Love against law

Chapter 13: An interview to last a lifetime

“Can I have a break before we start?” I asked a camera man, he nodded and smiled.
“Sonea!? What’s happened to you?” she looked at my own stained shirt then at Alex’s.
“I’m sorry Margret, I met my mom and…” Alex hugged me from behind.
“Oh honey its okay! Let’s find you some more relaxed clothes ‘mkay?” she pulled me upstairs.
We quickly found some relaxed clothes I could wear; it was just a band t-shirt and some tight jeans.
We walked down to the living room, where camera’s, lights and everything had been sat up, even two chairs for me and Alex.
“Sonea! Alex! Take a seat!” Will called; he then went back to talking into his phone.
We walked over, and sat down in the seats, makeup ladies came running from everywhere, they told me to close then open then close then open my eyes. Alex looked calm, I probably looked really lost, my eyes couldn’t keep still. A new chair was sat next to my chair, and the man from the news sat down. I think he could feel me staring at him, he turned around.
“Hi” he said in a weird voice.
“Hi” I mumbled. “Is that your real voice?”
“Yes when you’re a TV speaker, you have to have two voices”
“Wow I didn’t know that” I heard Alex laugh behind me, I spun around and stuck my tongue out him.
“I’m sure you didn’t know either Alex” I quickly lost interest in the TV speaker.
“I did know!” Alex challenged.
“No you didn’t!” I laughed.
“You’re such a child!”
“Take that back!”
“No!”
“Yeah!”
“No!”
“I’ll show you!” I got up from my chair, and jumped onto Alex.
“Hey! Watch it!” I started tickling him, he immediately started laughing. “Stop! Stop! I’m not tick-lish!”
“Yeah you are!” I laughed.
“Stop! Please!”
“I bet you can ask nicer than that!” I teased still tickling him wildly, his legs were jumping.
“Sonea please!” he panted. “Sto-”
“And there you have it, these two youngsters are the living proof that not every relationship is about sex” we were interrupted by the TV man talking into the microphone headset. I looked at the camera and froze, then for some strange reason laughed a little. Alex was still laughing a little, but that was expected when I tickled him so insanely much.
“Here dear, take a seat and let’s start the interview”
“Okay” I took the seat next to him. I could see the camera men focus on the still laughing Alex.
“What’s your name?” he asked me.
“Sonea Jackson” I smiled.
“And here to the left we have a laughing Alex Truman” the TV man motioned to Alex who now had tears in his eyes.
“Sorry Alex” I whispered to him, he just laughed harder.
“Why don’t we let Alex laugh it off, and we’ll start with you?”
“Okay” I turned my attention onto him.
“Now Sonea you are a normal teenage girl, who’s going at a normal school, isn’t that right?”
“That’s very right”
“Now what happened, that assured you ended up here?”
I took a deep breath.
“I don’t know” I stated. “So much has happened” I looked out of the window. “I don’t even know where to start. I guess I was just a girl not really looking for love, but found it in the last person I expected” I smiled at Alex who was now completely silent, he was smiling, my favorite smile.
“I guess it all started when Alex came to my school, I wasn’t popular, well I hadn’t really got any friends” I laughed a little. “Well Alex started and everybody loved him, all of the girls wanted to be with him, but of course Alex never understood that, on that matter he’s not so bright”
“Hey!” Alex crossed his arms smiling.
“Sorry but you aren’t!” I poked his shoulder playfully.
“I don’t really remember what started the whole thing, but Alex started driving me home from school, not anything special, but we were friends, and I remember it as the best part of the day” I smiled.
“I remember what started it, it was my first day, and you had shown me the school, when the day was over, you were the only one left in the classroom. You missed the bus, and had to wait for the next one, I figured I would give you a ride home, since I hadn’t really got anything to do that day” Alex laughed lightly, I blushed as that was just shared with the rest of the world.
“Schhh Alex don’t tell the whole world!” I motioned towards the camera, the ones behind it laughed.
“Sorry but we’re going to be honest in this interview” Alex smiled.
“So you became friends” he stated. “But then what happened?”
“Well… what do you think?” I looked at Alex.
“I guess we’re around the first student party” Alex looked at me seriously.
“Oh yeah” I looked down at the ground, the flashbacks started immediately.
“What’s wrong dear?” the TV man asked.
“No it’s nothing” I looked at Alex, who was already kneeling down in front of the chair I sat in, he held my hand, and looked me in the eyes.
“You don’t have to do this, I can do it for you, or we can just not tell them” he looked at the TV man. “We’ve never really told this to anybody, because… well Sonea wouldn’t allow it”
“Alex I can do this, I’ve had my time to get over it, it’s in the past”
“You know some things you never recover completely from”
“I know, thank you very much Dr know it all” I looked sadly at Alex, who couldn’t help but smile at my comment; he sat back down in his seat.
“So I take it something happened at this party?” I directed my attention to the TV man.
“Yes…” I paused. “At this party, I went with a guy named Mick, I hadn’t really ever talked to him before, but for teenagers at our age, that’s pretty normal, you just have to with someone. So I went with Mick, and everything started out normally, he got me drinks, and I talked to my best friend Anna and her date, when suddenly out of nowhere I got ill, now I had never really been to a party before, so I didn’t know if it was anything near normal, I just knew I had to get out of there” I paused and looked at Alex, just to be sure he was still in his seat.
“Well Mick offered to follow me outside, and at that time I blacked out” I paused. “I woke up, and I was running, I couldn’t really see anything, so I blacked out again, and then I woke up and found Alex” I laughed at the memory.
“Alex was freaking out about something, I remember him saying; Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, over and over”
“Well what was I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know… I just thought it was fun, it was probably why I even woke up”
“Wait were you even awake at that time?” Alex questioned me.
“I don’t know, everything from that exact moment is a little blurry”
“Wait so I never understood, what happened when you blacked out the first time?”
I looked shocked at him, and then looked down at the ground; my hands clenched my hands on the arm of the chair.
“Mick tried to have involuntary sex with her”
“You mean, she nearly got raped?!” I knew it was too much, the tears spilled from my face, and I held my breath, so the whole world wouldn’t hear me cry.
“Mom!” Alex called.
“On it! on it!” Margret put her hands on my shoulders, and got me up from the chair, she led me out behind and into a bathroom.

