“What? No Thanksgiving hug for me Charlie?” he rolled his eyes and placed the dish he had been drying in the rack. He didn’t hug her but gave her a little smile.
“Happy Thanksgiving Jaimie.” He gave Zach a nod. Zach had not moved from the spot since his eyes landed on Tess. I don’t think he had expected her to be here. He looked extremely uncomfortable.
“Anna, my mom wanted us to bring these over for you,” Jaimie said while digging into a bag she had placed on the floor. She pulled out a metal tin filled with assortment of pumpkin cookies and also an Apple pie.
“Oh my goodness these look amazing, please tell your mother thank you.” She smiled at Anna but then shot me a taunting look, I just shook my head. Charlie and I finished the dishes and went to join everyone in the living room. Tess pretended to be making a call and quickly headed out the door breezing past Zach. He stood there and watched her for a moment before following her outside. I went to get up and go make sure she was alright but Charlie held me in my place on the couch, telling me to give them a minute alone. Jaimie came and sat down on the other side of Charlie. Even though he had his arm wrapped around my shoulders, she tried to snuggle into his other side.
“We missed you this year Charlie, you guys always spend Thanksgiving with us.” He tried to scoot over closer to me and away from her but I was already pressed into the end of the couch.
“Yeah well this year mom and I thought it would be good to do things here with her and my Aunt, you know just our family.” He smiled and kissed me on top of my head.
“She is not your family,” she said in a condescending tone.
“Don’t start Jaimie.” His voice was firm. She looked like she wanted to say more but thankfully she didn’t. When we both went back to ignoring her, she got irritated and stood from the couch.
“I better go find my brother.” Shortly after that she told Anna goodbye and left out the front door. Tess came back inside a little while later looking sad.
“You okay?”
“Yeah I am fine. I am going to head back to the dorms now though, you coming with or staying?” I looked at Charlie, he was watching us and I could tell he wasn’t ready to say goodnight just yet, and neither was I.
“Will you be alright if I stay for a while longer? If not I can go with you…”
She motioned with her hand, “No, its fine, stay. I am probably just going to go pass out in a food comma anyway.” She said goodbye to everyone and thanked Anna and Maggie for dinner before making her exit. The remainder of the evening was spent talking and watching movies. All in all, a good holiday.
Me: Good morning beautiful girl.
Ash: Morning.
Me: What are you doing today?
Ash: I don’t know, no plans really….Why?
Me: Can you be ready in like an hour? I can pick you up?
Ash: What are we going to do?
Me: You will see, dress warm k.
Ash: K
An hour later on the dot, I had pulled up to her dorm. She was already outside waiting for me. I smiled at her as she climbed into the truck and immediately scooted over close to me. “Hi.” I pressed my lips to hers softly and kissed her. I had just seen her last night but I was still so excited to see her. I pulled back slightly and watched her eyes flutter open. “You ready?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah are you going to tell me where we are going?”
“You will see in a minute.” The drive to the rink was short and when I pulled up and killed the engine she looked at me quizzically.
“Really?”
“Yeah, come on it will be fun.” I grabbed my skates from the back of my truck and we headed inside. Stopping at the front, we rented a pair of skates for Ashton and sat down on a bench, side by side, tying them on. I was done first and watched as Ashton attempted to tie them the best she could but was failing.
“Here, let me.” I cinched them up for her as she looked down at me and watched.
“Did you bring me here just to show off your mad skills?” I laughed; of course she would think that. I helped her stand up and we walked to the entrance of the rink. I skated onto the ice a few feet before circling back around. “You coming?”
She had a hesitant look on her face as she surveyed the ice. She let out a big sigh, “I am going to fall on my butt.”
I chuckled and reached for her hand. “Come on Ash, I won’t let you fall.” She clasped onto my hand with a vice grip hold, and the other one digging into my arm. We made a couple of laps successfully and I could tell she was starting to feel more comfortable. “You want to try to do it on your own?”
She nodded her head and slowly released me. I skated backwards, facing her so I could catch her if she fell. She went slowly at first but then she started gaining speed. “Okay hockey star, show me your moves.”
I shook my head “No, I just want to skate with you.”
She pushed gently on my chest “Go ahead, show me, I want to see.” She made it to the side rail and gestured with her hand for me to go ahead. I began to skate around the rink as fast as I could go, switching from backwards to forwards. I stopped sharp and shaved ice on one end and skated hard and fast only to do it on the opposite end. At that point I figured I had showed off enough for her and then decided to be silly. I began doing my best figure skating moves but nearly fell on my butt. There wasn’t many triple axles in hockey. When I finally made my way back to her, I was slightly out of breath. She had a cute smile on her face like she had liked what she saw.
“How’d I do coach?” I asked before wrapping my arms around her.
“You are a goofball you know that?”
“Yeah, but I’m your goofball.”
