors. I think that you should accept my offer.”

Dylan’s words sounded tempting, even to an outsider like me. My eyes narrowed at the old lady, wondering what kind of decision she would make in the face of such an experienced liar who could make himself sound like a do-gooder when he was the on the other team.

“Perhaps…No…I simply can’t, dear,” said the lady, patting the arm of one of the protesting boys gently.

Dylan’s grin never wavered. “I have the deed to the car right here. You just need to sign it.”

“But… I…” She stared at the gleaming, luxurious car which would no doubt attract a lot of attention and money for the charity and finally, relented. “Yes. I guess this is a good idea. But let’s talk prices first.”

“No, no need at all. My boss,” He paused conspicuously such that it sounded ordinary (after all, it was more likely that he would be selling this car on his boss’s behalf rather than his family owning something so ostentatious), “would like to sell this car off without any cost at all. He’s very big on charity work.”

Even I couldn’t help but gape. What on earth was he thinking? Was a method for pissing his dad off by selling the car to a charity for practically nothing? Or actually, it was nothing.

“What? Young man, are you trying to cheat me? There is no man on this earth who would sell something so expensive for absolutely no return! Now, tell me, honestly, how much.” The lady grabbed a bunch of twenty dollar bills from her wallet.

Dylan, on the other hand, merely eyed the money with little interest. He snatched away one note and smiled at her. “The owner is very rich; he wouldn’t miss this at all. Just one twenty dollar bill would be enough.” He handed the car title deed over to the old lady and sprinted away.

I caught a stunned expression on her face before I, too, followed Dylan’s lead.
***
When we were at a safe distance away from charity and I had caught my breath, I managed to sputter, “You just stole your father’s car and sold it to a charity?”

“No…” He smiled. “Whatever gave you the impression that the Aston Martin belonged to Dad?”

I stopped in my tracks, staring at him. “You mean that car…belongs to you?”

He smiled lightly and pulled me along so that we continued our stroll on the roadside. This was a completely unfamiliar side of town that we were in so I blindly trusted him to bring us back. But he was giving me something new to ponder over.

It appeared that father and son didn’t see eye to eye on certain issues. First, there was that mysterious warning from Jenna Fuller that Dylan didn’t approve about what their family ‘did’ and then he goes on to prove that by selling a car which his father no doubt had purchased so that he could use for practically nothing at all.

He was a paradox and I was beginning to realize something that was highly disturbing-the more that I discovered about him, the more time I wanted to spend with him (willingly, mind you) to unravel the mystery.

“You know, I think I know why you got sent off to school.”

Dylan’s smile faded slightly but he didn’t say anything.

Knowing that this was a pointless question but I still needed to try, I went, “What did you do to get you sent there?”

“What did you do?” He pointedly redirected the question at me and I frowned.

So he was back to not answering my questions. But even without Dylan giving me a straight answer, I could venture a guess that probably hit pretty close to home-his family was completely screwed up and he didn’t fit in.

Jenna Fuller acted as though she needed nobody and was incredibly bitter. I wasn’t sure but it seemed to be that she was hiding a secret which no one appeared to understand. Dylan sure didn’t, what with him radiating that hostility to her just now.

Sean Fuller dabbled in things that he really shouldn’t and poked his nose in matters which didn’t concern him, even about the people around him. An example would be Tia and Luke. Luke did like Tia the way she liked him (but maybe not as much) but because of the engagement, he seemed to be resisting whatever he felt, which caused the awkwardness and lots of bitterness. And they weren’t the only ones that I could use as examples.

I would bet anything that I had that whatever it was that Jenna Fuller had been trying to tell me or whatever she was trying to conceal, it had everything to do with her father. Who knew what other things that he would have meddled with when it came to her life?

It had been apparent in all the files that I had been reading up on that Sean Fuller was a control freak. There was nothing that anyone around him could do without him knowing. With all that amount of control that he was exerting over their lives, he was ultimately destroying the people around him without much notice.

Or maybe he just didn’t care.

Then there was Dylan Fuller, the family oddball. Some things about him ran in the family—his ability to lie convincingly, so much so that I couldn’t tell which was true and which was pretend, his facial features and the slyness that he possessed were all common Fuller traits. But there were things about him that set him apart from his family. He was kind of sweet, giving me a sunflower, definitely embarrassing (cue: him acting like a moron) and kind sometimes.

