AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ashley—”
“I know…that was inappropriate.”
Somehow, I’ve ended up finishing whatever was in the flask.
“Hey,” Ashley says when she sees that. “There’s more in the car.”
“I probably shouldn’t.”
“You can’t fight pain without medicine, Teague.”
I don’t know why but I find myself agreeing. I don’t know, maybe it was the fact that I wanted to get out of that confined space or just the fact that I’d have access to more ‘medication’ but I decided to just go with it. We walked up to Ashley’s car, and the image of what happened just a few hours ago comes back to haunt me.
“Teague? Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, getting in the passenger side.
Ashley reaches in the back of the car and brings out a bag. She opens it and places an Altoid tin on her lap. She places the bag in the back again and opens the tin. I know what’s inside it before she’s even shown me the contents; that’s how well I know her.
Or maybe that’s how well she knows me.
“Fuck, Ashley. No. We’re not doing that.”
“What’s the big deal, Teague?”
“The big deal is that you’re asking me to do drugs in your car!”
“Since when did you become anti-drugs?”
“I’m not anti-anything! I just don’t want to right now.”
“Is it because of Mia? Have you made a promise to her or something? Is that it?”
“You don’t understand.”
She stoops and does a line. Then silently hands me the tin. I can’t believe I actually take it from her and do exactly what I’ve been forcing myself not to. “Great,” I say. “Now I’ve broken my promise.”
“Teague, no one’s telling her.”
“Secrets have a way of coming out, Ashley.”
“Teague,” she says, placing a hand on top of mine. “This is me. You can be yourself. You don’t have to pretend to be someone else.”
“It’s not pretending, Ashley!”
“You can give it whatever name, but that won’t change anything. Of course, I understand the need for denial. I won’t take that away from you.”
“This is not who I am.”
She takes the vial from me and does another line. “You just proved that you are.”
“What’re you trying to do, Ash?”
“I’m trying to make you remember who you really are inside that disguise you wear every day to please that girlfriend of yours. You can continue to lie in front of her and everyone else. I get it. Just don’t lie to me.”
“This thing, with you was another time, Ashley. It was another me.”
“Why’re you making this so complicated?” she says. “We’re just having a little fun.”
