Rescue

Chapter Twelve: Ashton

        I walked into class and found Riley sitting in the opposite corner from Friday. Her hair fell loosely on her shoulder and covered the headphones in her ears. Her eyes were glued to the pages of The Maze Runner and she tapped her foot lightly underneath the desk. I walked over to her and sat down at the desk in front of hers.

“Hi.”

        She glanced up at me and then immediately looked back down at her book.

“Riley.”

        She didn’t look at me.

“Riley.”

        I placed my hand on top of her book and slowly lowered it. Riley slowly looked up at me, taking her headphones out of her ears.

“What the fuck did you just do that for?”

“You wouldn’t talk to me.”

“So what? I don’t have to talk to you all the fucking time.”

“But you haven’t spoken to me since Friday…” I said. “I left your house and you haven’t spoken to me since.”

        I frowned.

“And you didn’t come to the concert on Saturday either.”

“I had stuff on my mind and I wanted to be away from people.”

“But why?” I asked. “Was it me? Did I do something?”

        Riley rolled her eyes.

“This is the fucking problem with guys,” she said. “You never know what it is that you do.”

“So I did do something.” I said quietly.

“Wow, you’re so smart.” Riley said, rolling her eyes.

“What did I do?” I asked.

“If you don’t know then that’s your fucking problem.”

        I took a breath.

“You know,” I said. “You said he problem with guys is that we never know what we did, but how are we supposed to know if girl won’t tell us we did something wrong to begin with?”

        Riley rolled her eyes.

“It’s not my job to tell you that you fucked up. I’m not going to call you and say ‘oh hey Ashton, I’m not coming to your concert and I’m also not speaking to you because you pissed me off and really hurt me. I liked you and I thought you liked me back, but that’s obviously not the case so I’m just going to move on.’ No. That’s not how it fucking works. It’s not my job to keep you in check.”

“Wait, so you like me?” I asked.

“Liked,” Riley said. “Past tense.”

“As in you don’t anymore?”

“Wow, you’ve got some real brains on you, huh Ash?”

“What’s your problem with me?”

“I don’t have a fucking problem, Ashton.” Riley said. “I’m fine.”

“Obviously not! Not if you’re this angry.”

        Riley stared at me.

“You know what,” she said. “Fuck you.”

        She stood up, snatched her book from my hands and walked out of the classroom. I stared after her, trying to comprehend what had just happened. I sighed and stood up, running out of the classroom after her.

“Riley, stop. Talk to me, please.” I said, catching up with her in the halls.

“No,” she said flatly. “I’m not in the mood for your shit.”

“What?” I asked.

“I’m not dealing with your shit anymore.” Riley said again. “You hurt me and I’m done.”

“What about the guys? They like you too.” I said, attempting to sound less selfish.

“I’ll still hang out with them,” Riley said. “They didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t hurt me.”

        She paused.

“In fact, Calum is actually the only one who talked to me. He got up from dinner, a dinner that was important to him and Astrid both, just to talk to me about what was wrong. That’s what a real friend does, Ashton. Real friends don’t treat each other like you did to me.”

“But what did I do?” I asked.

        Riley sighed.

“Ashton, I don’t have time for this.”

        She stared at the floor for a moment before looking up at me.

“I just can’t do it. I’m sorry…”

        She walked away again and I sighed.

“Tough break, man.”

        I looked to my side and found Calum standing next to me.

“You!” I cried. “You fucking did this!”

“Did what?” Calum asked.

“You messed up everything with Riley!”

“Dude, I didn’t do anything.”

“You did!” I shouted.

        I shoved Calum up against the lockers.

“What the fuck did you say to her?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Calum cried.

“Ashton, let him go!” Michael yelled, running up to us. “Chill the fuck out!”

        I looked at Michael and then at Calum.

“Whatever…” I mumbled.

        I let go of Calum and stared at the floor.

“I’m sorry…” I said quietly. “I’m sorry, Calum…”

        I walked outside and to the parking lot. I got in my car and sat there for a little bit, leaning my head against the steering wheel. I looked up when I heard the door open and saw Luke, Calum, and Michael all getting into my car.

“Alright,” Luke said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“We’ve got classes to avoid and shit to ignore.” Calum said.

        I gave them a weak smile and started my car.

“Let’s go get a drink,” Michael said. “Before you know it you won’t even remember her name.”

        Michael turned on the radio and I frowned as I looked out the window and saw her walking across the parking lot, her brown hair blowing in the wind.

“That’s the thing,” I said quietly. “I don’t want to forget it.”