Hitchhiking now would be more dangerous, and the chances of getting a job were probably slim, but they were still her only two choices.
"Wow, I didn't expect you to eat all that. Dessert?" The guy offered.
She looked over at him sitting across from her gazing at her with those extraordinary green eyes. He'd been so kind to her and offered a comfort she was desperate for. It was the kind of comfort you felt when you had someone to take care of you.
Maybe she should have told him her name. At least then she might know his. In the trace of humor, she had left her crazy mind had decided on calling him Mr. Pretty Boy. Just because he was pretty to look at with those thick dark lashes, striking green eyes and shiny blonde hair that glistened in the lights. Lexie thought with those looks and his athletic physique, he was probably by far the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen in her life. And she'd just eaten like a little pig in front of him. Her mother and sisters would have certainly told her off if they were here.
It might have seemed silly not to tell him her name, but she'd been scared and completely on edge. And... she was embarrassed and ashamed of herself. It was like she couldn't bring herself to tell anyone that she was the same Lexie - Alexandra Ramone - who'd won a scholarship to MIT, and then dropped out.
Who did something like that?
No, better to leave it at Claire. Claire could be anybody.
"No, I think I'm okay now." She glanced outside as a bunch of rowdy people went past the window.
If she was going back on the road, she should leave now. It would be a hundred times scarier than before, but she had to do it. She figured she'd spend an hour trying to hitchhike. If that didn't work she'd try and find somewhere to stay for the rest of the night, like another hotel lobby. Then tomorrow she'd ask around for a job and try and find a shelter.
When the waitress came over to take their empty plates, the guy ordered a large chocolate Sundae and looked over to her. "Are you sure you don't want dessert? This place does a wicked Sundae." He offered a warm smile she found herself lost in.
"Okay, thanks." She might have been full, but it was wise to accept since she didn't know where her next meal was coming from.
"She'll have a medium." He told the waitress who added it to her notepad and scuttled away when she was called by the churlish man behind the counter. When Lexie looked back to Mr. Pretty Boy, he was already looking at her. He had that curious look in his eyes again, and she could tell he was waiting for her to start talking. They'd been here for a while now, and he'd tried hard to make conversation with her.
"So, do you go to school or college?" He was trying again.
She had to give him credit because Lexie had barely said a word between waiting for the food to come and then wolfing down the said food. He seemed to be genuinely interested to know about her. And, he seemed harmless. After what she'd been through she couldn't help her hypersensitivity around guys, even if he seemed harmless. So far he'd helped her out a lot, and fed her. Maybe it was ok to tell him a bit about herself.
"I used to go to college."
"Oh, which one?" He straightened up and looked eager for her to continue.
"MIT."
She didn't know if it was because she said it so casually, but he laughed. It was then she realized how ridiculous she sounded. And, he probably didn't believe her for one of two reasons. The first was that you never just happened to run into someone from the highly esteemed Michigan Institute of Technology hitchhiking in the middle of the desert, without a cent to their name. Secondly, he might have just thought she didn't look smart enough.
There was an obvious possible third reason. Lexie had never looked the stereotypical type of person that might go to MIT, whatever that was. Back in high school people were always thrown by it because her sisters were boy crazy cheerleaders who loved shopping and doing their nails. People took one look at her and thought she was the same and were often shocked when they found out about her love for the sciences and computers. No one would guess it to look at her. It didn't help that Lexie loved to shop just as much as her sisters. She just was never the cheerleading, guy crazy type.
"That's a good one Claire." He looked at her in complete disbelief. She deserved that since she hadn't told him her name. She did, however, find herself interested to know what he thought.
"Don't you think I look smart enough?" she asked.
She waited for him to say something like, "Oh no, of course, it's not that," but he didn't. Instead, he laughed even more.
She shook her head at him. Again she'd been mistaken. He wasn't a nice guy. He was a jerk. A good looking jerk, but weren't they normally?
Her cheeks felt hot from her embarrassment as she stood to leave. "Thank you for dinner." She wouldn't forget her manners.
"Hey," he caught her arm and pulled her back. "You just ordered dessert."
"Suddenly I don't want it anymore."
"I'm sorry for laughing. It's a joke though right? Besides, look at you. You don't look like the standard geek with the terrible clothes, thick glasses and bad teeth in braces." He raised his eyebrows and nodded. "And the girl ones are supposed to have awful hair."
It sounded funny, but she was in no mood for laughing.
"Plus you look about sixteen," he added.
"I'll be twenty next month, and seriously did you just say girl ones?" she snapped.
He laughed again. "Come on. I just meant that the girl ones, don't normally look... beautiful." He offered a wider smile that displayed even, white teeth which contrasted pleasingly with his tanned skin.
She stared at him in surprise, feeling her resolve break down. Did he just call her beautiful?
It wasn't that no one had ever told her that before. Lexie had always been told that she and her sisters had inherited their mother's beauty. Whenever she visited Brazil, her Avo always said that Lexie and her sisters looked like different versions of their mother. However, it was usually Tamar, her eldest sister, who got the most compliments since she was literally the splitting image of their mother. As a result, Tamar was known as the beautiful one, Hayley the crazy and adorable one and Lexie was the smart one.
