When I woke up around 9, I put my hair in a messy bun and headed downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Most of the guys were there eating toasted bagels.
"Good morning!" Josh said as I slowly walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning," I replied. I looked to see there was a bag of bagels and a toaster on the kitchen island along with butter, cream cheese, and a half gallon of milk.
"Help yourself, plates are in that cabinet and cups are in the one to the left of it," Blake said pointing to one of the cabinets. I helped myself to a toasted bagel as well and took a seat at the bar styled side of the kitchen island where Blake and Ash were also sitting. Jordan was standing leaning against the counter, and so was Josh. Max and Tyler were sitting down at the small dinning table not far from where we were.
"What's happening today?" I asked taking a bite of my bagel.
Jordan walked over to the calendar on the wall that I didn't realize was there before. It was a huge whiteboard calendar that had the whole month, but every square for the days was big enough to fit plans for every person living here. "Let's see.... Ash is selling a car, Max has a meeting at one, Blake is going to the skate park, Tyler has to do dishes tonight and he's also going to play soccer with some friends, I'm making dinner tonight, Josh made breakfast, some other things.... why? What do you have planned today?"
"Not much, although I was hoping to go on a run after breakfast. And... I was wondering, could someone teach me how to drive?" I asked.
The guys looked at each other exchanging looks like "who's going to teach her? Not it". After a few seconds of that, they finally all looked at Josh. Josh sighed then shrugged his shoulders. "I could teach you. I have some work to do first, but we'll be able to start this afternoon."
"Really? Thanks!" I said. I didn't realize it was that easy.
"What car is she going to drive?" Ash asked Josh.
"I guess the old Jeta, it's pretty easy to drive," Josh replied. "Is that okay with you?" he asked me.
I nodded. I want to drive any car that they have that isn't really expensive, I do not want to crash one of those costing them thousands if not millions of dollars.
"Great, I'll let you know when I'm ready to teach you," he said. I gave a small smile and nodded again. Yay!
"Also, what's the best route to run?" I asked.
"We have a treadmill in the workout room downstairs you know," Ash said.
"I did not know that, but I'd also much rather run outside in the fresh air," I said.
"Well there's a route Jordan used to run that's about 4 miles that he could show you," Blake said volunteering Jordan who looked at him. They shared a look.
"Jordan, would you be willing to?" I asked him hopeful and I imagine with big eyes.
Jordan set down his bagel. "Sure, why not," he said unenthusiastically. I smiled.
___
"So how do you know this route?" I asked Jordan as we started running down the street and onto a pathway between the houses onto a sort of green belt thing.
"Freshman and sophomore year I ran Track, and I trained for it before the season began by running around here," he said.
Knowing he's going into his senior year, I asked, "Why did you stop?"
"Well, I don't know, I guess I just felt like people were always expecting something from me. Now don't get me wrong, I was one of the faster guys, but it's like as soon as I had a bad race, I let the team down. And then the last race of sophomore year, I sprained my ankle along with bad shin splints," he explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That sounds painful. But I also get what you're saying, how people expect that just because you're fast, you're automatically going to do great every single time," I said.
"Yeah... exactly like that."
"And that was enough to make you quit?" I asked. Jordan doesn't seem like the type to fold under pressure and give up.
"I guess so, but mostly I think it's just that track isn't my sport, basketball and football are, and track is yet another thing to do," he explained.
"Oh ok, that's a better excuse," I said, looked at him and gave him a small smile. He returned it.
"So why do you like to run? Why not any other sports? You seemed not bad at basketball," he said. I took that as a compliment.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I know that when I run, I feel so free. I feel like I can go anywhere, take any corner, any hill, any course and finish it no matter how painful, you get over it. And eventually you start to feel like nothing can stop you, except bad shin splints of course."
Jordan laughed. "Yeah, that's true."
"I used to play basketball though, and it was lots of fun! But the basketball girls at my old school..." Jordan looked at me waiting for me to continue. "Well, they were quite toxic. They treated me as if I wasn't worth much just because they were better than me."
Jordan scoffed. "That's stupid." I agreed.
