Day 26
Today was a slow day at the coffee shop. Aspyn stood at the counter and mentally counted down the hours until she could leave. About two minutes before her shift ended, Margret stumbled in the door.
"Oh, Aspyn! Have you seen Parker?" Margret's eyes scanned the patrons sat around the room.
"No not today, Mrs. Stevenson. Why? What's wrong?" Aspyn asked calmly.
"Well, he left last night and I haven't seen him since. As you can tell, I'm a bit worried." Margret's laugh was airy and diffident.
"I'm about to leave anyway, maybe I could try to find him?" Aspyn offered brightly.
"Oh, thank you dear." Margret sighed in relief.
***
He was no where to be found. She checked every place that he normally went, but he wasn't anywhere. Just as Aspyn was losing hope, she remembered Parker telling her that when he was a kid, he loved going to this one park near Mrs. Stevenson's house. It was a long shot, but she decided to check there anyway.
Hope restored, she practically ran the whole way. Once she rounded the corner, the park came into view. Her eyes frantically swept across the colorful slides and swings. Her eyes landed on a figure sitting on one of the swings smoking. Had to be Parker.
She slowly approached the swing next to his and sat down.
"You know, you shouldn't smoke at a children's park." Aspyn said matter-of-factly.
"You know, you shouldn't tell me what I can and cannot fucking do." Parker said mimicking her tone.
Aspyn was silent for a moment as she kicked the ground softly.
"I bet I can go higher than you." Aspyn teased as she started swinging back and forth.
Parker rolled his eyes and started swinging as well. "Not a chance."
Parker easily surpassed Aspyn and stuck his tongue out at her childishly.
She smiled at him, glad he was actually doing something other than sulking and smoking. He tentatively smiled back. She had never seen him genuniely smile. The sight had taken her aback. His smile was bright and warm. Much different than his usual cold, dark atmosphere.
"I bet I can jump farther." Parker goaded as he threw his cigarette on the ground.
"I bet you can't." She retorted.
Parker swung back with as much force as he could and then shot himself forward, gracefully landing on his feet a few feet ahead.
"Beat that." He bragged.
"Watch me."
Aspyn tried to swing herself as far back as she could and as she was swinging forward, her swing suddenly jerked and she lost balance, falling to the ground.
"I guess I won." Parker boasted as he stood over her.
"Thanks for the help, Park." Aspyn grumbled as she got off the ground.
"Anytime, cupcake." He said with false cheeriness.
Aspyn got back on the swing and spoke quietly. "Don't do this to Mrs. Stevenson. She's such a nice lady and you're killing her."
Parker winced and looked away. "I'm not doing anything to her. It's not like I asked to come here."
"Doesn't matter, you're here anyway. The least you could do is spend some time with her. She's so lonely, Parker." Aspyn pleaded.
He snorted. "That's not my fault."
"She's your grandmother! Do you even care about her at all?" Aspyn yelled.
Aspyn saw emotion crack his indifferent facade as he thought about what she just said.
"I don't want her getting attached to me." Parker mumbled, almost inaudible.
Aspyn furrowed her eyebrows at his answer. "Why not?"
Parker shook his head and looked back at Aspyn. "Nothing, it's nothing. You wanna take a drive?"
Aspyn hesitated, but then said, "Sure."
They headed to his car in silence. Aspyn was used to his silence by now. When he spoke, his words were either cryptic or meaningless. As they were walking, Parker lit another cigarette and sighed in satisfaction when the smoke filled his lungs.
Aspyn watched him smoke with a curious look plastered on her face.
"What?" He spat.
All common sense and dignity left Aspyn as she asked for a cigarette.
"You want what? Really? I thought you were a good little girl." Parker snorted, but handed her one anyway.
"Whatever." Aspyn rolled her eyes and grabbed it out of his hand.
He lit it for her and watched as she took a deep breath before polluting her lungs with the smoke.
Smoke flooded her lungs and she coughed frantically. Parker watched in amusement as she practically coughed up a lung.
"That's horrible! Why do you like that?!" Aspyn asked, out of breath.
"You get used to it."
Aspyn threw it on the ground and stomped on it. Never again, she promised herself.
***
Parker and Aspyn drove around aimlessly until the moon was high in the sky.
"Call it a night?" Aspyn asked tiredly.
"Oh, but the night is just starting." Parker said with a mischievous grin on his face.
"What do you have in mind?" Aspyn asked cautiously.
"You wanna crash a party?"
"What?"
