Head on Collision

It's about 5:30a.m. I kind of forgot I was laid under a tree outside and not in my bed inside. The sun that came up was so bright, I thought I was blind. It was warm though and that was all I could ask for. A little bit of warmth after a cold night. Although, I have only had 3 hours sleep, so I am knackered. Today, my journey will consist of dragging my heavy bags through this city in hopes that someone will take me in. Or at least until I find a hotel I could stay in.

I checked my phone, just to see if my mum had noticed I was gone yet, but just as I expected, I had no missed calls or texts from her. I know I didn't expect her to notice, it still hurt me. Has Barry really took my place already?

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice someone had been stood watching me from behind the tree I had slept under the previous night. He didn't seem weird, and I don't think he was there long. He made me jump all the same.

"Woah, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you, no need to jump" He said to me as I turned around.

Hm.. He was good looking. Very good looking. He had longish, brown hair - in an emo style I suppose you could say. He had gorgeous chocolate brown eyes that twinkled as he smiled at me. His smile. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life! I took in the way he looked and replied to him hesitantly saying "Oh.. I.. Er.. Didn't realise that, er, you was there. That's all."
"It's fine, I just wanted to see if you was alright. I, er, saw your bags and they look pretty heavy. Did you sleep here last night?" he asked me.

He seemed very polite, but why was someone like him making sure someone like me was okay? Maybe he's just friendly. "Erm, yeah.. I kind of got into an argument with my mum and ran away. The bags are really heavy + I had no where to sleep, so I just found the largest tree hoping no-one would see me and dumped my stuff down." I replied to him. Why was I telling this stranger why I was here? I don't even know his name!

No sooner had I thought it, he said "Oh, well I have a spare bedroom + you look like you need a place to stay. I'm Alex by the way. We can talk more when we get to my house, if you want to go to my house that is."
"Erm. Yeah. Why not? My name's Lauren by the way. You wouldn't mind carrying a bag or two, would you? I don't mean to sound cheeky or anything, it's just they're really heavy an-" Alex cut me off before I could say anything else.
"Of course I will, Lauren. Anything for a girl as beautiful as yourself." He told me with a smile on his face.
"Erm.. Thanks?" I replied.

I've never been good with compliments and I've always been shy. "Hey, hey! No need to be shy around me. I'm not gonna bite. Anyway, there's something I really need to ask you, but not here. We'll wait 'til we get to mine." he sounded a little offended.
"Er, I'm sorry. Can we hurry to yours? I don't like being left on a cliff hanger" I asked him. I felt a little pushy, but hey! I am tired.
"Ok. Follow me." he replied to me, picking up the two heaviest bags.
"Thanks Alex." I shot him a smile, and noticed his pretty little face go a light shade of pink. He had a large grin on his face. He was so cute.

I could feel myself blushing just being stood next to him. Christ, if I knew I was going to bump into someone like Alex I'd have runaway ages ago!

We suddenly stopped outside quite a large white looking house. The garden was neatly trimmed with an outline of brightly coloured flowers. There was a large pond round the back, and I swear I saw a little duckling poking it's tiny head out of the mound of green reeds. There was a fancy little white wooden bridge crossing over the pond, leading to what looked like a tree house. Alex noticed me examining the beautiful garden and the tree house and explained that the tree house was his and no-one was allowed in there, unless they were with him. He told me it was his thinking place, and he'd spent a lot of time in there over the last few months.

We stood in silence for what seemed to be an eternity, even though it was only two minutes. I plucked up the courage to ask him something about what he'd said in the conversation 5 minutes earlier.

"Erm, Alex?" I asked cautiously.
"Yeah?" he replied. He turned to look at me and I noticed that his face seemed to be full of sadness. The sparkle in his eyes had turned dull.
"Are you okay?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
"Eh, yeah. I'm... I'm fine." he replied. He winced at the question. He was hiding something. Something big and I could tell that it was causing him a lot of pain just to think about it. I decided it would be best if I didn't pry any further.
"I know you're not fine. You can't fool me, but I hope you get through what ever it is that's troubling you." I tried to make him believe my words.

It kind of worked, I think. The sparkle came back, but only slightly and he took both of my hands, held them and whispered "You're good at making people feel better about themselves. Thank you. Anyway! Should we go inside?" he gave me a cheeky little smile, which really did warm my heart. I'm guessing it warmed my face too as Alex decided to say "You're cute when you blush, by the way."