PICTURED: Asha's outfit
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The bell rang and school was finally over. I breathed a sigh of relief as I packed up my things and shoved them into my backpack. I was so excited to spend the afternoon with Bailey, even if we were just doing assignments. I walked out of the door with Amanda, heading towards the car park.
"Hey Asha, did you want to come over this afternoon? Lauren and Chelsea are coming over as well," Amanda asked me.
"Sorry, I can't today. Bailey and I got assigned to be partners for an assignment, I told her we could work on it this afternoon," I told her. She looked at me with a small smile.
"Bummer, maybe next time then!" Amanda said sadly, waving at me before walking to her car. I stood at the gate to the car park, trying to figure out which car was Bailey's. I was tossing up between a large black Jeep or a black Range Rover. Soon enough, Bailey made her way out of the school and headed towards the car park. She bypassed both cars and walked straight towards a motorbike. You've got to be fucking with me.
"Are you serious?" I said loudly, catching her attention. She turned towards me, a puzzled expression on her face.
"Serious about what?" she asked me.
"You expect me to ride a motorbike?" I asked incredulously.
A devious smile worked its way onto her face as she realised my concern. She walked over to me and handed me her helmet.
"I'll be extra careful, come on!" she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the bike.
"How can you even ride it with your hand?" I asked her.
"Don't you worry about me," she said, climbing onto the bike, "just hold on tight."
I climbed onto the back of the bike nervously, holding her waist timidly. I heard her chuckle in front of me, grabbing my hands with hers and wrapping them tighter around her waist. A jolt of excitement ran through my body and I felt her tense underneath my touch. Did I have the same effect on her as she had on me? She kicked her motorbike into gear and sped out of the car park. My arms tightened around her waist as we drove and I could feel her torso shake from laughter.
"Calm down!" she yelled, laughing as she weaved through traffic.
"Easier said than done!" I yelled back, still gripping tightly to her body. We made our way through the streets of Chadstone until we finally arrived out the front of my house. Bailey parked the motorbike and helped me off. I took off the helmet and shook my head, letting my messy helmet hair fall back into place. I handed the helmet back to her and she places it on the handle of the bike, then stood back to look at my house.
"Nice place!" she said, admiring the two storey building in front of her.
"Thanks, I'm still getting used to it," I admitted, laughing slightly.
We walked together to the front door and I let her in. My mum was standing in the kitchen with her back facing us, cooking something with smelt absolutely delicious.
"Hi, sweetie!" she called out, not looking up from what she was doing.
"Hey, mum. Smells great! What are you making?" I asked, walking over with Bailey to the kitchen.
"I've just finished making brownies, they're cooling now," she said, looking up at me. "Oh, whose this?" she asked.
"This is Bailey, we are doing our Modern History assignment together," I explained, standing to the side so my mum and Bailey could shake hands.
"Hi Bailey, I'm Sandra. It's really nice to meet you!" my mum said, shaking Bailey's hand kindly. I noticed that Bailey took my mums hand firmly and shook it back. I made a mental note to remember that Bailey was good at handshakes, my dad would've been proud.
"Thanks for having me over this afternoon!" Bailey said nicely. Her mysterious attitude that she had at school had melted away in front of my mum, and I wondered if she was usually like this or if it was all a show.
"What on earth happened to your hand! Are you okay?" my mum asked, and anxiety instantly flooded my body. What if Bailey thought that I had told my mum about Saturday night? What if she ruined everything. Bailey looked at me quickly, and my eyes were full of fear.
"Oh, this?" she said, gesturing to her broken hand, "It's nothing. I'm a goalie in soccer and I didn't do too well on the weekend..." Bailey lied convincingly. I sighed with relief and gestured for Bailey to follow me upstairs to my room, and we walked away from the kitchen leaving the smell of brownies behind us.
I opened the door to my room and let Bailey in. It had changed quite a bit since I had moved in two weeks ago. I had finally unpacked all of the boxes, my clothes were all stashed away in my walk in wardrobe and most importantly, all of my books were in my large bookshelf that took up an entire wall in my room, floor to ceiling.
"Woah!" Bailey said, eyeing the bookshelf. She walked towards it and admired my collection of books. "You like to read, huh?"
"Nope, they're just nice to look at," I said sarcastically as I sat down on the edge of my bed. She rolled her eyes at me and walked over, sitting next to me.
"How come you didn't tell your mum?" she asked me quietly, her eyes boring into mine. I could sense the sympathy and I didn't want to deal with it. Not now. I wanted to spend quality time with Bailey, not spend time feeling sorry for myself.
"She doesn't need to know," I whispered, and quickly stood up and walked to my bookshelf. I cleared a whole shelf full of books on WWII and The Third Reich, and put them in piles on the floor.
"Asha..." Bailey said quietly, slipping off my bed and sitting next to me on the floor.
"No, Bailey...please. I really don't want to talk about it. Thank you so much for this morning, and for Saturday night, but I want to forget about it. Please?" I ranted, letting my gaze lock with hers.
