Trainwreck

by Heather C. Myers

  "Looks like it's just me and you, princess," Asher observed, and as Sadie looked up at him, a sly grin broke out onto his face.

  Sadie tried to refrain from returning it and succeeded only mildly. "Apparently so," she replied. She reached out and unclipped one of his chains from his grey Dickies pants. Asher watched with intensity as she slipped off a silver ring with a fake emerald in it and onto the chain, before attaching both ends together and slipping it over his head. She smiled, seeing that it actually didn't look bad on him.

  "You know how you said that I don't know what's going to happen in the next five minutes?" he asked her softly. His head was tilted down, so hair carelessly hung in his face. She remained silent but nodded nonetheless. He grinned, and said, "Well, I don't think that's completely true." And before she could react, his lips were on hers.

  It was a soft kiss, filled with tenderness rather than passion, and it lasted only a short moment. When the two pulled away, Sadie grinned, and from the corner of her eye, she could see that her mother's black Pathfinder had just pulled into the school's parking lot. However, Asher apparently didn't see the same thing, and went in for another one, but Sadie quickly turned her head so his cheek grazed her neck. He let out a soft growl of frustration, but Sadie just smiled and bit her lip, stepping back and heading into her mother's waiting SUV.

  Asher watched her with a new sort of gaze. It was almost territorial, but with happiness and wonder meshed along with it. She quickly buckled her seatbelt and gave him a mysterious smile before her mother began to drive off. Asher stood there, watching the car take off, his hair slightly messy, but out of his face. He followed the car with his eyes until it turned and was out of sight, before caressing the ring with his fingers, staring at the jewel hanging from his neck. His lips tugged into a smirk and he glanced back up, satisfied with all that occurred that day.

  Chapter 9

  It was the next day, and Sadie was lying flat on her stomach, resting on her queen-sized bed while writing in her journal. She had written in it yesterday, wanting to make sure she had gotten every single detail on a piece of paper so she wouldn't forget anything that had happened. Now, she was writing the minuscule things that hadn't originally mattered, but she wanted to remember them anyway; the way his eyes looked darker than they really were – they were caramel, Sadie had concluded. She had a fondness for his hair too, the way the chestnut locks fell into his face.

  Okay, Sadie, seriously, she thought to herself, shaking her head while trying to keep an infatuated smile from touching her lips. You guys just kissed, it's not like you both confessed your love for each other. She snorted at that before chuckles slipped passed her lips, but though she chided herself about it, she continued to write down her random observations of the boy.

  "What are you writing?" a warm voice asked from her doorway.

  Sadie craned her neck to get a look at her mother, dressed nicely. "Stuff," she murmured before propping her elbow up and resting her head in her palm. "Journal stuff." She really didn't want to go into details about Asher Boyd. Not yet, anyway. "Are you going to visit Grandma?"

  Ellen smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Yeah," she said, nodding slightly. Sadie noticed her mother's red curls were still damp even though her hair dried quickly due to its shortness. She must have just gotten out of the shower. "I'll probably be back later tonight. I left a twenty by the phone if you or Harry get hungry; you can walk across the street to the grocery store or order pizza or something."

  "Do you want me to come with you?" Sadie asked, her brows perked indicating that she was sincere with her question. She knew how stressful a visit to her grandmother's could be, especially for her mother, and Sadie would accompany Ellen occasionally in order to help alleviate the stress.

  "No, I think I'll be fine today," she said. Her blue eyes studied her only daughter, decked out in her pajamas, sprawled across the bed. She smiled, sighing through her nose. "I'm sorry for being upset with you yesterday." Her apology took a while to get out; ever since her husband left eight years ago, she wanted to get strong enough so no one would ever walk on her again. But she was beginning to realize that sometimes, there was such a thing as being too strong.

  "It's okay," Sadie said softly, smiling at the sincerity laced in her mother's words. "You know I didn't mean –"

  "I know," Ellen said, nodding. "And I know that if I was in your position, I would have done the same thing." The room faded into silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. "Well, I'll see you later tonight, okay? And if there's a problem, call Grandma's house. Hopefully, she cleared her answering machine."

