Half Hearted

Chapter Twenty One

| Ash |

Ash felt the rage boiling inside him. He knew that she would be hated on by his fans, but he didn't know they would be so confident as to insult her in person.

Shaking his head, he looked at his hands. They still felt like they were on fire, even though the last time he held her hand was an hour ago.

The two of them were currently being driven, by Riel, to a beach not too far away.

They were supposed to go walking downtown, but thanks to the incident at the fast food place, he wasn't so sure if that was such a great idea anymore. He knew it wasn't likely to happen again, but he didn't want to take his chances in the city.

Just by looking at how weakly she defended herself - which, she didn't, really; she just stayed silent - Ash knew she wasn't going to survive his world if she kept going down the path like that. How do you teach a girl to fight for herself? He thought. But then he remembered. She was a fighter when he first met her.

What had changed since then?

He saw her reflection from his side of the car. She was staring out the window, acting completely unaffected by those two girls.

"Riel, how much longer?" Ash asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had enveloped them for about an hour now.

"We're about five minutes from there," the driver replied.

So they drove another five minutes, and Riel parked close enough for them to walk to the beach quickly. Ash could tell that Teresa was still down, but she was trying her best to keep her head up - literally.

He saw through her fake smiles, but he said nothing. He often found, with himself, that whenever people seemed to ask him if he was okay he would be worse off than before they asked.

Sighing, Ash took off his socks and shoes, laying them down on the sand. Teresa stared at him, and then proceeded to do the same with her combat boots.

"Why are we here?" She finally spoke after maintaining silence for so long.

Ash shrugged his shoulders, not admitting his reason. Because you needed a break. Because the beach calms me down, so maybe it would for you too.

Because I didn't want you to be near people who could potentially ruin your mood again.

Because I wanted to be alone with you for a little while longer. 

"I suddenly just felt the mood for standing in the sand."

Teresa nodded her head, partly believing his reason. "Is it okay if I just... sit?"

"You don't have to ask me," he stated, standing there and closing his eyes.

For a while he just stood there, looking at his surroundings and staring at the beach. And then he acknowledged Teresa.

He took a seat beside her on the sand. "Sometimes the beach reminds me of my parents."

She stared out at the horizon, and for the first time since they'd met, their vision was finally in line with each other. "Why is it only sometimes?"

"The memories come and go," he shrugged. It was yet another lie. Memories stuck to him like sand did to wet skin. I just choose if I want to remember them or not.

"Are they good memories?"

"Great," he responded, finally telling the truth. "My mom used to take lots of pictures of me here, and my dad would be the one in the background trying to ruin the photo."

Teresa smiled, remembering her own past. But then she noted his choice of tense. "Used to?" Ash nodded slowly, keeping his eyes trained on the waves. "I'm sorry."

He gave out a chuckle, leaning back on his hands. "It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault, actually. They just chose to leave me."

The two of them fell silent, and the sounds of the water crashing on the sand filled the empty void. Teresa put her face into her hands, while Ash observed her. They stayed like this for a few minutes, until Teresa checked the time on her phone and stood up quickly. "What's the rush?" Ash asked, catching up to her as she frantically looked around for Riel.

"I have to get there before it gets dark," she replied, squinting her eyes as she found the black car parked a long ways away.

"Where?" He didn't take long to catch up to her fast-walking, but short, legs.

"My friend," she thought, thinking about Tyler's only request of beer. "His birthday party's tonight and I still haven't gotten his present."

He? Ash thought about the odd-looking guy that hung around Oria often. "What time is his party?"

She stared at her phone screen. "It's in about four hours. But the beer'll take half an hour, and the drive there's about two. Three, now that you took me here."

"Where the hell is this party?" Ash found himself involuntarily raising his voice in curiosity.

Teresa couldn't comprehend the sudden tone to his voice, but answered him anyways. "It's in my hometown, where I saw you that morning."

"You're going over there just for a party?"

"He's a..." She couldn't find the right word for it. "He's a good friend, alright?"

For a minute Ash denied the feeling of jealousy that was beginning to escape him. But then he stared at her as she got in the car, her locks of hair begging him to run his fingers through them and... "I'm going with you."

Teresa stared at him and raised an eyebrow, "you're not going with me anywhere."

"Do you really think it's a good idea for you to be seen out with some guy that isn't me?"

"It's my hometown - with a population of, I don't know, about seven hundred people. Do you really think anyone's going to take pictures over there and post it on social media?" She retorted, asking Riel to drive her to the liquor store. "They probably don't even know what a smartphone is."

"It's my career," Ash shrugged. "I'm not taking chances."

"Yeah? Well it's my life."

"Do I need to remind you about your job?"

Teresa was stuck. She had a deal to uphold, and breaking that would take her job away. It would be hard to find another job now, since she'd have it in her records that she zipped through two jobs in less than two months.

"Fine," she huffed. "Just... Just don't be an asshole when you're around them."

He saw the expression on her face that she valued these people very much. And then he suddenly became filled with determination.

Without admitting it to himself, he vowed to get on her good side.

And, unlike his last course of action, he was going to do everything right this time.

Atleast, try.