This guy, who she just nicknamed Mr. Pretty Boy, had just called her beautiful. The irony in that was she didn't think there was a time in her life when she looked worse. Her hair was a matted mess, and she was pretty sure there were bugs in it. Her face... well she hadn't really seen that in days from the absence of a mirror, but when last she checked it was awful with its red blotchiness and uneven skin tone. And, she'd had red eyes. Her mother in her straightforward, no beat about the bush way of speaking would have said she looked like a bruxa, a witch, and even her father - who was kinder in his manner - would have agreed.
Mr. Pretty Boy tugged at her arm. Her chest tightened as she realized he was still holding on to her and she was surprised to feel the scatter of nerves that raced across her skin, making her feel giddy as she looked at him. What was worse was the warmth that rushed over her when the corner of his mouth slid up into a sexy half smile. She pursed her lips together in an attempt to resist the effect he had on her.
"Come on. You just ordered dessert so you definitely can't leave. Finish dinner with me." There was a gentle softness in his voice.
He made it sound like they'd been on a date. She looked back to her seat and lowered into it. Lexie then looked back to him and narrowed her eyes. He may have charmed her into staying, but she wasn't going to allow him to believe she was dumb. Seriously, considering all she'd been through and the worries she had ahead of her it didn't matter, but it was in her nature to set people straight when they made certain assumptions about her.
"You still don't believe me, do you?"
He grimaced. "I come from a family of investment bankers. It's in my blood to be skeptic." He shrugged sheepishly.
"Okay, ask me something?" she challenged.
He thought for a moment and then smiled as if he just got some idea he was certain she couldn't answer. "Relativi
ty. Tell me about that."
"Relativity? I learned that when I was like twelve." She did, at science camp.
"Well if you really know tell me."
She straightened up preparing herself just like she used to before she had to do a presentation on a piece of research or project. Lexie was going to enjoy putting this guy in his place, especially with such an easy topic.
"Einstein's theory of relativity described the invariance effects on the speed of light. Particularly the alteration of the meaning of space and time by the motion of an observer. It predicts phenomena like time dilation and length contraction. But it can't explain how the passage of time is tied to an increase in disorder, specifically allowing for theoretical time travel through wormholes, and different rates of passage of time based on velocity and acceleration." The excitement that filled her as she explained was unreal. She hadn't felt like this in such a long time that it practically filled her weak body with energy.
The stunned look on Mr. Pretty Boy's face was classic. "Hmm..." was all he could say.
"Shall I continue? There's a whole bunch of branch off theories, and I would have to take it right back to Isaac Newton and do diagrams. There always has to be drawings."
When he didn't answer, she grabbed a napkin from the silver holder in the center of the table and retrieved her pen from the side pocket of her bag. She started writing out the mathematical formula to calculate speed, but he smoothed his hand over hers to stop her.
"Stop already. I have no idea what any of that means. I don't even know what you just said." He held up his hands, laughing, "I believe you." He sighed and straightened up, looking at her with keen eyes. "What happened to you? Why aren't you still at MIT?"
Talking about something she loved nearly made her forget her current situation.
Nearly.
She gazed into his eyes and felt in awe at the wealth of concern that exuberated from them. It had been such a long time since anyone cared about her, or looked at her like that. Lexie's hands tightened on the edge of the table and as she stared back at him she watched his concern turn to curiosity.
"Hey, what are the chances of seeing me again? There's nothing like talking about your problems with someone like me. Unless..." he narrowed one green eye and stared at her thoughtfully.
"Unless what?"
"Unless the trouble you're in is that you killed someone and you're running from the law."
She drew in a sharp gasp, hoping he didn't seriously believe that.
He nodded. "Yes, that could be it." All she could do was stare. "And... I could be next, and you waited for me to eat too much so I'd be too full to run away."
Lexie looked at him and really tried hard to keep a straight face in line with all the turmoil of emotions that swirled within her. But, she just couldn't, she burst out laughing.
She actually laughed, and it resonated from a place deep within that used to be her. From the girl who always had a smile on her face. Always happy, always joking around with her sisters and her friends. Always laughing. The action felt foreign to her, and like she was hearing it from someone else.
"Is that a ha, ha laugh, or a muah ha, ha evil, I got you now laugh?" He laughed too and actually rubbed his hands together.
A tear ran down her cheek as she found herself feeling overwhelmed with the conflict of emotion that clutched at her insides. She tried to catch her breath to keep the tears at bay, although she knew it was useless. She covered her mouth as they came again and closed her eyes.
How had she managed to get so lost that she lost herself? How?
When she felt his warm hands cover over her other hand that rested limply on the table something soothing reached into her soul. The warmth of personal contact eased her ravaged mind. She chanced a look at him and saw nothing but tenderness and understanding within his eyes.
"Hey. Is what your running from that bad?" he asked. His voice calm and gaze steady.