  Sadie chuckled. "Doubtful," she murmured, but she grinned at her mother and waved goodbye before Ellen disappeared out of her doorway and into the connected garage. She continued to write when she heard the garage door open and shut. Her brother would no doubt be sleeping still so she didn't have to worry about food just yet. However, she really should be getting up.

  Sadie padded into the bathroom across the hall from her room and proceeded to take a hot shower while listening (and sometimes singing) along with the CD currently occupying her old school radio. When she finished, she dried off, slipped on jeans and a t-shirt and headed into the kitchen in order to get some breakfast.

  Sadie loved Sundays. She knew most people dreaded them because Monday always followed (and there was no way in hell Sadie would admit to actually looking forward to a Monday, Asher Boyd or not), but she loved them because they were leisurely. And after the weekend she just had, she needed as much leisure as she could get.

  The one thing that sucked about Sundays was the fact that there was nothing good on television. She wasn't really religious, and even if she was, she still wouldn't watch all of the televised sermons plaguing her television set. She flipped through the basic cable and when she wasn't satisfied, suddenly had the desire to do something active, something that would distract her from her thoughts while simultaneously wasting time. She would walk her dogs

  Sadie had two dogs – at least, her family did. One was a black Labrador-Chow mix, named Midnight and the other was a Rottweiler-Australian Shepherd mix, named Alpha. She walked Midnight first with no incident. Sadie had to be aware of the multiple rabbits that inhabited her neighborhood because Midnight loved to chase them. Alpha was calmer. Despite his large frame and his loud bark, he was actually quite skittish. So when Sadie was walking Alpha, the walk was more laidback. Up until she ran into Karen, a girl she was acquaintances with on the soccer team. But then again, that wasn't Alpha's fault.

  Karen was tall, with shoulder-length, straight brown hair that was rich in color. Her eyes were a normal blue color, and her face was occupied various sorts of freckles. Her body type was slim and willowy; nearly everybody who stood next to Karen, no matter what the weight, felt fat next to her, even Sadie. But Karen was warm and friendly and every time she smiled, a dimple popped into her left cheek. She was an astounding soccer player and took advantage of her height by playing goalie. Because her frame occupied a lot of space (at least vertically), it was hard to shoot a goal around her. Being a junior, Karen still had one more year at Uni, and she still had that slight immaturity juniors possess. Even so, Sadie liked her, got along with her, so she smiled and waved.

  "Oh hey," Karen said, her voice naturally low. She smiled at Sadie, but for some reason, it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I didn't know you lived around here."

  "Yeah," Sadie said, nodding a bit. "Over on Spring Street." Karen nodded though she didn't say anything, and for whatever reason, Sadie felt somewhat awkward in Karen's presence. Before she could ask Karen about it, however, Karen turned to lock eyes with Sadie.

  "How was detention?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side so the lengths of her hair seemed to be off-balance. "I heard Edward was there too."

  Sadie grinned. "Well, yeah," she replied. "I mean, you know what he did, so I wasn't too surprised when I saw him there. It was actually cool to have someone that I knew there so I didn't
spend nine hours in a room with people I didn't like. Although... do you know who Anthony is?"

  Karen nodded. "Of course," she replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He's, like, the smartest student in the entire school. And he's in my grade and a couple of my classes." She faltered slightly, suddenly realizing Sadie's implications. "Wait, he was there too?"

  Sadie nodded. "Yeah, I-"

  "What did he do?" Karen wondered aloud. "I mean, he's, like, a total dork. I thought dorks never got into trouble." She grinned at her comment, expecting Sadie to join in.

  Sadie just pressed her lips together in order to keep from saying something she would later regret. "Actually," she murmured, swallowing the retorts that had built up on her tongue. "He was actually really nice. I liked him."