----

I watched Sonea disappear, I couldn’t really talk while I watched her, so it was half ended words that came from my mouth until she was out of sight.
“Then what?”
“Well as Sonea so kindly pointed out, I was panicking really much, and as a crazy solution, my mind told me to bring her home” I squirmed uncomfortably in the chair, I couldn’t help but glance in the direction of where Sonea had headed. “I drove Sonea to my apartment, she slept in my bed, and I was on the couch. She woke in the middle of the night because of nightmares from the night; she didn’t relax until I sat with her and just played her music, Sonea can always relax when she listens to the right kind of music” I looked at the door Sonea had exited again, then I heard the sounds of her crying, I squirmed in the chair. I looked from the camera to the door, and then back at the TV man, he smiled at me.
The crying grew louder, and I knew I couldn’t manage.
“I’m coming princess” I mumbled as I jumped from the chair and ran to the door, I heard the sound come from the nearest bathroom, I stormed through the door, and found Sonea. My mom and Anna tried to calm her down, she was sitting in the far corner of the room, and she was screaming.
I bolted right past mom and Anna, and sat down in front of her. I cupped her face, and made her look at me.
“Shhh Sonea I’m here!” she opened her arms for me, and I pulled her into me.
“She wouldn’t let us touch her” I heard Anna mumble.”Let’s leave them alone for a while” my mom said, and I heard several footsteps leave.

----

“What do you think about Sonea?”
“Well she’s already a part of the family; you know I always wanted a girl, Sonea is everything and more than what I dreamed of, but most importantly of all, she makes Alex happier than I have ever seen him”
“Has there ever been any problems with her?”
“There was the time she decided to run away from home, and Will here had to go out in a snow storm and bring her to our house, it was the night Sonea’s dad found out, it broke Alex’s heart, you know I haven’t seen him cry since he was small, but that night he couldn’t be stopped. But then Will came home, and he brought us the greatest gift this family ever received, Alex immediately took care of her, and she’s been staying here since that day”
“What does her father say about all of this?”
“He’s angry that we ‘stole’ his daughter, when all we did was welcome her to a loving house, it’s his own fault, he pushed her out, and naturally we would never deny Sonea happiness and a roof over her head”
“When did you first meet Sonea?”
“In the hospital” Will said, the interviewer looked shocked.
“Ah yes! That’s right, we met her when she and Alex was there at the same time, oh they gave us a good scare then, when we heard Alex was in the hospital, we took the first flight home”
“I think it’s around that time we heard about Sonea from Alex for the first time, he referred to her as a really nice student at first, then she seemed to move up to a sweet girl, and then suddenly she was there on a visit, we were only there for one of her visits, then we had to leave for the world of Hol-lywood”
“And what did you think of her, after you had just met her in the hospital?”
“Well I was shocked, I must say, but as I thought of it, she was a really nice girl, really helpful, she even offered to get us some coffee, but then Alex woke up and… well they can tell you the story”

