Chapter Text
“Come ooon!” Taylor pulls on Ashlyn’s arm.
“Isn’t it enough that I’m here?” Ashlyn groans. “Do I have to go talk to your other friends?”
“Well you can’t spend the whole night in the corner,” Taylor replies.
“I mean, I wouldn’t mind,” Ashlyn mutters, but she doesn’t hear her. “What about the boys?”
“Aiden dragged Ben over to one group over there.” Taylor points to the right. “And Logan’s with some guys from his math class. I think Tyler said something about the baseball team.”
Great, Ashlyn thinks. Now I have to endure the worst torture of all. Socializing.
Ashlyn cringes inwardly. If there’s one thing she hates, it’s talking to new people. Most of the time, that doesn’t end well.
“But do I have to?” Ashlyn whines.
“ Yes.” Taylor rolls her eyes, then she spots three girls ahead. “Angela, Britney, Janice!”
“Heyy!” A pretty girl with black hair and curtain bangs smiles. “I was wondering when you’d get here.”
“Yeah, well my mom just got sick.” Taylor shrugs, but Ashlyn can see the tension hidden within her shoulders. “I wanted to make sure she was okay before we left.”
“Good on you.” The second girl with bright blue eyes nods.
“Oh!” Taylor gasps. “I almost forgot! Girls, this is Ashlyn. Ashlyn, this is Janice, Britney, and Angela.”
She points to the dark-haired girl first, then the one with blue eyes, and lands on the third with cocoa skin.
“Sup.” Janice nods her head towards Ashlyn.
“Hey.” Ashlyn waves awkwardly.
“So, what’s new?” Taylor questions.
“Meh, nothing much.” Angela shrugs. “But I heard there’s a girl in our science class is pregnant.”
“Really?” Taylor’s eyes widens comically. “Who??”
Ashlyn sighs as the girls talk animatedly about random things. To be honest, Ashlyn can’t really care less who screwed who and why. It’s not her business to know. Instead, she allows her eyes to rake across the room.
There’s the dance floor in the middle of the room, and the music is loud. Really loud. Lots of people dance to the beat, but there are a few groups littering the walls and hallways. Ashlyn finds Aidan talking to two guys that she thinks she’s seen around school, and Ben’s standing beside him smiling. She can’t find Logan or Tyler, but—if Ashlyn had to guess—they’re probably with their friends, too. Why did she agree to come to this again?
Ashlyn turns her attention back to Taylor and the other girls. They’re laughing at something one of them had said.
“How’s your weekend been so far?” Britney asks.
“It’s actually pretty uneventful.” Taylor sighs. “The only exciting thing to happen to me was when I forced Tyler to come to this party.”
“For real?” Janice snorts. “But I thought the whole baseball team had agreed to go no matter what? I heard them when they were coming out of the locker room the other day.”
“Yeah, he just wanted to stay and help Mom,” Taylor explains.
“That’s actually kinda sweet,” Angela says.
“What about you, Ashlyn?” Janice turns to me.
Ashlyn can only assume she’s asking about her weekend.
“It’s pretty good,” Ashlyn answers.
There’s a brief silence, and she internally curses herself for making everything awkward.
“Nothing really happened, though,” Ashlyn amends.
“Yeah, same.” Britney nods. “Hey, did any of you hear about Jason and Kaylee breaking up??”
“Wait, really?” Taylor gasps.
Ashlyn feels a dull pain in the base of her skull, stemming from her ears. These earplugs can only block out so much noise. She closes her eyes for a minute—hoping everything will calm down a bit—but that isn’t the case. Hesitantly, Ashlyn lightly puts a hand on Taylor’s arm to get her attention. She glances down at her, but she doesn’t look mad at Ashlyn for interrupting.
“Sorry, I just wanted to let you know I’m gonna go get a drink,” Ashlyn says.
“Oh okay.” Taylor’s smile fades a bit, concern growing in her eyes. “Do you want me to come with?”
“No, I’m fine.” Ashlyn offers her a small smile.
“Okay then,” Taylor replies, not really convinced.
Ashlyn breaks apart from the group and leaves to find a quiet place in the house. She doesn’t even know whose place this is, but it’s completely packed. Ashlyn ends up having to go out to the backyard for some semblance of peace. Even now, she can still hear the loud sounds of the party.
Ashlyn spots a tree swing swaying gently in the wind and goes to take a seat when she hears some movement near the tree. Ashlyn stops and scours the area, until she finds a figure sitting up against the other side of the tree, making it hard to be seen.
Maybe that’s the point.
