After Mints // Ashtray Fanfic

Chapter XI

' i would tell you all my secrets, wrap your arms around my weakness'

Ray opened the door cautiously. The house was quiet which was pretty standard given the time of the day. She made her way in and tried to walk as casually as possible back to her room.

She thought she nearly made it when a voice made her stop dead in her tracks.

'Well well well, what do we have here?' he father slurred

Oh great he's drunk in the morning, which was slightly unusual Ray thought.

'Oh nothing, sorry I came back late, I stayed back at the bakery to finish my homework and accidentally fell asleep on the table,' she told him, keeping her voice firm and calm.

When Ray was scared her lip quivered and it was a major tell that she was lying so she kept her face as neutral as possible so her dad would believe her.

'Hmm' was his response as he shrugged his shoulders.

'Where's the money?' he asked.

Ray panicked but she remembered she kept a small part of her savings in her bag just in case. It was $400, which was not much but it was something.

'Here' she said as she handed the envelope to him.

She watched as her dad counted the money, waiting for when he would start yelling at her.

' 400 HUNDRED DOLLARS?!?, that's all you brought back home? Dumb bitch' her dad yelled at her.

Ray was mad. She worked so hard and asked for so little in return.

'Yeah, it's still good money. Dad, what are you even on about? The bakery makes an average of $550 of profit a day, that's like about $3000 a week?? That's more than enough money?' she quipped back

The minute the words left her mouth, she knew she was fucked. She never yelled back at him but she couldn't help it. They made more than enough money a week for her parents' food, drugs and alcohol. She was just tired.

'You think you're smart bitch? You think you can talk back to me? Maybe it's time I taught you some fucking respect' he dad said as he punched her. He punched her again a few times.

Ray could feel the tears flowing from her face as she cried from both the physical pain and the sadness. She was about to turn and leave before her dad grabbed her by her hair and choked her as he said, 'Don't fucking lie to me again' before leaving.

Ray ran to her room and locked the door before she lost it.

Ash was sitting at the table with Lexi and Fez eating a stack of pancakes. A part of him was worried about Ray but she would text him if anything happened, right?

'Soooo tell us more about Ray' Lexi questioned

'I'm assuming she's the one who cooked yesterday. The pasta looks bomb' she added

'Uhm..yeah, we were meant to hang out but I had a fever and felt like ass, so she came over uhm to hang out and look after me I guess' Ash said as he tried not to be embarrassed which was very hard given the way Lexi and Fez were looking at him.

'She your girlfriend or something?' Fez asked

'Nah, not really. Her family runs a bakery on Monte Street that I happened to go to a few weeks ago and that's when I saw her. We're just friends. It's coo' tho' Ash told him.