"There's no way I'm going."
"But Ash!" I whined, walking after her, through to the kitchen where she put her cup in the dishwasher and started loading other dishes into it too from after lunch. "Why not? All I want you to do is to come, eat, make small talk and go home again. It's really not that hard."
She turned around quickly, making me take a few steps backwards. She lifted up her hand and closed her eyes, pausing before speaking. "Its not that," she said, slowly, opening her eyes. "I have a..date tonight. I met this guy, and I really think that he was sweet and he's really.. hot too, so I'm going on my date instead, alright?"
I nodded slowly, folding my arms and following her over to the table where she sat down, but I remained standing. "Who is this guy?"
She sighed a long sigh, waited, then finally said, "He's a friend of a friend." I raised my eyebrow, expecting more situation than just that. "Fine. You know Emma's boyfriend Chris? Its his brother."
"Uh-huh," I nodded, even though I had only met Chris once before and I had never seen his brother. Emma was Ashley's best friend since childhood, when they promised each other to be best friends forever and ever and ever. I guess they kept that promise pretty well. "So, where is this date? What are you wearing?"
She shrugged, and a small worried look appeared on her paled face. "I have, seriously. No. Clothes."
"You can wear some of mine if you want," I laughed, then continued. "I need a favour too. I need to borrow one of your dresses."
"What, is this like some wedding or something?"
"No.'' I grinned. "Luke's friend is coming home from Florida and he said to wear something dressy for the dinner." I scratched my face and ran a hand through my hair, crossing my legs as I sat down opposite Ashley.
"You do know that guy..can be dangerous. Right?"
I nodded, "I know," even though I didn't. He was perfectly fine to me. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him. Not to me, anyways.
"So..although you're, hanging out with Luke.." she sighed, "All I'm saying is, be careful. And I mean, I'm not saying that I like the fact that you hang out with this guy. Just, don't make a habit of it, alright?"
I looked down and picked nervously at my nails, choosing to ignore what she just said. I wasn't going to believe her, and I definitely wasn't going to stay away from Luke just because she wanted me to. Yes, she was family, but I promised Luke that he would be as important to me as she was. And I wasn't lying, because now I was starting to believe my promise myself.
"Whatever, I'm going upstairs to get ready. He said come by at seven-ish. You can give me a ride, yeah?"
"Sure." she sighed, getting up and going upstairs, where I followed her but to separate rooms.
When I pushed open the bedroom door, I glanced around and saw clothes lying here and there, scattered around the carpeted floor. The bed was fitted neatly in the corner of the square, red-painted room with a small desk beside it. The wardrobe was opposite the bed, so I picked my steps, hopping over pieces of clothing until I reached the wardrobe.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes instantly searching for Luke's tattoo before attaching themselves to my neck. I had to say, it really was cute. Just the thought of Luke and I getting closer and closer each day made me blush. I lightly glided my fingers over the ink-markings, but it wasn't the same. My touch wasn't the same as Luke's. It just didn't feel right, I needed him here with me. Thank God I was going over to his house again this evening.
Blinking a couple of times, I shook my head and pulled open the wardrobe door and searched over the rack of dresses displayed in front of me. Pink, blue, yellow..you name the colour, it was probably there. I quickly pulled out a red, flouncy one and tried it on with black heels.
Too fancy, my mind commented. I agreed.
I changed and picked the blue one this time, with one shoulder-sleeve that fell the whole length to the floor, and a slit up along the side leg along with silver flats.
I admit, it looked nice, but something told me it just wasn't right. I couldn't wear this, there was something about it that made it seem distasteful to me.
In the end, I chose a sleeveless sun-yellow piece, made from soft material, and matched it with a pair of beige sandals. The yellow colour suited my tan skin, so I guess this dress was a good choice.
I quickly applied some makeup and mascara along with a deep shade of red lipstick, somehow bringing out my hazel brown eyes even more than the black eye-shadow spread evenly over my eyelids. I popped my lips and took one last glance in the mirror. My hair was already straightened, falling to my waists in light strands. I grabbed a bag and pushed in my mascara and foundation with my lipstick, just in case I needed a top-up during the evening.
