Sister Wars

Chapter 7: And in comes Prince Charming... or the farm boy

  A boy of around eighteen leaned against the doorway watching Mark as he held his head in his hands and muttered to himself. He tugged at his shirt collar, not sure whether to make his presence known to the man.

  He cleared his throat lightly, hoping he would look up. Mark looked startled but he instantly changed his frown to a smile.

'Do you need anything?' he asked almost kindly as he slowly rose from the chair.

'Not really, Aubrey was about to bite my head off though' he said with a lazy grin. 'I'm crap at basketball, I let the team down.'

  Mark didn't say anything, he seemed in some kind of daze.

'Are you ok?' the boy asked cautiously.

  Mark turned round to examine the boy. He seemed nice, neatly dressed in a clean t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans that had gotten slightly dirty from the basketball game. He had a charming looking face too, framed with straight, light brown hair.

  Mark shook his head and sighed. He wasn't expecting the boy to say anything so the next few words surprised him.

'Do you want to talk about it?' the boy asked with a certain laziness to his tone, the kind that got on Ashley's nerves at the best of times. She hated lazy people, with no exceptions. She herself was nervous, despite being usually quiet and obedient she could also be impatient and arrogant.

  He suspected that the lack of patience she had with these kind of people came with the minimal number of times she actually had to tolerate them. He could just imagine her if she were there right now, her chin would be tilted up, her back arched back and her eyebrow raised enquiringly at the lack of poise of the boy. Boy, did she know how to look intimidating.

  His mouth stretched into a slow smile and he began talking about Ashley and how he worried about her. The boy listened intently, occasionally nodding to show that he was listening.

  Mark surprised himself, he didn't usually talk to complete strangers about his troubles but there was something about the boy that made you want to talk to him. When he finished he drew a deep breath and waited for the boy to say something.

'I don't mean to interfere' the boy began, his eyes wandering over the collection of paintings hung on the wall. 'But if you want me to spend some time with your daughter I won't mind.'

  Mark looked straight at the boy, he didn't seem to be joking so he nodded slowly.

'But don't tell her I sent you.' The boy winked, got an ice pack out of the freezer and placed it on his knee.

  Mark shook his head as the boy hobbled out of the room in pretend pain.

XXX

  Ashley was interrupted from her reading by a knock at the door, she sighed and got up to open the door, thinking it might be her dad again.

'Hi' she said, a little surprised by the person who she found at her door. It was a boy a few years older than her. His light brown eyes seemed to see right through her soul.

'I was injured and your dad said I could come here until I get better' the boy said, limping into the room.

  She was about to argue but decided to give him some time. She sat back down on the window seat and he sat down beside her, his hand resting on his knee, holding an ice pack in place.

'You can stop pretending you're injured, you know. I know dad sent you up here to look after me' she said with a half-smile she wished she had never let escape.

  He grinned at her, showing two rows of straight white teeth.

'You're right.'

'Don't you like playing basketball?' she asked, removing the ice pack from the window seat before it wet the cushion.

'Not that much, we were odds today anyway. And Aubrey was about to kill me for my bad playing.'

  She nodded and waited for him to say something else.

'So your dad said you didn't have any friends' the boy began. Ashley looked away, her face turning a shade of crimson.

'Is it true?'

'Maybe' she replied with a shrug, looking back at him.

  She didn't know why she was talking to him, she should have shot him on the spot the way she did with other people. But something about him somehow made her want to have a conversation with him, something that didn't involve ordering or shouting in frustration as someone else got something wrong.

'What's your name anyway?' she asked, trying to change the subject and ignore the yelling in her head that told her to answer his question more directly.

'Jake' he replied with the same lazy grin he had used on her dad.  'Why don't you come down there? It's actually kind of fun' he continued, determined not to let go of the subject.

'Not my scene' Ashley said, determined more than ever not to fall. Jake shrugged and leaned with his back on the window pane, looking as Ashley tried to read.

  He studied her face closely, the part that wasn't covered with her black hair. She was beautiful, her milky white skin showing off her jet black hair perfectly. She glanced at him a couple of times, each time a shiver ran down his spine when her blue eyes met his. She put her book down with a sigh after a few minutes.

'Look here, Jake, I'm trying to read. I suggest you go back downstairs and leave me in peace, you won't get anything out of me.'

  Her voice was low yet commanding and hard. Jake looked at her more closely, getting a better view now that she was facing him. Her jaw line was set determinedly and she didn't seem to be one to cave in easily. He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to spot a weakness but when she held his gaze he nodded slowly and walked out of the room.

  Ashley breathed out a sigh of relief and watched as he jogged back onto the field and was welcomed with hugs from everyone. She watched them wistfully, her eyes brimming with tears, sometimes being perfect didn't seem as easy as her mum said. Jake looked up at her window waved.

  Ashley blushed and walked back into the room when the others looked up to see what he was waving at. She sat down on her bed and sighed. Why did she always close everyone out? Why was she always the one everyone was afraid of? Why couldn't she be like her sister? One answer popped into her head and it seemed like the right answer...

  Hey there and thanks for reading all this, it means the world to me :) Hope you guys look forward to the next chapter, there's going to be Aubrey in it and it's going to be pretty interesting :) Hope you guys are looking forward to it as much as I am...