"Jesus." I gasped as we stopped in the middle of the hotel parking lot. "You run that every day?"
"I like keeping myself in shape, and running gives me time to think." She held out a water bottle. "Or run away."
As I took the water bottle from her, she had loosened her ponytail and let her hair fall. Her brown, slightly reddish hair had fallen down to her middle of her back. While it had been mostly straight, the ends of her hair would ever so slightly curl. It looked natural on her, as though it would have had made her look a little off if it had been completely straight. Ashlynn began to walk up to the hotel as I stood up, but just as she opened her door she turned around to me.
"Hey, you wanna go get something to eat?" she asked, putting her hair behind her ear. "You know, a burger or something."
"Are you asking me out?" I nearly sneered as I tossed her water bottle back to her. "Or just friends getting some food?"
Faintly reddening, Ashlynn raised her hand and just as quickly formed it into a middle finger - a pretty little finger pointed right at me. While middle fingers hadn't been unfamiliar, to say the least, it kind of shocked me to see it come from her. She had been like a Chihuahua, small but loaded with the attitude of Cartman. While I would've never told her that I compared her to a cartoon character or a dog, it had been the best comparison I was able to come up with.
"You know the answer." she opened her door, and then pinched her shirt. "Go change into something clean."
Shoving the hotel room door open, I looked to my right and saw something that I had completely missed earlier. At some point, someone had dropped off my clothes in two trash bags - leaving just as quick as they had come. As I headed to the bags, not remembering that said event, I knelt down and untied the bag that had been the closest to me. What felt out first had made me laugh just as much as it had shocked me.
It had been the gun that I kept under my bed, for those 'just in case' scenarios. Whether I had been able to shoot it straight was a different matter all-together, though. Dropping the clip, I checked to see if the bullets had been in it - they were - and then put it back into the gun. Grabbing a plain black t-shirt, I had switched it with the one I had on and then stuck the gun into the back of my jeans. That was my definition of "clean".
Just as I had been about to go through my already opened door, a hoarse shout came from Ashlynn's room - a rasp I hadn't known she was capable of having.
"I told you already, I'm not coming back!" her rasp came through again. "I don't give a shit. You can do whatever you want."
As quickly as her shouting had begun, it had stopped. Then something had suddenly hit the wall. Her phone? Probably not. If I had to have guessed, I would have said a shoe. She had always seemed to have it with her, so throwing it and thus breaking it wouldn't have been something she would have done. Stepping through the frame of the door, I peeked into her room.
Sitting with her eyes covered by her right hand, it had been pretty obvious what was happening. Whether it had been the anger or the tears, her face had reddened again, but more deeply this time. Who had she been talking to, had it been my place to intervene at that moment? Rather, had I wanted to? Had I wanted to get involved with another person's drama?
"Boyfriend?" I asked, now leaning somewhat into her room.
She fidgeted, appearing to wipe her eyes and then stood as though everything had been fine. "No. That...was one of my friends back in California."
"A good one?"
Watching as Ashlynn headed to the dresser, she pulled open a drawer and tugged out what appeared to a some sort of v-neck and a pair of what looked to be skinny jeans from another drawer. That had been the most normal part of the next situation, though. Looking at me, she crossed her arms and ripped her shirt off of herself - exposing her toned stomach and black bra.
Turning my head like a curious puppy, I watched as Ashlynn pulled down her track pants right in front of me - as though this had been commonplace - her changing in front of guys with a door to the outside world wide open. In her underwear, she picked up the shirt and glanced at me before putting it on.
"This obviously isn't the first time you've seen a girl in her underwear." she began with her pants. "You're a douche, and you fuck anything that moves and is willing, but you don't seem like you'd force yourself on a girl."
"Maybe." I sneered, almost laughing at the obnoxious situation. "How does that make it okay for you to change in front of someone you don't really know all that well?"
"A month and a half is plenty to judge someone's character." she buttoned the jeans. "You aren't a bad guy. Just a drunk."
"Yeah?" I looked at the ground and saw a book on the floor. "What if I did something right now?"
