drifting; part two

Here you go :)

--
"I lied."

Ashley tips the shot of alcohol into her mouth, swallowing down the burning taste and wincing as it makes her tongue curl up. She doesn't like to drink anything but juice, hates the taste; but sometimes, when she needs to forget -- about James and his shifting eyes, how she and him drifted apart as he chased Christine, about her nightmares where she sees his lips on Christine's neck as they stumble towards an empty room -- she indulges.

"I would have told the truth," Ashley mumbles with a drunken hiccup, "but no one ever believes me. I thought they were my friends." She looks pleadingly at the guy behind the bar serving the drinks. He's cute, with dark hair swept across his forehead, nice biceps, but that's all. It's just a body to admire.

He doesn't have James' heart, his compassion, his quiet strength, his cutting remarks, his masochism.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Christine plops herself down on the stool next to her friend, her blonde hair waving back and forth with the movement. Somehow she's managed to strip her shirt over, revealing her black bra; of course, it doesn't really matter, because she's so skinny she actually looks good, if not better, with her bare skin glistening like this.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Ashley groans.

"All I know is that you lied to me about that creep, James, and this isn't like you!" Christine grabs her friend's arm and shakes her slightly, her nails digging in. They're painted mauve to match the feathers in her hair and the color of her eye-shadow.

Ashley sees James standing in the corner of the room, watching other people dance with distaste and mockery in his eyes. Her heart throbs, aching, and it's a wonder she hasn't forgotten already with how many shots she's had.

"He's far from a creep," Ashley says, her voice slurring. "He's gentle, and kind, blunt and charming when he wants to be, and --"

"He's trying to get me into bed, isn't he?" Christine's voice goes flat.

Ashley shrugs, "Never said he was a virgin. And I'm not surprised that he wants you, I mean, look at you." She gestures at her friend's layered blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes.

"Well," Christine says with a frown, "I don't want him. I don't want any of these morons, good looks or not." She touches her friend's sweaty cheek. "Besides, you'll always come first, you know that, right?"

"Yeah." Ashley knows that Christine would place their friendship above all else; she attracts guys because she happened to be born with stunning good looks. "It's just, when he noticed you," she takes a deep breath, "we drifted apart, and now we're not even talking."

"Why?" Christine asks, cocking an eyebrow.

"Because I told him..." Ashley hesitates, then blurts it out, her chest heaving.

A moment passes in which Christine tries to be mad, but she can't. Instead, she pulls Ashley into a hug, and mumbles into her dirty blonde hair, "His eyes aren't on me, Ash. They're on you. All you have to do is talk to him, and who knows what could happen."

A shiver runs down Ashley's spine.


tbc;

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• yt:stretch=16:9
• love
• contest
• 2011
• three
• shot
• mktoddsparky
• sadness
• friendship
• lies
• romance