37
Ashlynn
L.I.N.E – Beach Fossils
V ancouver is one of the most beautiful cities I have been to. You have the best of both worlds–the ocean and mountains. Temperatures are not too cold either down in the city. In many ways it reminds me of Seattle, considering it is just over the border.
After Neha and I grab our luggage, we go out and wait in the arrivals area. To my surprise, Cora’s parents are there to pick us up. I haven’t seen her parents in years, but they look the exact same as the last time I saw them. They both notice me right away. “Ashlynn! Oh, my goodness. It is so good to see you. It’s been too long.”
I run up to them both, giving them a hug. When the Hendrix family moved to Colorado Springs, they became my second family or more like my everyday family since I had more than one reason to go over to their house! Pulling away from our hug, I ask, “Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix, how are you guys? It’s good to see you both. This is Neha; she knew Cora from the end of sophomore year before you all left the following year.”
Cora’s mom, Kathy, looks over at Neha. “Hi Neha, I do remember Cora talking about you while we were still there. I wish we could have met then! We are happy to have you both here.”
After loading up our luggage, we are off to get some lunch, while on the drive to the restaurant I ask if Cora is meeting us there. “Is Cora meeting us, I was surprised she wasn’t at the airport with you all.”
I notice the heavy sigh coming from Paul. “No, she is not meeting us. Brock got wind that you two were coming out and canceled his plans to stay close.”
Neha and I look at each other and roll our eyes–so annoying. Of course, he would do that–ruin our plans. Kathy chimes in, “He said he will be gone by tomorrow afternoon to some event out in Europe. I believe it is the same event Avan will be flying too as well.”
That gets my attention. “Avan is here?”
I catch the smile both Kathy and Paul give to each other. “He is here for about a few days, and he will be off to Austria for an event for a few of his sponsors, and then he does have a competition out there as well. I hope you don’t mind Ashlynn, we have you staying in his room at the cabin.” I nod my head, letting them know that it is okay.
After we finish up our lunch, we go over to Stanley Park to see the totem poles, which are fun to see since we don’t have anything like that in Colorado. Finally, we all get a group text from Cora that the coast is clear, and Brock is gone. After that, we load back up and head up to Whistler where the Hendrix have a cabin. Once we get on the mountain pass, it starts to snow, and the temperature drops rapidly. We don’t care ,though; I think Neha and I are both excited to finally see Cora. It’s been over a year since all of us have been together.
On the ride up, Kathy lets us know we have the cabin all to ourselves, and that they are going to stay in the city at their apartment. “If you all need anything, we will be just a phone call away. I don’t think Avan will bother you either.”
Out of nowhere, Neha asks, “Who is Avan?”
I give Neha a weird look because anyone who follows sports or action sports would know that name right away. “Neha, you work for Sports World Magazine. How do you not know who Avan Hendrix is?” I ask her.
She starts to think for a minute, and it clicks, “OMG! I can’t believe I never put that together. Avan and Cora are siblings. Dang, Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix, you all must be proud, two kids who are professional snowboarders.”
Paul chuckles while driving. “Proud is an understatement, but yes, we are very. Of all our kids, our oldest Ethan is working on his masters.”
Luckily, Neha doesn’t push the Avan topic or about my uncomfortable shift when Kathy brought him up.
Pulling into the driveway of the cabin, we see Cora sitting on the bench and as soon as we step out and close the doors, she is launching snowballs at all of us. This is the Cora we remember, carefree and fun! She starts running toward Neha and me, tackling us in a pile of snow. “You guys are finally here! I got us a ton of wine for the night. I can’t wait to catch up with you both!”
Getting inside, Neha’s eyes go wide with the cabin and view we have for the next week. I nudge her shoulder. “Beats most views, doesn’t it?”
She just nods her head, speechless. After getting settled in our rooms, Paul and Kathy head back down into the city. After the parents leave, Cora comes over and grabs my face, “Ash, I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you.”
