Picturing Different

by Nikki Kwiatkowski

  Tripp could smell alcohol and smoke on his breath. That was just great. Not only was Eric having a mood swing, but he had the effects of alcohol on his psychotic side as well. That should have been enough to tell Tripp to shut up, but he couldn’t help the words that finally fell from his lips.

  “What in the world makes you think that she’s yours anymore?”

  He’d have to say, of all the injuries he had sustained over the years with sports, nothing could prepare him for a fist to the face.

  Chapter 34

  Ashlyn thought she felt bad when she exited the school, but she couldn’t even describe how she felt when she scanned the parking lot and saw an all too familiar car that should not have been there.

  She cursed under her breath and quickly headed back to the entry doors. Under no circumstances could Eric see her paintings. He would never understand.

  Just as Ashlyn reached for the right-side door, the one on her left flung open and Eric stormed out. He didn’t notice her at first, and though she heard a great deal of commotion inside, she let the door slip from her hand, and she ran after Eric.

  “What did you do,” Ashlyn screamed, causing Eric to pause halfway through the parking lot.

  He whipped around and all Ashlyn saw was red. Red in his eyes. Red on his face. Worst of all, there was red, actual blood red on the knuckles of his right hand.

  “Oh my god,” she whispered. She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head rapidly.

  “He’ll be fine,” Eric growled, taking a step toward Ashlyn.

  She tried to hold back her tears, but all she could think about was what happened to Tripp. “What is wrong with you?!”

  “Me?! I came here to be supportive, only to find out that you’ve been seeing someone behind my back! So yeah, I gave him what he deserved for trying to mess with my girl.”

  Ashlyn blinked, trying to process his words, but she simply couldn’t. “Are you nuts? Do you hear yourself?! You’re seeing Crystal! We. Broke. Up.”

  “We never really break up,” he said, his voice strangely dropping a few levels.

  Off to the side, on the other end of the parking lot, several people were rushing to a car. When Ashlyn glanced over, she knew that one of those people was Tripp.

  “What a wuss,” Eric scoffed.

  “Stop it,” Ashlyn growled. “Get it through your head. We are over.”

  Eric took another step forward and clenched his fist.

  “Do it.” Her words must have caught him off guard, as his eyes widened in surprise. “Go ahead. Hit me like you hit him, because I swear, if you lay one finger on me, I’ll have my dad go after you so hard. You can forget juvie!”

  Eric took a step back and shook his head. Chuckling, “You know I’d never hit you.”

  Without so much as a pause, “No. I don’t know that. I never thought you’d ruin the sign. I never thought you’d fail a drug test. I never thought you’d hit a guy over something he had no knowledge of,” she stressed, referring to the painting. “And most of all, I never thought that you’d steal from my parents.”

  Ashlyn forced herself to watch his reaction. There wasn’t one ounce of remorse on his face. All she saw in Eric’s eyes was shock. He was shocked that she knew what he had done.

  “I don’t know–”

  Ashlyn quickly interrupted him before he could deny or come up with an excuse. “I found the pawn shop receipt on your floor when I took your things over.” He opened his mouth to explain. “Stop. Nothing you can say will help you.”

  “Look, Ashlyn,” he began, feigning innocence. “I love you.”

  “Hearing that from you honestly makes me want to vomit.”

  That seemed to enrage him, as he slammed his fist on the hood of his car. There was once a time where Ashlyn was positive Eric would never think of hurting her, but that time was long gone.

  “You need to leave,” Ashlyn insisted, taking several steps backward.

  “You’re going to regret this,” Eric hissed, shoving a finger in Ashlyn’s face.

  As Ashlyn watched Eric speed out of the parking lot, she had no doubt in her mind that if given enough time, he would end up finding a way to make her pay for it.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Ashlyn glanced at her phone yet again when she pulled into her driveway. She had called and messaged Tripp numerous times to no avail. All her friends had told her was that his parents took him to the hospital in case he needed stitches.