Ashlyn considers turning around and leaving them alone when she realizes that it’s Tyler. What’s he doing out here? She approaches him slowly, so he won’t be alarmed. Either way, Tyler doesn’t even look at her. His eyes are closed, and he has his fingers pressing against his temples.
“Are you okay?” Ashlyn asks quietly.
Tyler doesn’t startle or anything. He just opens his eyes and stares up at her, dropping his hand in the process.
“I’m fine,” he states.
“Then what are you doing out here?” Ashlyn raises an eyebrow.
“It’s none of your business,” Tyler tells her irritably.
“I just figured you’d wanna be with your friends.” She shrugs.
“Yeah, well, they’re all a bunch of jerks,” he mutters bitterly.
“I don’t doubt that,” she replies.
They stay in a tense silence, waiting for one of them to break it.
“What are you doing out here?” Tyler turns the question around on her. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Taylor or something?”
“Everything was getting too loud in there.” Ashlyn glances back at the house. “Had to get some air.”
She notices Tyler checking the time on his phone almost impatiently. If she had to guess, he’s probably waiting for Taylor so they can leave. Ashlyn completely understands that. What she doesn’t understand, though, is why he wants to leave so badly. He never struck her as the type to hate going to parties with his friends.
Tyler sighs—squeezing his eyes shut—as he presses onto a certain spot on his head again.
“Headache?” Ashlyn guesses.
“Mhm.” He grits his teeth.
“Do you need me to get you some water or something?” she questions reluctantly.
“No,” Tyler snaps, and she blinks at him. “I just—Look, I’m not trying to be mean or anything. Today just wasn’t a good day. I didn’t even want to come here.”
“Neither did I,” Ashlyn admits. “Is it okay if I sit here?”
He nods once, so she sits on the ground beside him with enough distance between them that it’s not uncomfortable.
“Taylor said your mom is sick,” Ashlyn remembers. “How’s she doing?”
“It’s not the kind of sick you’d think.” Tyler sighs quietly. “But yeah, I mean, she’s doing fine. For now.”
Ashlyn can tell he doesn’t really want to talk about it, so she lets it go. She quickly finds that her earlier headache has disappeared, but Tyler’s is still very much present.
“I’m sorry,” he mutters, so quietly Ashlyn almost doesn’t hear it.
“What?” She frowns in confusion.
“For being rude to you, all the time.” He shakes his head. “You didn’t deserve any of my crap.”
“Did you just… apologize?” Ashlyn tries to wrap her head around it.
“Yes ,” Tyler snaps. “Don’t make me say it again.”
“Okay.” She smirks.
They sit in another blanket of silence, but this one is much more comfortable. Ashlyn looks up and sees tiny glittering, diamond-like stars. They fill the sky like glitter on a dress. It’s beautiful.
“Hey, Tyler!” a voice yells loudly, and Ashlyn flinches at the harsh sound.
A tall, burly guy runs up to them wearing some kind of jock jacket. Ashlyn can only guess he’s one of Tyler’s baseball friends.
“Bro, you’re missing everything!” the jock complains. “You have to come inside! There’s a chugging contest.”
“Not now, Brad.” Tyler waves him off. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Of course you are!” Brad scoffs. “You have to be, man. Besides, there’s this girl that’s interested in you, and I told her you’re available. So get your lazy butt up, and let’s go!”
“I just said no, Brad,” Tyler says coldly. “And I already told you I’m not looking for a girlfriend right now. Can you please just leave me alone?”
“What, so you can hang out with this freak?” Brad points at Ashlyn with a laugh. “Dude, you’re not thinking straight—“
“Don’t call her that!” Tyler gets to his feet at lightning speed.
“Why do you care?”
“She’s my friend. And you are not, so leave us alone! Or do you want to stay long enough to find out what’s going to happen to you when you didn’t listen to my first warning?”
Brad seems to get the message loud and clear, and he strides off while muttering to himself. Ashlyn stares up at Tyler with wide eyes. The adrenaline drains out of him, and he seems more exhausted than ever as he sits back down.
“You shouldn’t go threatening everybody who decides to be a jerk,” Ashlyn advises.
“I wasn’t really going to do anything to him.” Tyler drags his hands over his face.
“What would you have done if he didn’t leave?” She raises an eyebrow.
“I’m sure I would’ve thought of something,” he replies. “Ugh, I think my headache just got worse.”
“Do you want to leave?” she asks. “You can just tell Taylor you’re not feeling well.”
“No.” He shakes his head and looks at her. “I’m fine right here. It’s quiet.”
Ashlyn nods in agreement with a soft sigh.
“You called me your friend,” she teases.
“Hey, don’t let it go to your head,” Tyler tells her with no real bite.
“Whatever you say.” Ashlyn chuckles.