Thantophobia • A.I

Memories Are Pay Per View

Song of the chapter: Story Of Another Us - 5 Seconds Of Summer

Seriously Holly, you act like this is your favourite place in the universe!" Olivia complained, rolling her eyes.

"But it is!" I retorted as we replayed our most common argument; was Starbucks better than Costa. Obviously Costa won, but Liv always made a point to moan and grumble every time I steered her towards the doors. I couldn't help it - I had been a Costa addict since I had my first chocolate creamy cooler with whipped cream and flakes, so there was never a time I could walk past the shop without buying some kind of chocolaty drink. It was basically my secret addiction; the baristas knew my order off by heart and I probably funded the whole of the company with my constant orders.

"But you know I'm a Starbucks kind of girl." Olivia laughed as I inhaled the nostalgic smell of coffee and chocolate. She - of course - was equally obsessed with the rival coffee shop, but as there was no Starbucks anywhere near us, she had to make do with Costa.

"But Livvy, they might be selling the honeycomb hot chocolate!" I whined, batting my eyelids at her and pouting in my best puppy dog face. It was a trick that I had learnt from Ashton when I was 12, and it had taken me years to perfect.

"No. Take that face to someone who cares sweetie." She managed to deadpan for about ten seconds, before she cracked and dramatically stormed over to the queue, pretending to huff and flick her hair from her shoulder.

Smiling at her theatrics, I followed her and placed my order, before carefully balancing my drink over to our usual table. We always chose to sit there - it was half hidden, tucked away in the corner, and offered the perfect view of the whole shop, whist still being private. This was where we sat through hours of revision, gossiping and catching up, or sheltering from the rainy weather and taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi. It also provided the perfect opportunity for me to people watch, and I had created storylines for basically every customer that entered the shop.

"When did Lucy say she was getting here?" I wondered aloud. She was constantly busy with her ridiculous amount of clubs and commitments, but I guess it fitted her, as she was happiest when she was rushing around everywhere.

"In like five minutes." Olivia answered, "So, enough time for you to tell me what's been going on."

She leaned closer, as if I was going to spill my deepest secrets to her. Glancing around the store in an overly exaggerated way, I leaned in to meet her, placing my mouth close to her ear and whispering, "I'm half way through the training process to becoming a professional assassin, and last night I had to kill a man with my bare hands." I slouched back into the comfy sofa seat and attempted to keep my face completely neutral as I lifted my shoulders into a shrug.

For a second, she looked absolutely terrified, but then she scowled and flung herself back in her seat, crossing her arms and giving me an evil look as she attempted to intimidate me into telling her. Laughing, I concentrated on licking the whipped cream from the top of the cup without spilling any down the front of my school jumper. As distractions go, it was a good one.

I had just managed to eat the last scrap, when Lucy finally reached our table and threw her bag down onto the floor, sliding into the seat next to Olivia.

"Hey guys, Holly, isn't that the guy who almost ran you over?" Was the first thing that came out of her mouth, causing both Liv and I to spin in our seats, following her pointed finger and catching sight of the back of an increasingly familiar head of curls.

"You didn't say he was hot!" Liv whisper-yelled, instantly forgetting that she was mad at me. "Look at his arms! Jesus."

"His skinny jeans are tighter than yours Holly, that's an achievement." Lucy laughed.

As we gawped at the mystery boy's impressive muscles that were showcased perfectly by his worn, faded t-shirt, I faintly heard him order his drink. For some unknown reason, the sound of his voice listing the toppings he wanted made me recall a day years ago with a different boy, when Ashton had declared he had the most amazing chocolate milk recipe. It almost seemed like a whole different world.

*Flashback*

"I swear Hol, it's going to taste amazing! Better than any of your rubbish Costa drinks, I promise." Ash begged, pleading with me to help him create a 'masterpiece'.

"Fine. But if we get into trouble, it was your idea and I had nothing to do with it. Plus, Costa is the best so good luck." I gave in. It had only taken him two minutes of pleading and staring at me with that lost puppy look before I had agreed to another one of his stupid plans.

"Right, pass me that blender." He demanded, almost bouncing with excitement. This was always what happened when I hung out with Ashton - he would always come up with the craziest ideas that never seemed to end the way he had planned, but were extremely entertaining when they went wrong.

Passing him the blender, I watched in horror as he added half a pint of milk, cocoa powder, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, three scopes of chocolate ice cream and finally, two flakes.

"Ash, that looks disgusting." I gasped, as the mixture sloshed around the bottom of the jug.

"No Hol, it will be the nicest thing ever!" He declared, pressing the lid on and flicking the switch to blend the ingredients together. The force of the machine caused the blender to violently shake, sloshing the liquid against the sides as they combined to make the most disgusting coloured liquid I had ever seen.

Predictably, as soon as Ashton let go, the lid was pushed from its 'secure' position and started to rattle before flying off, coating the walls, the cabinets and both of us in sticky, melting chocolate.

At that moment, we heard the sound of a car pulling up onto the driveway, and panicked, shooting each other wide eyed looks of fear.

"What do we do?" I asked, already starting to worry about how much trouble we would be in if Mrs Irwin came through the door now.

"Quick, get that cloth. We need to tidy up before she comes in." He whispered, grabbing the blender and dumping it into the dishwasher. I rushed to wipe the counter and the cupboards and in minutes we had removed any trace of chocolate sludge from the kitchen.

Turning to Ashton, I grinned at him and we both sprinted into the garden to clamber onto the trampoline as we heard the sound of a key in the lock.

*Flashback ends*

"...Holly?" Liv's voice snapped me out of my memories and back into the present, my mind still reeling at the sense of dejavu I was feeling.

"Sorrywhat?" I realised I had missed something as Olivia and Lucy had pulled their eyes from the boy standing at the counter and were both staring at me with wide eyes.

"I was just saying he looks sort of familiar, don't you think? I bet he lived around here back when we were younger."

So it wasn't just me. I knew that the tall mysterious boy wasn't Ashton; it couldn't be Ashton, but a part of me desperately wanted it to be. I wanted to be able to talk to my childhood best friend, and be able to say sorry. It was me who had shut him out, me that had pushed him away and now all I wanted was to have a chance to apologise. I missed the sweet, caring boy that I used to know, the one who helped me to stand up for myself. I missed my first real friend.

"Yeah, I feel like I know him." I answered distractedly, unable to tear my eyes away from the nameless figure as he slowly turned as though he had heard my voice.

The expression he wore was one that I was becoming very familiar with; his eyes seemed to shoot lasers of hatred towards me. I could tell the exact moment when he registered my presence - his shoulder muscles tensed up and his mouth twisted into a grimace that made me freeze stunned in my seat. As much as I wanted to, I was unable to look away, his intense glare holding me captive in my seat until he snatched his drink from the Costa employee and stormed out of the shop.

"He really does seem to hate you." Olivia's voice was softer this time. I turned back to my friends and nodded, assuming that they had both seen what had happened.

"I know. The worst thing is that I recognise him, but I don't remember who he is." I murmured.