We skated for a little bit longer before deciding it was time to warm up. While Ashton struggled to untie her skates I had gone to the concession and bought us both some hot chocolate. We sat side by side and sipped our beverages and watched other people skate around. She nestled into my side and I hugged her close. I never knew something as simple as this could be so much fun. But I guess when it’s with the right girl, anything is possible.
CHRISTMAS WAS fast approaching and I was not sure what I was going to get Charlie for a gift. We hadn’t actually talked about how we planned on spending the holiday, yet I knew as long as I had him around, no matter what we did, it would be wonderful. Noah and I had our talk and he promised that he was not going to let his feelings for me be a problem anymore. I had let him know that this would be his last chance and that if he messed things up again it would have to be the last straw. So for the time being, Noah was behaving and Charlie had barely tolerated him. Things could be worse; at least they weren’t punching each other.
I spent most of the day trying to think of what to get Charlie for Christmas, when he had called and broke the news to me. Charlie’s family, along with Zach’s, traveled every year to the mountains in Quebec and skied. He informed me that his father had a house there and that it was their Christmas tradition. I was disappointed with the situation. Looks like I would be spending Christmas alone this year.
I entered our room and slumped down in the desk chair letting out an exaggerated sigh. Tess was lying on her stomach on her bed, flipping through some girly clothes and make up magazine.
“Did Zach tell you about this holiday vacation that he and Charlie go on every year?”
Not taking her eyes off the pages she answered. “Yup.”
“It is bullshit right? I mean Charlie doesn’t even like his dad. He is going to be gone almost the entire break. He invited me to go along but…” before I could finish my thought Tess interrupted.
“He invited you along?” She closed her magazine and finally sat up giving me her full attention.
“Yeah, but like I was saying, it felt like he didn’t really want to. It was so a pity invite.”
“Yeah well, pity invite or not at least he asked you, which is more than what I got from Zach. He wasn’t even the one to tell me they were all going, I had to hear
it from Jaimie; not that I care, we are so not getting back together.”
I made a scrunched up face. Charlie was going to be off in the mountains with Jaimie for over a week in a romantic, snowy cabin. That’s just great.
“This really sucks.”
Tess nodded her head. “Agreed, I have never liked the holidays.”
I swiveled in the chair. “So what are your plans for break? Going home to your folks?”
“God, not if I can help it. Holidays at my house are a joke. My dad invites a bunch of his colleagues and they all sit around drinking and talking about their plans for world domination and my mom is in the kitchen bossing the help around while popping Xanax infused vodka tonics. I think I will pass.” That is the most I had ever gotten out of Tess about her life before she came here. I didn’t like talking about my past life for obvious reasons but now I had a small glimpse as to why she was the same way. I knew her mother was neglectful and didn’t want to deal with Tess, but that sounded horrible. They were wealthy, Tess would probably never want for anything money could buy but all the girl really wanted was affection. Tess was such an amazing person, so bubbly and full of life and the fact that her parents couldn’t see that, or chose not to, was a real shame. Oh well, their loss and totally my gain.
“What about you?”
I could never go back home or at least not any time soon. I desperately wanted to visit Dee. I knew she was alone and it broke my heart, this would be the first Christmas in years we would be spending it away from each other.
“I don’t know, I thought I would spend it with Charlie…. but now, I have no idea.”
Suddenly she jumped up from the bed grabbing her cell phone. I gave her a puzzled look. She pointed towards my closet. “Go pack, we are getting out of here, I am calling to book us a hotel in Portland. We are not going to sit here and be boyfriend-less, sad little lumps.” A small smile crept up on my face as I went to throw some things in a bag. Half an hour later we were on the road to Portland.
OPENING THE door and walking into our posh suite, my mouth fell open. Tess had booked us the best room available and it was pretty awesome. I am sure she was use to much nicer digs than this but to me, it was very nice. Charlie had texted me before he left but I was so annoyed with the situation that I didn’t say much back. Maybe this break would be good for us; we had been joined together at the hip lately and that couldn’t be healthy. After unpacking, Tess ordered us room service which included a bottle of champagne. Nobody ever questioned her age. Popping the cork, she filled two of the expensive looking flutes and handed me one.
“Here’s to being ditched by your boyfriend and my ex and having some best friend time.”
“Cheers.” The bubbles tickled my noise as I drank, making me almost sneeze. I wasn’t a big fan of champagne but drank it anyway. About half way through the bottle, we started getting silly. We had changed into our pajamas and were jumping around, hopping on the beds and laughing with music turned up.
“What do you think they are doing right now?”
“Who cares?” She laughed as she clumsily filled our flutes again. “Hey you know what we should do?” She asked as she hopped off the bed, grabbing her cell phone.
“What should we do?” She was texting like a maniac on her phone and not answering me so I tried again. “Earth to Tessa. What are you doing?” I said as I snapped my fingers in front of her face, trying to get her attention.
