Confiding in You ϟ a.i.

Chapter 7

"Maddie? You're back?" Hannah's shrill voice is heard as she nears me and Ashton. I can't tell whether she's pissed off, confused, or excited. Her eyes flick up to meet Ashton's and he quickly moves his hand from my waist.

For some reason, he still wraps his arm around my shoulder. If he thinks I'm going to be offended that he didn't want Hannah to see him in that position, he is sadly mistaken. I didn't want his hand there anyway.

"Yep," I answer awkwardly, "I'm back."

Hannah had still been my best friend when I left in 8th grade. It wasn't a normal best friend relationship, though. I mean, we barely spent time together outside of school and fought more than we got along. And not to mention all the times she failed to comfort me about Luke...

Still, I feel horrible about just leaving and not returning any of her calls. This was the confrontation I was avoiding by coming here, and yet I'm faced with it regardless.

"You look different."

"I bleached my hair while I was in California," I say, blushing a little. It was a stupid decision on my part, but it didn't look too bad so I kept it. Now that I'm here with her and talking about it, though, I suddenly want to change it back.

"That's a little stereotypical, don't you think?" She laughs quietly, looking around at the shelves, then down at the comic book in my hands. She makes a face, but I ignore it.

"I think it looks good,"Ashton says from beside me. His voice makes him sound irritated and angry, which just confuses me. I thought he and Hannah were at least on good terms. Maybe he saw the face she made too. "What are you doing here Hannah?"

"I'm getting the books for summer reading," she lifts her nose in the air and seems offended by his tone. I would be offended too but the tension between them is clear, just confusing me further.

"Are you in AP Literature?" I ask, trying to break through the stare-down they're apparently having. She looks back over at me with a tight-lipped smile.

"Yeah. I know I'm super late with the reading. I just didn't want to think about school."

"I know what you mean," I grin. This isn't as awkward as I expected, between me and her. At least she's not asking why I didn't call or anything.

"I highly doubt there is any of the literature you need in this aisle, Hannah," Ashton says and I can tell just by his tone that he is rolling his eyes.

"Why don't you fuck off, Irwin? I'm clearly trying to talk to my friend," she gestures toward me and he sighs. I hope they don't actually fight with me here in the middle. Ashton's arm is still wrapped around my shoulder, and I don't think I could get away if I tried.

As if reading my mind, Hannah eyes Ashton's arm placement. For the first time, I see her give me an actual look of sympathy. I wish I could tell her that I'm not even friends with Ashton, if that's what she's thinking. But even though I'm trying to say what I truly feel, that seems a bit harsh for me.

"Do you you still talk to Luke?" I question. Maybe they had a falling out or something, and that's why Ashton seems so mad at her.

"Not much anymore, he's kind of an asshole," she tilts her head to the side and looks up at Ashton before smirking.

"Agreed," I laugh, regardless of the ever-present tension or the fact that she was barely talking to me. Whatever is going on is between their little group. Which, I remind myself, I decided to stay as far away from as possible anyway.

"Maybe if you weren't such a--" Ashton starts but is cut off by my brother's angry voice.

"Maddie, can we go?" He knew just where to find me, but hasn't gotten to the exact spot just yet. I shimmy out of Ashton's hold. I know he's going to be pissed to see that I'm here talking to him, but I know if it appeared like we were actually friends, he'd probably start yelling at me right there.

"Yeah," I say, loud enough for him to hear. I walk past Hannah and grab a random book off the teen fiction shelf since one comic book obviously isn't going to last me a week. I hope I can get out without him seeing I was with Ashton in the first place.

Like everything in my life, it doesn't work out quite like I'd hoped. I bump right into him on my way out of the aisle and once he sees the two of them, his usual anger is brought up a notch.

"Hannah," he nods to her, but I can tell he is on just as bad of terms with her as Ashton is. He looks over at Ashton, "Dude, stay away from my sister."

Cooper pulls on my arm to get me to go out of the store with him, but he doesn't need to. I was much more uncomfortable there than he realizes. Just as I think I'm finally about to leave, though, Hannah grabs onto my free arm.

"Wait, I wanted to spend some time with you!" She whines, clearly barely having changed from when we were younger. Except I shouldn't assume that because clearly she did something the boys didn't like, when they used to worship her every word.

"I really only came here to get some books," I say uncomfortably and she pouts.

