The Silent Song

Chapter 6

"Who the hell was that?" Alex looked after Ashton as his silhouette became smaller and smaller in the not-so-crowded corridor.   looked up at her before she added, "and why does he look so familiar?"

"He was, umm...never mind." I stopped just wishing that she'd leave it at that because I had heard about the Alex- matchmaking- skills from Jake and didn't really want to be her client. But Alex being Alex didn't.

"Oh my god, do you like him?" She asked very bluntly and loudly I might add.

"What...no of course not." I snapped. I started walking, hoping to run into Jake and end this disastrous conversation.

"So why aren't you telling me who he is?" Alex cocked up an eyebrow with a playful expression on her face.

"Ok, so the day at the concert- yesterday- when I went out to get some fresh air I met this guy- Ashton his name is- on the benches. He was almost as uninterested as I was and was just doing a favor for a friend by accompanying him." I made sure to pass a pointed look at Alex when I said the last part and she just rolled her eyes at me before asking me to continue, "and I bumped into him today at the hospital."

"Speaking of," I added before she could continue the emotional assault, "didn't you come here to ask about my mother."

Realisation probably hit her like a brick, "Oh my God. Callie, I am so sorry. How is she?"

She seemed genuinely flustered. I chose not to hold it against her.

"Fine."

"Hey, I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry, it's just that I can never seem to really set my priorities straight." Her throat bobbed.

"Alex, it's okay. I forgive you. And my mom is really alright. Would you like to see her?" I added in the end thinking it will make her feel her a little better

"No, that's not my scene really. And thanks for understanding." She smiled finally.

"So how come I've never seen him at school?" The dear and little curious Alex asked me.

"Huh?"

She gave me a knowing smile. "You know, him. Ashton. Does he go to the other school?"

I debated upon whether to answer that or not because Ashton had seemed pretty hesitant on giving me the answer to that question. At the end, I decided to go with the truth.

"He is home schooled."

"What?! Why?" Alex dropped her jaw.

"Well a) I didn't ask him and b) if you are so interested, go and ask him yourself. It seems as if you like him." I gave her an annoying look.

We had just entered the cafeteria and I could sense that Alex was about to say something but before that could happen I spotted Jake and called out to him before starting to make my way up to him.

"Jake I was searching for you." I was dimly aware of Alex as she joined us from behind.

"Well you were inside and I needed to use I needed to use the restroom where I found this old man who asked me for some help which led me here." Jake explained without taking a pause. Finally after taking a deep breath he said, "why? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course I'm alright."

"Well, I called Alex, I thought that you might want to speak to her." He gave Alex a questioning look. I guess he must have sensed the fake annoyance I was putting up for Alex.

"Yeah that's alright." I said nonchalantly.

"And how's your mother?" Jake asked.

"She is alright. A lot less worse than I thought it'd be." It was only then I realized how worried I'd been.

I turned around only to find Alex eying the food. As much as she annoyed me with the love drama, she'd come here to help me, or be there for me or whatever. She probably didn't have her breakfast and was hungry.

"Want to grab something to eat?" I asked Alex. I tried to keep up my charade of being angry at her but the way she nodded at me along with fluttering her eyelids made it impossible.

"I thought you'd never ask."

We sat down to eat something. I ended up ordering a smoothie which was way too nutritious but since I was really exhausted and famished, I thrived. Alex was having an incredibly wide sandwich and Jake decided to pass.

After we were finished Jake offered to drop off Alex at her home since her mother had brought her here on the way to Walmart.

Once in the car, and Alex's appetite satisfied she was a radio on full blast. "So tell me about yourself Jake. I know that you are Callie's neighbor but that's as close as I can get about knowing anything about you."

"Well," I could hear the nervousness in Jake's voice. I mentally prayed that he be thinking if Alex should be put in an asylum or not. Or maybe he was just thinking what to say. I hoped it was the former one.

"I like music. Besides that I'm fairly good at studies. I do some sketching to try my artistic hand here and there. I really suck at sports. One thing I've discovered in the past seventeen years of my life is that they are just not my forte." There was a closing remark in his tone but I was surprised to know that he sketched.

"You are artistic?" I guess Alex had the same doubt because I saw her looking at Jake with a questioning look.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I'd like to see some of your sketches sometime." Alex mused before looking out of the window and zoning out.

After we dropped Alex back to her house Jake came to my house to pass time claiming that there is nothing as bad as a boring Sunday morning with nothing to do.

We entered the house and I directly went to the refrigerator to grab something to eat. Upon opening the door of the refrigerator I realized that either my mother or I seriously need to do some grocery shopping.

"Seriously, this is the time that the refrigerator has no food," I pouted before muttering under my breath," this is the worst day ever."

"You know if you are hungry I can take you out to eat." Jake's voice startled me. I was used to being alone so I had almost forgotten that he was there.

"Huh..."

"It's a place called Lucy's. We can walk till there. It's just around the corner." Jake explained.

"I'll be more than happy."

As Jake had said, Lucy's was just around the corner and it was a fairly crowded place. Luckily Jake knew the owner and we got an empty table really fast.

I had a hearty meal of French fries followed by a nice burger. I insisted on paying but Jake wouldn't let me. I made a mental note to myself to slip the money into his wallet as soon as possible.

Jake had to leave after that as he had to go and help his mom with some chores. With nothing else to do, I went back to my house and after calling to check up on my mom I started flipping through the channels and not bothering to turn off the television, tuned out.

Author's note:
Hey guys, I updated early cause I will be traveling tomorrow and I did not want to miss an update I had promised.
What did  you think? Lemme know!
All my love💜