once before // ashton irwin

chapter four // business of sadness.

 "someday my pain
                    will mark you.
 harness your blame
                   and walk through."

                                       bon iver 'the wolves'

nora's pov

"See you later, kid," Jimmy says softly as I grab my things and shuffle past him, making my way to the front door.

I can still hear the sympathy in his voice, making my stomach tense and heavy. People make it nearly impossible for me to simply ignore all of the problems in my life. It's so frustrating. Everyone just feels the need to save little helpless girls like myself. 

I'm sick of it. 

The moment I head outside, I'm greeted by a soft twilight of colors, casting a warm tone upon the downtown of this god-forsaken city. 

Paranoia tugs at each and every of my nerves, causing me to glance nervously over my shoulders in case a certain messy haired boy was waiting for me. The moment I clear my surroundings, only seeing a scatter of perfect strangers, taking an evening stroll and enjoying the warmth while we have it. 

An impatient honk grasps my attention from across the street. Everett sits in his car, staring forward at the empty road ahead of him. 

My eyebrows furrow as he lacks his usual greeting of a friendly smile when I get off work. My stomach works itself in knots as I glance both ways before crossing the street. It takes an awful lot for Everett to get angry at me.

As if I needed more drama in my life. 

Soft music plays from Everett's speakers. His music taste is much more mellow than my own. Of course I have a certain someone to blame for turning me into a lover of punk music. The genre of music is often shady among our band. We often times dabble in quite a few types of music. 

The soft, haunting music causes me to sit with an uneasiness in my chest. It's as if it's setting the tone for the car ride I'm about to involve myself in. 

Everett has still yet to look in my direction. As soon as the passenger door is shut and I have my seat belt securely fastened around me, he presses on the gas - a tad bit too harsh for him to pass it off as normal.

"Ev-" I start, but he doesn't even allow me to get a single word out before he's cutting me off. 

"What the hell, Nora," He snaps, using a tone of voice he's never used with me - at lost, not for a long time. 

I turn to face him, my face twisted in a look of pure confusion. He grips his steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning a frightening shade of white. 

"What?" I ask, dumbfounded and defensive as I wrap my arms around my body.

"Where were you earlier?" He asks, sending me into a deeper pit of confusion.

"At work," I answer slowly, trying incredibly hard to piece together what in the heck is going on, "Don't you remember dropping me off?" I ask, slightly concerned for his mental state at this moment. 

Everett lets out a frustrated groan, taking one tightly gripped hand off of the steering wheel to run through his bronze colored hair with aggression. 

"You'll never guess who came storming into the library earlier," He says, his voice sounding tense and condescending. 

If you aren't sure where Everett is, he's more than likely shuffling around the library. It's his most favorite place in this entire city. He's quite the nerd, actually. He loves to read. I remember on several occasions going there with him to watch him pick up a random book and begin reading it from the middle. It's one of his many little quirks.