  Karen nodded a couple of times, as though she didn't fully understand why Sadie was telling her this. But she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, glancing over at the small playground that resided in the center of the neighborhood before looking back at Sadie.

  "I heard you liked Asher Boyd too," Karen said, locking eyes with Sadie once again. Sadie couldn't tell if Karen was challenging her, but for whatever reason, she felt herself get defensive. "I mean," the goalie continued, completely missing the look on Sadie's face. "Really, really liked him. Like when Stewey sent you to the supply closet, he followed and the two of you... you know." Her brow raised and her lips were pressed together; a look that clearly stated Sadie had had sex in the supply closet.

  "That is completely..." Sadie's voice trailed off, not because it was true in any way, but she couldn't believe someone was saying things to her like that, and even more so, how quickly news spread. "It's not true, Karen. And where did you hear this stuff anyway?"

  She shrugged her shoulders, indicating that she didn't think it mattered who told such a rumor to her, but what the rumor was about. "Around," she said, her tone slightly breathy. "It doesn't matter. It's what everyone is talking about. So if you say the rumor isn't true, you better fix it."

  "And how am I supposed to do that when I have no idea who started saying these things?" Sadie snapped, her agitation getting the better of her.

  "Whoa, don't kill the messenger," Karen said defensively. "Jeez." With that, she turned around and headed back to wherever she was going in the first place.

  It didn't matter.

  Who would've said such things about her? Then, one word came to touch her lips. "Asher."

  Chapter 10

  She had to talk to Asher. If only to get him to stop telling stupid lies about her. As she walked Alpha back to her house, she tried her damndest not to cry. The jackass didn't deserve it. And plus, it wasn't as though she loved him. Hell, she didn't even like him. She had just kissed him because... Well, she didn't know and she didn't want to think about it. She opened the door to her house, letting both the dog and herself in, before shutting it behind her and heading into her room. Sadie wasn't going to change, but she wanted a jacket of some sort in order to keep warm.

  When she was with Tony, Sundays were spent at the pool hall a couple of miles from Sadie's house. She could get there on a good day in ten minutes. She ran a brush through her hair and grabbed her set of keys before leaving once again. Her car, a nineteen ninety-nine Honda Civic couldn't fit in their garage, so it was parked in the visitor section of the neighborhood. Every three days she would have to move it in order to avoid a ticket.

  The pool hall, known as Ernie's, was located in what the resident's of Sadie's suburb referred to as the Narrows. The Narrows was a part of town where crime usually took place, where cheap housing was, and where one could easily walk down the street with the possibility of getting propositioned for sex or drugs, or if one was at the wrong place at the wrong time, getting shot. It wasn't incredibly dangerous, but if people could afford to avoid living or even interacting with the Narrows, they did.

  Maybe Sadie was naïve or had some sort of immortality complex, but she had never been afraid of being in the Narrows. But then again, she always went with Tony, and even though Tony was twenty-one, he already had a pretty intimidating reputation so people rarely talked to him let alone bother him.

  The parking lot at Ernie's was small and disproportionate. Due to the fact that it was Sunday afternoon, it was only half crowded. Even though people went to brunch after church services, nobody went to Ernie's after such an occasion. The bar and restaurant were too seedy, and there were more pool tables and arcade games than there were tables. People either sat around a pool table or they sat up at the bar. When Sadie was dating Tony, she, too, sat at the bar despite being under twenty-one and obviously so.

  Sadie pulled into a parking space, hoping that her park job was good, but not really caring. She had always been bad at parking, but she had only gotten her license last year. There was time to work on it.

  She got out of the car and locked it, slipping the keys into her jean pockets. As she headed into the place, she tried to remember if she had ever seen Asher Boyd here when she was with Tony. She pressed her lips together and cocked her head, but didn't recall his face in the sea of people Tony had introduced her to in the year and a half they had been dating. Maybe they had met but Sadie didn't remember. Then again, Sadie had tried to black out all association that had to do with Tony. She felt that her time spent with him wasn't really worth remembering, except for, of course, the lessons she had to learn the hard way. But she couldn't exactly hate him for it. She was who she was today, and that was because of Tony.

