The Girl With Tattoos (16)

5.9K 197 17
                                    

We were zooming back to the main city and Bann seems to be getting used to my wild driving. The tears have been dried while some were violently brushed away. It felt nice to see him again even if it brought back some unwanted visuals.

"You can drop me off at the school. My cars still there and my mom usually works late." And that's exactly what I did. "Bye Gracie."

I left the High School parking lot only to go right back to where I started, this time with a brand new set of flowers.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, exchanging the dead flowers with the yellow ones, playing with the tender petals. "I should have visited you more. I'll try this time around, I promise. Just be patient."

I sat up and threw the old bouquet into a grave I didn't know, watching them fall to the ground and crumble. The noise sounded crisp, old, dead; just like how it was. There was no saving them.

I walked away with a feeling of relief, of satisfaction, and a tickle in my throat threatening to make me break into a horrible coughing fit.


✦✧✦


t w o  m o n t h s  l a t e r


"Dude, I said let's play a game, not try to kill Bann," One of the few people I've been hanging out with for the past two months complained, rubbing the side of his arm.

Shrugging, I plopped back down on his bed.

"Are you bored? You can punch me again, since that seems to entertain you," Taking his offer, I jammed the heel of my foot into his knee, making him fall onto the bed. "Ow! I was just kidding, dammit."

I laughed and patted his shoulder softly, scooting up to lean against the bed frame. Bann soon followed, sighing.

"You know. I've been waiting to ask. I just don't want to get kicked again." Chuckling, I twisted my body to face him, hoping we would grow a pair and say it as he nervously rubbed his upper arm. "Um, wanna have dinner with us?"

I gave him a confused look and all he did was sigh again.

"My parents really want to treat you to a 'grand' dinner, even though we can barely manage to feed ourselves," He explained in a way that made it seem it hit him in all the wrong places. "My mother barely invites people inside the house and to be asked to have dinner with us, especially when the invitation is from her, is weird. She talks about you way too much; sometimes it might not be good gossip but at other times she genuinely thinks you're a good person," He smirked cheekily. "Outside of school, of course."

For a girl like me, who never actually had a family to eat dinner with, being asked to eat with someone else was never really a surprise. The town would usually invite Chase, dad and I but we would always turn it down. For obvious reasons.

"It's okay if you say no; it would make her finally shut up about you."

I threw a piece of paper at him that was crumbled in my pocket for the entire day, with the words 'Why does she even talk about me?' scribbled onto it.

"Well, she usually says you have a golden heart or some shit like that. Like she see's a lot of potential in you," He looked at me gently through his light eyelashes as I squinted hard into the side of his face to see if I would read him better. 

I broke the weirdly situated eye contact immediately after the moment I realized I couldn't better understand his motives. I stared directly at the end of the bed where out feet laid, practically tangled together, making me feel even more awkward than before.

Sighing, I impulsively got up and grabbed my backpack that was almost falling off the cheap chair in the corner and left his room hurriedly, ignoring his confused calls. I couldn't keep this facade up anymore, whatever facade that may be.

Plus, I was only doing what I did best; running away from my problems. It was one of my biggest flaws.

His dad stopped me mid-way to the front door.

His redshirt had a big hole in the front, showing off his chest that was surprisingly very muscular. The snake tattoo he has wrapped around his stomach and ended at the bottom of his throat, tickling his Adam's Apple. The black joggers he wore looked worn out and stained like that's all he owned and all he has ever worn in his entire 40 something years of living.

"Hey, Gracelyn, where ya goin'? I was just ganna grab some beer. You want some?" He asked, sniffling and playing with his hair that went to his shoulders. I shook my head and tightened the strap around me that kept my backpack from falling. "Eh, your loss," he scratched the stubble lining his jaw before going into the refrigerator and opening a can of beer with a pop.

Here's my chance. My one window of recovery.

Shuffling backward and having Bann's rough-around-the-edges dad still in my sights as he stared endlessly into the contents of the fridge, I quietly made my way towards the front of the house where I could hopefully unhinge the front door without being noticed and leave without further distractions.

"Oh yea, wait a second there Gracelyn." 

Fuck!

He stopped to take a big swig of his beer and turn around to face me before continuing on. "You wanna come for dinner tomorrow? My son was supposed to ask you but he can be a dumb fuck sometimes," He looked at me for an answer, swishing his can dripping with condensation around in circles. I stared at the motion for a little, feeling the guilt pile up inside the pits of my stomach as I glanced over at the light shining out of Bann's room through his slightly ajar door.

"Gracelyn, as much as I love you kiddo, you need you to give me an answer cause' Family Guy is about to come on and that's more important than whatever this is."

Sighing, I looked at him and Bann's door once more before nodding with a small smile, finally completing my task of leaving the house.

Except I didn't go unnoticed and now I have another responsibility being weighed upon my shoulders.

The Girl With Tattoos • Original VersionWhere stories live. Discover now