“Oh yes, certainly.” She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her stomach.
“And you, Alex?” his mom asked.
Alex looked up, frowning. “Uh, yeah,” he replied, unsure of where his mom was going with this.
“Well, I was going to suggest you take Natalie on a tour of the town while it’s so bright and sunny outside.”
Natalie sat forward. “That sounds perfect!”
He was an idiot to not have seen that coming. He thought of all the work he had planned to do this weekend, including that stack of homework, but he couldn’t refuse without appearing extremely rude…and if he was honest with himself, he thought a break from his laptop screen might do him some good. It was a beautiful day, after all.
Pushing his plate and cutlery away from him, he glanced at Natalie and smiled. “Okay, let’s go for a ride.”
His mother winked at him as the two of them left the room.
“I’m gonna be honest, there’s not a lot to see in Middledale,” Alex said, as he opened the passenger door of his car for Natalie to slide in. She did so gracefully, pulling the small handbag she’d unpacked onto her lap. She had changed out of the clothes she had arrived in—leggings and a pullover—in favor of an outfit that oddly mirrored his; a casual t-shirt and jeans.
He moved around to the driver’s seat and got in, scooping up a pair of sunglasses from the dashboard and donning them before starting the engine.
“I mean,” he continued, pulling out of the driveway and swerving onto the road, “it’s a nice place. Some beautiful scenery”—he gestured to the sprawl of fields that was already coming into view behind the row of houses on their left—“and a lot of peace and quiet. There’s a mall in the center of town, which has a small movie theater, a bunch of shops, restaurants, a bowling alley…”
He trailed off as he caught a glance of Natalie. She sat stiffly, looking straight ahead and clutching her seat a little too tightly.
“Hey,” he said, drawing her gaze to his, “are you okay?
“Yeah,” she said quickly, offering him a smile. “You just, um, drive quite fast.”
“Oh, sorry.” Alex reminded himself what it must be like to be a first-time passenger in a vehicle he was commandeering. His style valued efficiency over leisure, as his mom would describe it. “I’ll take it easier.”
He slowed down, and Natalie instantly relaxed.
“I’ll take you past the school, it’s coming up just on our right,” Alex informed her as they rounded the corner.
“How do you like school?” Natalie asked.
“It’s fine,” Alex replied. He couldn’t really think of a better adjective than that. He neither loved nor hated school, though recently, it was becoming more and more of a distraction from his entrepreneurial endeavors.
They arrived within view of Middledale High. It was a large, very boring rectangular building, its exterior in need of a renovation. But it was a decent school by most standards—average, but decent.
“Do you have many friends?” Natalie asked.
“Mmm, not many,” Alex replied honestly, and decided not to embellish his answer. He tried to hide the fact from his mom that his social life had deteriorated along with her health. He was so busy these days and rarely saw friends outside of school hours, which resulted in him growing apart even from his best friend, Colin.
Natalie probably found his short answer a little odd but didn’t press. Instead, she moved on to a topic that was much more interesting to Alex—herself. She began to talk about what it was like to grow up in France, and the differences between there and America. She said she’d visited New York before when she was younger, and this was her second time in the United States. Alex had never been abroad—heck, he’d hardly been out of Iowa—but hoped to someday. When his mother got better.
Natalie came to a pause as they neared the mall, and her face took on a thoughtful expression. She spoke again after a few minutes. “I suppose I don’t have many friends either. I mean, there are people you see every day and are friendly with, but…real friends”—she smiled—“I think they are quite a rare species.”
Alex wasn’t sure if she was just saying this because she wanted to be companionable, or because she hadn’t found his response to her earlier question strange after all. “I agree,” he replied, in any case.
They were quiet again until they neared the mall’s parking lot, when Alex suggested they stop for ice cream. Natalie expressed her strong agreement, so he parked up and led her into the mall.