SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Fourteen
Just as I’m about to give up looking for Lori, I see her. She is talking with someone in a corner of the gym where the lake has been placed. Smiling, I start to make my way over to her when I realize who she is talking to. My smile wanes, faulters and then anger rises within me.
Lori and Ash are half shrouded in darkness where they are sitting on the bleachers and leaning into each other as they chat. In the back of my head, I know they are leaning in close to each other because the music is so loud and it’s hard to hear but my heart cannot comprehend this thought.
I want to march up to them and yell at them, demand to know what they are doing but then, what right do I have to do such a thing when Ash isn’t mine and both of them are free to chat with whomever they want. The jealousy raging within me is comparable to the ocean in a violent storm where waves are crashing into one another, and I clench both my hands into fists trying to reign in my emotions as I continue to watch them talk.
“Hey babe!” Blake comes up behind me and attempts to wrap his arms around my shoulders in an embrace. “Shit! Sofie, are you okay? You’re burning up. Your skin seriously feels like it’s on fire.”
I shake my head no. “No, can we leave? I don’t want to be here anymore.” I look at Blake, pleading with my eyes for him to get me out of here.
“Yeah, sure darlin’, I was just coming to find you and see if you wanted to go to James’ house anyway. We’re going to build a bonfire, listen to music and hang out.”
He takes my hand before I have agreed to go with him and walks me out of the gym. As we leave, I look back once to see Lori and Ash and I catch Ash watching me as I walk out the door, a dark expression flickering across his eyes, as though he isn’t happy seeing me leave.
As we make our way to Blake’s truck, I tell him that I really don’t want to go anywhere or hang out with anyone which seems to annoy him, but he doesn’t argue with me and drives me back to my house. Hoping out of his vehicle, I barely have his door closed when he peels backward and out of my driveway, leaving me standing alone, staring after him, wondering what in the world his problem is.
^^^
Sunday morning dawns, overcast and dreary. I am absolutely freezing as I get out of bed and head down to the kitchen, hoping mom or dad have made coffee. I grab a hoodie I had tossed on the back of a chair a few days before and slip it on. Looking out the kitchen window, I stare in shock. There appears to be nearly half a foot of snow on the ground.What in the world? Uh, I didn’t know we were supposed have a snowstorm last night! I go to the coffee pot and am happy to see there is a pot waiting to be consumed.
“Hey sweetie.” Mom comes up behind me and gives me a kiss on the top of my head. “How was the dance? It sounded like you came home pretty early last night...”
“Oh, yeah. I wasn’t feeling the greatest, so I had Blake bring me home around 10 p.m. and then he went to hang out with some of his friends. I came in and went straight to bed. Crazy though, it was the best night of sleep I’ve had in a long time.” I offer mom a smile, but I don’t go into detail about why I had such a good night’s sleep. She doesn’t need to know I was dreaming about Ash ALL night long.
“Well, I hope everyone that was out past eleven last night made it home safely. Can you believe this crazy weather? I didn’t have a clue it was supposed to snow, let alone dump half a foot of it,” mom says with a chuckle. “Good thing dad and I don’t have to travel anywhere this week, huh.” She adds with a smile.
I nod my head in agreement as I finish making my cup of coffee and then I take a seat at the kitchen table where I stare out into the back yard, admiring the untouched snow. I can’t believe it’s the 1st of November already.
An hour later I get a text from Lori asking what happened to me last night and wanting to know if she could come over. Apparently, she had a lot of stuff to tell me. I roll my eyes at this statement because I’m fairly positive that I don’t want to know about half of the “stuff” she wants to share with me, but I tell her she can come over anyway.
She must have been texting me while walking across the yard because a moment later I hear the doorbell ring. “Hey lady!” Lori says as I swing the door open. “What happened to you last night? I didn’t get to hang out with you at all.” She pretends to pout and then winks at me.
“Oh, I don’t know. I just wasn’t in the mood to be at the dance.” I shrug my shoulders. “Did you have fun though? I saw you and Ash seemed to be getting along quite well.” I say this and then hope like mad that I didn’t sound jealous while saying it.
She grins at me, and I dread what she will say. “I had a lot of fun hanging out with him. Though I would have had more fun hanging with you. You seemed pretty entertained with Blake and his group though. Which makes me wonder why you felt like leaving? But anyway,” Lori continues, not giving me a chance to answer her. “After the dance started to die down, everyone went over to James’ house and continued the festivities.”
“Oh, did you and Ash go too?”
“Yeah, though Ash didn’t actually stay very long. I felt like he was searching for someone the entire time we hung out, so I went and hung out with some of the girls from the cheer squad and didn’t end up seeing him the rest of the night.” That strikes me as odd, who would he have been looking for? Does he even know anyone else besides the small group of people he has befriended at the school?
“Cool,” I say trying to sound ever so nonchalant... “So, you and Ash? Are you guys an item now?”
Lori burst out laughing at this question causing my eyebrows to arch in curiosity.