Lifeline

Friends

It was finally the weekend, and it was honestly a relief; the school had sucked so much recently, and I was inclined to crawl into a hole and never attended again.

I carried my zombie-like self down the stairs to the breakfast table and plopped down in my seat, laying my head down and not saying a word.

"You okay, princess?" I felt a hand slightly rub my back

I didn't feel. I wasn't necessarily sick; I just didn't feel like myself, so I simply shrugged. I didn't want to talk about it. I had a feeling it would get me to same reaction as if I talked about my anxiety.

I felt my chair being pulled out, and suddenly, I was lifted into someone's arms. Ashton. I buried my head into his neck. In the comfort of his arms, I felt so close to crying for some reason.

He sat back down and the table, turning me sideways on his lap.

"Want do you want to eat bug?" he spoke softly to me.

I wasn't hungry, and while I hated breakfast and could usually worm my way out of it on the weekdays, that wasn't an option on the weekends.

"Fruit and toast, please," I mumbled back, closing my eyes against his chest.

Seconds later, Grayson put a plate in front of me, and I began nibbling on what I could. I finished about a third of my breakfast before I asked to be excused. I saw Grayson go to protest, but Ashton slightly shook his head at him, telling him to let it go.

I went up to my room, climbed back in bed, and simply stared at my wall. I barely heard my door open, and it was the dipping of the bed next to me that really startled me out of my trance.

"Are you sick?"

I shook my head.

"On your period?"

I scrunched up my nose and shook my head again.

"Just feeling down."

I slightly nodded

"How about you invite your friends over? Maybe having some time with them will be good for you."

I sat up at that idea. Lily and I had talked about hanging out this weekend, and honestly, that was the first thought that had piqued my interest all day.

I hugged Ezra, thanking him, and went to reach for my phone.

Unfortunately, my friends couldn't come until this evening, but Ashton said since it wasn't a school night, it would be fine.

—----

I had taken the girls into the basement, where the movie room and game room were, and we had been laughing while watching bad movies for about three hours now.

"Okay, I am bored; we need something to make things interesting. Asp, where does your brother keep his alcohol stash?"

I spit the water out of my mouth at her words.

"Ew, Aspen," Lily shrieked, but I ignored her.

"Nope, no way, I will die, never to be seen again."

I remember when the twins did something similar; they were grounded for months, had no car keys, and instead of being allowed to drink in the house at 18, they now had to wait until 19. I would not risk the same fate

"Oh, come on, you said the same thing when we ditched, but it really didn't turn out that bad."

I looked away from here towards Lily; she was just sitting back, watching the whole thing.

"Assspen" Kaya dragged out my name.

"Don't you want to be fun?"

I hesitated. I knew there was a limited selection here in the movie room for when the older boys were too lazy to go upstairs to get a drink.

"It's locked up, and I don't know the code," I stated back, trying to find an excuse to get out of it.

"Easy problem, it's probably something dumb; when is your birthday?" Kaya asked, walking over to the cabinet

Before I could even deny it, Lily told her, huh, guess she was on board with this plan too. Sure enough, the cabinet opened.

I felt butterflies in my stomach at the fact that Ashton had picked my birthday as the code of all things.

Kaya brought the bottle of vodka over and took a big swig, passing it to Lily, who drank and passed it to me. I hesitated for a moment.

My options: Die and the hand of Ashton when I was surly caught or appear lame and possibly lose my friends when I had never really had any before.

I took the drink.

We had been laughing for some time, getting increasingly loud.

"Guyyyyss Shhhhh, we will attract them." I giggled through my sentence. I didn't want my brothers here, but my fear wasn't really there anymore, either.

Just as the bottle landed in my hand and I drank, I saw my friends stiffen, and I knew exactly who was behind me.

"What the fuck is going on in here."

A/n

short update for you all, I am sorry its been so long but hopefully I will feel more motivated to write in the next few days