Ashley caught up and grabbed my wrist again.
“I’ll give you a ride.”
Alex peeked outside. The ground was wet.
It was raining.
A gust of wind made him shiver.
I pulled away, not looking at her. “It’s okay. I
drove here…”
Ashley cut me off and stepped out into the
rain.
A pink Porsche pulled up to the curb.
I sighed and finally looked at her.
Ashley had changed from a shy girl into a
confident woman.
The diamond necklace around her neck made
her even more beautiful.
Ashley looked even better now than she did in
high school.
“I drove.” I repeated, sounding tired.
Ashley didn’t answer.
She stood in front of the open car door,
waiting.
It was hard to believe the girl who skipped
col for a week because she was
<
school for a week because she was
embarrassed to be seen with me now stood
here, wanting to give me a ride in front of
everyone.
I took a step, but Ashley stopped me.
“Did you forget?”
Her voice was soft, looking at me with a hint
of sadness.
“We never broke up.”
Never.
That word was ancient.
I took a breath in the cold air and asked, “Do
you want me to break up with you now?”
<
Ashley froze. She opened her mouth to say
something, but Chad walked out.
He looked angry to see us together.
“Ash.”
Chad came between us.
“Everyone’s waiting for you to talk about the
merger.‘
Chad’s voice never changed when he spoke
to Ashley. It always seemed to end on an
upbeat note.
Ashley was blocked by Chad. I got in the car
and shut the door.
ᄀ
Ashley seemed to say something to him, but
the locking door cut off the sound.
I looked away and laughed, almost mockingly.
The car pulled away, and Alex couldn’t hold it
- in.
“What the hell was that? You got any
explaining to do?”
Alex hadn’t heard what Ashley and I said. He
leaned in. “You two… what’s your deal?”
“High school friends.”
“Just friends?” Alex looked skeptical. “Didn’t
seem that way.”
“What do you want it to ba?“!
“What do you want it to be?”
Alex rolled his eyes.
“Be careful, man. Women like that are hard to
please.”
“Whenever I even look at my girl wrong, she
doesn’t speak to me for days.”
Alex always talked about his girlfriend.
I just nodded, “Thanks. Sorry about tonight. I’ll
buy you dinner.”
“Yeah, you better!”
“Okay, here’s my place,” Alex said, waving as
he got out. “See you later.”
དད༦ སྤུལ
The car was quiet.
….
I hadn’t been driving for long when I stopped
at an old apartment complex.
As soon as I got out, a Porsche pulled up.
Rain streamed down.
The area was poor, with flickering
streetlights.
I didn’t expect Ashley to follow me.
People stared at the car.
The driver was by the car. Her features were
damp, and as she turned, she looked like the
Ashley in my memories.
“That ring was for you.”
She sounded dull. It felt like she’d been out
here for hours.
“My family wanted me to marry someone
else. But I said no.”
“After the watch incident, I wanted to fix it,
but my family ran into problems.‘
“I was so stressed out. When I went back, you
were gone.”
“Nate… I never wanted to use you.”
I looked up at the moon.
After a moment, I said, “But you didn’t trust
me.”
“You suspected me like everyone else.”
Ashley wavered. She was silent.
“Chad’s right. We were never in the same
world.”
“You keep asking me to end things…”
“Are you cold?” Ashley cut me off, a trace of
emotion in her voice.
I ignored her and finished the sentence, “…We
broke up a long time ago.”
“If you forgot, I don’t mind saying it again.”
Ashley turned white.
L
“Nate…”
She was cut off by the phone.
My dad was calling.
It wasn’t his voice.
The voice was in a rush.
“Nate, someone trashed your dad’s stand!
Come quick!”
The bad news had finally arrived.
A drunk had wrecked my dad’s stand. My dad
was pushed.
The familiar smell made me feel like I was in
the past.
I grabbed water and took a gulp.
Ashley grabbed the bottle.