"Unless you're too scared to." Parker teased.
Aspyn squared her shoulders and punched his arm lightly. "Of course I'm not scared to."
"If you say so." Parker grinned, not convinced.
***
Eventually they pulled up next to a house with cars parked all over the front yard.
"You ready?"
"Yeah." Aspyn whispered.
They weaved through the mess of cars and walked through the front door. Music was blaring and teenagers jumped and bumped to the music.
"This is crazy!" Aspyn yelled over the music.
Parker smirked and walked through a group of drunk kids who lazily danced to the beat.
Aspyn hurried to catch up, but she couldn't make it through the tight packs of people.
Finally, she pushed through and scanned the room for Parker. The music was so loud in the middle of the floor that she could feel the beat inside her stomach. Dammit Parker, where the hell are you?
She stumbled into the kitchen and saw a group of dirty looking guys standing in a circle. In the middle of the circle was none other than Parker.
They loomed over him and suddenly, one of them threw a punch. Parker easily deflected it and ducked when another one threw a punch.
Parker yelped in surprise when a hand connected with his jaw. Suddenly, his whole demeanor changed. Fire burnt in his eyes as he swung at one of the jerks attacking him.
His fist connected with the guy's face. As soon as he hit him, he swung his elbow into another one's gut.
One of the bigger guys threw Parker to the ground and repeatedly kicked in his ribs. Parker groaned after each blow.
Aspyn couldn't watch anymore. She started screaming and running towards the guys.
"Stop! Stop! You're gonna kill him!" She yelled, but they ignored her.
She jumped onto the closest guy's back and started pulling his hair. "Stop! Stop!"
He tried to shake her off, but she was determined not to let go.
"Get off me, bitch!" He shouted.
Another guy ripped Aspyn off and threw her to the ground as well. She scrambled to her feet and tried to break into the circle. She shoved two of them away and got down on top of Parker, shielding him from the blows.
"Move, bitch!" One of them yelled.
"No! Stop! We'll leave! We'll leave!" She yelled desperately.
The guys grumbled and slowly moved away from the heap of Parker's body. Aspyn put her face down close to his and hurriedly whispered to him.
"Parker, come on. Get up, we gotta go. Now."
Parker groaned and clutched his stomach.
"Parker, let's go."
She pulled Parker to his feet and he stumbled, unable to walk on his own. Aspyn groaned and let him lean on her.
They eventually made it through the door and down to Parker's car.
"Parker, where are your keys?"
"Back pocket." He breathed out.
Aspyn cringed as she stuck her hand into his back pocket and grabbed the keys. Unlocking the doors, she helped Parker into the passenger seat.
She hurried around to the drivers side, quickly started the car and peeled away from the curb. Once they were a good distance away from the house, Aspyn shut off the car and turned towards Parker.
His jaw was bruised and swollen. His bruised arms were clutching his stomach in pain. His eyes were slammed shut. A small cut above his eyebrow was bleeding. Aspyn slowly exhaled, trying to calm herself.
"Parker, you okay?"
"Does it fucking look like it?" He seethed.
"Sorry, stupid question." Aspyn said sympathetically.
She grabbed a napkin off the floor and slowly moved closer to Parker. She wiped the blood from his face and he sucked in air sharply.
"I don't need your help." He mumbled grimly.
Aspyn ignored his comment and continued wiping blood from his face. His eyes flashed open and her breath caught in her throat. He watched as she pulled up his shirt to assess the damage.
Bruises bloomed all over his ribs. Blood oozed from cuts across his stomach.
"Hey. It's okay." Parker whispered as her eyes filled with horror.
She shot him a look and tried to wipe away the blood on his stomach.
"Look at me." Parker instructed.
She glanced up at him and he quickly pulled her face closer to him.
"Parker, wha-" She started, but was cut off when his lips collided with hers.
She was frozen until she realized what was happening. Slowly and tentatively, she kissed him back. His lips tasted bittersweet and heavenly. Lightening was zapping through her body and fireworks went off behind her eyes. He pulled away all too soon and rested his forehead on hers.
"Some night, huh?" Parker breathed out.
Aspyn was still too stunned to speak. She pulled away from him and shook her head slowly. "I'm taking you home."
Parker nodded and turned to gaze out the window. A million thoughts were rushing through his head. Oh shit, what did I just do, he thought in a daze.
Aspyn dreaded bringing Parker to Margret looking like this, but what else could she do?
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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I live to please haha.
Longest chapter, yet. Wow.
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