Hanahaki

f o u r

Tobi sighs and plops back down in her chair across from him as he continues to dab at the tea on the table. "Okay, well, maybe we shouldn't even try to find someone else for me to fall in love with. Like, that might work, but we don't really know." Heaving another sigh, she adds, "I dunno, I think I'd rather just try and do some fun shit before I kick the bucket." 

Her nonchalance turns Ashton annoyed and he scrubs a bit harder at the mess. "I can't believe you're just gonna give up so easily." Grumbles Ashton, his head down and his eyes narrowed. 

She laughs and he looks at her, surprised. "Sorry, but I think you're misunderstanding things. I'm not giving up, I'm just being realistic." With another long sigh, she continues, "I just don't wanna fall in love because it's gonna free me of some disease -- I mean, that'd be great if it worked out, but there's not really any guarantee. I'd rather focus on things that I love or that I've never done before, and if I end up falling in love while doing that, then it'll all work out." Sighing yet again, she crosses her arms on the table and rests her head in them. "And if it doesn't work out then... I guess it's good that I'm only close to about four-ish people. Maybe five if we count my mom, but meh." She shrugs. 

Ashton stares at her nonchalant posture and somber eyes. He wonders if she's scared at the prospect of dying at all. Heaving a sigh of his own, he sits and states, "I really don't get it, but you're the one who's dying, so who am I to question it?" 

A wide smile spreads across her face as he says this and leans back in his own chair. "Man, I'm pretty glad that it took basically nothing for me to convince you." Pushing herself up from the table, she questions, "All right, now that we're on the same page, you wanna get outta here? All this tea is a bit too much for my body to handle." 

He laughs and stands with her, pulling some money from his back pocket. "Yeah, but we should probably pay first, Tobi." 

❀❀❀

"Okay, this car ride is making me incredibly suspicious of your intentions because it's getting dark and this is literally a dirt road in the middle of nowhere," Ashton informs her as he observes his darkening surroundings suspiciously. 

Giving a laugh, she turns left onto an even narrower dirt road. "Relax, it's nothing dangerous, I promise." 

"You say that, but I don't think anyone's gonna admit that they're planning to murder the person in their passenger seat." He grumbles as the sky's fiery red bleeds together with the disappearing oranges and yellows, slowly being taken over by the veil of inky night. 

Giving him a shrug, she comments, "This is just one of those things that a dying girl just really wants to see." 

"Okay, that's really great and stuff, but I would much rather know where we're going instead of having some weirdo being all cryptic and shit." 

Again, she laughs, and Ashton relaxes in his seat slightly, feeling a bit at ease by the sound. "Oh, there's the sign!" Tobi says happily, bouncing in her seat as she makes another turn at a poorly painted sign vaguely shaped like an arrow. Ashton doesn't get a chance to read it in the receding light and they pass it before he's able to make out the letters. Giving a wistful-sounding sigh, Tobi adds, "Man, I haven't been here since I was little. Like, back when I still saw my mom." 

"You've been here before?" He asks as she navigates the dark and narrow road carefully. 

"Oh, yeah," She sighs and quickly pushes her hair behind her ear. "It's been a while, though. My family is kinda jacked, dude." Tapping her index finger on the steering wheel, she adds, "But now I have a car and I can come here whenever I have time. I mean, I usually don't come here 'cause it's just more of a family thing from when I was little but," Her smile broadens as she says, "the view at this place is really great. It's like a really fat pond and it's totally surrounded by trees, so it's really secluded." 

"Okay, please tell me you can understand my concerns when you talk about a secluded place like this and I barely fucking know you." Ashton all but pleads, his hands gesturing wildly.

"Hm, then maybe I should also tell you that there's no signal out here. Whoops!" Tobi laughs, clearly enjoying freaking out her new friend. Regaining her composure, she slows to a stop in a plot of gravel they use as a small parking lot, the large pond now resting in front of them. A wave of emotions overcome her and her grip tightens on the steering wheel as she stares at the mirrored reflection of the night sky sitting in the water's surface. As she puts the vehicle in park she announces, "There it is!" 

"Oh wow..." Ashton breathes, his breath taken away by the beauty of the tranquil setting. 

Without a word or even a giggle in response, Tobi exits the car and pushes the door closed quietly. She walks toward the small dock she and her family used to jump off of when she was younger before stopping at the edge of it. Hands in her jacket pockets, Tobi stared out across the water. "Hey, wait up," Ashton says, his voice loud in the quiet of the small area. Once he comes to stand next to her, Tobi eases her self into a sitting position She takes off her shoes and rolls up her pant legs, before letting her feet dangle over the edge of the dock and letting them sink into the cool water. "Hey, what's up? You're kinda quiet." He observes as he stares at her back. 

Gripping the edge of the dock so hard that her knuckles turn white, Tobi responds with a strained smile, "I guess it's just that I haven't been here in a while. It's, I dunno, weird, I guess." With her head bent to the water, she stares into the somber eyes of her inky reflection only illuminated by the pale moon. She seems different now. "We used to be really happy -- my family, I mean. I don't really know when it all went to shit, though." Heaving a sigh, she turns her head from her reflection to the lonesome moon in the starry sky. "Sorry, I know I probably sound like a little bitch complaining about this, but I figured I'd get it off my chest before I die, or whatever." 

Without a word, Ashton eases himself next to her, his legs crossed. They both stare out at the moon, quiet. Finally, after a long moment of silence, he takes a deep breath and states, "It's okay to talk about it with me. I mean, I know we barely know each other, but you can trust me with all of this." 

Tobi grips the dock's edge tighter, a lump forming in her throat. A splinter stabs her palm, but she ignores it and continues to stare hard at the moon. "Thanks, Ashton." She says quietly, feeling vulnerable. Taking a deep breath, she attempts to play off her building emotions by saying jokingly, "You know, if you keep saying stuff like that, I might come to rely on you. Or worse, I might fall in love with you." She chuckles, but he stays quiet. 

Turning away from the moon to look at her, he calls her attention to him by laying his hand over her's where it's still tightly gripping the dock. Now with their eyes locked together, Ashton tells her quietly, "That's okay. You're trying to fall in love with someone anyway." 

Tobi's face flushes at his words and she turns her gaze from his eyes to their hands on the edge of the dock. She turns her's over and laces their fingers together, her heart thrumming in her chest. She bends her head towards the lake again and mumbles to him, "Ashton, I..." She grips his hand tighter and whispers in a strained voice, "I don't want to die, Ashton." Tears well up in her eyes and fall into the inky depths of the pond. 

Ashton squeezes her hand in response and mumbles to her somberly, "I know..."