We continued to talk the entire run about all kinds of things, his life, my life, things we loved to do as a kid. Running with him made the four mile run seem like one mile. When we turned the corner back onto the street in sight of the base, I started to speed up since we were almost there. In the process, Jordan started speeding up. When he sped up, I did even more so I was slightly ahead of him then before I knew it, we were sprinting, racing each other back. I ran as fast as I could knowing guys are naturally faster, but I stayed up with Jordan.
We made it to the pathway up to the front door before finally starting to walk, and Jordan had beat me by just a few steps. "Ha! Loser!" he said. I punched his shoulder then tried to catch my breath.
"Barely!" I said defending myself.
"Uh, huh okay, whatever," he said and laughed. "Come on, let's go inside. It's getting hot out here." We walked around the side of the house into the garage which was already open. Ash was inside the garage getting one of his old cars ready to sell.
"Hey Ash, mind handing us some water bottles from behind you?" Jordan asked him.
Ash looked at us, me, and reached into the fridge behind him and pulled out two water bottles who he then tossed to Jordan and me as we walked into the garage where he was. "How far'd you run?" he asked us.
"Only 4 miles," I said. Ash looked at me.
"Gosh, how easy," he said sarcastically which made me smile. Honestly it was, but I guess it is kind of a lot for others. Jordan started to head inside but I still wanted to catch my breath outside, so I stayed in the garage a little longer.
I tried to open my water bottle, but not only was it already super hard to open, but my hands were a little sweaty. I tried so hard to open it that my hand hurt. Ash looked at me and showed a small smile. "Need help with that?" he asked. I tried once more but failed, and then handed him my water bottle. He easily opened it up right away and my jaw dropped.
"How? But- I'm not weak!" I said defensively and in shock. Ash laughed now and handed it back to me. "Thanks," I mumbled. "So is this the car you're selling today?" I asked referring to the old Catilake we were standing near.
"Yep," he said. I asked why. "Well no one really drives it, and plus then we get a lot more money from it. Maybe to buy another car," he explained. I guess it makes sense that they still get money somehow. Yes, they have enough money from their parents to continue to afford everything for years and years, but some extra money wouldn't hurt.
"Well, I should probably go in and stretch now," I said watching another car start to pull up who looked like they were the buyers.
"Alright," Ash said as I started to walk inside the house. "Oh and Belle? I mean Annabelle?"
I paused and looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Good job today, you know, for going out to run. Jordan hasn't run in a while, so I'm glad you took him with you. It's good for him," he said.
I took it in. "Thanks," I said, then I headed inside as I felt him continue to look at me until I closed the door. I realized I had never actually walked in from the garage before, so I sort of wandered my way around the house up to my room, or at least to the kitchen where I could start making a smoothie or something. I realized I was in the basement. I passed by a room that I guess was the workout room, the movie room, a bathroom, a few bedrooms, two huge hallway closets, and some other rooms that I couldn't identify, then also didn't want to intrude on finding out what they were, although I might one day. I found my way up to the kitchen finally and found Max and Jordan talking.
"So apparently Jordan beat you back to the house by a long-shot. Is he lying?" Max asked as I walked into the kitchen. I looked at Jordan, walked a few steps closer to him, and hit his arm.
"Jordan! You liar!" I said then turning to Max. "Yes, he barely beat me and plus I'm the one who spent hours in an airplane a few days ago, so my legs were a little stiff," I said even though I knew I had no advantage since Jordan hadn't run in a while either.
Max then looked at Jordan with a not surprised look. "Ok so I may have exaggerated a bit, but I'm still faster than her," Jordan said. Max and I rolled our eyes.
I started to look through the fridge and was able to find some ingredients for a smoothie. "Hey where is your blender?" I asked.
"It's next to the cabinet above the sink," Max answered.
"Thanks," I said walking towards the sink. Max's phone started ringing, so he took it and walked out of the kitchen. I'll make him a smoothie too once he's off the phone if he wants one. I opened the cabinet door and saw the blender on the top shelf. Oh boy, this would be a climb. I reached for the blender and stood on the tip of my toes. As long as I can just tilt it enough off the shelf to grab it...
I was able to tilt it enough off the shelf to grab it but then as I mostly had it, it was much heavier than I expected and I gasped. Jordan reached over me and caught it before it fulling fell off the shelf. He was standing really close to me in order to catch it.
"Woah, you know you should really ask for help," Jordan said looking down at me and set down the blender.
"Sorry," I said sort of embarrassed.
