The Foreigner

Chapter One

"Ow, Shit!"

They say anything can happen, maybe that's why we're in a tattoo parlor at 11 o' clock at night with fake IDs. Aspen has been dating a freshman in college for six months and they decided to get matching tattoos. Aspen's tattoo is a revolver with "Bonnie" written above it in cursive letters and Benzi's is the same except his has "Clyde" instead. What I don't understand is why does she want to do this? Is she trying to prove herself? Benzi has already gotten his tattoo finished and now is holding Aspen's hand.

"Damn Aspen, you're gonna break my hand!" 

Aspen is gritting her teeth in pain, glaring at Benzi as he laughs at her. Benzi can be an ass most of the time, it's something that I can't stand about him. He usually treats he like shit. Like last week, she was drop dead drunk and he just tried to take advantage of her. We, being Luke, Alec, and I, tried to talk her out of being with him, but she never listened. It kills Luke to see Benzi treat her like this. Luke and Aspen have been friends forever. For a while people thought they were together because they were always around each other.

"Benzi you were an ass!" Aspen says loudly in the greasy cafe booth, laughing. We get a few looks from the older people in the restaurant, most of which are hairy truckers. After a while we finished eating and were still having a great  time, then Benzi reached over and flicked Aspen's wrist where her tattoo was. 

"What the fuck, Benzi!" Aspen yells.

"Oh come on stop being a cry baby, Aspen!" Benzi says while rolling his eyes. 

"It still hurts! I mean I just got it an hour ago you asshole!" Aspen says and gets up and storms out.

"Wow! She really knows how to make a scene, huh?" Benzi says while pulling out two dollars for the tip.

We drove home in silence. Aspen sat in the back of the car with me instead of her usual shotgun seat. Benzi kept shooting Aspen dirty looks in the rearview mirror.

"Aspen, babe, can you quit smacking your gum? It's giving me a major headache." 

"And why should I do that?" Aspen says while smirking.

"Because I will kick your little white ass outta my car and you can walk home!" Benzi says sounding aggravated. After that Aspen remained quiet for the rest of the ride. Finally, we pulled up in front of Aspen's house where I'm staying for the night. We then make it up to her room where we collapse onto Aspen's king size bed.

"Ugh! He pisses me off so much!" Aspen says very aggravated.

"Then why do you stay with him?" I ask her cautiously.

"Well, because I love him and he loves me. We have a weird relationship" Aspen says defensively.

I roll my eyes, "We should get some sleep, goodnight."

I hear her faintly say "night."

The next morning I wake up to hear Aspen on the phone, "It's okay baby, I forgive you. No, I really do. How about you come over tonight? Around nine? Perfect, see you then." Then she hangs up.

"Really? After the shit he pulled?" I question starting to feel annoyed.

"What? He apologized!" She says defensively.

"Whatever," I look at the time. It's 1:30. "I need to get home, Cliff's coming home for a visit."

I get a ride home from Aspen's nanny, and Cliff's car isn't in the driveway. I'm slightly relieved to know I have time to get washed up. 

"Cecilia where you been?" Says my somewhat sober mother.

"I was at Aspen's... Remember?" I tell her. It seems like I live with someone who's memory is as good as a broken air conditioner in the middle of summer.

"Oh, okay" she says as she takes another sip from her wine glass. "Do you know when your dad is going to be back?" 

"No mom, no I don't" I say hurt.  

You see, when I was five my dad said he was going to the store, but he never came back. That in turn made my mom become a depressed and forgetful alcoholic. She didn't ever beat my brother and I, but the abandonment was even more painful. 

"I'm home!" Cliff shouts as he stumbles in the house with his two duffelbags.

"Burt?" My mother says hopeful.

"No mom, It's Cliff." I say brokenhearted, but also happily at the same time.

Cliff goes up to our mother and gives her a bear hug, and then he turns to me, "How is the best baby sister in the whole world? Are you keeping your grades up? Staying away from drugs? You better not be in a gang!" He says jokingly. 

Cliff had gotten into some trouble a few years back for running with the wrong crowd. He skipped school, did drugs, drank non-stop, and almost got a girl pregnant, but then Mindy came along and put him in his place. He hasn't gotten in trouble for the past three years thanks to Mindy. 

Cliff goes to his room to unpack, and mom starts to hum  "Can't help falling in love" by Ingrid Michaelson. After Cliff finishes we decide to order pizza, and have a movie night. Mom retires to her room for a long night of sad music and bottles of red and white wine. Of course as usual Cliff's favorite movie, The Avengers, is the first one to be watched. Then, we watch my favorite movie, The Outsiders. An hour into the movie Cliff passes out on the couch and I decide to call it a night since I have school tomorrow.

Thanks for reading hope you stay to the end because it is basically planned out, and it's gonna be a rollercoaster! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram for pictures and sneak peeks! @ get_squared_duo