Thantophobia • A.I

On The Other Side

Song of the chapter: The Other Side - Tonight Alive

I took a deep breath and started to force my feet up the steep slope, cursing Leo under my breath with every step. Of course my brother had to get a job in the car shop at the top of the single hill in this town. It wasn't like I wanted to trek up a giant hill every time I got the chance to catch up with him. As much as I desperately wanted to be living with him, for things to be back to the way they used to be, he had a job now and I was in my last year of school, so we didn't have the time to hang out often.

At least that was what I told myself when I was out of breath and ready to collapse; and still couldn't even see the shop. Maybe if he had chosen a job that wasn't located on top of a mountain then we would be able to meet up more.

After three 'rest stops' and a lot of groaning, I finally dragged my aching muscles into the reception of the shop and smiled at the man behind the counter. Paul was the owner if the car shop, and the only person in this town who gave Leo a chance when he stormed out of our parents house last year. He looked out for Leo, taught him how to fix cars or whatever he really does, and was one of the nicest guys in town.

"Hey Holly, the idiot's out the back with a customer right now but feel free to go through and bug him if you want." He chuckled, his face scrunching up and his laughter lines becoming more prominent. That was another reason everybody liked Paul; he was always smiling. It was almost impossible to make him angry, and I had never seen him frowning - he was just one of those constantly happy people.

"Thanks Paul." I called as I pushed open the side door, wrinkling my nose as the smell of petrol and car parts hit me. It's strange to me; the way Leo looks so happy when he's here. I noticed it the first time I timidly tiptoed in here, the way he relaxes completely and looks so content - he was so different to the angry teenager he used to be around our parents. It was a side to him I loved more than anything, so once I had spotted him leaning over the hood of a small red car and casually chatting to the customer who stood beside him, I stood back and just watched for a second.

It looked as though they were finishing up, as Leo was handing the other boy a form and wiping his hands on a cloth, so I pushed myself away from the wall I was leaning against and started weaving between the equipment and vehicles towards them. I had nearly reached my destination, when I glanced up, realising I hadn't caught a proper glimpse of the boy Leo was serving, and missed the box full of car parts that I promptly tripped over - alerting everybody that I was in fact here. The other workers had gotten used to me clumsily tripping over their tools; it had become my way of announcing my arrival.

"Hey Holly!" A familiar voice called, and I laughed at the assumption that it was me who fell over. I mean, it was true but one day it might be different.

"Hey Cam, what's up?" I yelled back at Leo's best mate, placing the toolbox back where it should be and continuing to walk (carefully now) towards Leo.

"Hol can you run this back to Paul real quick? I just need to pack up and then we can go." Leo turned to face me as I finally reached his station, holding out a clipboard with a paper form attached.

His customer was already sat in his car, waiting to go, so I stuck my tongue out at my brother, receiving an eye roll in response and started retracing my steps back to the office door. It was just like him to not even be ready on time, and then to make me do his work so he could finish faster. He drove me mad sometimes; but he was my brother so I loved him. Plus, I'd prefer to spend time with him instead of staying at home and listening to the constant arguing that provided that background noise in my family.

Slowly placing my feet between two piles of greasy looking bits of metal, I turned around to check on my progress and did a mini celebratory dance when I realised I had made it across most of the garage without stumbling. My dance - which basically consisted of me jumping up and down and flailing my arms - was interrupted when my foot knocked into the metal and I lost my balance once more.

What would have been an incredibly embarrassing fall, was prevented by two hands that reached out and grabbed my shoulders, quickly catching me and pulling me back onto my feet.

"Falling for me already are you Holly?" Cam sounded like he was desperately holding in laughter as I spun round and grabbed the clipboard from where it had fallen onto the floor.

"In your dreams Cam." I muttered flipping him off and attempting to hide my smile at his corny joke while walking the last few steps to the office - thankfully without tripping again. I could hear his laughter as soon as the heavy door shut behind me, and I knew that Leo would know the story in about thirty seconds.

After rolling my eyes at the closed door, I turned round and saw the guy who's car Leo was fixing talking to Paul, so I decided to sit in one of the comfy sofas placed against the corner of the room as I waited for them to finish. As I sat with the clipboard resting on my lap, my eyes flickered over the boy, taking in his black skinny jeans and hoodie before I noticed his curly golden hair, and my jaw fell open. It was him. The boy who I had suddenly started noticing everywhere. The one who held an intense hatred of me, but looked so annoyingly familiar.

"You new here?" I heard Paul make casual conversation with the boy, both of them completely unaware of my inquisitive gaze and silently thanked Paul for being so chatty. Maybe I could learn something about him - why he hated me so much - as he obviously was never going to volunteer that information himself.

"Kind of," His voice held the slightest accent, but it wasn't clear. I would have guessed Australian but I couldn't be sure; it seemed to be a mix. I had never heard someone with a voice sounding like that, and I began to wonder if I actually knew this person. But I stopped trying to work out his accent as soon as he began talking again, wanting to place him in my memory. "I grew up here but moved away and now we're back."

From my seat I could see his broad shoulders raise into a shrug, as he pushed some money across the counter, shoving his hands into his pockets and heading for the exit. I knew exactly what was going to come next, and I shrunk down in the seat in a stupid attempt to hide myself from his glare. And as I predicted, as soon as he caught sight of me, his almost cheerful expression turned into an intimidating scowl, and I tried desperately to match his face to one from my childhood. If he grew up here then maybe that was why he looked so familiar; I probably went to school with him. If I could just work out who he was, I could work out why he hated me.

He stormed past, shoving his way through the door and out to his car. It seemed like an extreme character change, but he obviously had an extreme anger towards something to do with me. I watched him pull away from the curb and speed off, his hand running through his hair in frustration as he left and I was faced with Paul's raised eyebrow and questioning look.

"Don't ask me; I don't understand." I muttered in response to his unanswered question, handing over the clipboard Leo had given me and trying my best to seem unaffected by the mysterious boy. In all honesty I hated the way he glared at me - as far as I knew I had done nothing wrong but he always left me desperately wanting to apologize for everything.

"It's strange, he was nice enough till he saw you." Paul mused as he scanned over the form. "Irwin. Ashton Irwin. Never heard of him. I'm guessing you know him?"

Hey guys so my 5sos concert is in 8 days and I'm seriously excited i think i might burst!

Anyway if you're reading this then please comment and tell me what you think :) -Ellie