Serena

S e v e n

I give a  half-smile and slowly bob my head, "Erm, thank you."

He returns it with a genuine grin, "You're welcome. So, may I have permission to ask a few more questions?" Not seeing how it could hurt, I agree. "So let's say you're stuck on an island and can only bring three things. What are they?"

My head tilts back slightly at his random question. "I guess a machete, something to start a fire with, and...I don't know, a survival book?"

He nods, looking amused. "Hmph, no one has ever said a survival book before. I like it," he replies.

My brow raises, "Do you ask that question to a lot of people?" I inquire.

He purses his lips, giving a shrug. "Not really, only a handful really. I just like hearing what people come up with."

"Hmm," I hum, trying to think of a question of my own. "I guess...what's your most precious memory?"

He gives an approving look. "Well well well, look who wants to get to the deep stuff," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. I know I probably have stepped over the line, but really I couldn't think of anything else that didn't sound like it came from a first grader.

"I want to say that it's the time my family went out on the boat when I was in eighth grade. It was me, dad, mom, and my sis. I don't know, we were just having a blast I guess. Me and dad were wakeboarding while mom and Laura were taking turns sunbathing. We fished, swam, and dad even brought a small grill so we had hot dogs and chips for lunch. I  didn't have any worries at the time. I was about to start freshman year and was a kid enjoying his summer. Not a single thing went wrong that day...nothing but pure bliss from the moment I woke up that morning. Mom cooked breakfast and then when we were done on the lake we stopped at a Dairy Queen and got ice cream," he finishes, looking down at his half eaten cone.

I give a smile, picturing the moment he has described in mine. "That sounds like a good day. I can see why you hold it so dear," I answer.

"What about you?" he asks, lapping once again at the frozen treat. 

"Does this count as your question?" I inquire.

He thinks for a moment and shakes his head no, his eyes dropping just below my mouth. He then points at his chin."How did you get that? Fall off a bike?"

The mention of my scar immediately brings those memories forward that I wish I could forget. Images flash through my mind and I blink hard, willing myself to think of something else, anything else. I feel my eyes begin to tear up and I blink once again, hoping that he didn't notice.

He, unfortunately, did and immediately begins to apologize. "Shit, um, never mind. You don't have to answer that. I'm sorry."

A sad smile finds its way to my face as I got ahold of myself. I look into his warm brown eyes and see that he appears to be really bothered by my sudden display of emotions. "It's fine. You didn't know." A few moments of silence pass as we each waited for the other to speak up. Swallowing hard, I continue, "It's hard to talk about, but...something happened last year and this is one small aftermath I guess you can say."

He slowly nods, pressing his lips together. "Sorry, I didn't know..." he trails off. "Does it have something to do with why you left school?" he asks, looking up through his long lashes.

Sighing, I finish up the last bit of my cone and wipe my hands on my jeans. "Yeah I guess you could say that."

We sit in silence again, both thinking about what to say to the other. I know he was just curious about me and wanted to get to know me better but I just wasn't ready to let him in, though if I were to tell someone about what happened I could easily see it being Jake.