  Maybe she should have gone to the hospital and tried to find him, despite the fact that running into his dad again was downright terrifying.

  As soon as Ashlyn walked through her front door, she was thankful that her mother and father had left the show early. The house smelled heavenly from whatever was coming from the kitchen.

  Ashlyn expected her father to be in his office, but was pleasantly surprised to find him in the kitchen washing dishes while her mom cooked.

  “Hey, sweetie,” Poppy squealed when Ashlyn walked in.

  “Uh…Hi. Wow. You didn’t have to do all this for me. It’s not like I won the Nobel Prize or anything,” Ashlyn laughed.

  Her mother turned to her father and mouthed something. He then turned off the running water and dried his hands on a nearby dishtowel. Poppy removed whatever was cooking from the stove.

  Ashlyn was just about to ask them what was going on. For a second she thought that maybe they had heard about what happened after they left the school, but they were too happy. There was never a conversation that the three of them had about Eric where they were smiling.

  “Let’s go to the living room for just a second,” Daniel said, nodding for Ashlyn to go ahead.

  Ashlyn swallowed the lump in her throat. She seriously hoped that whatever they were about to tell her was going to be better than what she needed to tell them.

  Once they were all seated, Daniel in an accent chair, and Ashlyn and her mother on the couch, Poppy handed over a bag that she had brought in with her.

  Ashlyn rolled her eyes in embarrassment. “You guys didn’t have to get me a gift.”

  Ashlyn looked at the pink bag. It wasn’t too heavy. From what she knew over the years as it pertained to gifts, more than likely there was some sort of fabric inside. Neither one of her parents said anything as she carefully took the blue tissue paper from the bag.

  When she reached inside, she couldn’t help but softly laugh. It was a t-shirt.

  She unfolded the green material and forgot how to breathe for a moment.

  Only Child.

  Big Sister.

  “Surprise,” Poppy shouted.

  Ashlyn looked from her mother to her father, not fully understanding. “Are we getting a puppy?” She cringed when the words came out, fully aware how stupid that sounded, but there was no other explanation. Her parents never talked of adoption. If they were adopting a kid, it would have been something far out of left field for her.

  “I hope you have that sense of humor when you’re helping change diapers,” Daniel chuckled.

  “I’m confused…”

  With an intense amount of excitement, “Ash, I’m pregnant.”

  Ashlyn’s jaw dropped. That couldn’t be possible. “How?”

  Her parents looked at her skeptically. Daniel cleared his throat. “I thought you would have learned these things in–”

  “Stop,” Ashlyn huffed. She couldn’t be bothered with jokes right now. “I thought you couldn’t have kids all these years, and no offense, but you’re forty.”

  Poppy laughed, not at all offended. “I guess a higher being thought right now was the time. I’ve been so busy working that I didn’t even think of that as an option.”

  Understanding what her mother was saying, “How far are you?”

  “Not quite three months.”

  Ashlyn immediately looked down at her mother’s stomach. If she were being honest, maybe her mom looked like she had eaten a big meal. Her stomach wasn’t super flat, but it wasn’t growing so much that Ashlyn
had noticed anything over the last two or so months.

  She couldn’t believe it. She was going to be a big sister.

  After seeing the looks on her parents’ faces and the excitement in the air, there was no way that she was going to spoil the evening telling them what happened at school after they left.

  She wanted to enjoy the evening and talk about all the changes coming to their futures.

  One more thing happened that night that she didn’t expect. She didn’t hear a single word from Tripp.

  Chapter 35

  The first thing Ashlyn did the next morning was speak with her father. She didn’t want to upset her mother by telling her about Eric’s insanely psychotic outburst.

  While she couldn’t be sure, there was already gossip going around on social media that this was the last strike for Eric. He’d be expelled indefinitely from Raymere Grove High School. Ashlyn didn’t like to believe rumors. She’d have to wait until Monday to see for herself.

