Three Thousand Miles (14 page)

“Go on.”

“She met up with her former boyfriend and I guess she stared things up with him again. She has left my
f
ather and has now moved to Italy to be with that bastard.” I gasp, I am finding this difficult to take in. I am not sure what I can say to him.

“I am sorry, I had no idea.” He walks over to me and takes my hand.

“I don’t expect you to care, after everything you have been through. However, you are the only person I have told about this.” I am amazed by his confession and I am very aware that he is holding my hand. I do not want to offend him by pulling back but I do not want to feel close to him
,
in this way. He is just a guy that I know and
,
not well
enough
,
to
feel comfortable with him holding me. I try to ignore his big clammy hand and focus on his face.

“I won’t tell anybody and
,
I do care, after what I went through it really puts things into perspective. You have to feel lucky for the things you have in life. I know you feel annoyed right now, but she is your mom. You love her, and she loves you.” He lets go of my hand and runs it again through his hair.

“No
,
she doesn’t care about me; if she did then she would not have left us.”

“Marco, you could have a much worse mom than you do. Believe
m
e.” He looks miffed and says,

“Y
our mom is great, what are you talking about.”

“Not my mom, but Adrian’s mother, she wasn’t the best. In fact I don’t
think that there is a worse mother,
out there
,
than her.”

“I don’t care; my mom is out of my life. She must have had all this inside her, waiting to come out. I can never forgive her.” I am starting to lose my patience with him. Something about him annoys me. I take a deep breath and
I
try to put my frustration of him out of my mind.

“You are not thinking straight y
ou will, in time, forgive her.” H
e shakes his head rapidly.

“No, I cannot see that.” He leans back over and takes my hand again. I sit uneasy but again I do not want to offend him. He looks up from the bed and into my eyes.

“What happened with you and that British dude?” I close my eyes a
nd remember how Adrian dislikes
Marco.

“It’s… complicated.” I say.

“Have you broken up with him?” I feel even more
annoyed
with him and I do not want to have this conversation with him.

“I am not sure,”

“Either you are with him or not.” He says bitterly, I do not like his tone.

“I haven’t seen
him since …
the shooting.” He gasps and looks almost glad.

“Wow, that’s pretty bad.” He says smugly.
I hate the look that is on his face; I
almost want to slap it off.

“No, he just needs space, everything will work out.” I say, believing my own words.

“If you say so, tell me babe, do I even have a slight chance with you?” I am stunned by his forwardness. I desperately try to search for a nice way to put what I am about to say. The truth is
,
there is about a one in a billion chance that I would ever be attracted to him. He is simply ordinary compar
ed to Adrian. He has nothing
about him, which would lure me in. I now find his looks plain an
d nothing matched with Adrian’s. H
is poor personality and lack of people skills, also affects the way I perceive him. Marco could never match up to Adrian and sometimes the very sight of him repulses me. He has a very
crude demeanour; he does not show respect or compassion to anyone. He treats girls as if they are dirt. He sleeps around and blames the girl afterwards, he could never be courteous in anyway and I would never trust him. I look at his deep black eyes as he awaits my response. I still feel a bit sorry for the
guy,
after all
,
it must be hard when a parent has an affair. His pain is showing and it is not nice to see. I look to him and
I
think of my words,

“Marco, I won’t lie to you; I do not think that I would ever be into you that way we are too different.”

“I see, at least you are honest. I don’t and never will stand a chance with you.” My heart begins to race a little more rapidly. I hate this type of confrontation. I wish that I had not asked him to c
ome to my room. It is hard for to be
around
him
and I cannot stand the awkwardness
that
I am feeling.

“W
hy would you want me?” H
e reaches out again and twines his fingers into mine.

“Because, you are the most special and unique girl I have ever met. No one cares the way you do, and Alanna you are also the most beautiful girl
that I have ever seen
.” I feel my face flush hot at his words. I untangle my fingers from his and as I do, he looks a little hurt. I smile at him and try to phrase my next sentence kindly.

“I am flattered, but you deserve a girl that will love you. That girl is not me and I feel the sooner you realise that, the better. I want you to move on and find love, find a girl and let her make you happy.” I say proudly.

“But where can I find her? All the girls I know are not even worth thinking about.”

“That’s nasty, but she is out there, all you have to do is look.” He sighs and does not re
spond. I turn around quickly as
I hear a knock at the door. I gently get up from the soft bed and walk over the door. I push the heavy door open and I find Michael standing in the doorway. He has a very wicked smirk on his
face
and he is more gorgeous than ever.

“I am glad to see your pretty little face staring back me. That Sophie girl has a face like thunder,” he says in a very sarcastic voice. I shoot him a disapproving glance.

“What do you want, Michael?” He looks me up and down as if to say you, you are what I want. I pretend that I do not notice his alluring looks.

“Relax, I just popped by to see if you are okay, you are okay, aren’t you?” I faintly smile at him and I push the door open a little further. Michael’s eyes flash hatred when he sees Marco sitting on my bed. He rushes in
to
the room and stands over Marco.

“What are you doing here?” Marco does not answer; I walk over and stand by Michael.

