Looks Can Be Deceiving

Pandora sat down on the couch in front of me as I sat at her feet, keeping a comfortable distance. She kept her eyes down, not wanting to look at me.
“So why were you crying?” she swallowed hard and sighed.
“Just… kids at school.”
“I get that… what happened?” Her eyes met mine and she hesitated.
“Someone tripped me in the hallway…” she pulled up the sleeve of her sweatshirt showing me some cuts and bruises. I held my hand out seeing if she’d let me take a look at it. She extended her hand, allowing me to gently grab onto it and inspect it up close.
“Does it hurt?” She nodded. “Does it feel sprained?”
“I don’t know, it just hurts when I try to move it…” I sighed. It didn’t look broken or anything severe, but it was swollen and slightly bruised.
“You’ll be fine… it just looks a little swollen. Put some ice on it and the swelling should go down.” She nodded. “Do you want me to go get some ice for you?”
“Sure.” I smiled and stood up, walking to her kitchen. I opened the freezer and pulled out a couple pieces of ice before searching her drawers for a plastic bag. I grabbed one and filled it with ice, bringing it back into the living room where Pandora was staring at her wrist. I kneeled in front of her and gently lowered the bag of ice down on her swollen arm. She winced and clenched her teeth but dealt with it. I looked back up to her.
“See… I’m not such a bad guy.” She blushed a little.
“I don’t like letting people in, Austin.”
“I know that… but now you know that you can let me in.”
“I don’t like being committed to people.”
“I’m not going to hurt you or leave you. I’m going to stay right here.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she shook her head. “I move around so often. No one wants to get tangled up in my crazy life.”
“Well, you said that you move around a lot because you get bored with your surroundings. If you have something here that is interesting to you… perhaps me, would you stay?” She shrugged.
“I don’t know, Austin.”
“Okay, so maybe I can travel around with you.”
“No… I don’t like people moving with me. Whenever I go somewhere new I like to start over fresh. I don’t want anyone to know who I am or what kind of person I am. I just like… to start over new and cover up my past.”
“So when you moved here, what were you trying to cover up?” she stood up and sighed.
“That’s something you don’t want to find out.”
“Okay, fair enough. You’re not comfortable enough with me yet to say.” I stood up and looked down at her. “So will you let me take you out again?”
“Can we just hang out somewhere private?”
“Sure, we can watch movies at my place and order Chinese,” I smiled. She nodded.
“I’d like that,” she mumbled and looked down at her hand. “Thanks again for helping me with my hand.”
“No problem,” I smiled.

Notes