"What would you do without me?" he said more as a statement than a question but I answered it anyways.
"Probably crying over a broken blender while having a crushed finger," I said.
Jordan inhaled, "yeah, that sounds pretty bad," he said then smiled at me as I smiled up at him. He was still standing pretty close to me since he caught the blender, so our feet were nearly touching and we could easily kiss right now, but we didn't feel the need to move away from each other until suddenly Ash walked into the kitchen and looked at us.
We jumped away from each other, startled by Ash's entrance. "What's going on in here?" Ash asked us, mostly Jordan. He looked like he didn't know exactly what to think, but he seemed that he might have a reason to be angry.
Max then walked in too from getting off the phone. He saw Ash's surprised and suspicious expression then looked at Jordan and I's expression as if we were caught in the middle of a crime, well, my expression more obvious.
"We were about to make a smoothie, want one?" Jordan finally asked.
Ash looked at us suspiciously. "Uh.... I just needed to grab a pen, but I'll take one later," he said. He grabbed a pen out of a drawer while looking at Jordan and I, then left for the garage again.
Max looked very confused. "What did I-"
"Do you want a smoothie too?" Jordan asked him. He slowly sat down again. "...sure...?"
Jordan and I smiled at each other then went on to actually make smoothies. Soon Ash came back inside the house. "The car is gone!" he said and plopped down two large stacks of money onto the counter along with some paperwork.
"Nice," Max said and gave him a high five. Ash then sat down at the counter ready for a smoothie.
We put all the ingredients in the blender, then right when I was looking into the blender to see if we had all the ingredients in it, Jordan plugged in the blender and what we didn't realize was that the switch was on "on". Immediately the blender started and yogurt, milk, and a few chunks of bananas went flying onto my face. Jordan unplugged it as soon as he realized what happened and all four of us in the kitchen had shocked expressions.
I looked up at Jordan with the banana chunks slipping off my face and onto the counter. Jordan covered his mouth trying so hard not to laugh while Ash and Max sat there with their jaws dropped. I took a deep breath and Jordan wasn't sure whether to run for his life or not.
"I- I am so sorry," Jordan said trying not to laugh. I wiped a little bit of yogurt off my face and licked it. Max got up and handed me a towel while trying not to laugh as well and glaring at Jordan. Then I couldn't fake my anger any longer and I burst out laughing. Everyone else started laughing too. I took a banana chunk that fell off my face and threw it at Jordan. He dodged and looked at me surprised. Soon enough, I had started (or more like Jordan started) a food fight. Banana chunks were flying through the air as well as strawberries. Max and I took cover on one side of the kitchen island and Jordan and Ash on the other. I hit Ash in the face with a strawberry once and then became really scared when he looked at me. Now I was starting to run for my life as he chased me around the kitchen counter using Max as a shield.
"Ok hold on, she's our guest, how do we treat guests?" Max said.
"But she took the initiation, she's basically one of us. And we treat people how they treat us," he said then swerved around Max suddenly and grabbed me. I screamed as he then tried to grab another banana chunk off the counter and was about to shove it in my face probably, until Jordan grabbed it first and threw it at me instead. I then tried to get out of Ash's arms to attack Jordan, but now Ash was holding me back.
Josh walked into the kitchen with some car keys in his hand and looked up to see Ash holding me back from attacking Jordan with yogurt on my face, strawberries and banana chunks flying through the air, Max hiding behind the counter, and food everywhere. His expression was priceless. We all froze.
"What in the world-" He didn't know whether to laugh or call 911.
"Want a smoothie?" Jordan and I asked him at the same time then laughed.
"Uh- what smoothie? The one on the counter, on the floor, or on Annabelle's face?" he asked. Just as he asked that, another drop of yogurt fell off my face and onto the floor.
"Good question," Max said. Ash set me down and we looked around at the mess we made, the mess I was. "How about we all start cleaning up and we go out to get smoothies?"
"That would be a much better idea," Josh laughed.
"Um, I'm just going to go wash off, then I'll come back and help clean up," I said. The guys started to get out the paper towels while I headed up to my room. Thankfully my hair was simply in a messy ponytail instead of down so there wasn't too much yogurt in my hair. It took a little longer than I expected though to get it all out and wash it off my face. My tank top was...well... it looked trashed.