  Stepping into the dim atmosphere, Sadie squinted her eyes so they could adjust quickly, and looked around the room. When she heard the door shut behind her, she blinked a couple of times and then headed over to the bar. Marcus, one of the regular bartenders she knew, was currently on duty. Maybe he could help her find who she was looking for.

  "Hey Sadie," he said, offering her an easy smile as he watched her slide onto a stool. "I have to say I haven't seen you around here in a while. Can I get you the usual milk?" His tone was warm and genuine; there was a reason Marcus was Sadie's favorite bartender.

  "No thank you," she replied politely. "I'm looking for someone, though. Maybe you could help me. His name is Asher Boyd and he's my age. He's taller than me, with brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a red bandana around the foot of combat boots. I think he knows Tony somehow, and that Tony knows him, but I'm not exactly sure..." She let her voice trail off and shrugged her shoulders.

  "I've heard of him," Marcus said, nodding a couple of times while his eyes scanned the bar. "I don't see him around now, though. He usually comes later on."

  "Hmm..." Sadie murmured, allowing her voice to trail off. She glanced around too, trying to decipher if she was uncomfortable in a hangout usually reserved for Tony. She didn't see him anywhere, and there were some Sundays when he would be watching football at home rather than come over at Ernie's. Maybe this was one of them. "I'll wait," she finally decided. "Can I grab an ice water from you?"

  Marcus grinned. "Anything for you," he said and fixed up her order.

  ---

  Sadie had been waiting for three hours for Asher Boyd to show up. It was just after four o'clock, and she had finished a cheeseburger and sweet potatoes fries for lunch a couple of hours ago. To pass the time, Sadie played pool. When other people (usually men) saw how good she was, they would challenge her, and even offer to pay for the game themselves.

  Sadie very rarely ever lost. Pool was something she had distracted herself with when she was there with Tony who was doing things she didn't want to be a part of, whether it was drinking, smoking, and the like. Now her skill was coming in handy.

  "Well, well, well," a familiar voice drawled. "I didn't expect to find you here." Sadie felt a shiver slide down her back and her grip on the pool stick tightened as she turned to regard her ex-

  boyfriend, currently standing behind her.

  "I have a bone to pick with you, you know," he told her, his voice fluid, as though he was having a re
gular conversation. But Sadie recognized in his beige colored eyes that this would be anything but a regular conversation. Her gut feeling was proved right when he reached out and grabbed her arm, coiling his tight fingers around her. "How about we have a nice chat outside, hmm?"

  "It's not like I have a choice or anything," Sadie muttered under her breath as Tony all but dragged her out of the bar and back into the parking lot.

  Tony McAllister's presence was intimidating. He was about six foot and was large in stature. He didn't have muscle, though, only fat. His eyes were sharp and calculating, and his teeth were somewhat straight but not perfectly so due to the fact that he never had braces. He didn't like to shave, so dark whiskers occupied the lower half of his face, and when it came to his choice of style, he practically lived in Ecko shirts, basketball shorts, and matching shoes. His dark brown hair was buzzed short, but there was a slight, crescent-shaped scar that rested on his head, preventing him from growing hair in that particular area.

  "You must know I'm still pissed about that whole fire extinguisher thing," he growled, walking towards her so she was forced to back up. When her back hit the brick wall behind her, she could do nothing but stop, and luckily, he did too. "Well, imagine my surprise when a few of my sources – good sources – come up to me and tell me you screwed Asher Boyd – Asher Boyd – in the supply closet during your little detention." His beige eyes bronzed, flickering like a golden flame. "You wouldn't even screw me willingly, but you're comfortable with Asher, who you probably didn't even meet until that morning, to screw him in a supply closet." He let a loud breath slip out of his nose as his glare only intensified. "God, Sadie, I never knew you were such a goddamn whore."