  By the time she finished a very adult and serious conversation with her father, it was nearing ten in the morning. Tripp hadn’t responded to any of her texts or calls from the day before. Rather than attempting any further, and thinking that something must be wrong, she decided to head over to his house. Chances were that someone would be home. She didn’t want to downplay what happened, but she couldn’t imagine that he’d still be in the hospital.

  Excitement and relief rushed through Ashlyn when she heard footsteps coming to the front door; however, that quickly faded when she saw the two people upon the opening of the door.

  Mr. Scott and Grace.

  Grace appeared shocked to see Ashlyn standing there, and her face scrunched up in annoyance. She was just about to say something before Tripp’s father interrupted her.

  “Thank you again for the pie, Grace. We look forward to seeing you soon.”

  Ashlyn’s stomach felt like someone had ripped her open and stuffed her with stones, preparing to throw her overboard into a bottomless ocean, where all she’d do is sink for all eternity.

  “No problem, Ronan. I had to do something after hearing what happened. Thankfully that jerk will be gone for good now,” Grace huffed, glaring at Ashlyn.

  “It was a very kind gesture. I’ll have Tripp get in touch with you, perhaps invite you to dinner as thanks.”

  “That would be wonderful,” Grace squealed. “Goodbye!” She then bounded off the steps like a puppy after a new toy.

  Ashlyn tried to remain optimistic, although her thoughts were interrupting her surroundings, screaming at her. What the hell just happened?

  It was then that Ronan turned his attention to Ashlyn, and all the warmth he had when he was talking to Grace, disappeared.

  Ashlyn decided to speak first. “Good morning, Ronan. I was wondering–”

  “Mr. Scott, please,” he interrupted her.

  Ashlyn knew in that moment that she had read Tripp’s father right from the start. He wasn’t fond of her. She was floored as to why not. She had never met the man, and when she had first spoken to him the evening before, she was nice. At least, she thought she was nice.

  Ignoring his interruption, “I was wondering if I could talk to Tripp.”

  “He needs his rest,” Ronan said coldly.

  From the looks of it, Ashlyn didn’t expect for him to invite her inside, which only tore at her heart a little more. Maybe if she would have brought a pie it would have been a little different.

  “I understand,” Ashlyn said as sweetly as possible; however, talking to the man before her was anything but. “I just wanted to check on him and make sure he’s doing okay.”

  “He’s fine.”

  Ashlyn didn’t know what else she could say, and she didn’t want to argue with Mr. Scott. “That’s good. If you could, just tell him–”

  “Ash,” a voice asked incredulously from behind Mr. Scott.

  “She was just leaving,” Mr. Scott grunted.

  Tripp stepped around Ronan. “Dad, just give me a minute.”

  Neither said anything, simply stared at each other for a few seconds until finally Ronan nodded and went back inside, closing the door behind him.

  Tripp glanced over his shoulder with uncertainty, wondering if his dad planned on listening to their conversation. Rather than find out later, he nodded to the side, motioning for Ashlyn to follow him away from the door and toward a tree on the lawn.

  Ashlyn tried not to stare. It wasn’t that bad. The left side of Tripp’s face was a bit on the rough side, but aside from a black eye, and bandages covering a spot above his eye, he didn’t look so bad.

  “Why are you here,” he bluntly asked, finally turning to face her.

  “I wanted to see you, to see how you were.”

  He laughed as though her words were the dumbest thing he had heard.

  Ashlyn could see in his eyes that he was cold and distant. Something was wrong between them.

  “I think you should leave.”

  Ashlyn’s eyes widened in surprise. Was she dreaming? What kind of nightmare had she stepped into? The boy before her wasn’t Tripp. Tripp would never have asked her to leave so rudely.

  “Tripp, I–”

  “Stop, Ash. I really don’t have time for it anymore.” He shook his head and tried to remain cool, but on the inside there was a combination brewing that wanted to both scream and cry right now. “Your boyfriend taking a shot at me is one thing.” He stepped closer and Ashlyn could see the darkness in eyes that were often so wonderfully golden. “But you, you running after him like a whipped puppy, not caring what happened to me, not–”

  Ashlyn couldn’t take hearing what he was saying. “First of all, I thought you were my boyfriend,” she spat.

