Not quietly this time.
Boots hitting the floor harder than I need to, making sure she hears me. Making sure she kumes someone’s behind her. Making sure the don’t make it easy for someone wpise.
She doesn’t turn around.
Just keeps walking, slower now, shoulders still under her hoodie, the loour strands of her hair trembling where they catch the draft from the cracked–open doors,
She slips inside the athletic building all hollow walls, bright overhead lights, and the lingering stink of rubber and sweat.
Doesn’t even glance back.
There’s a bench along the wall. She drops onto it like her body’s given up, elbows on her knees, backpack sliding to the floor with a soft thud.
I stop a few steps away, hands shoved deep in my pockets.
Watching her.
Breathing slower than I need to.
She looks up, eyebrows pinched.
“What are you doing?” she asks,
Not scared. Just tired. Like dealing with me is just one more thing she doesn’t have the energy for today.
I don’t answer.
I don’t have one.
What do I tell her?
That I have a weird fucking o
obsession with the way she walks like she’s carrying the weight of the world!
That in a world where I want to rip everyone apart just to feel something, she’s the only thing I want to keep safe?
I stare at her.
She stares back.
She sighs, soft, almost lost in the echo of the building.
Asher, we just met, right? You don’t even know me.
She’s not accusing.
Just stating facts.
I tilt my head a little, studying her. Waiting for the rest..
1/4
Chapter 27: Asher
She picks at the hem of her sleeve, voice dropping so low 1 almost miss it.
“So… what do you think of me?
Her cheeks flush, and the rushes on, stumbling over her words.
“I mean, I know you think I’m a princess and I’m stupid and I’m not careful and…” She
that do I think of her?
I think if I touched her hair, it would lose its shine.
I laid a hand on her skin, it would burn under my fingers.
–
shrugs, messy and embarrassed. “Never mind ”
I think she’s made of all the things the rest of us aren’t light and softness and impossible kindness and if I got too close. I’d stain her ruin her without even trying.
I think if she knew half the things I’ve done, half the things I’ve wanted, she’d never sit this close to me again.
I think I’m already so far gone its pathetic.
I don’t say any of it.
I just stand there, heart thudding too hard against my ribs, feeling like I’m fighting every instinct I ever learned.
Instead, I say, “Why didn’t you tell him?”
Her forehead crinkles, “Tell who what?”
“Tyler,” I say, sharper than I mean to, “Why didn’t you tell him?”
She blinks at me, still not getting it.
“Tell him,” I grind out, “when he fucks up.”
Penny looks down at her hands, twisting her fingers together.
“It’s nut…” she starts, voice too soft. She takes a breath. “It’s not really wrong, what he’s doing. He’s just being nice. Friendly. He’s not trying
to hurt me.”
I bite the inside of my cheek so hard I taste blood.
She doesn’t get it.
She’s making
g excuses for him like it’s her job to forgive the things that are slowly bleeding her out.
“You think you can’t ask someone to stop their world for you?” I ask.
She shrugs, helpless.
“I can’t,” she says simply. “I’m not enough for that,”
Yes, you are
Goddammit, you are.
2/4
Chapter 27: Asher
In my head, it’s a different conversation,
In my head, I’m grabbing her face in my hands and telling her she s supposed to be someone’s whole world, whether the think she deserves II.
or not.
In my head, I’m telling her she should bear the place down when someone makes her feel small.
But I don’t say it.
I can’t
just say, “Still. He should know it hurts you.
Penny exhales, slow and tired, and gets to her feet, grabbing for her hag.
“If you’re here to make me feel worse about myself,” she says, voice tight, “you’re doing a great job.”
She turns like she’s about to leave.
The panic rises so fast it almost chokes me.
“Don’t, I say.
She stops.
1
step closer before I can talk myself out of it.
Keeping my voice even, low, rough.
“Come with me,” I say. “I’m fixing Tyler’s car. I’ll bring you home after.”
I don’t know why I say it.
Don’t know why I can’t just let her go.
All I know is I’m not ready to watch her walk away from me
Not now,
now. Not today.
She hesitates, biting her lip.
Glances past me, toward the double doors leading back out to the field, where Tyler’s still laughing, still kicking a ball around like he’s not even missing anything.
She looks back at me.
Something flickers across her face- hesitation, maybe, Or trust, las not sure which is worse
“Okay,” she says finally.
She bends down to grab her bag, but I get there first, scooping it up before she cam
Her mouth opens like she’s going to protest.
I don’t give her the chance.
Chapter 27: Asher
I sling it over my shoulder and start walking toward the parking lot, slow enough that she can stay beside me without running
Her footsteps are soft next to mine,
Smaller. Quieter.
Like she belongs there,
And maybe that’s the problem.
Because somewhere along the line, in the short time I’ve known het, she stopped being just another stupid, reckless girl who needed a reality check.
Somewhere along the line, she became something else entirely.
Chapter Comments
6
POST COMMENT NOW
