drifting; part three

Here's the third part. I think this is one of the best friendship/love stories I've written in awhile.

--

"Can we talk?"

James looks at her, his eyes burning into black as he takes in her rumpled appearance: hair sticking up all over the place, makeup smeared across her jaw, a bruise on her bare hip from running into the edge of the island in the kitchen.

"You look idiotic," he says at last, voice neutral.

Ashley feels her cheeks burn with humiliation as the edge of her polka-dot bra peeks out from under her shirt, "I know." She tugs her shirt back down hurriedly, her eyes widening as he juts his head in the direction of the front yard.

Feet pad against the floor, inaudible with the bass booming from the speakers so harsh Ashley is surprised her ear-drums don't burst. James tugs the front door open, his fingers touching her shoulder as she sways tipsily.

"You're a lightweight," he comments off-handedly.

"Am not."

"You just keep on telling yourself that," James says, heading up the incline to the left of the house. There's a little dirt path creeping up the hill, and it ends on a patch of fading yellow grass. There they sit, looking down at the roof and watching the shingles tremble from the intensity of the music.

"Christine won't let you in her pants, you know," Ashley says, purposely not looking at him. She doesn't think she can take seeing the anger in his eyes.

"Ok."

"I lied when I told you she was a whore," she admits, her body trembling with the admission. "It's just, you were looking at her, and our friendship started to fall apart, and I didn't know what to do. I told her that you were a pedophile around the same time, and the guilt was eating me alive." Ashley is just blurting things out now; screw formality. "So I told her the truth, and she was mad, but it's okay now, and I know you're mad that I lied to you about this, and that's why we haven't been talking and --"

"I knew." His voice is peaceful.

"And I thought that you would never talk to me again, and --" Ashley cuts off as she hears him speak. "You -- what?"

"Your eyes turn caramel colored when you lie, and you play with your face, particularly around your eyes, which messes up the makeup you don't need to wear to look beautiful," James says, his voice still very calm.

"Oh." She feels like a fool for being played, but it's her own fault. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"That...is what I said." His hand creeps up her arm, towards the exposed skin of her shoulder.

tbc;

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• yt:stretch=16:9
• love
• romance
• sadness
• friendship
• contest
• 2011