"Okay. I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you," she said seriously.
"Well don't be, I'm really fine...thanks to you," I said, giving her a thankful smile before turning back to the pile of books. Bailey didn't say anything, she simply pulled my hair back from my neck and inspected the bite mark that Luke had left on my skin. She ran her fingers lightly over the scar causing me to shiver in response, her fingers leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't stop him," she whispered.
"You didn't know," I whispered back, taking her hand from my neck and holding it with my own. We sat in silence, looking into each other's eyes. I felt so safe with her.
"So," I finally said, eager to change the subject, "do you have any idea which members of The Resistance you want to research? I'd love to do Irena Sendler, I have heaps of books on her!"
"Honestly, I don't know anything about The Resistance, so I'm gonna let you tell me what to do," Bailey admitted, leaning back on her elbows and extending her legs out in front of her.
Bailey and I ended up focusing our time on researching the famous Irena Sendler. My mum had brought up the brownies that she had baked and Bailey and I took a break from working to eat them.
"Fuck, these are so good!" Bailey moaned, almost sexually. I felt a jolt inside me but I pushed it down, trying to ignore it completely. Why was I feeling this way? Bailey is a girl.
"So is it just you and your mum here?" Bailey asked me. I nodded, my mouth full of brownie.
"It's just me and my mum at home too. And my brothers when they feel like stopping by," Bailey said casually, "When did your parents split up?"
"He died," I said emotionlessly, before instantly clamming my mouth shut. I hadn't told anyone about that before, but Bailey made me feel so comfortable.
"Fuck...sorry," Bailey said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck.
"It's fine," I told her, stuffing another brownie in my mouth. I wasn't fine, but I pretended to be. Bailey and I continued to eat in silence, shoving brownie after brownie into our mouths.
I enjoyed Bailey's company, even if we were just sitting in silence. She made me feel comfortable and safe, and there was something about her that made me feel...excited? I'd never felt like this around anyone before, and I knew it wasn't a friendly feeling. It was something more.
"You know..." Bailey said, breaking the silence, "we should take a break."
"I love that idea, what do you have in mind?" I asked her, throwing the books onto the ground with a loud sigh.
"Maybe a walk?" she suggested, raising her eyebrows.
"Sounds good!" I said, jumping up. "Can I change out of my skirt though?"
Bailey nodded and I walked into my walk in wardrobe, pulling out some tan tracksuits and a white cropped jumper.
"No peeking," I said cheekily as I pulled off my school shirt. I didn't know where this new found sass had come from but I sort of liked it. Honestly, I didn't mind if she looked. I was happy with what I looked like and if her eyes wanted to roam then she can be my guest.
I pulled on the cropped hoodie and tracksuit pants, turning around to find Bailey eyeing me. Her lip was between her teeth and her eyes were glued to my stomach that was showing.
"Quit staring!" I laughed, and her eyes flicked up to meet mine. I was expecting her to be slightly embarrassed, but she simply winked at me.
"You've got a fucking incredible body, Ash!" she said confidently, and a hot blush crept onto my cheeks.
"Come on, let's go..." I said, avoiding her gaze as I walked past her and out of my bedroom.
"Mum, we're going for a walk!" I called out before walking with Bailey out the front door. Once we were at the end of my driveway I turned to face Bailey.
"I literally have no idea what's around here, so you can lead the way!" I admitted with a slight chuckle.
"Well that depends on what you like. I have an idea though. Come on," she replied. We walked together through the winding streets of Chadstone, eventually coming to a steep set of stairs.
"You're kidding, right?" I said, looking at the stairs doubtfully.
"It looks worse than it is, trust me!" she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me up the stairs.
I eventually caught up and we walked in time, but she still didn't let go of my hand. It felt soft and comfortable, and I had no intention of letting it go. By the time we had reached the top of the stairs the sun had started to set. We walked along a short path and into a clearing.
"Oh my god!" I breathed, taking in the most spectacular sight I had ever seen. The entire city was lit up, the sky changing from blue to pink. The lights were sparkling brightly and you could make out the cars moving on the road. I was in complete awe.
"Pretty great, huh?" she laughed.
"This is so beautiful!" I whispered, as if speaking loudly would somehow ruin the view.
Bailey sat down on a bench that overlooked the view and I followed suit, not being able to take my eyes off the beautiful city skyline. I don't know how long we sat there, but by the time we left it was dark. The walk home was mostly silent, but comfortable. When we reached my house, she walked to her bike and grabbed her helmet.
"Thanks for having me over, Asha," she said quietly, almost...nervously? What happened to confident, sassy Bailey Lancaster?
"Well, I do need you to pass this assignment with me," I chuckled. She laughed in agreement, and before I could do anything else she leaned in. She pressed her lips to my cheek softly, letting them linger.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she whispered. Without another word she put on her helmet and climbed onto her bike, kicking it into gear. The bike started with a roar and then just like that, she was gone. But the feeling of her lips pressed against my cheek...that stayed.