The Not So Innocent Boy ~[Completed]~

Chapter 17.

Asa woke up and looked over to the calender hanging on his wall above his desk. It was July 2nd. He sighed as he laid quietly in his bed. Not a day had gone by where he didn't think about Briar and what had happened on their last night in Percé. He didn't regret one bit of it, but everytime he thought of it he wanted to cry. He missed her so much. He couldn't imagine what she was going through. He wondered if she thought of him. Of course she does. He thought to himself.

"Asa come get some breakfast!" His mother yelled from downstairs.

He didn't really want to go. He refused to tell them what had happened two months prior. Breakfast was just a way for his mother to try and pry him open, to try and get him to say that Briar had kidnapped him. How could they be so... so... so stupid?! He loved Briar, he went because he wanted to. And now his parents are taking her to court. He tried to get them to stop, but his father didn't listen and didn't respond to anything Asa said. He was given the silent treatment and it was still going on today. His dad somehow used all of his power to fabricate these lies. To turn everyone against the person that mattered to him most. His mom didn't interfere, Asa thought that she might be afraid to defy his father.

"Asa?!" He heard her try again.

He still didn't respond. He found himself mostly confined to his room, he didn't feel welcome anywhere else in the house. Eventually his mother would bring him his food.

A few hours passed. He was working on some school work that had been given to him to try and catch up on what he had missed, even if the school year was officially over. Minutes went by, then he caught a glimpse of someone standing at the door to his bedroom.

He turned to look, "Clarice!"

"Hi." She gave him a little wave.

Asa got up and walked to her, "What are you doing here?"

"They said that Briar got a visitor and they thought that it would only be fair for you to have one to, so your parents asked me if I wanted to come say hi." She explained to him.

Just hearing her name made him ache, but he didn't linger. "That's nice of them." He told her as he went and sat on the far side of his bed.

Clarice went and sat on the opposite, "Well... Now that you're back and once all this is over, we can go on that date we talked about." She smiled trying to catch his attention.

Asa didn't look at her, "I can't do that Clarice." He said as he played with the ring on the forth finger of his left hand.

She saw it, her reaction quick. "You're married?!"

"I love her." He almost had tears in his eyes. "We weren't going to come back here if we couldn't be together, but look at where we are now."

She just stood there, not knowing what else to say. She just left.

"Clarice!" He tried to follow her, but she had already run down the stairs and out the front door.

Asa stood at the railing at the top of the stairs. His parents, who saw it all, were flustered. They looked up at Asa, but he just went back to his room and locked his door. He had no intention of explaining this to anyone. He also hoped that Clarice wouldn't yell out his secret. He watched her run down the street from his window.

She didn't stop for minutes without end, she just ran and ran until she was out of sight. She couldn't believe it. She heard rumours at school that they had eloped, but she hadn't believed them. Everyone knew that Clarice was close to him and the stares she got the first time it was mentioned that Asa had gone missing were unlike any she had ever felt before. She couldn't tell if people felt pitty for her or if they thought that she got what she deserved. She never thought that she was mean to anyone, so she didn't understand why people would think that way of her.

She spotted a corner store and walked in just to get away from peering eyes, yet she didn't know if anyone saw her. She walked down the isles just trying to rap her mind around everything. In the food isle, she imagined how many bags of chips she could eat before getting sick, or maybe she would do it with bubble gum. Anything just to get that conversation off her mind. She looked through magazines, reading all the articles about fashion. Then she made sure to read all the ones on celebrity gossip. She even read the mens magazines that talked about fishing and hunting, that sort of stuff. She moved on to looking at the big variety pop drinks in the fridges on the back wall. She counted how many she had tried in the past.

"You okay kid?" The store clerk asked her. He was a little older than her.

"Yeah, I'm just getting my mind off of something." She told him.

"Whatever, take your time." He replied.

She went back to counting the drinks. Then she made her way to the food isle, again, counting like she did with the pop. Ultimately she moved on to another spot in the store. She walked a little before coming upon the card section. Birthday cards, get well soon cards, wedding cards... Clarice stared at them blankly. She wished she would have been the one receiving them in the future when she would have gotten married to Asa. What did I do wrong? Is all that she could think. She tried to forget about it, but looking at those cards, it was hard to stop. She couldn't tell how long she had been there, but then she saw someone in the corner of her eye.

Clarice turned to see Chris. Her first instinct was to run. She knew that he was Briar's best friend, she didn't want to hear one thing about her.

"Clarice!" He tried to follow her.

When is this nightmare going to stop? She begged with herself. She couldn't take this, she had to get away.