Surviving Paradise (Full Draft Version)

CHAPTER 15

"You fuckin leech I will be down when you are dead!"

"Whisper, tell your boy to shut up--"

CHAPTER 15

Ashton and Jane closed themselves in his room and changing directions, Allisa went into her own room, pulling clothing from the old mahogany dresser. After a long hot shower, she trekked back to Will’s room, and as she had expected he was still sleeping soundly. Grabbing her cell from the nightstand, she checked the time, and stood a moment longer watching him sleep.

Several minutes later she sat at the kitchen table, waiting on the single serving automatic coffee maker to finish dripping into her cup, as she powered up her laptop. The old house was peacefully quiet as she clicked through slide pics and typed random notes. Her second cup of coffee was brewing when the creak of movement from upstairs, then the thunk of the front stairs preceded Jane swinging through the door.

With a cheery smile the other girl extracted a breakfast bar from a box that she produced from the dark recesses of the pantry, hidden from the guys no doubt who kept the cupboards bare with their ravenous appetites. “Want one A Cat?”

“Um no thanks.”

Jane was dressed to kill as usual, and fully made up, hair sleek, straight and shiny. Allisa’s wet tresses were pulled back into their typical post shower ponytail, and she fingered the end of it as she contemplated the day ahead.

“Want to trade cars for the day?” Allisa offered hesitantly, because she couldn’t be sure how her friend would react. Normally the trade of the latest sports make of a high end model would be a coup when offered up against an older economy model. But Jane had the same contempt that Will held for the gifter of Allisa’s vehicle.

Not to worry though, Jane’s face lit up like a vampire at noon. “Sure thing!” With a jingle, she extracted her keys from her backpack, and eagerly traded with Allisa as she asked, “Y’all are coming to The Viper tonight, right?”

Recalling from a conversation the night before that Ashton was playing at the mentioned club this weekend, Allisa grinned looking forward to a “date night”. “Yep, in fact I am off today so I was thinking about getting something new...”

Her friend’s smile was instant at the thought of Allisa caring about what she wore. Many were the times that Jane had forced Allisa to wear something out of her own closet, back when Jane had first and finally condoned the crush on Will. Jane had advised her more than once that just because the majority of the male gender had no fashion sense, did not mean they did not notice and admire what women wore.

“Feel free to root through my closet, I am not going to have time to come home first.” Suddenly her face fell. “That won’t be a problem with your car will it? Cause you can come to the shop and trade back anytime today...”

Not a problem.” Allisa assured, and when she saw Jane who was still holding an empty coffee mug, glance at the antique kitchen schoolhouse clock, Allisa pulled her own just finished cup from the brewer and offered it to Jane. “Thanks again, about the cars, you know how Will hates mine.” No guy alive could hate the car itself, but he despised all it represented. Namely, her affiliation with Gabrielle.

At this comment Jane simply pulled a face of understanding, and hastily poured the mug into a travel cup. After adding a couple of scoops of sugar, and a spray of whipped cream, Jane twisted the cap on and sprinted out the door with a hasty goodbye. Within seconds, Allisa heard her cars engine purr to life, as she was starting another cup of coffee for herself.

The blare of music intruded on the silence of the morning and she stepped to the sink, watching out the window as the car left the driveway. The garage door automatically slid closed. The garage itself was fairly new, and benefited them all in different ways.