“Marco and I were talking, don’t start anything, Michael.” I say
firmly
. He glances at Marco and rolls his eyes very heavily. 

“I thought I told you not to speak to her again,” Marco looks frustrated and he quickly rises from the bed. He locks his eyes on Michaels and the two tall guys stare bizarrely at each other.

“What is it to you?” Marco says in a bitter voice. Michael steps even closer to him.

“It is everything to me, now leave.”

“Michael, come on don’t be like that. He wasn’t doing any harm.” I say trying to cool down the situation that is brewing. Michael turns to me and his broad nostrils are flared, he r
aises a dark eyebrow at me.

“Do you remember when that thing, assaulted you?” Marco is very angry at Michael’s comments. He gets even closer to Michael and puts his face right into his.

“Dude, I think that you have a problem with me.” Michael smirks,

“Y
es I do
and
,
for you
r
sake
,
I would suggest you leave
right now.” His voice lowers and I can tell that this is going to end badly. Marco grabs Michael by the
shirt and pulls him towards him. I see Michael raise his hand to hit out at him. However, I jump quickly between them.

“Stop it, I have
had
enough!” I say grabbing onto Michaels hand and pulling it away from Marco.

“Marco, I think
that
it’s time you left.” I say, defeated. Marco pulls his hands from Michael and straightens himself out. Michael stares with a deep smirk.

“This is not over dude!” Marco says as he storms out of the room. He slams the door behind him and I take my hand away from Michael
’
s. I walk over the bed and take a seat. My wound is hurting, from
the
sharpness of my dart between the two guys.

“I hate that bloke!” He says in a deep British accent. I roll my eyes at him. I am angry for the way he has acted. Marco is by no means the most important
person in my life. However, Michael
has no right to behave in the way
that
he did. I am not his, and he cannot tell me what to do.

“You look angry.” I tut at him,

“O
h, don’t give me that face, Alanna.” He says in a sarcastic tone. I do not reply to his words, instead, I maintain my huff. He walks over to me and sits next to me on my single be
d. I turn my head away from him -
childishly. He begins to get irritated and he pulls my face back around to him.

“You are mad me?” h
e says, still with his hand on my face. I look down and then back to him.

“Yes, I am mad at you.” He lets go of my face and wrinkles his forehead.

“Seriously, yo
u are mad at me over that idiot?”
I begin to get even angrier with him.

“Yes, what is your problem?”

“Excuse me?” He says very intensely.

“You heard me Michael, why do you still care?” He looks uneasy,

“Why wouldn’t I care?”

“You are with Katharine now; she should be your main priority.” He rubs his forehead and runs his fingers through his hair.

“Are you mad because I am with Katharine?”

“No, but I don’t understand why you are with her.” I say gazing into his ice blue eyes.

“What don’t you understand?” H
e says in a much less bitter tone.

“Why are you with her? I remember when you told me that you could never love her. What ch
anged?” Michael exhales as he think of his response.

“I got shot, and you chose him.” I feel tense at his words.

“There wasn’t a choice for me to make. I will always be sorry for what happened to you, but you should not settle for someone you don’t, truly love.”

“What makes you think that I do not love her?” He says again in very sarcastic voice.

“I know
that
you don’t, the look in your eyes tells me that.” I say, feeling guilty by
my
words. Katharine is my friend and I hate to do this to her. However, I would feel much worse if I let this go on. I know that she will only end up, hurt by him.

“I don’t have anyone else, the girl I truly want, is in love with another bloke.” I cannot look into his eyes as he says those words.

“You will find someone that
you love. The right girl is out there waiting for you. Do not spend your time moping over me. I am not worth the aggro.” He takes my hand,

“Y
ou are worth everything, and you were worth the bullet to my heart. It pains me to see you with him, but now that he is gone. Is there a chance for you and me?” I stare out at him, still with his strong hand in mine. I look into his sad eyes, and I cannot bear this. I stand up quickly, shocking him.

“What’s wrong?” He says.

“This is unbearable,”

“W
hat is?” I grab my hair nervously and run my fingers through it, I fling it behind me and some lose curls caresses my face. I exhale and
I
look again at Michael.

“Why do you want me? There are a million other girls out there, wh
o
are more suited to you than me.” Michael stands up and walks closer to me. He takes my hands in his and smiles at me.

“Alanna, no girl with ever mean as much to me as you do.”

“What about Katharine?”

“What about her?”

  “You cannot lead her on, it’s not fair to do that to her.”

“I won’t lead her on; I do care for her, but Alanna, if I had to choose between you and her, it would be you every time.” I feel awkward and I wish that this conversation never happened.

“Michael, I love Adrian, however he does not love me. I do not want to be with anyone other than him. I feel in myself that I would not want you to wait and hope that you and I can be together. If you feel that, you could love Katharine then be with her. If not, end it, b
efore it gets out of control.” H
e smirks and I feel that this is all a game to him. I hate to see him so smug. Katharine and I are not on speaking terms right now. However, I feel bad about how Michael is treating her. He obviously does not love her, and I feel that perhaps she thinks that he does. I hope that for both their sakes, they can figure this out, before it gets messy.