Fighting Trinity

“Yeah,” I said, my cheeks flushing.
“Why didn’t you?” he pushed on, walking right at my side now.
“It’s demeaning. Jay made a fool of herself.”
“Not really, since everybody followed her. I mean everyone but you.”
Still upset by not seeing Alex for awhile, I snapped. I spun to face him.
“Why do you care so much? Yeah, I’m the only girl that didn’t go ga-ga over you. Get over it!”
“Because I like it,” he said, and I could see sorrow twinkling in his brown eyes.
“I don’t tell the story to get girls, despite what you may think. I don’t want pity either. I just want people who like me for who I am, broken pieces and all.”
His words hit me hard, and I took a step back. Was I starting to believe him?
The answer was yes. Despite my best intentions, I had fallen hard for this boys story. I believed him completely, and I felt sorry for him. Worse, I was beginning to feel like I could trust him, and that was dangerous.
“I’m so sorry. I believe you.”
“Okay,” he said simply, but something changed. The sense of sorrow disappeared from his eyes. We walked the rest of the way to my house in silence. I turned and said goodbye to him before he continued.
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye,” he said, but he hesitated as it debating to say something else. So I waited.
“Trinity…Maybe I’m crazy, but you have this aura about you. You have a secret, one that you haven’t seen fit to share with anybody.”
With that, he turned and walked quickly away. I stood there frozen, staring after him. He didn’t look back. When I finally unfroze, he was already gone. Stiffly, I turned and walked into my house, still thinking about what he had said.
How had he figured me out so quickly? Was I that much of an open book, or was it just that he knew the signs?
What exactly were the signs anyway?
I went upstairs and tried hard to work on my homework for about an hour. It worked well for about half the time, but I couldn’t get his brown eyes and kind face out of my head. I needed Alex here, to remind me that Blake wasn’t important. That I could get through this without needing to confess to him. I had no idea why I felt so close to this boy, but for some reason, I did. But I could never clue him in, unlock that frozen shut door in the core of my being and open myself completely.
That would show the ultimate trust, the one that I “hadn’t seen fit,” to bestow on anybody.
And yet I felt like I was so close to giving it to a stranger.
Just then, the door opened downstairs. After two hours, Alex was home. I slammed the textbook that I have been (trying) to concentrate on shut, and raced downstairs.
I jumped into his arms.
“Hey,” he murmured into my hair. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just missed you,” I explained, a partial truth. He grinned.
“I missed you too. But I wasn’t actually gone that long.”
“Felt like forever,” I whispered, more to myself than to him. When he didn’t reply, I released him.
“Guess what?”
“Huh?”
“John’s working tonight, flying out to Colorado. It’s just going to be you, mom, and me.”
I smiled hugely. Tonight, I would be safe.
“That’s awesome!”
“So, what do you want to do?”
“Anything!” I shouted, twirling around like a ballerina.
He caught my arm, laughing.
“Jeez, calm down!” I stopped twirling and stood there, looking up at him. His beautiful golden eyes were locked onto mine, so I noticed when they lit up like the sky on New Years Eve.
I cocked my head slightly to the side.
“What?”
“I know what we’ll do. Lets go to a concert at the park!”
It was the perfect idea.