---

“So where were we?” the interviewer asked.
“Around the party” I said slowly.
“Oh yeah! So you ended up staying at Alex’s apartment Sonea, what was that like?”
“Well it wasn’t really that weird like you’d imagine it would be, but it was more like staying at a really good friend’s house” I said happily.
“That didn’t concern you at all?”
“Not me, but Alex was freaking out, even though he didn’t think I saw it” I laughed at Alex, who only could smile back.
“Weren’t your parents worried?”
“I told them I stayed at Anna’s house, and her mom covered for us”
“I drove her to Anna’s house later that day” Alex pointed out. “And her dad didn’t suspect a thing”
“I’m not the lying kind of person and I do feel bad, that I never told my parents the entire truth, but that was just the way, it had to be” I followed up.
“So what happened then?”
“Well Alex decided to tell Mr. Barrowman about what Mick had done, and that got him expelled” I looked sweetly at Alex. “And I still haven’t thanked him for that”
“You’re welcome prin- Sonea” Alex blushed and looked at the camera, I blushed too, my pet name had almost been revealed to the entire world. I don’t know why Alex started calling me princess, but I loved it when he did, I never thought I would like being called a princess, but when it’s Alex, eve-rything is lovely.
“So what happened then?”
“I guess I had some shock days, then one day, out of nowhere I started to cry, I don’t think I’ve ever cried that much, well I guess I cried more the day dad tried to break us up, but he should have known he couldn’t do that” I shook my head at the thought of him trying.
“So that’s what brought you together, that was a sweet story”
“We done already?” I smiled, and looked at Alex.
“Is there more to the story?”
“Much more” Alex breathed. “Looks like you’re stuck here for a while” he joked at me.
I looked threatening at him, but ended up smiling. “I think you should tell the story, I’ll go get a glass of water” I smiled and left my chair. Alex smiled after me, as he sat himself in my abandoned chair.
I met Anna and Seth in the kitchen.
“It’s so tiring being on TV!” I complained.
“Where’s Alex?” Seth asked.
“I’m punishing by leaving him with the camera crew and everyone who’s gonna watch that shit” I laughed evilly.
“Poor Alex!” Anna laughed.
“Yeah… you want a cookie?” Seth handed me one.

Alex’s Pov:
“I guess the most horrible feeling I have ever had, was when I saw Sonea in so much pain, and I wasn’t able to do anything to help her”
“So you said there was more? What happened?”
“Well… a few days passed and I was out shopping” I looked at the camera then back at the reporter, I decided not to tell them I was in the comic section. “I spotted Mick, and figured I’d follow him to see what he was up to” I paused. “Un fortunately I wasn’t able to stop him before he had jumped Sonea, I tried to run after him, but he was gone before I could look around” “The police searched the school, but they didn’t find any sign of Mick” I quickly said.
“So Mick was still out there?”
“Yes…”

Sonea’s Pov.
When I came back, Alex had already told nearly the whole story. He was talking about the parent meeting, when I sat down in his former seat.
“Hey” I said happily.
“Where have you been?” Alex wondered out loud.
“Oh here and there, you know, oh and I’ve been doing my homework” I smiled.
“Is that so?” he laughed.
“Yeah”
“So where are we at?” I looked at the interviewer; he looked just about as tired as Alex.
“Just after the meeting, nearly at the end”
“Oh goodie, let me tell the rest, you can go have a break”
“You sure?”
“Yeah Seth’s found some cookies, go get some before Anna accidently gives them all to Padols”
“Oh God no, okay see you later, have to save my dog” Alex hastily walked towards the kitchen.
“He loves his dog” I explained.
“So your parents discovered, what happened?”
“Well my dad dragged me home; my mom was kinda shocked and acted likewise, at home my brothers sat and waited, I don’t think they’d expected what they were met with”
“What do you mean?”
“Well for starters we were all yelling and screaming, I did most of the screaming might I add” I smiled to myself at the last remark, when I looked back at all the drama and tears, it seemed so ab-surd, that the only thing left I could do was smile.
The interviewer seemed stunned at the truthfulness, so I figured I’d continue.
“So basically he meaning my dad, gave me a choice: Leave Alex or leave the house, well his exact words were something like as long as you live under my roof and you are my daughter I will not allow this, so I chose, and now he’s just mad because I followed my heart” I crossed my arms.
“So you what? Ran away from home?” the interviewer laughed.
“That’s exactly what I did” I paused. “I jumped out my window and ran into the woods, then ironi-cally I got stuck, and Alex’s dad came and helped me out”
“Wow” was all the interviewer could manage to croak out.
“I’ve lived here for the past couple of weeks”
“You two have really sacrificed a lot, to be together” the interviewer looked dreamily out into space.
“Yeah it’s been rough, but it’s worthwhile, I’m happier now than I’ve ever been” I smiled; I spotted Alex and motioned for him to join.
“When are we at?”
“Done!” I smiled wide.
“Really?”
“Yeah… about time too, look it’s dark outside!”
“Any last comments?”
“Yeah actually I have!” I stood up from my seat.
“Dad no matter how hard you try, you can’t break me and Alex up, we’re together, and we aren’t gonna part, so please just accept this, so I can at least see my brothers again, thank you that was all” I ended my last comment, and Alex squeezed my hand tight so I knew it was okay.