She turned towards me, taking small steps forward with each stride. It hadn't been until moments earlier that I realized her body had been quite nice. Had she hid it purposely? Granted, she hadn't seemed to be the type to flaunt anything, but it would have been something most would have been proud to show off a little bit - even rarely. Ashlynn stopped right in front of me, giving me a pair of eyes to look into.
Green and haunted.
"Do something, then. I'm wide open." she stood pat, no aversion within seconds of silence.
A few seconds had turned into thirty, and that had been when she turned away. Walking to her bed, she grabbed a pair of shoes that had looked to be a mix between boots and heels. While I hadn't known or cared what they had been, it had completed her outfit. It was simple, yet nice enough to go to most restaurants and not get dirty looks for wearing it.
"You look good." my thoughts had escaped my mouth.
Without looking, she had grabbed her brush and ran it through her hair several times in one area, then repeating the steps in another. Silence had made itself obvious in the room, yet I hadn't realized that my out-of-place comment on her attire had been the cause of the silence or the awkward air floating around.
"Really?" she asked as she tied her hair back into a ponytail, finally breaking the silence off.
"Yeah." I bit my tongue. "You should leave your hair down. It fits your face better."
"My ex didn't like long hair at all. So, I guess I just kind of got used to it." She laughed, turning. "Okay. I guess I'll keep it down then. Ready to go?"
**
Mack had gotten a job the day after he had gotten back through a connection with his parents. While it had just been a chef job, it had been at one of the more popular restaurants in the area. Given that I had known him, and the owners daughter to some degree, it had seemed like a good enough place for a friendly environment - and a free meal.
Granted, I had more money than I had known what to do with and would have paid for her if needed, but what had been the point when I was able to get it for free from Mack? Thus had been the reason why Ashlynn and I had stood in front of that said restaurant, only a short bus trip from the hotel and easy enough to get into.
Opening the door, I asked. "You wanted burgers, right? This is the best place to get them in this shithole."
"I mean, it was an example...but okay." she shrugged her shoulders as she walked through the door.
While Stickies had been called a restaurant, it had more of a bar-esque atmosphere with stools at the front and booths going to the windows in the back. Letting Ashlynn lead the way had led us to those said stools, where Mack had just a suddenly come out. Not seeming surprised, Mack had come out of the back holding a notepad while grabbing two empty glasses to fill up with water.
As he poured the water into the glasses, he looked at me and then pointed his head at Ashlynn - which had pretty much been his way of asking if I had been in bed with her. Obviously I had shaken my head, but at that point it had appeared that Ashlynn had already caught onto the wordless conversation.
"If it's about Ava, then whatever. It's not like I can go anywhere right away anyways." she took a drink of the water, smiling sarcastically. "I'm broke, and I don't really care what she thinks right now."
"It wasn't. Well, not exactly." Mack answered for me, holding out a hand. "Anyways, I'm Mack. Your chef and server, along with being a friend of Cyrus."
"Ashlynn." she reached out. "Unless you have something more creative."
"Ash it is, then." he cracked a smile, opening a notepad. "I recommend Stickies Big Johnson."
Ashlynn nodded, with me following suit - trying my hardest to ignore the outwardly dirty name. Standing, I pulled out my cigarettes and set them down in front of me with the lighter I had grabbed with them. I looked to my right and pulled one of them out, handing the Pall Mall to her. She looked down at with some sort of sketchiness, as though it would have possibly killed her if she touched it without looking.
Giving myself one, I lit hers first and then followed with mine in one fluid motion. Inhaling, she had made it obvious that she hadn't smoked much at all in her life, which had been a good thing. Yet, I had been promoting it to her. Had the ruiner in me wanted to break her, too? Starting with cigarettes, and then moving into drugs?
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, catching my eyes.
Exhaling the smoke through my teeth, I looked at a scratch on the wood. "Nothing important."
"Bullshit." she laughed. "You were almost glaring at me. Tell me."
I took another drag of my cigarette, and blinked towards an off-white wall. Within that lone blink, I had seen two faces - Ava and Kylie - crying, both devastated. They had both been ruined by me. It had been made plenty clear that getting close to someone did no good for me. All I did was burn with my touch. I all touched vanished and disappeared, decaying into the black with me.
"I'm just wondering how close I should get."
ns 15.158.61.7da2
