Free Last Chance by A. L. Wood Page A

from here. I look in the rearview mirror to gauge Layla’s reaction. She’s looking forward toward Natalie in question. As if to say ‘Why are you just not telling him the truth? ’
    “So where was your home? Come on I shared with you. You don’t even have to tell me the name of the town, just tell me what it was like.” I practically beg.
    “I’ve been trying for weeks now to get you to open up a little. Now that you’ve shared a tiny tidbit of your past, I have to share?” She asks.
    “Well Yeah. It’s only fair.”
    “I guess.” She huffs. “I grew up in New York. Not far from the state capitol. It was pretty boring. I lived in a very big house that was surrounded with lots of land. Layla lived across the street. Our parents were friends.” Natalie tells me.
    “What else? What did you do for fun?” I ask.
    “In those parts you had to be able to stand getting dirty, if you wanted to have fun. I loved it outside. I still do. Playing in the woods, making my own walking trails. I always wanted to own a four-wheeler, but I wasn’t old enough. My dad didn’t trust me, so I had to stick to using my bike and my feet.”
    “Tell me about your dad.” I ask , hoping she will open up a bit more. I feel the only way to help her with herself is to get her to open up about it.
    Keeping shit in. Bottling it up, it will eat at your soul until you can’t handle it anymore and you either do what she did , or you harm someone else. She could do what I did, and I am going to make damn sure she doesn’t.
    If I have to push her to the edge of that cliff , she’s fucking going.

Chapter 13
    Natalie
    Liam pulls into a parking spot at the movie theaters. I still have yet to answer him. What do I say? I don’t want to flat out reject his questions, slam it down like he does to me. This is the first time he has asked me any question about my parents. Shocked , is an understatement when he has shown only interest in me, the now. My present.
    He turns the car off and stays seated. Layla makes no move to open the door to exit the car either. They are both waiting on me, Liam an answer and Layla just wants to see how I handle this.
    “Ready to see the movie? It’s showing in fifteen minutes. We better get in there so we can get decent seats. I prefer the middle. In the back you can’t hear as well, and in the front I always end up with a major stiff neck.”
    I couldn’t answer. I didn’t want to tell him that he isn’t important enough to me , that I feel I could actually open up and let him in. Kind of what he tells me daily, in so many words. But I couldn’t be that person, I would rather act oblivious to the fact that he had even asked a question.
    “Middle huh? I always prefer the back. No one can see you back there. You could do whatever you wanted, with a date. If you know what I mean.” Liam says.
    Dirty pig.
    Layla laughs out loud.
    “Layla I am guessing you’re familiar with what Liam is talking about?”
    “I’m not the Virgin Mary Nat. Plus, you are the only one that I know to be as saintly as her.”
    I can feel my face heat up in a flush. She enjoys bringing that topic up. A once truth, that is now a lie. 
    I get out of the car first, to put an end to continuing this discussion ; also hoping that they’ll both follow my actions, so we can go watch this movie. Layla steps out of her car from the backseat first, then Liam does the same.
    As we walk up to the theater , I start a conversation so as to not carry the awkward feeling from what happened back in the car.
    “I haven’t been to see a movie in years, and I cannot wait to get in there and order some movie theater popcorn, with extra butter of course. I’m not sharing either , so you guys will have to get your own.”
    “Movie popcorn is always stale , like it’s been sitting in a popcorn maker for days, so don’t worry about sharing. I don’t know how you can eat that shit Nat.” Layla disagrees.
    “Yeah I’m with Layla on this one