Loving Him

Chapter 22

"You know you're going to have to talk to me at some point, right?"

Sophie jolted at the sound of Alex's voice. She hadn't been that engrossed in her phone so how he'd still managed to sneak up behind her was surprising.

"At this rate, you're going to give me an heart attack," she shot back, shifting her gaze from him back to her phone.

"Hmmm," he hummed, settling beside her on the couch. "Still, you can't avoid me forever."

"But I'm not," she countered, a crease forming between her brows, a telltale sign of her annoyance.

He sighed, shifting so he was facing her side profile, his left leg bending and going underneath his right. "If it's about what happened the other night--"

"That was a mistake!" The words were out before she should censor them and she cringed as the words made sense in her ear. Why? Just why?

He raised his brows at her then nodded slowly, as if making sense of her words. "You don't want to talk about that, fine. What's the problem, then?"

"I'm not avoiding you, really." Her voice was croaky even as she spoke. She'd never really been a good liar.

"Yeah, I totally believe that," he replied sarcastically. "Look, this... tension between us just doesn't make sense. It was fine before but I feel like we're past that now. I don't like it that I'm making you uncomfortable."

She tucked her phone away, turning so she was facing him directly. "What do you want, Alex?"

He shrugged, as if the answer was clear. "I want to know why you're angry with me."

"Why didn't you tell me about your birthday?" She finally asked, letting it out. The question had been on the tip of her tongue since she'd heard about his birthday from Raymond the day before.

Sophie was glad she was facing him when she asked because the change in his countenance alone communicated a lot to her, probably more than his words would. He went from earnest to cold in an instant like a switch had suddenly been flipped. It didn't intimidate her, at least not like it used to but it definitely worried her. There was more to it than he was letting on.

"I already told you, I don't celebrate birthdays," he replied coldly.

She waited for him to continue but he didn't. Incredulously, she asked, "That's it? That's all I'm getting? You didn't even answer my question." She threw her hands up for effect.

"What else do you want me to say?" He asked, his voice tinged with frustration.

She was equally frustrated as she replied, "You tell me, Alex. It's like you take five steps back for every step forward." He was silent so she continued, "It's not really about you not telling me about your birthday. It's just... No matter how I try to convince myself otherwise, I can't help but feel there's so much you're hiding from me and it kind of hurts knowing you don't trust me despite how much I try to show you I care." Her tone had gone soft, almost a whisper at the end but he obviously caught what she said because his cold facade slipped a little and he looked away from her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my birthday but there's really nothing special there," he stubbornly insisted.

"Out of this everything I just said, that's all you choose to reply to?!" She didn't bother hiding her anger as she lashed out at him. He wasn't even denying any of the accusations she'd thrown at him.

"I said I'm sorry, Sophia."

She wasn't chanced to reply- not that she had any idea what to say- before the door opened, signalling the arrival of Raymond from work and Angel from school. Now that Raymond was back, he'd resumed picking her up from school himself.