Pain & Insanity *ON HOLD* (ASHTON IRWIN AU)

Chapter 3: Ashon

"I'm hungry." Calum whined to me as we walked down the street. I shifted my old blue plaid backpack higher up onto my right shoulder. The weight of all the stolen possessions inside pulled my shoulder down.

"I'm always hungry." I stated in a monotone voice. The cool autumn air hit my face and broke through my thin holed jacket. Calum rolled his eyes at my snippiness.

"You have no sense of humor, now do you?" He replied snippily. I shrugged my shoulders and jammed my large hands into the front pockets of my ripped black skinny jeans.

"I didn't think that it was my job to amuse you." I rolled my eyes while passing by people on the street. I ignored their stares and whispers to each other. Calum raised an eyebrow at my tone.

"Are you always this crotchety?" He whined while scowling at me.

"I try to be." I smirked. Calum scoffed at my bad attitude.

I stopped walking and dragged Calum into a small alleyway that was in between two small shops. Trash and cigarette butts were scattered along the grimy cement floor of the alley, and a concentrated smell of rotting garbage filled the air. Quickly, I took off my backpack from its spot on my shoulders. I rummaged through the pack in haste. Soon, I found what I was looking for.

"Okay. We have a total of twenty dollars," I spoke while standing up straight; Calum nodded his head, "and we both are super hungry. There's a McDonalds right around the corner. We can go buy stuff for us and the rest of the crew."

"The crew; what crew?" Calum asked while kicking an empty Pepsi pop bottle to the side. "I thought you lived out here by yourself?"

I chuckled. "You haven't been out here very long, have you?" I asked. Calum shrugged.

"About two weeks." He replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Of corse, you're a newbie. The number one rule out here is to find a group. There's no way that you'd be able to live out here by yourself; especially if you happen to be a female." Calum frowed at my answer. "Anyways, there's a group of us out here. If you stop annoying me, then maybe I'll let you meet them later." I spoke while dusting off my jeans. I picked up my backpack as we made our way to McDonalds.

We entered the fast food joint with eagerness. The upcoming autumn air was freezing, and McDonalds had the heat on. While rubbing our hands together to keep warm, Calum and I and took our spot in line. As I ordered our meals, Calum glanced around the fast food joint.

"How can you afford to keep a space this big?" Calum asked while looking at the cashier. The brunette from behind the counter rolled her eyes while plugging in our order into the cash register.

"We get money from paying customers, but I wouldn't expect the likes of you guys to understand things like income." She said snootily while smacking her gum.

"Excuse me? What do you mean by 'the likes of us'?" I questioned while raising an eyebrow. The girl from behind the counter just rolled her eyes.

""Your order would total up to $22.13" The cashier spoke to us without a hint of warmth in her tone. I patted down the many pockets in of my dirty forest green coat feverishly, and then pulled out our twenty dollar bill and a handful of small coins. There were pennies, nickels, and about four dimes that sat in my palm.

The cashier sent me a glare before she gingerly slid the coins from the pile that I placed them in on the countertop. She slid them to beside the cash register; as if the coins could infect her with some horrible disease if she touched them. "You seem to be twenty cents short, sir." She spoke harshly.

I could feel my face go red with embarrassment. "Oh." I muttered while I patted every pocket that I had to try and find an extra twenty cents. "That's all I have. If you count again, there should be enough."

"No, I will not count those coins again! I'm telling you that it's not enough." The rude girl snapped. My eyes widened in surprise. Could she really not ignore a twenty cents difference?

"Excuse me?" I asked in shock. "I'm sure that if you just count it again..."

"Get out. We don't need people like you holding up our lines. People don't like to wait, especially if they are waiting on homeless people who can't even afford a meal." She spat. I flinched at her harsh words.

Calum turned to face the girl with raised brows. "Hold up, now you listen here, you-"

Before he could say anything, I grabbed Calum by the arm and dragged him out of the building. A long line of people stood behind us. Accidentally, I bumped into a girl. She stumbled backwards a bit, which caused her to nock into another customer behind her. "If you could move, that would be appreciated." I muttered while trying to shield my face with my hair. Total embarrassment took over me.

She stood only a couple inches shorter than I. Her shoulder length wavy brown hair fell around her uniformed white blouse. She looked up at me with light sea green eyes. "It's fine." She smiled at me. She pulled me over to the counter with her and placed two dimes on the counter. "I think that this should be sufficient."

"That isn't needed." I told her while the cashier glared at us. I stuck out my tongue at her. The mystery girl waved me off.

"It's okay. I'd like to do this." She spoke. "Besides, I feel bad for you with all that just happened."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't need your pitty." I snapped. Calum smacked me on the shoulder and sent me a glare.

"Don't be rude." He spoke quietly.

"I don't care if I'm being rude! I don't need it." I snapped. The cashier came back with our bags of food. I snatched them from her and spun around to leave. "Let's go."

"Thank you!" Calum called over his shoulder to the girl that helped us out. I rolled my eyes. "Dude, what was that all about?"

Before I could answer, the girl ran out after us. "Wait!" She called.

Not wanting to converse with her, I began to speed walk. My long legs took me to a pace that was much too fast for Calum, so I had to grip him by the fraying collar of his shirt and drag him behind me.

The girl was persistent. After hearing her call after us for a good while, I let go of Calum's shirt and spun around to face her. "What do you want?" I asked with annoyance. Calum slapped me yet again.

He rolled his eyes, then turned to her and threw her a boyish smile. "I apologize for my friend's behavior. I'm Calum, and this sour grinch is Ashton."
I gave him a death glare. ""What's your name, babe?" He asked while ignoring my glare. He placed his hands in his jean pockets.

I gagged internally at his obvious flirting. The girl giggled a bit. "I'm Genevieve." She introduced herself while sticking out her hand for us to shake. Calum took it and gave her a smile, while I just stared at her hand. Genevieve retrieved her hand awkwardly. I could feel Calum shooting daggers to the back of my head.

"Anyways," she coughed, "I have a bit of a preposition for you. For the both of you, actually."