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She capitulates way easier than I thought she would, which fills me with elation While she may be as confused as I am as to the weirdness of our current relationship, she definitely wants to spend more time with me

Or at the least, isn’t averse to the idea

It only takes ten e and for us to hit the road She assures her dad she’ll be back well beforeif I haveher ho I’ll text Dave later to let hie to fill the aard void with sh that Vale pays no attention when I leave the beltline, nor does she seem to pay any attention e drive farther north, away fronal in preparation to pull into hborhood does she sort of jolt in her seat

"Where are we?" she asks hesitantly

"My subdivision"

"You said ere going to a uarded, her posture stiff and unsure

"We can watch a movie atof my shoulders

As I navigate h the dark roads lit periodically with streetla, Vale crosses her arms over her chest in a defensive move She almost sniffs with suspicion "If you hadn’t just coet me and let"

"Why would you say that?" I ask her

"Because you lied toout to a movie"

"Okay," I say as I pull into e door opener and pullit in park, I turn to her "So I lied I wanted some time alone for us to talk"

"Talk? About what?" she asks, but I can tell she knows damn hat I want to talk about

I don’t answer but just stare at her through the glooe lit only by the electronics from my stereo system I continue to stare at her until she looks a bit unco her head