Ashes, Oh Ashes

chapter 6

Ashley had let the creek be a secret place for just me and her. And Lucille, since it was firstly theirs. But Lucille didn’t bother us much there. We didn’t tell James or Henry- this we kept to ourselves as a guilty pleasure of sorts. Even when Lucy wasn’t home, Ashley would let us in to dry off and maybe grab a drink before we left to go back home.

This became our ritual every other week on the especially warm days.

I also noticed how Ashley seemed to confide in me more than James or Henry. It was obvious to me that she trusted me deeply. Almost not a day went by where we didn’t at least talk or hang out. Of course, this led everyone to believe that we were dating- which sometimes annoyed me to no end. I couldn’t count how many times I had to explain over and over that we weren’t dating! People act like males and females have never been best friends before.

She yawned and leaned her head onto my shoulder.

I looked at her and she glanced up at me.

“ ‘Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far; far, far away from here.’ “ she began quoting. We knew every word to this movie.

“ ‘But God didn’t turn her into a bird that day; instead, he had the po-lice say she couldn’t live with her daddy no more’ “ I went along with it. We had more often done this than not.

She fell into fits of laughter- never being able to hold up a serious part for long, and I joined her.

James and Henry stared at us like we were stupid, then glanced at each other and shrugged. They had long ago stopped concerning themselves with our ridiculous antics. Even they thought we were secretly and un-admittedly dating. Sad, right?

Her phone buzzed, naturally drawing my attention.

I hadn’t meant to snoop into her business, but I couldn’t help but notice a text message from that jack-off Brian.

She scoffed and put her phone down without answering.

“Why doesn’t he get to leave you alone?” I asked.

She shrugged. “He’s a bulkhead. He doesn’t get it.”

“Obviously,” I grumbled.

“Get a restraining order,” James mumbled, his mouth closed around a Zig-Zag he was lighting. Henry nabbed one from him in exchange for a pack of Skittles.

“Nah. He isn’t that bad. Just intrusive.” She answered.

“You’d think he’d get the message.” I added.

“Yeah, the way lover-boy punched his face off!” Henry snickered.

Ashley giggled.

“Don’t call me that, shitface!” I snapped at him.

He gave me a fake snarl.

“What,” James chimed in. “Lover-boy? Excuse us if we merely tell it like it is.”

I threw the remote at him. It hit him in the shoulder.

“Hey!” he scowled at me, nearly dropping his lit Zig-Zag.”That’s my damn remote!”

“I’ll buy you another one, asshole! Can it before I kick your ass.” I retorted. I remembered when Ashley used to get scared whenever we bitched like this. But it was normal for us; it was how we spoke to each other. I guess it was just the relaxed state that we didn’t have to take each other seriously that we could do this without actually meaning it.

“I like the way cigars smell. Especially flavored and scented ones.” Ashley randomly stated, ignoring our little rant.

I chortled. How ironic of her.