“Right from the start? Of course not. That would be absurd, even in our situation.” Lars agreed, hoping to assure her. “I'm fine with acquaintance between us. But… may I ask why you don't do friends?” he said instead of mentioning the obvious about making everyone else think they were closer than friends.
"Good, you at least have some sense in that head of yours." She muttered, looking around as they walked next to each other. She stopped short, looking at him with an intense gaze. "You don't have the right to ask that. So no, you may not ask why," she spoke, continuing to walk on again.
“I resent that. I have more than some sense in my head.” Lars teased with a playful smirk. Though his attitude quickly dropped at her cold answer. “I apologize if that was too personal a question. I was… curious and hoping to get to know you better.” he explained.
"Oh really now? I couldn't hardly tell you had any to begin with." She spoke, hard to tell if she was being serious, or sarcastic as she walked ahead of him. She hated this already, oh my gosh did she hate this. This boy was already trying to pry into her personal life…and she wanted nothing to do with it.
"Well, if you truly want to get to know me better..then you will have to give me space to tell you things about me if I deem you gained my trust."
Lars chuckled, choosing to believe her comment was sarcastic teasing much like his had been. He wouldn't be surprised if she had been serious though. But that was something for another time.
“Rachel.” he sighed, turning to face her. “If we are going to convince our families that we like each other as more than friends, we need to work together. At the risk of… sounding indelicate, I have my suspicions about why you want to get away from your family. If I’m right then I don't blame you, if I’m wrong then I apologize again.”
She bit her lip as he spoke, turning to face her. She looked away from him as he spoke. She could hear the disappointment laced in his voice, and it just reminded her of her father. She knew she would have relinquish things about herself…but she wasn't ready. Maybe this whole thing was a mistake, she didn't want to reveal anything about herself to anyone. At least he was trying…and yet she was just being brazen with him.
"What are you suspicions then? Go on, tell me what you think it is I want to get away from. I'll correct you if your wrong."
“Well… to put it bluntly, if I may, your father is a bastard. Not necessarily in the literal sense but…” Lars shrugged feeling any additional explanation would be unnecessary. “I hope that he doesn't hurt you but I can't say I would be surprised if I’m wrong. I don't know you and I know my reputation but I don't believe anyone deserves to be treated that way.”
She snorted a bit, not expecting him to use that to describe his father, though she can say she disagreed with him at all about it. "wouldn't be surprised if he was in a literal sense." She muttered under her breath in response.
She sighed, "Yeah well…your not wrong. I hate my father…and I wish to get away from him. In more ways than one…and that's all I will about that matter. Now, why exactly do you want to get away so badly?"
Lars smirked a little at Rachel’s initial reaction, finding it surprisingly cute (not that he would tell her), but nodded at her reply.
“Of course.” he agreed, respecting her decision to stop talking about her unpleasant father. “It may seem petty compared to what you are trying to escape from. And I suppose you wouldn't be wrong but… I just want to be free from all the expectations everyone has on me. I don't hate my life and I know my family cares for me, though they do consider me a disappointment. I just want to be able to live my life in my own way.”
She was a bit irritated about how he wanted to get away from a genuinely loving family that had both a mother and a father, and that the two of them weren't constantly butting heads with each other. She didn't talk about her irration, but her face betrayed her.
"right, I guess I understand that. Though I will say…if your family calls you a disappointment…I would hate to think what other names they might have called you in the past."
Lars raised a brow at her brief expression before remembering that she hadn't met his family. He would admit that his family wasn't as bad as what he had seen from Rachel's but… it was still not great, in his opinion. “They don't really call me much… in public. They do everything to better their reputation and don't care about much else.” he explained.
She nodded, yeah that made sense. "Yeah, no wonder. They probably wouldn't do anything in public to mess up their perfect reputation. My father is more or less the same…though I can imagine all his attempts of trying to be perfect would go out the door if he had enough to drink." She sighed, looking down at the ground as she spoke.
“No, they don't.” Lars admitted, not wanting to turn this conversation into a pity party about his family life. “I didn't want to seem rude but… I did get that impression from him. Both last night and just now when I was at your house.” he nodded.
"Oh, I don't care if your rude towards him. You can talk bad about him all you want and I wouldn't bat an eye." She sighed softly, clutching her arms as she spoke about him.
"he wasn't always like that though, it just got worse when..my mother died. He can't cope with the fact that she's gone."
“Well, you are certainly the first woman I’ve ever heard say that. Normally a lady would slap me for even thinking something rude.” he chuckled.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Lars said sincerely. “But that does not excuse your father’s behavior.” he added plainly.
"Oh please, I would still slap you if the moment presents itself…it just hasn't happened yet." She spoke, hands on her hips as she spoke to him. She decided to walk pace ahead of him for a little bit.
"Yeah well…you tell him that."
Lars just chuckled at her comment about slapping him, not at all bothered by the notion… and would probably reason that if she did slap him it would be because he deserved it. He usually did anyway.
"I would but I don't think your father and I will ever be on good enough speaking terms for me to do so." he admitted, shaking his head at the memory of speaking even briefly to him earlier.
"Oh really now, I would think he would love to talk to you since you are another man. Someone he can probably spew his endless insults about me too, no doubt." She sighed softly, before just holding her hands Infront of her as she walked.
“Probably.” Lars nodded. “But that is precisely why I doubt we’ll ever be on good speaking terms. I am many things but I don't… I was raised to never insult a lady.” he explained simply.
"Well, then I guess your family got something right." She spoke, keeping stride a few steps ahead of him, though still relatively slow. She looked at everything in front of them as they talked…she's not sure what they are really meant to do.
Lars gave a half-nod, not disagreeing but simply choosing not to say anything else on that topic. Though he was a bit saddened that, apparently, her own family had failed in that way. Even though he had no current plans for marriage, he knew he would never treat his daughter the way Rachel’s father treated her.
Shaking himself out of those thoughts, he noticed how unsure she seemed about their situation. “Relax. Walk with me.” he encouraged gently, with a slight smirk. “We’re not in any hurry. We’re just a man and a woman on a lovely walk, getting to know each other.” he said as if he was setting up a scene for a play.
She eventually slowed her paced to make his, still resting her hands on arms in a crossed position. She walked alongside of him instead of Infront, staring ahead at the distance with an uneasy stare.
"I don't know how you can find it so easy to just relax…." She muttered under her breath as she looked around the area for anyone else that could be watching them. She hated when people watched her.
“Admittedly, I don’t know how you seem to be unable to relax.” Lars replied with a small shrug. “You just pretend that you are exactly what people expect to see and want to be. You don’t care if anyone sees you because what they see is want you want them to see. They are jealous of what they see.” he tried to explain with a nonchalant air to give her an example as well.