All this told me was that I really needed to get my hands on the file with his name on it and give it a thorough read.

“Okay, I get that I asked a tough question but you don’t need to freeze me out like that.”

Jolted out of my thoughts, I turned towards him uncomprehendingly. “Huh?”

Dylan didn’t answer me for a few moments, as though he was carefully selecting the words before speaking, “Don’t get mad or anything… It’s just that sometimes, it’s like you’re hiding something.”

“I’m not hiding anything, don’t be ridiculous--” I stopped myself from saying anything else. I could tell from his expression that I had said exactly what he had been expecting, meaning that I had said the wrong thing. Half marching away from him and half running, I picked up speed.

But he caught up with me, pulling me to a stop. I whipped around ready to say something to change the topic but Dylan spoke first, “Look, I get that there’s some stuff which you don’t want anyone to know but honestly, you’re too defensive sometimes.”

This irked me. “You don’t even really know me.”

“Do I?”

Pressing my lips together in frustration, I wondered why I was getting so bent out of shape over something so trivial.

“Christina, sometimes you act like a princess that’s locked in a tower, isolated from everyone else. But I don’t know if it’s by choice or not, not that it really matters. It’s just…kind of hard for me to understand.” He ran a hand through his hair and continued, “I want this to work.”

I took a step back from him. A lot that he had mentioned were things I didn’t know how to or wished to deal with so I picked the least important one of them all. “I’m not a princess; I don’t need you to save me.”

“I’m not saying that you do--”

“Dylan. It’s okay. You don’t need to explain anything to me. I’m…just really tired, okay? Let’s get back.”

“You’re doing it again.”

Unable to hide how frazzled I was by this entire conversation, I asked, almost in a shout, “Doing what?”

“You’re trying to defend yourself against something. The way you’re holding yourself, the way you’re speaking…everything. It adds up to someone who’s locked away from everyone else.”

I wanted to argue about this but I noticed that he was right. I had been clenching my fists, ready to physically hurt the guy. It had been apparent to Dylan Fuller, the most observant idiot in the world, that I was scared about opening up to anyone.

That I didn’t want to trust anyone.

Even though I didn’t have a clue where I was, I walked away from him so I didn’t have to say anything else.

And he let me.
****
“Are you okay?”

I nursed my phone against my neck, chewing on the plain bread which had been the only edible thing I could find in my room, swallowed hard and asked, “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“…um…not to be nosy or anything, it’s just that I heard from Dylan that your date with him pretty much sucked.”

Rolling my eyes, I wondered why I even bothered speaking with Luke. Aside from the amusing conversations that I had with him while trying to get information about Dylan (and by amusing, I meant terribly annoying), everything that I did or said to Dylan would be passed unto him.

But I had to admit, it’d been pretty cool of him to have taken the first step to apologise after my argument. What I wanted to know was-if Luke could so easily forgive me, why couldn’t he forgive Tia as well? “You guys gossip like old women.”

“I’m going to let that one pass. But seriously, though. Are you?”

I considered this for a beat. “Yup.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, which I knew didn’t bode well. Dylan may be annoyingly observant but Luke was even worse. He was annoyingly insightful. I braced for something to hit me but was actually stunned when he replied, “I’m not going to say anything.”

“What?”

“It’s not my place to.”

Oh that was just freaking…. He meant that Dylan was going to speak to me about it, wasn’t he? “Please don’t tell me that he’s coming over right now.”

“Yeah, he is.”

I groaned aloud, showing the rest of the bread into my mouth. The reason why Luke and I were speaking on the phone and not in person was because he was out, buying Tia’s engagement present (since he wasn’t going to give her a ring. But I was pretty sure Sean Fuller would take care of that). It seemed like he was trying to be nicer to her but I didn’t dare to say this aloud, in case it wasn’t true. Or that it scared Luke away.

Swallowing, I replied, “I hate you.”

“Sure you do…” Luke said this placidly, which meant that he knew that I didn’t mean it.

Why did his best friend have to be Dylan of all people? If not for that blemish, I would consider Luke to be perfect for Tia. But because of that friendship, I completely didn’t get it. “I better run while I can. Good luck with the present shopping.”

Then I hung up on him.

But it was already too late; there was a knock on my door.