Chapter 14

The one hour drive through the vastness of that endless forest was mostly silent with very little words spoken between us to eventually no words at all.

This was because somewhere in between the time Erik asked me to join him for lunch and the time I was getting my face poked with different make-up brushes by a very determined June, I had turned into a sort of shy Cinderella and was now all too nervous to bring up any meaningful car ride conversations without fear of failing apart in a miserable wreck of nerves.

But despite my insistent silence, Erik still noticed my sudden discomfort and tried all he could to get me to act like usual or at the very least, say something by complimenting my new chic look like a dozen times over, in a dozen different ways, but I still somehow failed to get past a simple thank you and a forced smile which mostly looked like I was told to smile at gunpoint.

I know it's weird how the me from before, who hated this guy's guts to the p