Dear Diary...

Chapter 1

~Dear diary,
          Hi. My name is Ashton Brown but my friends call me Ash...well my friend. I stay away from people and keep to myself. My brother Levi and I have the same birth parents and we we're adopted into the same family. I was only two months old when I was adopted so I didn't know my birth parents but Levi was already seven so he had a harder time. Levi is a heroin addict and has been since he was fifteen.
   Our adoptive parents are amazing and they raised us right but he just didn't take to the suburban lifestyle. Though I don't really blame him, I'm not exactly the angel child either. My mom comes from a more uptight, and rich, family. My dad comes from more of the poor, tough love, family.
Levi has been in and out of juvenile hall and jail since he was eight years old. It started out as running away, then turned into robbing people, gangs, and eventually drugs. I look at it as a sickness. I grew up around gangs so I know how to handle myself. I don't put up with bullshit from wannabes.
   This isn't the story of a scared little girl going into a big world of gangs a drugs. This is the story of my life. I am eighteen now and off to university finally escaping the small little town in San Diego and headed to Los Angeles to start my life. Its only about a two hour drive so I can still go home and see my brother and parents on weekends if I desire and holidays.

"Ash...Ash...ASHTON ROSE ARE YOU LISTENING??!" I am pulled out of my thoughts as my earbuds are ripped from my ears.
   I turn to my best friend in the driver seat. "I'm sorry I zoned out. what we're you saying?"
   She rolls her eyes "you are always writing in that stupid book. Anyways we are about half way to university and we are FINALLY escaping that stupid small town. I am exhausted from driving this last hour soooo...I say we take a break and celebrate." she says with hope in her eyes.
   That's when I realized we we're in a parking lot. I look up at the sign and it says 'Piercings' in big blue neon letters.
   "Why is your solution to boredom always painful?" I say with a slight chuckle.
   "Because we are adults now and I don't have a step dad screaming in my ear telling me what to do anymore."
This is my best friend Lux willow. Her long, fire-red hair, forms her perfectly structured face, and her big bright blue eyes make me envy her genes. I have known Lux since we were three. No matter what we always have each others back even when I abandoned her for this girl Kaitlin. With her birthday only two weeks before mine we have gone through a lot together. She keeps me steady and sane when I feel my world around me crashing down. So shes a little crazy, yes, but i'm equally as insane. We both love the adrenaline high of doing stupid shit.
   "Alright but what are we getting pierced?" I ask as I light the fresh bowl of grounded weed in her brand new pipe we bought before we hit the road. The harsh inhale of smoke burns my lungs as I pass the pipe to her to smoke her half.
   "I think we should get our tongues pierced! I heard the guys go crazy for it and it doesn't take forever heal." She says as she blows out smoke coughing between every other word.
   "Fuck it" I say with the high already starting to absorb into my body. I know i'm a light weight but hey, at least i'm a cheap high.
We douse ourselves in perfume before entering the parlor. The sound of tattoo guns in the background ring in my ears as I catch a gimps of a shirtless man getting a tattoo down his ribs. He looks young, like us with short blonde hair and light blue eyes that trap you as soon as you look into them.
"Ash stop zoning out and focus! hold my hand." That's when I realize I've been staring for too long and heat starts to rush to my reddening cheeks as we are pulled back to the room with a black curtain in place of a door.
    On our way to pay for our new jewelry I bump into a hard chest and drop my phone. I go to grab it but the strangely hard chest grabs first. As he hands me my phone I look up to thank him when the heat starts to rush to my cheeks once again. It was the blonde I was staring at when I first walked in.
   "Oh shit i'm sorry it looks like I cracked your screen." He says. His deep voice startling me.
I finally pull away from his bright blue orbs to look at my newly cracked phone. "Shit!" I curse
   "Hey let me give you my number! You can call me when you're free and well go get your phone fixed, maybe even go out to coffee. I see from your jacket that you're going to UCLA. A new student i'm assuming because I haven''t seen you around campus but I go there too. Do you have a pen and paper?"
   I nod because I cant find the words to say and I grab the keys from the counter as Lux is paying and she gives me a wink letting me know shes been listening to this encounter.
    We walk out to the truck as I grab my diary and pen because it is the only paper I have, and hand it to him. As he writes his number I take note of the only vehicle in the parking lot. Its a motorcycle with a girl right next to it. Her back is facing me so I can't see her face. So he's a cheater? Great...
   "Won't your girlfriend get mad that you're giving another girl your number?" He hands back my diary with a questioning look
   "Girlfriend?" he asks looking confused. I nod my head toward the bike and he turns to her and looks back at me with a captivating smirk.
   "That's my little sister. She's starting at UCLA this year as well. I'm single and not a cheater so give me a call for that new screen and cup of coffee." He winks just as Lux starts walking out toward the truck giving me a knowing look.
   I smile and nod "Will do..." I pause and take note of his fresh tattoo spelling the word 'James' in fresh black fading into red ink. I continue "...James?"
He smirks again. That stupid, charming, hypnotizing smirk. "James is my last name. My name is Landon...and you are?"
   James...that last name rings a bell but I guess its a common last name. "Ashton Brown but my friends call me Ash." I blush.
   "Uhhh excuse you. Friend not friends. Don't give me competition." Lux says from the driver seat once again listening to my encounter while on her phone. Now i'm blushing from embarrassment as Landon laughs
   "LANDON...can we go please? I've been here for three hours and I have a college party to get to tonight! we can't be here foreverrrr!!" A familiar high pitch voiced screeches.
   No...not here too. I turn to see Lux noticed the same voice as she paused in the middle of lighting her bowl, pipe in hand, and sunglasses now on the middle of her nose while looking with unbelievable hatred toward the girl standing by the motorcycle confirming my spiraling thoughts.

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