All she could do was nod. The humor left his face and he tapped the top of her hand with his thumb. "Tell me what happened. Tell me what happened to you."
She tucked a wayward strand behind her ear and pulled in a breath.
"I... just got out of an abusive relationship." She'd never said that out loud. Saying it felt strange, and she couldn't believe she was talking about herself.
Lexie didn't know how she could have been so wrong about Adam. That first night she met him in New York had seemed magical. But then maybe it would have to her young, inexperienced mind. He was six years older than her, seemed very sophisticated and intelligent, and completely mesmerized her with his confident, forward manner. She couldn't believe she'd been so wrong about him.
"I think he would have killed me." She breathed. "I just ran, and never stopped." Her voice broke.
A deep sadness washed over her handsome strangers face.
"I'm sorry. Running was the right thing to do." He stated, a muscle clenched along his jaw.
"I just wished I'd left sooner, or planned it better." She shook her head in dismay.
"Where did you travel from?"
"New York."
"Wow. I take it that Vegas isn't your destination." He leaned his head to the side.
"No. I'm, um... heading to San Francisco. Its home."
"What about MIT? Are you going back in September?"
She shook her head. "I can't. I'd love nothing more, but I can't. I got a scholarship, and I barely finished my first year." She'd met Adam during spring break.
A few months after they got together Adam lost his job and asked her to lend him the money she had. He said he'd give it back, no problem, but he never did. She found work doing different jobs, but that didn't even cover a fraction of the money she needed to live on campus. That's how she ended up moving in with him. When she did things changed, he changed and became more violent, stopping her from going to her classes and having contact with anyone.
"I met Adam before I finished my first year. I managed to do one month of my second year, and that was it. Going to classes made him angry, and eventually, it was safer for me to stop."
She remembered the last time she attempted to go to class. He grabbed her and shoved her into the wall. She'd hit her head so hard it left a mark for days. Then he threatened to kick her out.
"My mom found out I'd dropped out and tried to contact me and we had such a big argument. Well, it was me mostly arguing. I thought I knew what I was doing." She shook her head. "I worked so hard to get that scholarship. I wanted to go to MIT more than anything so that I could use my talents to change the world and save people's lives." The thought was almost laughable since right now she couldn't even take care of herself.
"You still can." He looked at her like he really believed that. "Have you contacted your family?"
Lexie shook her head. "I can’t. I haven't seen anyone in over a year. I put them through a lot."
He narrowed his eyes. "A year?"
"Yes. That's why I need to find my own way back home." Even if she had to walk.
Knowing her family, as much as she'd thought they'd forgotten about her, she was certain they'd gone to Boston looking for her perhaps several times. They would have contacted everyone she knew and gotten the police involved. Adam hated the police of course with his bad dealings, and never gave his real name for anything.
The only thing left for her family to do was put her name and picture in a newspaper and hope that she would see it. That was the level of desperation they'd gone through, and it just made her wonder what else they did to try and find her.
"You know what my philosophy is? Do you want to hear it?"
"Yes." She tried to sound interested, although her insides were crumbling.
"Things happen sometimes, and we all make mistakes."
She waited for him to continue and add to it but he didn't.
"So I should... accept that I made a mistake?"
"Uh huh. You accept it, deal with it, and move on," he said with conviction. "Either that or
you let it consume you."
She understood his point, but she didn't know how she would begin to move on from her mistakes.
Lexie offered a small smile and bit the inside of her lip. "Thank you so much for being so nice to me. And for dinner."
"My pleasure. I'm really sorry for all that's happened to you."
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing her. It was sweet of him to sympathize and sit here listening so intently, but she wasn't his problem.
"Thanks. I should give this back to you." She shrugged out of the jacket. "And I should get going too." The fear of what lay ahead returned to her mind. At least she was full and feeling a lot stronger than earlier.
"No, and keep the jacket. I gave it to you." He smiled. "I'm going to help you."
"What?" She didn't understand what he meant.
"I'll get you back to San Francisco."
She stared at him and wondered if somehow she'd fallen asleep. She pulled in a breath when she saw him nod with enthusiasm and she blinked several times hoping she didn't indeed fall asleep.
"What?" She had to ask again.
"I'll get you back to San Francisco." He repeated. "If you're tired, I can get you a room somewhere nice, and then I'll arrange a flight for tomorrow, or we can go to the airport now. Your call."
"You can't be serious." She was shaking her head.
"I am."
"You've helped enough, and it's all too much." It was.
"Don't you think you've been through enough?" An easy smile played at the corners of his mouth drawing her attention to his handsome profile that kindled a sort of passionate beauty.
She placed her hand on her heart and pulled in a steady breath. "But you don't even know me." Her voice withered.
"I know you need help, and as an eagle scout I'm not allowed to ignore someone who needs my help." He smiled and nodded. "Especially a damsel in distress." The more she talked to him the more she realized he was quite a character. She liked him. It was nice talking to him and feeling the glimmer of hope he'd given her, but she didn't feel right accepting his offer. It really was too much.
Complete Me Page 3