I put my hair in two French braids so that maybe the stickiness in my hair wasn't visible until I was able to wash it tonight. I put on one of my tighter cropped t-shirts and jean shorts and headed downstairs again looking much better than I did going up the stairs.
When I got into the kitchen, the guys were pretty much done cleaning up. I guess it's because I too so long upstairs. "Ready to go?" Jordan asked me.
"Yep, I'll meet you guys in the car," I said then paused before leaving the kitchen. "Which car are we taking?"
"I guess the truck," Ash said. I nodded then headed downstairs to the garage to find the truck. The garage door was open so it was easier to find it now with all the light. As I was walking over to the truck, I noticed a girl walking up to the garage. She had long, straight brown hair, was wearing a black leather jacket, dark red lipstick, and high heels. Her jean shorts were awfully short too.
"Can I help you?" I asked her, not backing out of stepping into the truck. She looked at me.
"Who's girlfriend are you?" She asked sort of rudely.
"I'm not..." I said confused. "I live here."
"Oh, you do?" she asked as if she should have been the first one to find out this information. "Are you their sister or cousin or something?"
"No, I just... live here," I said. Why is she asking so rudely?
"Really?" she asked. I nodded my head. "Huh. Why?"
"Well they invited me to when-"
"Yo Annabelle, you ready to- oh...hey Chloe," Jordan said walking out of the garage closer to where we were.
"Hey Jor," she said happily. Complete mood change. "I just met your new friend," she said putting an arm around him. He never told me he had a girlfriend...
"Oh yeah, that's Annabelle. She staying with us-"
"Yeah I heard, great, that's great," she said. Is it really? For her I mean? She's acting pretty jealous. "Listen I came over to ask if you wanted to hang out this Friday?" she asked twirling her hair a little bit.
"Uh that's sweet of you Chloe but um, we actually are still helping our new guest move in and stuff so I'll be busy... sorry," Jordan said. I was almost surprised that he turned down such an attractive, popular looking girl, but I did understand how he looked a little bit uncomfortable. He then removed her arm from around his shoulder.
Hearing that response, she looked me up and down disgusted. I could see the jealousy in her eyes. "Oh ok, I totally get that. Yeah," she was not used to getting rejected that I could tell. "Alright, well, let me know when you are free. Bye Jor! Hey Ash," she said.
I didn't even know that Ash was standing behind me until she said that. He barely gave a small smile and lifted his head up enough to not be rude. She then looked at me one last time. "Annabelle." I did give a smile and waved to her as she began to walk down the driveway.
We then all got in the truck. Ash drove, Max got the front seat since he's the second oldest, then Jordan, Josh, and I were squished in the back. And sadly I had to sit in the middle because I was the smallest. "So 'Jor', who was that?" I asked in a teasing way.
"First of all, never, ever call me that again," he said. I was almost scared by the tone of his voice, but I also almost laughed. "Secondly, she's some girl at school, one of the populars, who has a huge crush on me." That was obvious. I was about to ask to ask if he liked her back until one of my favorite songs came onto the radio.
"Ooh! Turn it up! I love this song," I said. I started singing along and moving my arms enough for it to kind of count as dancing, even though I was squished between two muscular teenage boys. Josh wasn't as muscular as Jordan, but I know for a fact that he is strong from when we had our mini pool party and his shirt was off. Josh sang along quietly at times, and it made me curious to hear his voice more. From what I heard, it was pretty good. I wonder if I'll ever hear Ash's voice.
We pulled into the driveway of a local smoothie and juice place. We all got our smoothies and then went a more scenic route back to the base so that the boys could show me some of the places around LA that were closer to our neighborhood. There were some cute little cafes, a large park, and even a library. I will probably be going there sometime soon.
"There's a rumor that Victoria Justice lives over there," Jordan said pointing to a neighborhood that was up on a hill, not actually all that far from our neighborhood.
"That's so cool!" I said. That sentence is one of the reasons why I love LA. There were also lots of people walking around, lots of palm trees, street artists, big buildings, and sunshine.
--
When we went back to the base and finished our smoothies, Josh said he was ready to teach me how to drive. He backed the car out of the garage and into the driveway so that I wouldn't hit any of the really expensive cars.