She is talking about my assault, and this is the first time seeing the scar down my face. I shake my head at her. “Cor, it’s okay. I’m fine; I’m good.” She glances at Neha. “Are you sure? A little birdie told me she thinks you are struggling a little.”
I let out a little laugh. “Wow, you guys, way to be subtle.”
Both just shrug their shoulders.
After changing into my cozy night clothes, I don't immediately return downstairs. Instead, I find myself in Avan's room. It's been a while since I've been surrounded by anything Avan-related, not since the end of my junior year of high school. Sitting on the bed, I run my hand under his pillow, unsurprised to find a hoodie tucked underneath. In high school, he always kept a hoodie under his pillows, as a comfort thing. I pull the hoodie out and before I can think about what I am doing, I lift it to my nose and smell it. It has his faint smell I remember. I fold it and put it back; I go to turn to leave when a picture gets my attention. It’s of us, one of the last ones we took together. I hope he doesn’t come here; I haven’t thought about Avan in a long time, but now being here has my memories of him flooding to the front of my mind.
We are all sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace on our third bottle of wine. It feels just like old times, being back with Cora. We fill her in on everything that has been going on in Colorado and she fills us in on her snowboarding, even though I have kept up with her career, cheering her on every step of the way. We are all quiet for a few, when Cora blurts out, “I’m leaving Brock and his management team. I’m going out on my own.”
I nearly drop my glass of wine as I bring it to my lips for a drink. “Seriously, it is about time. What made you decide to finally do this?”
Neha gets up and grabs two bottles to place on the table while Cora tells us her plans. “Well, for starters, he is an asshole. You guys are going to be pissed, but he has been verbally abusive to me, and he just recently started pushing me around.”
I don’t know what to say to that; I’ve never been around that or in a situation like that, but Neha has with both of her parents. “How bad has it gotten, Cora? I told you his insults would lead to worse things.” Neha says.
That’s when Cora lifts her shirt. She is bruised across her shoulders and has handprints around her upper arms. “This is the worst; I broke down with my mom and dad. We’ve been looking for a manager; I think my dad found a good one. I haven’t met him yet. We have a lawyer, and we are ready to pull the plug.”
I pour more wine in Cora’s glass, and she chugs it down. “Cora, it is only looking up now. Things are going to be so much better.”
After downing four and a half bottles, we finally decided to order pizza to help absorb some of this wine. Neha is gone; her topics are all over the place. Neha starts looking directly at me, “I’ve been thinking of what you should do about Ville–you know–Anthony.”
I just smack my forehead. I knew he would come up, but I really didn’t want it to be the first night. Cora and I look at each other, just laughing. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Neha this way. “Tell me, Neha, what should I do?”
She stands up on unsteady legs and in a slurred voice, she says, “Here are my six tips to make him miss you, even though I know he already does!” She points at me.
1. Focus on yourself
2. Limit contact
3. Socialize
4. Post on your social media
5. Be mysterious
6. Leave him wanting more, Ashlynn
I grab onto Neha’s arm and force her to sit down before she tumbles over. “Neha, don’t you think ‘posting on social media’ and ‘be mysterious’ kind of cancel each other out?”
She thinks about this for a minute. “Oh yeah, they kind of do, don’t they?!”
The pizza finally gets to the cabin, and I load up Neha’s plate and get her a bottle of water. We go back into the living room by the fire and eat. We eat in silence, until Cora breaks it. “How are you doing about everything, Ash?”
I lean back against the couch, sighing loud. “Do we really have to get into this now?” Talking with her mouth full, Neha tells Cora, “Oh no Cor, she won’t even talk to me or Heath about it.” Cora doesn’t press and I am thankful for that.
“Can I just say one thing, Ash? Maybe you and Anthony just aren’t meant for right now and will come back together when it’s right.” Cora tells me.
Neha is starting to sober up a bit after eating several slices of pizza or so it seems and drinking a couple bottles of water. “Ok, Cora. Is this new manager your dad found good looking? Like could he help you forget about shit stain Brock?”
I start laughing and throw a pillow over at Neha with how forward she is about everything. “I haven’t met him yet; my dad has done a few FaceTime meetings with him. I’m not sure when I’ll meet him.”
