Chapter 18 #2
“Oh, come on Ash.” Her hand rests on my shoulder and she leans against me, making sure Cal is within hearing distance.
“You can’t be serious about her. Is she still hanging around?
” Jade tilts her head in Cal’s direction.
“Surely you’ve got her out of your system by now.
” Jade pulls herself up to my ear, bites my earlobe and laughs while dropping back to her feet.
Of all the fucking things to do and I’m not quick enough to stop her.
I glance towards Cal, who is looking everywhere but at me.
“Don’t fuck around Jade,” I tell her firmly. “You’re out of order.”
“Touchy,” she groans, but I give her a warning look in return. “All right, have your way, but you know where I am when you’re done with her. Don’t keep me waiting too long this time.”
Fuck, could she be any more obvious? I rub my hand down my face while I watch her sway in the direction of the exit. This will not be easy to explain.
I’m nervous when I finally approach Cal, not knowing what she’ll say. I hook my fingers in my back pockets, just because I’m wary of touching her.
“Okay?” I ask, a little worried—unsure of the reception I’m about to get.
“Yeah, sure.” She won’t look at me and seems distant, cold even. It’s difficult to hold back, not to touch her, feel her body next to mine, to make reassurances that what she witnessed was nothing.
“Cal?”
“Yeah, sorry, Ash.” She chews her fingernail then says, “Actually, do you mind if I head off? It was a blast watching you tonight. I loved it, but I’m so tired.
” A tight smile forms a line across her mouth, and she’s already making her way towards the exit before the words, “Hold up,” leave my lips.
I call again, “Cal, wait.” When I catch up with her, I pull gently on her arm.
“What’s going on? I thought we could hang out after this.
I can take you to dinner. You must be starving, seeing as we never did get to eat.
” Stupidly, I smirk while I think back to our make-out session earlier. Bad timing on my part.
“Oh, yeah—could we do something another time?”
I don’t want her to leave under a cloud and I’m getting these negative, distant vibes again. I don’t like it.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Angie interrupts from behind. “Isn’t this a small world?”
“What are you doing here?” Cal’s mood instantly lifts. “Are you—.” Cal looks past Angie to find Tommy waiting behind her. “Is Tommy the reason you were busy tonight?”
While trying to hold back her smile, Angie glances over her shoulder towards him, places a strand of hair behind her ear, then whispers, “I was going to tell you all about it tomorrow. Who knows what will happen, but I’m willing to give it a shot.
” She flicks her hair in my direction. “Anyway, you know I can’t turn a good man down. ”
“Oh, I know,” Cal laughs all bright and breezy as if I haven’t just pissed her off royally.
Angie’s face turns serious. “Are you okay, Cal?”
“Great!”
“It’s just you seem a little… on edge.”
“No, I’m fine. Everything is fine.”
Then Angie really drops the bomb. “Hmm, I just saw that bitch Jade hanging around. You sure it was nothing to do with her turning up?” Angie’s eyes glance over to mine in warning.
“You know her?” Cal asks.
“Oh, come off it, Cal, you must remember. She went to St. Theresa’s. Bit of a bike back then and hasn’t got much better by all accounts.”
“Angie!” Cal’s eyes are popping out of their sockets. “You can’t be nasty about someone you don’t know.”
“But I do know her and so do you. Rack those brains girl, come on. Remember the Robinson brothers from our school? One in our year, the other a couple of years older?”
“Oh my God, she wasn’t the girl who dated both of them at the same time?” Cal asks.
“You got it.”
“Oh fuck, I don’t think I want to know.” I shake my head.
“Come off it, Ash. Don’t tell me you didn’t hear about it at the time. You were friends with those boys, weren’t you?” Angie is so enjoying this gossip, I can tell.
“Christ no. I knew of them, but I was never friends with those idiots.” I rub my head, suddenly transported back to year 11.
The Robinson brothers were a couple of thugs.
Plain and simple. Everyone stayed out of their way if they knew what was good for them and they found a kind of pride in that.
They were two years apart; Ed was in our school year, but none of my classes, while Ollie was two years older.
“So, you’re telling me you don’t know what I’m talking about?” Angie questions.
“I might remember them knocking seven bells out of each other over some girl, but not the details. As I said, I don’t want to know—”
“Turns out, one brother caught the other shagging her, I can’t remember which way round it was, but the shit hit the fan and she left them both anyway.” Angie takes a breath, “I heard on the grapevine you had a thing with her recently.” She squints towards me, accusingly.