He told me about all the gears, what they do, what buttons mean and do what, how to do certain things, and told me about some of the rules of the road. I already knew a lot of the things from watching the driver being in the passenger seat all the time, but I wanted to review since I'd be in the driver's seat this time.
"Ready to start driving down the road?" Josh asked me.
"Really? Today? Isn't that illegal?" I asked surprised. I mean I'd love to, I just didn't realize it would be this soon.
"Just as long as you don't crash, speed, or do anything stupid, we're only in a neighborhood, so it should be fine," he said. Okay, here we go then. I looked behind us and started to back up. Soon I was driving forward down the driveway. I was a little nervous, but I was also so excited. It's about time I'm in this seat.
I turned on my turning signal, looked both ways twice, and turned right. I was careful not to turn too sharp, too fast, or too wide. When we were on the road going straight, I was really happy. "I did it! I turned onto a road!"
"Good job! You're doing great! Oh and there's a stop sign up here," Josh said. I slowed down and we were creeping at about 3 miles per hour before we even reached the line to stop. I looked all directions at least 3 times before going again. Thankfully there was no one behind us. Slowly we made our way down the street towards the exit of the neighborhood.
"I should probably turn around soon," I said more as a question.
"If you want to, but we could go visit Blake at that skate park over there," Josh said and pointed to the outdoor skate park that was near the exit of the neighborhood, but the skate park parking lot entrance was before we exit the neighborhood.
"Sure, that would be fun!" I said and started to drive towards it. I used my turn signal and turned into the parking lot. Not only was it the skate park parking lot, but also a park parking lot. There was a small playground in the distance and plenty of trees to climb. I found an open space that also didn't have a car next to it. Josh guided me in telling me how to park as I pulled in slowly. Once I parked and was mostly in the lines, I turned the car off. I took a deep breath then looked at Josh and smiled. "I did it!" He smiled really big too.
"Great job! See I told you you could!"
"You're right," I said. I reached over the middle council to hug him and he hugged me back. I was so excited that I made it this far. "Shall we go say hi to Blake now?" I asked.
"We shall," he said then we both laughed. We got out of the car, and he reminded me to lock it with the key. We walked over to the edge of the skate park and looked for Blake. They place was full of teenagers and some young adults. Most of them were guys, but there were a few girls there to flirt it seemed, wearing clothes that were maybe a size too small. The guys also could use a change in style, a belt was invented for a reason. But they were definitely skater boys. Blake thankfully didn't dress too much like them, his pants fit, and he wasn't covered in tattoos holding a jul, but he was still a little bit hard to find.
Finally, Josh spotted him the same time he spotted us. He was on his skateboard coming down off a quarter pipe. I noticed the girls here were looking at him a lot. I don't blame, he is a resident of the Swayler household after all. In fact, I realized some of the girls were looking at Josh now too. Blake skated up to us.
"Hey guys! This is a nice surprise," He said. He then used his foot to flip his skateboard into his hand.
"Hey bro, yeah I was teaching Annabelle how to drive and so she drove us here," Josh explained after they did their classic guy/bro hug.
"Sweet, good job 'Belle!" he said. "Or I mean-"
"That's ok, you can call me that if you want," I smiled. "It's shorter."
"Alright, well Belle, good job. I hope Josh isn't too strict of a teacher," he said. Josh rolled his eyes.
"Well...." I started. Josh looked at me shocked. "I'm just kidding! Yeah, he's a good teacher."
Blake laughed. Josh sighed as if he thought I was going to snitch on him for nothing, then laughed too.
"Want a try?" Blake asked me referring to his skateboard.
"Oh, um, sure!" I said. I took his skateboard, positioned it at the top of a small ramp near us, checked if the coast was clear, sat down on it, then rolled away on the skateboard.
"What! Wait!"
"No! Annabelle!"
"Come back!" I heard them yelling after me. I laughed really hard as I tried not to run into any of the other skater boys here. They were not expecting me to sit on it and roll away like that. I guess they didn't know that I don't know how to skate.
I heard them sigh far behind me, giving up on chasing me through the whole skate park. I leaned to the side to go down another ramp, and soon enough, I was in another whole section of the skate park far away from them. I couldn't stop laughing until suddenly I went down a ramp that was faster than I expected it to be, and I skidded off the skateboard. "Woah!" I was on the ground now. I jumped up though running after the skateboard. I chased after it until someone's foot had stopped it.
