NINE
The world is cruel
and so
is he.
She groans
as she drags her pink sleeping bag
across the wooden floors
and sinks to the corner of her room
against a pink wall
slowly melting away
into nothing but humility
and awkwardness.
"If I could
I would literally
rip out your esophagus right now."
She mutters
under her breath
as she glares at the back
of the golden boy himself
in his white shirt and black jeans.
He doesn't turn around. "what?"
"Nothing." she mutters.
Damn his sharp hearing.
You would think
after the constant screams
of fans at his feet,
that he would be half deaf.
He has the hearing
of a fucking bald eagle.
Maddie's phone chimes in her pocket.
and as she's about to reach into her jacket,
something
quite
unexpected happens.
Her back is flat against the wall
and Ash's face hovers inches in front of hers
The warmth of his body
radiates on to her skin
and she can't help but gasp in surprise.
His slender fingers wrap against her wrists
in a gentle embrace
and the slight scent
of cigarettes
and
jasmine flowers
curls around the air
around the two.
His face
lays dangerously close
to her own
his silvery
grey eyes
glitter
with
dark amusement.
"No cellphone policy,
Miss Madhatter.
Isn't it about time
for our
unbirthday party?"
He whispers,
before lifting his fingers,
and going back to the bed.
Somewhere in her ribcage,
her heart squeezes
and her lungs
are suddenly filled
with
jasmine flowers
and
thorns.
"Screw you."
she murmurs in his direction.
He remembers.
On the day ash turned twelve,
his drunken father and sick mother
could not celebrate
his very birthday.
On the day ash
the hollywood heart throb,
the mysterious and dashing actor,
and the shy and scared child,
turned twelve,
had cried
in his little bedroom
until twelve year old Maddie arrived,
with a book of Alice's Adventures
and a self-made
bright pink cupcake in hand.
"I think iIm having a very
bad
day."
Twelve year old Ash cried,
and rubbed his eyes. "I don't want
to remember this
as my birthday."
"Then don't." Maddie climbed
onto the same cramped bed
that he laid on,
and faced him,
legs criss-crossed applesauce,
arms outstretched,
with the cupcake in her right
and alice in wonderland in her left.
"Happy unbirthday, Ash."
She smiled,
and he could not help,
but smile too.
And then he left,
disappeared,
and became
someone else.
The world is cruel
and so
is he.
YOU ARE READING
Arrogant with a Side of Smoothie
Short StoryMaddie Nguyen is a homeschooled teenager who happens to be a maladroit employee of a family owned smoothie bar, who was supposed to have her senior year as an unquestionably stress-free adolescent. But that was before-before she ran smack into the t...
