Sense of Reality (Alan Ashby)

But Don't Forget The Consequences

Alan

I walked into Diana's house, feeling uneasy. I had let go of her hand about five minutes ago due to the sweat that was building up. She had turned to me before opening the door, asking with her eyes if this was okay. I had nodded in response. I was now regretting that decision.

'It'll be fine, Alan.' Diana murmured, dumping her bag outside a door. I assumed that was her room; why else would she put it there? She continued on through the house, pointing out various rooms that I could quite easily see.

'Kitchen, living room, dining table, bathroom.' She muttered as she showed me quickly. She seemed to be looking for someone; possibly her mum. I caught her wrist as she once again spun around. She looked up into my eyes, and I said soothingly,

'Calm down.' I leaned down and kissed her, tugging on her heart shaped stud. Oh God, I had been waiting to do that for hours now.

'Ahem.' A voice interrupted the brief kiss. I turned as red as my roots, quickly stepping away from Diana. Diana laughed as she greeted her Mum.

'Hi, Mum. This is Alan.'

'Uh, hi, Miss -'

'Please, Alan, just Kate is fine.' Kate smiled warmly at me, shooting a questioning look at her daughter. I pretended not to notice.

'Kate.' I finished awkwardly, my face beginning to calm down. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.

'Would you like some cookies, Alan? I was making some earlier today.' Kate said, bustling over to the kitchen.

'Uh, sure.'

'Diana, get some drinks.' Diana walked over to the fridge and pulled out orange juice, pouring three tall glasses. Kate passed me a few chocolate chip cookies and Diana gave me a glass of orange juice.

'I'll be off now, nice meeting you, Alan.' Kate wandered off, giving me yet another smile. I looked over at Diana; she just shrugged.

'Come on,' Diana said, leading me to the first room we passed, 'this is my room.' She opened the door and allowed me in first.

Her bed was against the wall with a side table shoved next to it. It was piled high with different objects, including pens and there was an unsolved Rubik's cube sitting on top of our English novel. Her duvet was a dark blue, with silver flowers embroided at the end of the bed. Her walls were covered in posters, and different lyrics from songs and random quotes. The only light in the room was the one hanging from the ceiling; she had no lamps. There was a bookcase which was also covered in random objects - not many books - and two shelves dedicated to CD's and another half shelf dedicated to vinyl. A record player was on her desk, next to her laptop. Her wardrobe was spilling out onto the floor and I looked away while she scrambled over - placing her food and drink on the bookshelf - and shoved everything back inside.

'Sorry about that,' she laughed. I shook my head,

'It's fine. Your room's a lot cleaner than mine.' It was true; at least she had no underwear lying around, though I wouldn't have particularly minded if she did.

'So, Alan. I don't actually know much about you.' Diana said, sitting on her bed cross-legged and leaving the desk chair for me. It was one of those spinny ones, and I gladly sat on it and spun around.

'Well, what do you want to know?'

Diana pondered this for a moment before answering with,

'Your favourite colour.'

'Blue.'

'Favorite movie.'

'500 Days of Summer.'

'Favorite animal.'

'Meow.'

That's not an animal.'

'So? It's the sound a cat makes. Meow, cat, get it?'

'Whatever. Best friend?'

I stayed quiet for a moment while Diana assessed the emotions that were surely running across my face; I'm an open book.

'Austin.' He was the only person I trusted, aside from maybe Justin. I added on his name as Diana accepted my answer.

'First kiss?'

'No way, it's my turn to ask the questions.'

'Green, The Lion King, lions.' Diana said happily, munching on a cookie. She licked a few crumbs off her fingers as I said,

'What?'

She looked up at me and rolled her eyes. 'Those were the answers to the exact same questions I asked you.'

'You left one out.'

She stayed quiet even longer than me. Finally, she said, 'Jay.'

'Who is Jay?' I asked. I had always seen those two together; they had been joined at the hip.

'He is... Was my best friend. He died nine months ago. I don't know how, and the last time I saw him was...' Diana continued to stop and start during her story and I sensed this was not the right time nor place to talk about her dead confidant.

'It's okay, you don't have to tell me right now.' Diana looked at me gratefully, a smiling playing at the corners of her lips. I gulped down what remained of my orange juice, Diana laughing as I put my cup down.

'What's so funny?' As an answer, she drew a line across her upper lip with her finger.

'Orange juice mustache.' She replied. I wiped my face with the back of my hand, once again unable to control the blush that spread across my cheeks. We continued talking for an hour or so, Kate eventually poked her head in the door to remind me of the time and that I should get going before it became too late.

'Bye,' I said to Diana. We had ended up on her bed kissing for the past few minutes. I really wanted to tug on her lip ring again, and she didn't mind me doing so. I played with the ends of her hair, curling a few strands around y pointer finger. She had uncrossed her legs and was now kneeling on the bed so that she reached my lips without me having to bend down to kiss her or her breaking her neck trying to look up. She pulled away.

'Now go, Ashby.' She pushed me off her bed and smiled. 'I'll see you tomorrow at school.' I gave her one last peck before she walked me to the door.

'Bye, Kate.' I called.

'Bye Alan!' Kate replied.

'See you tomorrow.' I tried giving Diana one last kiss but she shoved me out the door, shaking her head and slamming it. I started walking home, a smile on my face.

A/N

Title cred: Run Free - Asking Alexandria