I grabbed it finally. "Thanks," I said almost out of breath and looked up at the person who stopped it for me. He was a guy probably 19 or 20 who had sleeves of tattoos. His breath smelled so bad that I could sort of smell it from 4 feet away.
"Eh, it happens all the time. But what doesn't happen all the time is when a pretty girl like you comes here to actually skate. You're not like most girls," he said looking at me.
I nervously laughed. "I wouldn't say that..."
"My man's right. What's your name sweetheart?" another guy said walking up. At least he didn't smell, but he did need a haircut. With him was another guy, probably his friend, who looked like he needed a good meal.
"I...uh..." I nervously laughed. I didn't really want to tell them my name. "I'm... too young for you," I blurted out.
"Nonsense, you don't look a day under 16," one of them said. Internally I gagged. 16 is way too young for them.... and I'm 16.
"Tell you what, I get your number and you tell me your real age," the first guy said. Heck no! Get me out of here!
"Uh..." I laughed nervously. If it were just one guy, I would flat out take Blake's skateboard and walk away, but there's three of them.
"Annabelle!" Blake yelled from not far behind me. He and Josh walked up to me, us. I internally was so relieved.
"That's a pretty name for a pretty girl," the second creepy skater boy said. I had to almost clench my stomach to keep the barf in.
"Yeah well too bad she's out of your league," Blake said and put his arm on my shoulder.
"Ouch," the creepo replied. I almost smiled.
"Blake? She's your girl?" the main one asked.
Blake almost hesitated. "Eh, you could say that. So I'll need to ask you to stay away from her, Rodney," he said. Rodney seemed almost hurt.
"Gosh, I had no idea you were such a catch," one of the other creeps said. "Tell me how you get a girl like that?" I felt like I was some kind of doll the way they were talking about me, not a person.
"Hmm, maybe try being less of a creep and go for someone your own age," Blake said. We started walking away from them.
"Don't worry, I'm sure there's someone out there for you," Josh added before we completely walked away from them. I almost laughed.
Once we were totally away from them and closer to the place we were originally standing, Josh asked me, "You okay?"
"Yeah, they were just really weird. Are all skate park guys like that?" I asked. Blake looked at me. "Well I mean, besides you Blake."
"Yeah there are, they just are hardly ever here," he said almost like he was looking for his friends to arrive. "Sorry about them though, Rodney and those guys are probably drug dealers to be honest. But don't tell them I said that."
I laughed. "You have my word."
"Should we continue to drive?" Josh asked.
"If you want, but I was thinking... can you guys teach me how to skate?" I asked. I've always thought it would be really cool, but no one has ever wanted to teach me.
"Sure!" they said. I smiled. Blake put the board at my feet. I slowly stepped on the board and grabbed his hands that were in front of me to keep me on. "Ready?"
Blake slowly moved me so that I got used to standing on the board when it was moving. Josh stood behind me so that if I were to fall, both of them are ready to catch me. Blake told me when to put my foot down and push. Eventually I got the hang of it and was able to skate a few feet without their help. Later, I was able to turn a little bit too. We decided that we should probably be getting back for dinner.
Before we left though, I sat down on the skateboard again and went down a few of the ramps a few times. I accidentally went down the same ramp that I fell off on last time and somehow fell off yet again, but Blake caught the skateboard and Josh helped me up as I was laughing.
When we got home, the other guys were all hanging out in the small living room that was technically the same room as the kitchen, just on the other side of the small dining table. There was some basketball game on TV that they were watching while talking. Jordan was in the kitchen cooking dinner for us all while talking with them though.
"There they are! And I guess Annabelle didn't crash!" Jordan said. I glared at him then smiled.
"Well, not in the way your thinking," Blake said. The guys were confused. I got out a washcloth and put some hot water on it. I then took a seat on the couch and started to clean the scrapes on my ankle and knee.
"What happened?" Ash asked looking from me to Blake and Josh as if they were the reason.
"I was skateboarding, sort of, I was sitting on it, when I went down a ramp too steep and fell off. It was fun," I said.
Jordan sort of laughed. Max then asked, "fun?" I nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, Annabelle drove us to the skate park to say hi to Blake," Josh explained.