“Okay thank you for your time, it was really nice talking to you”
“You’re welcome, come again soon, and don’t hesitate to call if you need an interview” Alex shook the interviewers hand; he was the last crew member to leave the Truman house.

“I’m sooo tired!” I complained.
“Yeah me too, luckily we can just chill the rest of the day”
“Yeah that’s nice” we looked at each other, Alex looked really tired, I probably did so too.
Upon studying Alex’s face, I realized I liked everything about him. Alex had slightly visible smiling wrinkles around his mouth and one almost invisible on his forehead, even the small flaws; like the scar he had under his lower lip, and the shadows under his tired eyes seemed to shine as purely as gold.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” Alex asked and felt around his mouth, to make sure he didn’t have anything embarrassing food leftovers.
“No… it’s just you are so perfect”
“Wha- ehat- what?” Alex stumbled over his words; I saw the blush form in his cheeks.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you”
“You don’t embarrass me, it’s just I’m not used to getting compliments” Alex looked down at the coffee table, I placed a hand on his cheek and made him look at me.
“You better get used to it, because from what I see, you’ll be receiving a whole lot of compliments” and upon saying these words, I saw Alex’s blush grow more and more powerful.
“Sonea please” Alex whispered and looked down.
“Alex don’t you understand? I don’t care that the world sees us, sees this, it’s not just you in this relationship, yes you are the man, and I’m the woman. But I’m allowed to speak too, maybe it’s not every woman who wants this, but I want to be able to, to tell you these things without us both feel-ing embarrassed” I said sweetly.
Alex looked at me, like I wasn’t me, like I was some stranger who had just sat down and but a hand on his cheek.
“Sonea… I…”
“Alex I want to be with you, I think you’ve noticed that, but I’m still young. I have to admit I’m slightly frightened, I mean if we weren’t together, then everything we do wouldn’t be in the TV, but I haven’t ever had a boyfriend, and so I’m not so experienced in this whole thing, but you’ve had experience in this scenario, I just don’t want to be a fool in love, who’s being broadcast live on MTV”
“Sonea” Alex took my hand in his, and looked me deep in the eyes. “You will never be a fool on TV, because every little thing you do is so beautiful and magical that it takes my breath away, I have to be honest, and tell you that I can’t make sure people won’t laugh at us, but we will be together, and we will meet any critique together as well” Alex muttered to me while rubbing my hand.
I smiled the best I could, because truly I was a little sad at this, but he was right, and I loved the fact that he was honest with me. People would be laughing at us, because of our age difference and be-cause of the fact that he was a teacher and I was his student.
“But Sonea you don’t ever have to be afraid that you aren’t experienced, yes I have had experience in relationships, but never in any relationship like ours. I haven’t ever heard of one such as ours, which was not in a movie.” My eyes filled with tears as I heard Alex utter these words, but it was okay because these were tears of joy.
“I am as inexperienced as you are, but I know this will not end in tears, because we are like two tree roots, that found each other in the darkness of the earth and we’ve grown around each other, and no matter how much people try to pull us apart, we will never break apart” I looked down, and spotted the wet marks of where tears had landed, I realized tears were falling from my eyes.
“Alex?”
“Yes?”
“What about when we grow older?”
“We’ll think about that when the time is nearing that point, but for now, let’s enjoy our freedom as young fools” Alex laughed and I joined in.
“I thought you said I’d never be a fool”
“Well not you, but together we can be a foolish pair, and have the world laugh down at us, but that won’t matter, because we’ll have each other”
“I must have done something right, to deserve you in my life” Alex paused, then took his time think-ing, he squeezed my hand. “Sonea… will you move into my apartment with me?”
My breath stuck in my throat, and I forgot how to breathe, I panicked and tried to get some air, but it was like there were none.
“Sonea are you okay?” Alex panicked, as he saw me trying to breathe but failing. “Breathe dammit!” he grabbed my face. I got dizzy from the lack of oxygen, and supported my hands on his shoulders. Alex forced my mouth open, and tried to make me breathe that way.
“What’s happening!?” Margret came running along with Will.
“She’s not breathing!” Alex yelled desperately.
“Here let me” Margret smacked a hand across my check, and it was like I was pulled out of a tub of water. I gasped for air, as I got back to normal, Margret and Will waited along with an impatient Alex.
“Y-yhes” I breathed, over and over again I kept repeating it until I was able to say it without trouble. “Yes I’ll move in with you”