“Briefly,” I glance towards Cal, but she’s keeping a firm focus on Angie as if avoiding me.
“Hmm, well keep away from her, both of you. She’s trouble.” Angie’s eyes turn to me. “With a capital T.”
“I get it, Ange,” I reassure. To be honest, I didn’t care about Jade’s past, and although it might seem callous, she was never long term for me. That’s the truth.
“What was she doing here?” Cal asks, staring in Jade’s direction while still avoiding my eyes.
I answer anyway. “Old friend of the band. She just came down to see how rehearsals were going.” It’s possibly the shittiest excuse I’ve ever come up with.
I don’t know what she wants, but as Angie said, she is trouble.
I’m sure that’s exactly why Dani invited her. I’ll be having words with her later.
“Really?” Cal turns to me. “So, she wasn’t trying to hook up with you again?” Her tone is a little sarcastic.
Angie’s accusing eyes drag to me before she holds her finger up to Cal. “One sec gorgeous,” then she takes me to one side by the arm. “What’s going on with Cal?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Nothing.”
“Don’t give me any bullshit. Cal is the most laid-back person I know, but something’s unsettled her and I have a bloody good idea what or rather who it is.
Luckily for you, I know you’ve got a good heart in there somewhere, or I’d march Cal out of here and as far away from you as possible.
You get a second chance, so sort this out and don’t you dare let her down. ”
“Don’t worry about it, you know she’s my number one.”
“She better be,” Angie snarls then turns around to Cal with a bright smile. “Come here and give me a hug, you. Now, are you going to be okay?” she asks mid-hug.
“Yes, I promise. Something got me spooked, but really, I’m fine. You go have fun with your new friend.”
Angie smiles, then turns to me. “Ash, you all good?” I don’t respond to her question initially. I’m too busy watching Cal’s eyes avoid mine while she chews her nail down even more.
“Ash?”
“Oh, yeah, all good Angie. You have fun with Tommy tonight.”
“I will. Just remember what I said, yes?”
“I got it.”
“All right then,” she winks at Cal, “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Angie waves her hand in the air as she pretty much skips in Tommy’s direction. “Be good guys, but if you can’t be good, be careful.”
Cal scratches her forehead, then her fingers run a worrying line back and forth. “I’m sorry Ash, I’m just not up for this tonight,” her eyes still not daring to meet mine.
I can only guess Jade’s performance earlier upset her more than I realised. Christ, I don’t know what I was thinking of when I took her home. It was too many shots on too many nights, leading to an easy lay, but Christ, I’m paying for it now.
“Cal, if you’re worried about anything—”
“Look, Ash, I’m okay, really. I know you had a thing with that Jade girl before I came on the scene. I’m not worried about it.”
I place my hands on her shoulders and dip down; trying to catch her eyes. “If it’s not Jade, then what is it, Cal? Talk to me.”
It works. Her glance is brief, but at least I get something. “Can we talk about stuff another time? I’m not in the right headspace right now. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” A faint smile forms over her lips before she turns her back and is about to leave.
“Whoa, hold on, don’t just walk away.”
Cal makes a sudden U-turn, and it’s hard not to notice she’s been pushed to her limits when she says, “What do you want me to do? I wouldn’t mind Ash, but you clearly said nothing was happening with you two anymore.”
I’ve got to the point where I don’t care who sees me holding Cal.
Fuck them. Fuck them all. I hold out my hands and attempt to take hers.
She doesn’t pull away exactly but takes a step back.
“Stop Ash. Just Stop. I think we were kidding ourselves. This isn’t going to work.
” Shit. Has she already made her mind up in the space of ten seconds?
“You haven’t given us a chance. I don’t know what Jade was trying to prove back there, or what she was even doing here, but—”
“Are you staring at my tits?” she asks, taking me by surprise.
I’ve got to admit, her chest heaving for breath while she got all worked up, snapped my attention away for a few seconds.
It was all down to that fucking deep blue, V-neck tee.
It’s low as fuck and showing far too much of her beautiful body.
Shit. This is not the time to be distracted; especially when you’re trying to understand what’s really up with your girl.
I gave her all the wrong signals. Now I have to sort this mess and keep my focus away from her fantastic rack.
All too quickly, my time is up as she, understandably, waves her hand in front of me.
“You know what, don’t worry. I think I’m seeing a different side to you, so I’ll cut my losses and just get out of here.
I really do wish you nothing but good things, Ash. You’re an incredible artist.”