"That's cool. Anyone admire how amazing Annabelle is at skating?" Tyler said jokingly. Except, he didn't know. We were quiet and Blake and Josh looked at each other while I looked down. Tyler then realized he shouldn't have said this.
"Wait, what happened?" Ash asked concerned and serious. He was leaning on the edge of his seat now.
"Well, when I crashed the first time, some guys started to hit on me and asked for my number and stuff," I said like it was a little embarrassing but not really any big deal. In reality it made me very uncomfortable, but what's done is done.
"What? Where were you guys?" he then asked Blake and Josh like it was their fault.
"We didn't see it happen at first, but then we went running over to her," Josh said as if Ash would be really mad at him. "We jumped in as soon as we could." Well it wasn't entirely fast enough in my opinion, but I was the one who skated away from them in the first place, so I shouldn't complain.
"It's okay," I said in their defense. "I skated away from them, so it's my fault. Plus I could handle those guys," I said partially lying. I just didn't want Ash to be mad at Josh and Blake.
"No, it's not. And you shouldn't have had to handle them anyways," Ash said. I was kind of flattered at how much Ash wanted to protect me, but now I felt bad for Josh and Blake, even though they did their job of protecting me just fine. Ash looked at Blake and Josh and then they sighed.
"They taught me how to skate though," I said happily.
"Cool!" Tyler said.
Soon dinner was ready and we all just held our plates and ate while watching the rest of the basketball game on TV. It was pretty good, hot dogs and salads, and I enjoyed hanging out with the guys. But I couldn't help but wonder, why was Ash so protective of me? I understand that protectiveness is part of a guy's instinct, but he acts as if he loves me, as if he doesn't want anyone to touch or even look at me. I mean, I respect that and I think it's really sweet that he wants to protect me, but getting mad at Blake and Josh for something that isn't their fault is a bit much. After all, all I told him was that some guys hit on me and asked for my number. I didn't tell him that they were creeps too old for me (although now I'm really glad I didn't).
---
My hair was finally washed and I felt so much cleaner after taking a shower. I put on some pajamas, sweatpants and an oversize t-shirt, and combed out my hair. After my night routine, I was ready to go to bed, but I just laid there still thinking about Ash. Soon it was around 11pm, and I had to do something.
I got up, put on my fuzzy socks, and walked out of my room. I quietly and cautiously walked down the hallway until I reached the door I had accidentally walked through before, but this time I knocked. Ash opened the door. "Annabelle, you okay? I thought you'd be asleep by now," he said.
"I thought I would be too, but I wanted to talk to you," I said quietly back. I didn't want to wake anyone up.
"Come on in," he said and opened the door. I stepped into his room. The walls were painted black, and there was a red lava lamp that lit up most of the room. His room was like him, mysterious, but surprisingly he had bookshelves around his desk that were full of books and notes. He sat down on his bed and sort of leaned against the wall, so I sat on his bed too. "What's up?" he asked.
I paused a moment. "Ash." Was I really going to ask this? Did I want to know this badly? What if it's stupid. Whatever. "Why are you so protective of me? You just met me a few days ago," I said. As soon as I said that, I realized how cold the air was through my damp hair and loose t-shirt. I got goose-bumps.
Ash looked at me with empathy in his eyes. He patted the spot on his bed next to him, so I moved and sat there closer to him, leaning my back against the wall too. He put one of his blankets over me. I had a feeling he didn't have a simple answer to my question.
"Years ago," he began. "When I was 4 years old, I had a sister." My mouth opened out of surprise and of sadness because he obviously doesn't have a sister right now. I listened carefully. "Max was at a babysitter's house I think, and Jordan who was only two years old, and I were shopping with our mom and little sister. Our little sister was only 6 months old."
"What was her name?" I asked gently. "You don't have to tell me if-"
"Rose. Her name was Rose," he said. "Because her little cheeks were so rosy when she smiled," he said almost smiling at the memory. "When Jordan and I were shopping with our mom and Rose..." he took a deep breath. "Rose was in the stroller when our mom was talking with the cashier. Jordan and I were looking at the toy lightsabers they had in the checkout isle. That one moment everyone was distracted, some man took Rose out of her stroller and ran for it. My mom started screaming, some kind stranger started chasing the man, the cashier called the police... but that man was never caught. And he took Rose, never seen again. She was taken from us, right in front of us. Now we'll never know if Rose is even alive today or not, and if she is, I could see her in Walmart and never know it was her. She won't remember us either since she was so young. Jordan doesn't even completely remember what she looked like."
