Scars

Chapter 7

I sit on the island, a cup of coffee and potato chips in hand, waiting for Abby to come. She is always somehow late. It was a usual occurrence and somewhat heart warming after everything that has happened from the past few days.

We drove to college in silence once she was ready in silence as she had her breakfast on the way and I take control of the wheels. Reaching college, we find our group of friends having their usual talks and fights.

Fights as in Kevin trying to keep Ace in a headlock.

And failing miserably at it.

“10 dollars say Ace will Kevin in the face,” Abby says, getting out of the passenger seat.

“15 dollars, Ace will do worse than that,” I place a bet as well as we make our way to the boys that surrounded the two. Mason was leaning against a car, Ryker smoking while he was sitting on the hood of the car and Keith had his phone out recording his twin getting his ass in trouble.

“What’s up?” Mason greeting us, straightening himself.

“We made a bet. 10 dollar, Ace will punch Kevin, 15 dollars, worse than that. What do you say?” Abby fills them up, taking a seat next to Ryker. She snatches his cigarette and throws it away, making him glare at her. She smiles cheekily in response.

“15 dollars!” Keith yells, looking back to wave at us before going back to recording.

“10 dollars.” Mason and “15 dollars,” Ryker bet as well.

Abby grins at Mason before cupping her mouth, “Hey Ace, 10 dollars- single punch.”

“What the-"

Ace look up at Abby before elbowing Kevin in the ribs, using the moment of his distraction to pull at his arm around his neck. And punching him right on his face.

Mason and Abby yell, “We won.”

“This is rigged,” I turn to glare at Abby, the auburn haired girl merely shrugging casually.

Kevin spits out a little blood, “That hurt, idiot.”

“It was supposed to,” Ace and Abby say at the same time making Kevin pout childishly.

“Pay up. Pay up. Pay up,” Mason starts singing and Abby jumps down to join him as they do a crazy sort of dance. Keith tries to interrupt them but he gets pulled in the weird winning dance himself. Kevin resorts to annoy Ace who watched his dancing friends in total displeasure.

“How are you?” Ryker’s question makes me look at him. I move to sit next to him as we watch our other friends have a normal start to their day. Keeping our voice low as to not disturb the others, I shrug, “I don’t know honestly. Scared but I don’t know what from?”

He hums, “So what happened in the gym? I have never seen him like this. The man is deadly sure, but that day, it was something else entirely.” Getting no reply, he heaves a sigh before continuing, “Not to pressure you, but Abby really needs to know now. Considering he has seen her with us so it is better she knows.”

“I know,” I look back to my bunch of friends that are now all hurdled around Ace for some reason, “I just don’t want to let my past have a hold on my life anymore.”

“Telling your friends about your past doesn’t mean it has a hold on your present.”

“Well, if when people tell others something about their hidden past, no matter what the others say or do, they start viewing the person differently Ry. It may not necessarily be negative. But it does change their opinion. Don’t bother saying otherwise, because we both know it does happen.”

“So? Because just because our opinion about you may change a bit doesn’t mean we won’t be there for you. On the bright side, it may help us with the upcoming problems.”

“That’s shit ton optimism for a generally brooding person like yourself,” I tease him, lightening the mood. He rolls his eyes.

“Abby is rubbing off on me.”

We both look back at the sunshine of the group as I reply, “Abby is rubbing off on all of us.”

' “Hey,” Abby yells, “I heard my name.”

I burst out laughing, while Ryker chuckling shaking his head at the bubbly girl that skips to us and starts pulling both of us to join the rest of them.

' I join in on their quest of annoying Ace while Ryker just stands next to us with a smile.

The peaceful surrounding me, with my friends around me, laughing and joking made my heart swell.

The people around us keep looking at us. Staring at the good looking guys with us, girls glaring in envy and boys appreciating us two girls of the group. We all start walking to our lecture halls, Abby skipping ahead, Keith and Ace in front of her, Kevin and Mason behind her and Ryker walking the last with me tucked close to him with his arm around my shoulder.

And even though I was happy, there is still something lacking. The content, satisfied feeling is missing. There is happiness but there is no elation.

There is still a hole in my life, a gap that refuses to fill.

A wound that fails to heal.

And all that it leaves behind is a scar.

  I groan, my head pounding with all the bickering going on around me. I look, pouting towards Ace and Ryker in an attempt to gain their sympathy but all they do is chuckle before going back to discuss in whispers about something. I look back at the four young adults that were trying to decide what to order, but all they are actually doing was blabbering about each and every food item.

Having enough of it, I slam my right hand on the wooden table, the sound stilling everyone and not just on our table. The chirpy crowd of the café fell silent as well.

“One more word out of any of you,” I say, as calmly as I possibly can, keeping eye contact with everyone on the table and not minding the eyes of the crowd on me, “I dare you.”

  Someone gulps in the crowd and I mentally smirk in satisfaction.

  My group of friends nod swiftly, and almost comically that made me want to laugh but all I do was nod back sternly. 
As everyone goes back to their work, just more quietly, I take up the time to study the people around me.

  A couple sitting in a booth. A mother of two trying to make her kids settle down on the chairs. A group of girls in dresses surrounding the counter and flirting with the guy taking their orders. A man in biker jeans and jacket, wearing goggles and having coffee. A bunch of boys taking their orders back to their table. A man in business suit typing away on a laptop.

  Wait.

  With a thought in my head, I look back to the table of that lone biker, only to find it abandoned.

  Panic grips me for a second. Something about that man was suspicious. And familiar.

  A tap on my hand breaks me from my chain of thoughts and I turn to find Ace looking at me in amusement. “Scaring your own friends now?”

  I shrug, pushing the thoughts of the man back, “What can I say? I am not exactly the nicest, so I don’t have enough people to scare.”

  “That’s plain sadist Ash. Don’t let others hear you say that, they will lock you up,” Mason joins in laughing.

  And that is how I spent the evening, with a group of friends and lots of food. And in the midst of it, somehow the man I saw and the suspicion was long forgotten.

  We came back later than we thought.
As we made our way to the stairs that led to the main lobby from the building parking lot, we see Mr. Lee standing at the reception and looking through the desktop. Abby yells a “Good evening” to him, breaking his concentration. The Asian man looks up and smiles, rounding the reception to come towards us.

  “Good evening girls. What have you done to your hair Ash? They are turning lighter.”

  “Uhh… You noticed,” I laugh nervously, feeling Abby looking at my hair in confusion too.

  “Yes yes, you young people love to experiment with you hairs. Anyway, It good that we met now, I had something important to tell you both.”

“What is it?” I ask.

“As you both already know that my daughter is about to get married, so I have decided to go back and sell this building.”

  “What?”

  “But why?” Me and Abby question at the same time.

  He smiles, “Darlings, I have been living in a foreign country for a while now. But now with my daughter marrying, my wife will get lonely.”

  “What about this building?”

  “Well, a young man is interested in buying this building and I will sign the papers the day after tomorrow. I have already talked to him about the people living here, and surprisingly he has decided to let everything stay as they are. He even said he will live in this building too.”

  “Oh.”

  He nods before inviting us for dinner at his place, the apartment that was at the top floor, right above ours. We agree due to our respect at the elderly male and made our way to the elevator.

*****************
A/N: Hello there readers!
Yes, I was a little late... honestly? I forgot that I had updated a little over a week ago... so yeahhh...
Anyway, How was a aneek peak of a normal day in Ashlyn Greene's life? Is Ash right to be suspicious?

Vote, Comment and share.
Love, Rupanshi.