What I Thought I Didn't Need

Chapter One

The day started just like any other. I got up, changed, washed my face, put on some makeup, and headed downstairs for breakfast. I decided to have some toast and a yogurt. I sat down and started eating as my older brother, James walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a coffee and a granola bar and off he went to school. He rarely gave me a ride and I never asked. I had better start walking if I didn't want to be late. I cleaned up my breakfast and rushed to school which luckily wasn't too far from home. I even arrived half an hour early.

I passed my brother in the hall but said nothing. We never talked. I walked over to my locker just as I heard my name being called.

"Ashton!"

I turned to see my best friend Enrique jogging over to me.

"What's up?"

"You'll never guess who I just saw with you know, Her."

"Who?"

"Guess."

"Awe come on bro, you just said I'd never guess."

"Fine, fine.... None other than James."

"Who's James?"

"Good grief Ashton, your brother?"

"No way! Really?! I'm gonna die. What were they doing?" I couldn't believe this. Would my own brother betray me like that? I glared at Enrique as he answered.

"Don't worry. They were just talking."

I rolled my eyes. "Then why would you scare me like that?"

He leaned on the nearest locker and gave me an exaggerated look. "Okay, maybe I freaked out 'cause that's something you don't see every day...... And maybe they looked interested in each other?"

"You can't be serious." I put my hand on my forhead wondering where this could take us. Truth was I didn't wanna know. "Whatever, I gotta go. Thanks for the heads up though. See you after school."

"See ya."

After school I did something I never did. I cought up with my brother. He was on his way to his Ford Mustang when I walked up to him. He stopped, looked up from his iPhone to see who I was and kept walking.

It occurred to me that maybe he expected me to just talk to him without him saying anything. Which I never thought much about until now. We didn't have a brother sister relationship at all. I wanted him to say something first so I blocked his path. He bumped into me and looked up. "What do need?" He asked as he put his phone in his pocket.

I was almost lost for words. "I.. I wanted to talk to you."

James raised an eyebrow. "About?"

Did this ever feel weird. We were almost like strangers. "Some....things..." I suddenly didn't want to talk about it here. James gave me a blank look so I asked if he'd give me a ride home. Surprisingly he opened the passenger door.

"Get in." I did as I was told. When we turned onto the street James glanced at me and I figured that was my cue.

"So...... How was school?" I started somewhat nervous. Why did this feel so weird? I felt guilty for never attempting to have an actual conversation with him. He looked kind of awkward at the question but he answered after a few heartbeats.

"It was alright." Silence filled the car. He took a turn and I knew then that we weren't going home just yet.

"Where are we going?" I asked feeling a little more confident. I had to make this seem normal.

"Mom texted me to get some stuff from the grocery store." He relaxed more and I was glad. I turned in my seat and looked right at him. As I did he looked back into my eyes before going back to focusing on the road.

"Listen. What I wanted to ask you was this: Do you have a girlfriend?" I couldn't read anything off his face. But he said no. "Someone said they saw you talking to Natalie. What's up with that?"

He half laughed and looked at me. "Nothing. I can talk to whoever I want can't I?"

I could see that this was going no where so I dropped the subject. To my surprise he continued the conversation till we got to the grocery store. We parked and headed for the store. It didn't take us long to find everything we needed. We were walking towards the car when James stopped and said, "I'll be right back. Hold on a second." I didn't think much of it as he turned back so I put all the groceries in the car and headed back to where the rest of the carts were.

Back at the car I looked around for James. And that's when I spotted him. He was in between two vehicles with a guy dressed in a black hoodie and black jeans. They were way out of earshot but by the looks of it, James gave the guy money and stuffed something into his pocket. Then he turned so I quickly got out my phone so he wouldn't know I was watching.

Once we were in out driveway I asked him what he went back for. He got really defensive and almost yelled, "Nothing!" I decided to just keep quiet and went into the house with an arm full of groceries. James brought the rest and we both started putting them away. Pretty soon we were done and I headed up to me room. As I closed my door, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ashton, are you home?"

"I'm in my room. The door's open."

Five minutes later, Enrique walked into my room. He laid down beside me and played with my long dark hair. That was something he did often, but I didn't mind.

I told him that we didn't have to worry about Natalie. Not yet anyways. I turned on some music. Pitbull. I loved Pitbull. We were both rapping when I remembered that weird encounter James had earlier with that guy in black. I turned down the music and told Enrique about it.

"Well that's weird....you don't think he..."

"Enrique don't say it!!" I started crying. Enrique being the loyal friend he was, came to me and wrapped me in his arms and just let me cry. We stayed that way for a while.