I took a deep breath and called out, "Ashley?" as I walked through the door, shutting it after me and standing in the hallway for a few seconds. "Ashley?"
"What the heck do you want?" A voice groaned from the other side of the hall, and I turned to see Ashley emerging from the bathroom clutching up a towel over her bare body, her hair wet.
My eyes widened a little in surprise. "Uhm, just wondering. Are you almost ready?" I asked, although I knew she wasn't. I was just going to annoy her way more than I should have, but I couldn't resist it. It was tempting.
Her eyes narrowed, and she stared at me for a few long, seconds. "Does it look like I'm ready?"
I shook my head and smiled. "No. Hurry. I don't wanna be late."
"Well, neither do I, just so you know."
I grinned as soon as she entered her room and began walking down the stairs, calling back, "You have twenty minutes. Move it or lose it, sister."
"Oh, shut the fuck up!" her voice screeched through the halls, making me laugh again as I reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped walking to answer her. "Make sure you don't scream like that tonight, Ashley. You'll have the boy scared before you even try to get him to come home with you."
I couldn't hear if she replied to that or not, I guess I was too far away from her to hear something she probably said quietly so I wouldn't hear. I grabbed a glass of water, chucking it back slowly and pouring out the remainder of the cup when I felt like I had enough. Last thing I wanted was to be peeing all night.
I grabbed a packet of chewing gum and popped one into my mouth, walking towards the front door and hopped into the black car that was parked out back. It was Ashley's. Well, actually, it was mom's old one, but dad bought her a Bentley for her 40th birthday so I guess she didn't need it anymore. So she sold it to Ashley before they moved off halfway across the country.
I glanced in the mirror once I hopped in and pulled across my seatbelt, I knew now that I wouldn't forget to wear it after what happened that night after the bar. The dress I wore exposed a large portion of my collarbone and neck, so Luke's tattoo was completely visible. So was my anchor one, but hopefully nobody would notice it.
I could hear the distant sound of clicking heels, getting louder as they neared the car before Ashley pulled open the driver's door and hopped in, slapping her hands against her lap and breathing in sharply. "Whoo! That. Was. Stressful."
I groaned, it was as if she had been waiting for me to get ready when in fact I was the one waiting for her.
I scoffed. "Tell me about it."
"Like, I couldn't find something proper to wear and then when I finally did I couldn't find my makeup bag and my shoes and-"
"Wait," I said, nodding to the gateway. "Tell me while you drive."
I rolled my eyes as she babbled on about how her contact lense fell down the toilet and she hadn't got a spare one because it was her last pair, and that she wouldn't wear her glasses because she was afraid that Chris' brother, who's name was Evan, would ditch her and think she was ugly and not want to be with her or talk to her ever again and then she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to see the boy and worried if he wasn't hot she wouldn't be able to tell and to be honest, I really didn't care because through all of this, all I did was concentrate hard on the clock that was displayed on my home screen of my phone. Lighting up the screen once it dimmed again, and again, and again, watching each minute tick by. 7:05, 7:06, 7:07pm. Until finally, we reached the road, Luke's road.
"Turn down left," I instructed, his house wasn't too far down. We rode in silence until I said "Stop," once we reached Luke's house, the large two-story with the Australian treehouse out in the backyard.
"Big house." she said as I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door, placing a foot on the ground. "Bel?"
I turned around. "Yes?"
"Remember what I told you. Be careful."
I rolled my eyes and decided not to ignore, but to actually say something back for once.
"He's harmless, Ashley. He wouldn't hurt a fly, so he definitely wouldn't hurt me. Lay off him, give the boy a chance, okay?"
She sighed and looked through the windscreen, at the road which was actually quite busy.
"Fine." I said, stepping out and bringing my bag with me, my phone in my other hand, closing the door. I leaned as the window rolled down, looking through it. "Thanks."
"No problem." She twisted the key and started up the engine, calling a short 'Goodbye' to me before taking off, down the long road before the car disappeared from sight, where I was left alone, with the whistling breeze flowing around me.