Free Lessons in Love by Clarissa Carlyle

her feel comfortable and had accepted her true self, which was more than she could say for most people. Most importantly, he’d listened to her, he was the first man to have done so since her father died, and that meant something to her.
     
    “Twenty-five,” Mark answered.
     
    “Oh.” Alex instantly did the math in her head. He was only seven years older than she was. It seemed bizarre to think that less than a decade ago he’d been a student and now he was the teacher.
     
    “Oh?” Mark queried her response.
     
    “Nothing, it’s just, not that old.” 
     
    “Are you disappointed I’m not older?” Mark asked.
     
    “No, not at all.”
     
    Alex turned on Mark’s car stereo, and the dulcet tones of Joni Mitchell instantly filled the vehicle.
     
    “You don’t have to listen to that.” Mark moved his hand to switch it off, but Alex batted him away.
     
    “You like Joni Mitchell?”
     
    He was clearly surprised by her reaction. “I thought kids your age like music that sounds like a washing machine on fast cycle.”
     
    “Okay, now you sound old!” Alex giggled. “But yeah, I like Joni Mitchell. Not as much as Janis Joplin, but I like her.”
     
    “You’re into old music, then?”
     
    “Yeah, my dad got me into all that stuff. I even used to own a record player,” Alex bragged, feeling good to finally be talking about something that was true.
     
    “Nice.” Mark nodded in approval. “So if you had to pick a favorite album of all time, what would it be?”
     
    “Easy!” Alex clapped her hands confidently. “ Rumours , Fleetwood Mac.”
     
    “No way!”
     
    “What?”
     
    “That’s my favorite album,” Mark admitted, briefly glancing across at Alex and smiling.
     
    “It’s because it’s amazing!”
     
    “You can hear the rawness of their emotions as not only the band broke up, but so did the couples who formed it,” Mark mused aloud.
     
    “Hey.” Alex suddenly focused on their surroundings, the conversation about music having briefly distracted her from their journey. “I haven’t told you where to go.”
     
    She was shocked to see that they were pulling into the trailer park.
     
    “How did you know the way?” she demanded.
     
    “My grandma lives out here,” Mark replied casually. “I told you that great things come from humble beginnings,” he added cheekily.
     
    “Well, you can leave me here. I live right at the back of the park, and it’s hard to turn around there.”
     
    “You sure?”
     
    “Yeah, it’s fine.” Alex put her hand on the door handle but paused before opening it. It was as if she was waiting for something, though she didn’t know what.
     
    “You got any big plans this weekend?” Mark asked her, sounding genuinely interested.
     
    “There’s supposed to be this big party at one of the player’s houses.” Alex didn’t sound thrilled by the prospect of the party.
     
    “Sounds…cool,” Mark replied. “Not that I’d expect you to blow off such a cool party, but if you wanted to, they’re showing The Evil Dead at the revival house in Mooreville, and I’ve no one to go with, and going to the cinema alone is, well, social suicide.” Mark suddenly seemed nervous, talking very quickly.
     
    “And I assumed that your taste in movies might be as good as your taste in music,” he added.
     
    “Evil Dead?” Alex nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve heard of it but never seen it.”
     
    “You’ve never seen it?” Mark gasped.
     
    “Well, the last time I had my own TV I was fourteen and a bit too young for it.”
     
    “Fair enough.” Mark drummed his fingers on the steering wheel anxiously.
     
    “But I’d like to see it,” Alex said coyly.
     
    Mark turned to face her, smiling broadly. “You sure? I mean, great. I’ll pick you up at 7?”
     
    “Sounds great.”
     
    Alex loitered a moment, getting lost in Mark’s eyes, before suddenly remembering herself and hurriedly saying her goodbyes and getting out of his car,