[center]He seemed accepting enough of her answers and he didn't pry further into what she had told him, thankfully so. The idea of her father simply moving away on his own had seemed like a reasonable lie – much more presentable than the truth of it all, anyway. It wasn't terribly difficult to keep up with either, so she wasn't terribly concerned about keeping up the front as long as she needed to. Hopefully, her father wouldn't be brought up again in the meantime. 

Alyssa had taken another bite of her lamb when he'd spoken once more, taking every ounce of information in as quick as he tossed it at her. For every small bit of information she could have given him, he seemed to have an entire novel of his own to toss her way. It was terribly interesting to listen to; he had a certain way that he spoke which had kept her enthralled. It wasn't necessarily every day that she was able to sit down and have a legitimate conversation with someone… She would at least sit back and enjoy as long as he didn't ask the wrong questions.

His words had caused a small smile to form on her lips. It really was an odd thing to be an only child and he was right in that they usually had to busy themselves with things that siblings normally wouldn't do – hence her literary education. She'd forever distracted herself with books, especially after her mother had died – her classes were the only thing that kept her distracted enough to keep her functioning for her father who had been falling apart piece by piece after she had soon left them. 

As of late, she hadn't even had the time to delve into anything recent… Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden clash of thunder that interrupted Mansfield's conversation, and she couldn't help but jump lightly at the unexpected sound, immediately feeling silly for doing so. And yet, Mansfield was quick to fill the void with his words once more and he had her smiling again. 

She had been slowly enjoying her meal until suddenly his questions had shifted a bit, and Alyssa felt a bit uneasy in having to answer him. Why had she chosen to apply to such an informal ad? Because she was terribly desperate and needed the money, and it had truly been on a whim that she was hoping it was legitimate? That would have been the truth had she been willing to spurt it out so easily… She seemed to ponder over the thought for a moment, mulling over just what to tell him that would sound logical enough. She bit the inside of her cheek and after a moment's pause, had decided to answer him. "Well, it honestly seemed like a good idea at the time. Yes, I needed something new, but I didn't truly want something as typical as your normal retail job or anything of the like… I figured I'd take a chance on an opportunity and given the fact that I have a thing with trying to keep things as orderly as I can—" A control thing, she knew it. She couldn't keep total control over her father and maybe that was what finally broke her – apart from the consistent abuse that had only seemed to get worse with time. "I figured it would be a good fit." 

But then the second part of his question had given her pause, and her brow had twitched in the slightest. Part of his insinuation had been very true – to get out of that house meant getting away from everything that reminded her of the hell she'd been living in for the past few years. But she very well couldn't tell him that either. Perhaps he had noticed how she'd been uneasy over certain questions; perhaps he had noticed how she didn't even touch the wine that had filled her own glass; maybe he could see through every bit of deception that she was pouring into some of her answers. He was a psychologist after all, wasn't he? And he had to be a damn good one to be constantly on the move the way he was… 

She had eyed him carefully then, placing her fork down after a moment. "If you're referring to the clearly droll day that I'm used to in efforts to find something new, then I suppose I'd be running away from that." Alyssa spoke quietly. "But, as I said, it's only me and my father and he's moved away, so who else could I be running from?" She shrugged again, attempting to save face as she glanced back down to her plate. He couldn't have read through her that quickly, could he have?[/center]
[@freedomliveson]