Fighting to Be Free (Fighting to Be Free 1)

She sighed wistfully, looking at me like I was the sweetest guy in the world. “I'd settle for just travelling around for a while. I've always wanted to see the world. Paris, Rome, Egypt, England....”

She sighed again and snuggled against my chest, pulling my arms tighter around her.

Travelling? I was definitely up for travelling if she was serious. “Really? You want to travel?”

She nodded vigorously. “Heck yeah. It’s a dream of mine to take a boat trip up the Nile, climb to the top of the Eiffel tower, swim with dolphins in a crystal clear ocean. I'd love to do that.”

I gulped, about to make an offer that could shape our lives together. “I'll make you a deal....”

She looked at me suspiciously. “What kind of deal?”

“Take a year off from studying. Travel with me when you finish high school. We'll go do everything you've just said, and more. Then, after a year we come back and you study fashion in college. Deal?” I offered.

“You want to go travelling with me? You're serious?” she asked with wide excited eyes. I nodded, I'd do anything that made her smile; I really wished she knew that. “Really? Really, really?”

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, really, really,” I confirmed.

“We can’t though.” She said the words but the excited smile on her face showed that she didn’t actually mean them. “We can’t, can we? Not really….”

I smiled and shrugged. “I have nothing tying me here. If you want to climb up some crappy metal tower in France, then I want to too,” I joked, laughing as she slapped my arm, giggling. “I’m being serious though. Think about it, you and me, a year out, travelling the world. That sounds like a great idea to me.”

She was chewing on her lip so hard that I was frightened she was going to bite it in half, her eyes were searching mine, indecision and wonder were both clear on her face. “Oh God, I’d love that,” she whispered with wide eyes.

“Then we’ll do it. But when we come home, you go to design school, or fashion school or whatever it’s called. Deal?” I offered. Excitement was building up in my stomach, thoughts of waking up in a different country with her, taking cheesy tourist photos of some of the world’s most famous landmarks. I would actually give anything for that. A new start, away from here, with her. It sounded like a dream, the best dream I could ever think of.

Her smile fell to be replaced by a worried frown. “Jamie, I’m not good enough to go to fashion school, I’d get laughed right out of there!” she whined, shaking her head.

“Ellie, I’ve seen two things of yours that you’ve made, unless you’ve worn something else that you’ve made?” She shook her head in response. “Right, well those two things are incredible. So beautiful. You need to do something with your talent. Have confidence and believe in yourself,” I encouraged.

She pouted. “Can’t we just do the travelling and not add school into the deal?”

I smiled and shook my head slowly, brushing my nose up the side of hers. “No.”

She kissed me then, a serious kiss, the force of it made me practically fall back against my windshield as she crushed herself to me. After a minute of kissing so fiercely that my lips were tingling, she pulled back and looked at me, her eyes dancing with excitement. “You’re being serious, Jamie? Travelling, for a whole year?” she asked, pressing her body against mine.

I nodded in confirmation. “Then school.”

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully; I could practically see her mind whirling, thinking it through, weighing out the pros and cons. “Okay I’ll apply, but if I don’t get in then that’s the end of it. Agreed?” she bartered.

I suddenly got so excited that I could barely keep still. Images flashed in my mind of her standing next to Niagara Falls, sunning herself in a bikini, us wandering through little market towns together.

The two months started to feel like a lifetime away. “Agreed.” My hand tangled into the back of her hair, guiding her mouth to mine as she made an excited little squealing sound, her eyes lighting up like we were going right this very second.

My cell phone rang just as we were getting out of the truck to go into the restaurant. I smiled apologetically and looked at the caller ID, planning to reject the call. Brett’s number was flashing on my screen though so I couldn’t.

“Sorry, I gotta take this,” I said to Ellie. She nodded, leaning against the wall, waiting patiently.

“Hey, Brett,” I answered as I put the cell to my ear, pacing away a few steps to that Ellie couldn’t hear the conversation.

“Hey, Kid. How you doing, alright? Get stuff sorted with your girlfriend like I told you to?” he asked.

“Err, yeah,” I confirmed knowing he was asking about my alibi.

“That’s great, it shouldn’t be necessary but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. Everything’s going according to plan. The situation should be resolved soon. My lawyer’s a real hardass, an expensive hardass but you have to pay for the best, right? Anyway, Terry hasn’t talked about anything and Arthur said that he should have him home by tonight. Apparently they have enough evidence to charge him though, which is a pain, but we’ll deal with it. I’m hoping it won’t get to trial, sometimes evidence goes missing, statements get lost in the office, that kind of thing. But, even if it does get to trial then I’ll slip the judge a bung to throw the case out of court,” he explained.