Thorns and roses

4. "I'm so done with life right now." ~Ashley

By the time Ryan got to his car he was completely out of breath. Dancing may have been his forte but running, however, was not. So as he fumbled with his keys trying to find the right one that unlocked his ancient car, Ryan tried to take in as many breaths as he could to try and calm his racing heart. Long story short, Ryan looked like a goldfish. He was pretty sure if Ashley was right beside him she would be laughing at him. Ryan was even more sure that if his sides didn't hurt so much he would be laughing with her at himself too.

"Come on! Come on!" He said nervously as he fumbled with his keys, desperately trying to find the right one in the dim lighting of the school parking lot. As panic started to creep into Ryan's conscience he contemplated whether he had lost his keys again.

His car keys had this terrible habit of slipping off his key chain- this is where he kept all his keys and although that presented a higher risk of losing everything at once (which his mom had lectured him about numerous times), Ryan found this much more easier and comforting.

The first time he had lost his keys was last year when he went to the movies with Ashley and a couple of their other friends- it was around then that Ryan had earned his parents respect and trust. Everything had been going well till they had to all go home, it was only then that Ryan had realized he had lost his keys. For the next couple of hours, he and Ashley had searched the entire parking area till they found them (the only reason Ashley had helped him was because he was her ride back, she had tried to see if any of their other friend could accommodate her but there wasn't enough space).

The only difference between now and then though, was that Ryan didn't have time or Ashley to help him find his keys. For a moment he debates whether it would be best to look for the keys around the parking lot or to just go tell Ashley and figure something out. A second later Ryan makes his choice, he turns around and sprints off to the gazebo where he last saw Ashley and the unconscious girl.

"Ash! Ash!" He yelled as he saw her standing by the gazebo, she was looking more nervous by the second. More couples had started to come out of the dance hall for a romantic stroll in the evening, Ryan deducted that this was the reason why Ashley had become more nervous and edgier than before.

"Where the hell is your car?!" She hissed at him.

Ryan came to a stop right beside her. He was out of breath, again, so it took a couple of minutes of him being a goldfish, yet again, before he could open his mouth to speak.

"Look, okay, don't hurt me," he said while holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. Ryan winced at the look Ashley gave him. Somehow, she had managed to look pissed, annoyed and nervous at the same time.

"What happened?" She asked him. She said it slowly as if talking to a child except her voice had no kindness in it only barely concealed rage.

"Well..." Ryan said, nervousness ringing his voice," I lost my car keys and now I can't open my car or get it started, so now we don't have anything to carry the girl in and basically we're screwed."

Ashley pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered under her breath," I'm so done with life right now."

"Do you have any other plans we could put into action?" Ashley asked him while throwing up her arms in the air in an overly exasperated manner. Ryan failed to respond with anything useful and Ashley gave an irritated huff.

"Hey don't get mad with me!" Ryan snapped.

"Why shouldn't I get mad at you?" Ashley snapped back," you're the one that lost the friggin car keys!"

"Well I'm not the one that knocked a chick unconscious and got us into this mess in the first place!"

By now a couple of the couples had started to look over at the two of them arguing. Some started whispering and others started walking in another direction to try and avoid the 'negative energy'.