Afraid to love

Chapter 3

It's late, I'm on the bus home. The bus finally arrives at the destination, it's about a kilometre walk to our building. I get off, as I expected to get home a few hours earlier, I'm under dressed for the weather. The night is cool, I hug my arms around my body.

My mind is flooded with what happened to Lara. I just prey the guy that attacked her was lying when he said he knew where she lived. With all that in my mind, I almost jump out of my skin when a tall man steps in front of me,

"Sofia!" I recognise the voice,

"Hey George" I greet Nina's boyfriend, relieved, "what are you doing all the way here, don't you have school tomorrow?"

"I do but I still came. Nina doesn't know I'm here, I wanted to surprise her"

"But you have to get back to Winder before morning! Isn't it a three-hour trip?"

"What wouldn't I do for Nina, hey?" he laughs,

"Come, we can get her together"

"No, I want to surprise her. Can you come up with a reason for her to come out?"

"What if she's sleeping?"

"She's not, we were texting just before"

"It's almost one in the morning, what possible reason is there for her to come out?"

"Think of one. Please. I want her to come down and I'll surprise her. She's definitely not expecting me"

"I'll try, but no guarantees. I'll send you a text if she refuses to come out"

"I believe in you" he jokes, I shake my head in mock annoyance, I walk to our building,

"Oh, and Sofia?"

"Yes?"

"It's Nina's birthday soon. I'm telling you this because I'll need some help arranging it, but I plan on taking her on a surprise trip"

"To where?"

"That's where you come in. Over the next few days, you need to sus out where she'd really like to go. Ask her about her dream date and stuff, and then tell me what she says"

"I can do that," I smile at his goofy grin, "now stop being cheesy, I'm going up"

I get into our apartment, Nina's the only one home, she's sitting on the sofa, staring at her phone,

"Where have you been?" she asks when I enter,

"I'll tell you all about it later" I say, not wanting to ruin her mood with Lara's story since George is out there waiting for her, "Oh, no!" I say,

"What?"

"I just realised, I must have dropped my... uh, jacket outside" I say, wincing at my own lie,

"Dropped your jacket?" she asks, frowning,

"Yes, just outside our building"

"Well go get it"

"Can you go?" I ask

"Me?"

"I'm cold"

"Take my coat" she nods towards her coat hanging over the chair,

"I'm tired. We had such a long performance today, my legs are killing me" just to prove my point I walk over to the dining chair and sit down,

"Since when do you of all people find it hard to climb down one flight of stairs?"