Alan looked into her eyes, piercingly. "There's something I've got to tell you, Jen, and it's serious... very serious," he said, staring so hard at her now she suddenly started to feel a little uneasy. The people, the shops, the traffic; it all seemed to melt away and left them feeling as if they were the only two things left on the planet.
Christ, what on earth is he going to say to me, she thought, but drawing a blank. I've never seen him looking like this... never.
Alan gulped and then took a deep breath of air whilst Jennifer felt as if she'd got a huge, wriggling snake in her tummy in place of her intestines. She felt his grip tighten at her shoulders as he pulled her face to within inches of his.
"Now listen carefully..." he said, as if what he was about to say could well be his last words. Jennifer tried to shuffle backwards a little but he was holding her unnervingly tight. "Jen..." He pulled her even closer. "I want us to run away together," he blurted so quickly he looked as if he hadn't really said anything. Jennifer's mind had been racing so fast it took several seconds for what he'd said to catch up. She felt her body droop with relief and her head tilted back, smiling, as her tunnel-vision righted itself and her surroundings came flooding back to her sense of awareness. "I thought you were going to say something terrible then, you sod," she said, laughing, as she playfully slapped his chest. Alan's hold on her hadn't relaxed, though, and neither had his expression.
"You're serious," she said, the realisation bringing her body to a standstill.
"Yes... I am," he said, solemnly. "Well?" he continued.
The shock of his revelation set her mind off racing again, but not as much as earlier. She gulped and looked a little sheepish. "I... I can't," she said instinctively, her eyes darting back and forth as if she might find an explanation for him written on one of the buildings or alongside a passing bus. She felt his grip on her shoulders slip away and he'd adopted the look of a condemned man. Jennifer couldn't help but feel sorry for him and at the same time thinking how much he'd changed β he'd always seemed so in control before, but now...
"I had to ask... just in case," he muttered, almost lifelessly.
"Come on, let's talk about it," she said, taking him by the hand and leading him out of the bee hive of the street and in through the glass doors as if he were her child.
A good heart-to-heart and some two hours later, Jennifer was making her way home. Her mind was overflowing with all the things they'd spoken about; her problem included. How such seemingly insignificant incidents can affect you so profoundly, and even dictate your conduct in later life was one of her wonders as she pulled off from the motorway and began trundling her way through the maze of streets that would eventually lead her home. She was still puzzling over life in general and how difficult it all is, especially after Alan told her his story about denial and filling voids. Sometimes you've just got to wonder as to whether it's all worth it, she thought, as the welcome sight of the budding oak trees lining the avenue she lived at came into view.
They start afresh every year, she pondered, so can us humans... Her back straightened up and she began feeling more positive. Although they do bear scars of events in years past and I suppose that does ultimately affect how they turn out... she continued, thinking that if an organism that doesn't have the capacity for self-awareness but is still altered by its life experiences, then what Alan was saying earlier wasn't just some psycho-babble and really is a natural phenomena that can express itself physically and/or mentally, depending on the organism in question. But they do continue to do the best they can whatever their past may have been, she thought, they'll never give up trying to do what they're designed to do; they'll do their utmost to survive and reproduce, no matter what.
Something she saw broke her chain of thought and she jumped a little as she turned into her drive β Andrew's car was parked out front and he wasn't due back until tomorrow. She quickly parked alongside his Saab and jumped out. I've been into the city window-shopping, she told herself quickly, worrying that he may ask where she'd been β she hadn't told him about her problem for obvious reasons so she hadn't told him about her trip to the psychiatrists, and perhaps she was experiencing some degree of guilt about what she'd done with the psychiatrist because it wasn't as if Andrew would ask where she'd been anyway; he wasn't like that.
As she hurried up the stone steps to the door, it flung open. Andrew burst out. "I've been ringing you for ages, where've you been?" Andrew bellowed, looking uncharacteristically 'out-of-sorts'. Jennifer felt herself swallowing nothing and her mouth suddenly became dry. "Window-shopping... the battery must have gone in my phone; I'll just go and get it from the car," she mumbled, as she nervously turned around and began descending the steps on shaky legs thinking how she'd pointlessly turned her phone off before she went into the psychiatrists because she'd ended up leaving it in the car anyway.
"Never mind; you're here now," Andrew said, turning and walking into the living-room. Jennifer hurried in behind wondering what could be the matter with him, fixing her hair as she went as well as brushing her dress down.