Something Beautiful

↠s e v e n ↠

Song of the chapter: ♪
Even Flow by Pearl Jam

___________

I swear to God, that kid has been blasting Pearl Jam as loud as he possibly can for the last three hours. I had had quite enough of it especially since he was such a jerk to me earlier. I had stopped crying quite a while ago and now I was just plain angry. I didn't even like Pearl Jam.

I stomped out my room and slammed my fists against his door as loud as I possibly could. "Turn that crap down!" I yelled as loud as I could so he could actually hear me over that lame excuse for music.

No answer.

Why didn't Lizzie or Jim care? Couldn't they hear it from upstairs?

I tried to open the door but it was locked.

I screamed out in anger and stomped up the stairs. I was not going to deal with this crap. I'd sleep outside if I had to.

When I got upstairs, Lizzie was sitting in a kitchen chair, a Tim Horton's mug between her elbows which rested on the table, and she was holding a newspaper.

Sure enough, Ashton's music was loud and clear upstairs.

What the hell?

"Aren't you going to shut him up?" I exclaimed. "He's been blasting that crap for quite a few hours and frankly, I'm getting sick of it!"

She looked up at me and set the newspaper down. "Why don't you come sit?"

"Why? So I can listen to that some more?" I jerked my head towards downstairs.

She sighed. "Ashton's going through a hard time right now."

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly feeling all that sorry for him right now." I was livid.

"Did he yell at you too?" She gave me a knowing look.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Yell at me? He screamed at me and then slammed the door in my face just because I asked him if he was okay!"

She sighed. "He doesn't handle bad news very well."

I narrowed my eyes. "What happened?"

"You'll have to ask him. It's not my story to tell."

I groaned. "Of course not. How long will I have to listen to this?"

She looked down, hesitant to answer. "Awhile."

I rubbed my hand across my forehead in frustration. "Whatever."

This was ridiculous. I'm sure whatever his problem was, wasn't that big of a deal. He didn't have to deal with jerkfaces who didn't want one girl to have a happy relationship with someone of the opposite sex. But then again, the guys I had dated were much worse.

I remembered one time I had been dating a guy named Nate for about two months before a rumor went around that I was hooking up with a different guy behind Nate's back. The truth was, I didn't. Believe it or not, I was a loyal girlfriend. But when Nate found out, he didn't believe me and he took me into an alley and beat me until I could hardly move. And then he left me thre where I stayed, shivering and in pain, until the next morning I finally gained enough energy to drag myself home which was two blocks away. Luckily, both my parents already headed off to work so I was able to clean up most of my wounds. I covered myself up in jeans and a turtleneck for weeks after that so nobody could see what he had done to me. But there was one huge bruise on my jawline that I couldn't hide. I had told my parents that I slipped and fell, banging my chin on a tree trunk. They believed me because, why would their sweet little innocent angel ever lie to them?

Because of that one time, there was a part of me that was scared of all males. Even my father. But I didn't dare tell anyone. That would cause so much trouble, it wasn't even funny.

__________

A couple of hours later, Ashton's music stopped. I was laying on my bed reading Paper Towns, my favorite book by John Green.

A few moments later, I heard someone softly knocking on the door, so quietly I almost didn't hear it.

"Come in." I said, still staring at my book. I already knew who it was.

Ashton opened the door and leaned against the doorjamb, a hand in his front jeans pocket. "Hey." He said, biting his bottom lip.

I didn't answer and didn't bother to look at him. He wasn't worth it.

That's a lie.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I was just upset about something that I was told." He walked into my room and stood at the foot of my bed.

"I'm over it."

He chuckled. "Really. It sure seems like quite the opposite. You won't even look at me."

"So? Maybe I'm busy reading my book." I sat up with my book, still not looking at him and leaned against the wall.

He sat down on my bed, and leaned toward me, trying to get me to look into his eyes. I didn't give in.

"Please, Hazel. I hate having you angry at me." He sounded sincere.

Finally, I looked at him. When I did, his expression was relieved. "What were you so upset about?"

His lips tightened into a firm line. "That, I can't tell you."

"And why not?" What couldn't he tell me?

"I--I just can't." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

I tossed my book on the bed beside me and stood up. "Then out of my room. I have stuff to do."

He stood up as well and grabbed my wrist, pulling me towards him. I was so close that I could feel his cool breath on the tip of my nose. My breath caught. "No." He whispered, a half smile emerging on his lips. He stared into my eyes, his eyes twinkling like tiny stars.

"I--" I started to speak.

"You're so beautiful." He traced the tip of his index finger across my jawline.

No, I can't let this happen. I pulled away from him and moved across the room, to get as far away from him as possible.

He stared at me, surprised. "What's wrong?"

"You can't just--" My phone rang on my desk, beside my laptop. I looked at it, relieved to get out of talking to Ashton.

I looked at the screen. It was Ashley.

I pressed TALK as I put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hello, is this Hazel?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

"Yes?" I was so confused. Who was this and why did she have Ashley's phone?

"Ashley got in an accident. And we can't wake her up. Help is coming and we found her phone and you were the first female we could find in her contacts list."