Satin

Two

|Unedited |

Aspen woke to the shrill beep of her alarm at precisely 6AM. Her room was still dark though the streetlight outside her window illuminated her bedroom enough for her to navigate around. As she pulled herself out of her bed, Aspen thought back to last night. She still wasn't quite sure what happened. She remembered coming home and microwaving dinner. Then nothing. Despite her lack of knowledge regarding the assumed altercation, Aspen knew she was forgetting something very important.

Pushing the thought aside, Aspen padded to her bathroom and turned the shower on. She began brushing her teeth as the steam from the shower filled the room. Rubbing her eyes, Aspen looked at her reflection in the cabinet mirror.

'What the hell?' She muttered, toothbrush falling from her mouth. Around her left eye was a fading bruise spreading down to the top of her cheekbone. The bruise looked to be a few days old but Aspen was sure it hadn't been there yesterday. In fact, she was certain.

'Okay. Alright, I got home last night and hung my coat on the stand. Then I turned on the television and got changed. I was annoyed because... Because... ' She sighed, turning off the shower and storming out of the bathroom.

After changing into a sweater and jeans and brushing her hair, Aspen grabbed her coat and left her apartment. She was supposed to go to school today but there was no way she'd be able to sit through seven hours of mundane activity when she knew there was something strange going on. Instead, Aspen got off the bus as it stopped across the road from the one place in New York that she felt safe. The door opened with a muted click as Aspen stepped into the familiar warmth of Orion's. Geoff looked up with a smile that dropped as soon as he saw Aspen.

'What the hell are you doing here and what is that on your face?' he asked, rushing over to her 'What happened to you, Aspen? Gracie, get over here! Aspen's injured' Grace came rushing from the kitchen, first aid kit in hand.

'Where are you hurt, doll?' she questioned running forwards and pushing Geoff out of the way. 'Oh Jesus, that is definitely something. Never mind, I have just the thing and for God's sake, Geoff, get the girl a drink.' She disappeared back into the kitchen once again. Aspen laughed tentatively and headed over to the brown couch by the bookshelf; her favourite place in the café, with Geoff trailing behind her.

'A hot Milky way, I'm guessing?'

'I'm fine, Geoff. Seriously.' Responded Aspen, Shrugging her coat off. Geoff sat down next to her, his dark eyes scanning her face for any sign of distress. When he was satisfied, he turned away from her and sighed.

'So, why are you ditching? Penny'll throw a fit when she finds out.'

Aspen pulled a book off the shelf and opened it onto a random page. 'Penny won't find out. She's out of town for the week so the school won't get through to her. The only way she'll know is if you tell her.'

Geoff ruffled Aspen's hair and let out a gruff laugh 'Your secret's safe with me, Kiddo.' Aspen smiled and leaned into his touch. If she really tried, she could pretend that Geoff and Grace were her family. She could almost pretend everything was normal in her life. Aspen thought about her parents. Though she'd never been that close to them, she missed them more than anything. Her parents were always working for days at a time, leaving Aspen with nannies or au pair's. She had hated how little they'd been around, but now she would give anything for the brief phone calls she had grown so used to. When she was ten, her mother had been shot by a mugger while getting into her car after a meeting. Her father, unable to go on after the loss of his wife, drank himself into oblivion. She was twelve when he died. Aspen harboured hate towards him for a long time, but in the end she realised it wasn't his fault. We all deal with grief in different ways. He decided to drink, she decided to pretend everything was okay. Neither was healthy but Aspen had never heard of someone dying of denial.