  Tripp scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t be, not when you’re still hung up on him.”

  Ashlyn desperately wanted to ask him what he was insinuating, but the idea terrified her. “Secondly, I did care about you.”

  “Oh, come on, Ash! Everyone saw you two in the parking lot!”

  “Yeah, because I needed to say something to him,” she yelled back.

  “Let me guess, he came to the event to try to make things better with you, to show his support in you?” When Ashlyn didn’t say anything, only drop her eyes to the ground, Tripp knew he was right. “Newsflash, I’ve always supported you and cared about your interests.”

  Ashlyn felt horrible. This wasn’t at all how she imagined visiting Tripp would be like.

  “I knew that I’d never see him again, and I had some things I needed to make clear.”

  “If that doesn’t sound like some tragic love story then I don’t know–”

  Ashlyn was growing furious with Tripp’s assumptions. “Stop it! I messaged you all evening! You couldn’t even let me know how you were! I didn’t know where you were, if you were okay…” She stopped. She could feel tears threatening to pour out at any moment.

  Tripp’s voice grew quiet. “I didn’t have my phone when I was getting stitches,” he said, pointing to the bandaged spot above his left eye. “When I checked this morning, I didn’t have a single message from you.”

  Enraged, Ashlyn whipped out her phone and scrolled through a dozen unanswered messages to Tripp. She was only further hurt when he shrugged and shook his head.

  “Then,” she began, knowing that she was definitely about to cry like an infatuated idiot. “I come over here, only to see Grace at your house?!”

  Tripp’s eyes widened in anger. “Don’t even!”

  “Your dad invited her to dinner! In front of me!”

  “I can’t control my dad or Grace, just like you can’t control your boyfriend. I don’t even understand why you’re so jealous, it’s not like you’re the one…”

  Tripp’s eyes widened in horror when he realized what he was about to say. He shook his head and attempted to walk away. The conversation was done.

  Ashlyn was sick of him referring to Eric as her boyfriend, but decided not to go back down that r
oad again. “I’m not the one what?”

  “Nothing,” Tripp quietly said as he brushed past Ashlyn.

  Ashlyn softly grabbed his forearm and thankfully he turned around. “I’m not the one what,” she repeated.

  Tripp already thought this might be one of the last times he’d talk to Ashlyn, especially how things exploded since the beginning of her arrival. He didn’t owe her anything. He definitely didn’t need to say what he knew was about to come to the surface.

  “You’re not the one so hopelessly in love with someone to deserve to be jealous.”

  He watched as Ashlyn’s hand fell from his arm. Her beautiful blue eyes grew in size as her mouth opened and closed, unsure what to say, and gasping for air at the same time.

  He had wanted to tell her that the night before, albeit in a nicer way, but it seemed that plans never worked out between them.

  “What did you…You don’t mean…” She couldn’t string together a sentence to save her life.

  Tripp stepped closer, so that they were only a breath apart. A piece of him wanted to kiss her, while another piece wanted to never speak to her.

  “Yeah, Ash,” he spat. “You heard me, and I do mean that. From the moment I met you, I was interested. In the last two months, getting to know you, I’ve fallen for you. And it sucks.”

  When Ashlyn didn’t say anything in response, Tripp headed back toward his front door.

  By the time Ashlyn recovered from that blow, Tripp was only a few feet from his door, but she tried anyway. “Wait, can we talk?”

  Tripp didn’t turn to face her. As hurt and angry as he was, he knew that if he looked into those blue waves that seemed to crash into him every time he met her gaze, he’d give her anything she asked for, including a chance to explain. For once, he didn’t want to hear her explanation.

  “Not today, Ash. Goodbye.”

  He quickly slipped inside before she could say another word or before his heart could force him to change his mind.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Tripp looked over his messages with Ashlyn throughout the day. It had only been hours, and even though he was still mad about her abandoning him to talk to Eric, he desperately missed her.