“I bet he’ll be hot,” Neha says.
Cora asks very quietly, “What do you mean by helping me forget about Brock?”
I’m a bit confused that she asked this, but then I start to think maybe things are worse than what I think. “I think what Neha is saying is that maybe he’ll be a good guy and can help show you what a good relationship could be like, if it were to go that far,” I tell Cora.
That’s when Neha giggles. “Oh, that’s not what I meant at all. I mean in the bedroom to forget about shit stain–have a real man in bed with you.”
Cora gets so red with this type of talking. I forget sometimes that she isn’t used to Neha’s bluntness when it comes to talking about sex.
Cora begins to tug on her bottom lip, a habit she's had since we were kids, whenever she's nervous. Taking a breath, she says, “Our sex life is pretty shitty, to be honest. We have sex, but it’s emotionless, and he always gets his, but tells me to finish myself off, or I’ll start feeling my orgasm come on and he pulls away to stop it.”
I want to go find Brock and murder this guy. She is bright red as she tells us this and this is nothing to be embarrassed about. “Oh girl, I would hurt Nick if he did that to me. Wouldn’t you be mad at Anthony if he did that to you–stopped you from having an orgasm, Ash?”
I can’t even try to keep my smile in and bite my bottom lip, “No, because Anthony has done that to me, while giving me the sexiest grin and then when he goes to give me back that orgasm, he makes sure it is toe-curling, back arching, nail digging most intense one I could ever have.”
There is nothing but silence after that confession. I am usually not one to talk so openly about my sex life; I do like to keep that private, but this is Neha and Cora. There is no judgment between us. “Shit, now I want Nick to do that to me. That sounds glorious,” Neha says.
“Well, someday maybe I can find someone to do that to me,” Cora chimes in.
We clean up our mess in the living room and kitchen to get ready to go to bed. Neha turns to us. “I am beat and probably will have a hangover, so you all can go snowboarding without me. I’ll just slow you down, anyway. Ashlynn, baby, sleep well. You too, Cora Bear.”
Now, she is just being an ass calling me that. Cora looks over at me. “Ashlynn, baby?”
Neha comes to a dead stop in the hallway. “Oh yeah, that name gets Ash all hot and bothered when Anthony says it to her. This is what it sounded like when he talked to her in August at the extreme tour after four damn years.” Neha clears her voice and does the worst impression of Anthony. “So, he comes up behind her, leans down right by her ear and says ‘Ashlynn, baby, let me see you.’” I feel my face go instantly red, when Neha continues, “It almost made my panties wet with how he said it; damn, that man loves you.” I am never letting Neha drink this much wine again, seriously no filter.
“It’s a good nickname, but I always liked peanut.” My eyes go wide with what Cora just said.
I turn and tell them both good night and go straight to my room, that’s when I hear Neha laugh. “Peanut!”
I brush my teeth, tie my hair up in a messy bun, and finally lie down. Why did she have to bring all of that up? And Cora didn’t make it any better. I toss and turn, when I grab my phone to look at the time. It’s a little after 2 AM. I get up and go out on the back deck and sit down in the lounger. The storm has cleared up and the stars are shining bright.
“Hey, I didn’t know you would be out here,” I hear Cora say as she sits in the lounger next to me.
“Yeah, I’m a pretty restless sleeper, even more so now after the assault.” I blow out a breath; watching it float in the air, I say, “Cor, why didn’t you tell me things have gotten so bad with Brock? You know I would have helped anyway I could.”
She takes a shaky breath, and with her voice catching, she says, “It started after your assault. You had more than enough on your plate. Then Neha told me about your split. I didn’t want to put more on you. Sorry, I never told you and sorry I brought up the nickname. Have you not told Neha about you and Avan?”
I lean my head back and look over at Cora. “Avan is hard to talk about, Cor. He was my first love and real first heartbreak.”
She just shakes her head. “I won’t tell her anything unless you want me to.”
After our short talk, I go back in to sleep.