He paused his story and looked at me to see me looking up at him, tears streaming down my face. His eyes were watery too, and if he shed any tears, he wiped them away before I could see them. I was speechless, so he continued. "That's why I'm so protective of you Annabelle. I know I've only known you a few days, but somehow you remind me of who Rose could have grown up to be." My lips quivered and I tried so hard not to cry interrupting him. "And besides that, you're special. You're not like most-"
"Don't say that. Please," I whispered. We looked into each other's eyes and he took a deep breath then continued.
"You're... not like anyone I've ever met at least. You're beautiful in your own way, so of course other guys are going to look at you and I can't stop them, who wouldn't want to look at you? But at the same time, you took the oath. You're one of us, so I guess I just want you to stay a Swayler and nothing else, no one else's. But I understand- what are you doing?"
I was hugging him so tight, tears running down my face and onto his shirt. "I hope you don't mind the tears. They'll dry," I said. He gave a small smile.
"Aww Annabelle, why are you crying? I'm not talking about Rose anymore," he said. I sat up from hugging him, so now I was sitting directly in front of him, just about 2 feet from his face.
"I.... I had no idea you felt this way." Tears continued to roll down my face and my voice choked on the tears a little too. "I had no idea about Rose... or that I remind you of her? That-that's incredible...and such an honor. I-just- it's a lot to process... first off, thank you so much for telling me this. I had no idea about any of this, and you're awful kind to be so vulnerable to me after knowing me just a few days. Um," I continued to nearly choke on my own voice trying to stop crying. "I never realized how much you actually cared about me like that, er I mean, like, you think I'm beautiful and... I never thought a guy as attractive as you could ever think that of a girl like me." I wiped away a tear even though that didn't do any good. "I guess I'm just so flattered right now, and- I am so, so sorry about Rose. I can't begin to imagine how you feel. I just-I-"
Ash held my face in his hands, wiping my tears with his thumbs. "Hey, it's okay. It was years ago," he said. "I'm just so happy I have you now."
I sniffled. "Where have you been all my life?" I asked and smiled. He smiled too. As I continued to cry a little bit, I leaned forward and hugged him again, basically laying down on his chest. He held me tight close to him, so that he would never lose me like he did his little sister.
We fell asleep.
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I woke up on Ash's chest. The clock on the other side of his room read 4:07am. I should probably get back to my own bed to get more sleep. I don't want there to be any confusion in the morning. I wasn't even planning on falling asleep in Ash's room anyways. I slowly got up careful not to wake him up, and tip-toed over to the door. "Goodnight Ash," I whispered then closed the door. Now I have to find my room somehow. I think it was this way...
I turned the corner and there was Jordan walking to the bathroom when we made eye contact. I froze and he paused from walking. He glanced over my shoulder realizing where I was walking from and where I was walking back to.
"What's going on?" he asked me seriously.
It's not what it looks like, but 4:07am is a bad time to explain...
Author's note: Hey guys! I hoped you enjoyed that chapter, there was a lot happening. Hopefully now you are more familiar with Josh and Blake as well as Jordan and Ash. Tyler and Max's times are coming when you'll know them better too. What are your thoughts on this chapter? What was your favorite part? Was it Jordan catching the blender? Meeting Chloe? Blake, Josh, and Annabelle at the skate park? Ash being vulnerable?
To be honest, I cried while I wrote the scene about Rose. Things like that happen in real life even if we don't hear about them. If I were in Annabelle's place, I'm not sure how I couldn't have cried harder. Also since music helps set the mood when I write certain scenes, if you care to know, I was listening to Hometown by Twenty-One Pilots Slowed Version. If you listen to it while reading the Rose scene, you might cry as well.
Since you probably already guessed there will be romance in the book, what are your hopes and predictions? What are some good ship names? If you have any story ideas too, let me know!
I hope you all are doing well and drinking enough water. Remember to be kind to yourself and get up and dance every once in a while. Love you! <3
And to my American readers, Happy Late Thanksgiving! I'm thankful that I can use wattpad as a way to express what is in my imagination, and then use that to possibly help others.
Until next time,
BlueSky910