"Come on, Mads. I haven't seen you in forever! I can give you a ride back home if Cooper's dumb ass needs to leave."

I don't know how comfortable I am with being in a car with her, but I'm starting to feel bad. She isn't the nicest person, but I still owe her an explanation. I look over at Cooper and he tugs on my arm, giving me a look that says 'absolutely fucking not.'

"I guess I can stay," I say anyway and he sighs. He can get over it.

"Well then Ashton, I guess we're hanging out because my mom would kill me if I let her ride home with this crazy bitch," Cooper scowls, causing Ashton to burst into a fit of laughter. He lets go of my arm and as soon as he does, Hannah loops her own arm through the one she had grabbed and leads me toward the door. She looks uncomfortable and.. Embarrassed?

"I just have to pay for my stuff," I say and she nods. She still looks upset and I can tell her mind is elsewhere right now.

"Meet me back here in an hour!" Cooper calls to me in line as he and Ashton head out the door. I nod and Ashton waves goodbye but I don't return the gesture.

Once the two of them are gone I actually feel a bit relieved. Hannah isn't the first person I would choose to hang out with, but to be honest who is? I'm just glad I have someone in my company that isn't my brother or his asshole friends.

"I can't believe you're getting that," Hannah's face scrunches up as I put the Spider-Man comic on the counter. I laugh a little at the face she makes and wait to pay.

"Me either," I smile, tucking my hair behind my ear, "Ashton practically forced me to get it."

I give the cashier my twenty dollars and get my change before we head out the door. She is still making that face as we walk toward whatever store we decide to go to next.

"Are you and him, like, talking or whatever?" She asks me, looking stressed at the thought.

"No, he's just as much of an idiot as he was before," I sigh. I want to ask her why she cares so much, or what happened between them, but I don't want to upset her further. Just the encounter with him and my brother seemed to break the bitchy exterior she tends to have.

"Good," she says simply. She doesn't give me any explanation on her own and I know I made the right choice of not asking.

"Wait," I stop in my tracks, causing her to do the same. She looks at me with a lift of her eyebrow, "didn't you have to get the books for summer reading?"

"Nah," she continues walking again and I start up a moment after her, confused. "I'll probably just read a summary online," she shrugs and I remember that school stuff was always no big deal to her. I'm surprised she got all the way to AP Lit by only reading the summaries.

We stop at a sub place instead of going shopping anywhere else, which is fine by me. I don't have much money anyway and I haven't eaten all day. Hannah "isn't in the mood to shop" so it all works out.

We give our orders to the guy at the counter and sit down at a table to wait for them to call our names. Meanwhile, I brace myself for an uncomfortable interrogation from Hannah. She was always good at that.

It isn't until we get our food, though, that she begins.

"What was so great about California that you picked up and left without speaking to anyone again?" She asks rudely, picking at her sandwich. Instead of taking a bite, she pulls her phone out and starts looking at it. I shrug and she looks up at me without lifting her head, "You missed a lot here."

"You had other friends," I say truthfully. She had plenty of friends when I left. When I think about it, I could barely call myself her best friend.

"Everything went to shit after you left. I mean," she scrunches up her nose. I get the feeling she does that a lot. "It's not because you left that it went to shit. But it did."

Is she talking about why Cooper and Ashton treated her like she shouldn't exist? She must be.

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," her voice is angry, infuriated even. "I'm sure Ashton will tell you eventually anyway."

"I don't think I'll be hanging around him, or Luke for that matter," I laugh despite her foul mood. I'm still hoping that she'll tell me. It won't leave my mind if she doesn't. She won't tell me though, I can tell. Not in a million years.

"Good" is the only thing she says, nodding. If its so imperative that I stay away from them, you'd think she would at least give me a hint.

"You should just tell me," I voice and she lifts an eyebrow at me, unamused. Like old times, I'm quickly working to defend myself, "I mean, I wasn't planning on hanging out with them ever but I would at least like to know what I'm getting into if I ever am forced to hang out with them again."

"All I'm saying is," she looks around the room as if searching for the right words, disgust evident on her face, "Don't be friends with Ashton if you have a boyfriend. And don't ever even think about dating Ashton."

She makes a noise like a shiver is running up her spine and I stare at her. With that answer, I still barely have any clue what she's talking about.

"But you wouldn't have a problem with any of that would you?" She shrugs with a smirk playing on her face before I can question any further.