“I am posting on Facebook, telling everyone we are having a hotel party and to come over.”
“You didn’t.”
Pressing one last button she gave me an evil grin. “Posted.” It was not even ten minutes after Tess posted that she had tons of comments and likes. My phone rang from my bag and I already knew who it was before I answered.
“What the fuck Ashton?”
“Well hello to you to.”
“I haven’t even been gone for twenty four hours yet and you and Tess are at a hotel having a party?”
“Well neither of us can go home for the holidays. I told you I wasn’t going home. We didn’t want to sit at the dorms with everyone gone, so here we are. We got bored so Tess decided to invite people over. What’s the big deal?”
“Is Noah there?”
“No… not yet.”
“If you are trying to piss me off, consider it a job well done.”
“I’m not trying to piss you off Charlie, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“I don’t want that asshole around you, especially if I am not there, do you get that?”
“Yeah well I don’t really want you miles away, shacking up with Jaimie for the holidays, but that is just the way things are.”
“I asked you to come.”
“Oh please, it was so obvious you didn’t really want me to.”
“Look, I have enough shit to deal with right now without having to worry about you and your insecurities. I invited you I want you with me all the time it’s just my dad is a dick you know that. Plus he brought Layla, I didn’t want to put you through the bullshit I was thinking of you.”
“Well I don’t know what to say Charlie, Tess and I are trying to make the best out of our situation, if you really think I am going to cheat on you with Noah after everything you and I have been through, then there isn’t much left to say.”
“Why are you doing this? I swear you enjoy making every single situation ten times harder than it has to be.”
“You either trust me or you don’t Charlie, simple as that.”
“Do you trust me? You seem to be all concerned with me being here with Jaimie.”
“I trust you, not her.”
“Yeah same goes for me, how many times has Noah tried to mess with you? How many times has he caused us problems? And yet you still insist on hanging out with him, do you have feelings for him?”
“No I don’t, he is just a friend.”
“I don’t want him there Ashton.”
“Well that’s not up to you Charlie, I got to go.”
“Ashton I swear if you hang up, I will drive there right now and nobody will like it.”
“Bye Charlie.” And with that I ended the call and turned my phone off. He was tired of dealing with my insecurities? Well I was tired of his as well. He would never come here.
Noah was the first one to come over. I opened the door and looked up at his attractive face. He was incredibly handsome with his dark hair and eyes, strong angular jaw and his wolf-like smile. He smiled as I clutched the door peeking at him.
“Are you going to let me in?”
“I don’t know, you look like the big bad wolf right now.” He laughed, his brown eyes sparkling against the hallway light.
“Does that make you little red riding hood then?” I smiled and bit my lip, I was shamelessly flirting with him and I know I shouldn’t, but it felt good. Noah was easy and I needed an easy distraction right now.
“You may come in if you promise not to bite anyone.”
He eyed my small shorts and tank top as he walked passed, entering the hotel room as I closed the door and turned around, he bent down getting closer to my ear and whispered, “I can’t promise you that.”
Swatting his chest, I pushed him away playfully. “Go bother Tess, I need to use the bathroom.”
A couple hours went by and others came over but didn’t stay long. It was starting to snow pretty heavily and people did not want to be on the roads. We ordered more champagne and drank and laughed. I was feeling like I was floating on a warm bubbly cloud of relaxation and happiness. I was sitting on the floor in between Tess’s legs while she played with my hair. Noah was sitting on the floor across from me messing with my feet.
“Stop, that tickles.” I kicked at him. He grabbed my right foot with his long fingers and held it on his lap and I let him.
“Noah you’re so pretty.” Tess said out of the blue.
“That was so random.” I said while laughing.
“I am not pretty Tessa, I am fine as hell. Ther
e is a big difference.” He said cockily.
“No really, you’re a very pretty boy, in fact…. Yes I think we should give you a makeover.”
His eyes got big, “um hell no.”
I got up and sat on my knees grabbing his hand. “Come on Noah, let us play with you. It will be fun.”
He shook his head, “you do realize how dirty that sounded right?” We all laughed.
Suddenly, a loud banging on the door startled all of us. “Tess, go answer it,” I said as I went over to turn down the music we had put on. I first heard the door open and then my favorite voice in the world poured through the room, but his voice was anything but happy.
“Where is she?” He barked loudly as he came around the corner. His furious eyes fell on me and softened slightly but then they focused on Noah. Charlie’s jaw visibly clenched.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. I was so surprised to see him standing in front of me. He said he would come here but I didn’t think he was serious.
“Put some fucking clothes on, we are leaving,” he said harshly.
“No,” I said, standing my ground and simply crossing my arms over my chest. God, he made me feel like I was a little brat, about to throw a tantrum for not getting my way. His eyes were cold and seemed to pierce inside of me.
“Ashton I am not kidding.”
“I am not going anywhere. Why are you here anyway? Shouldn’t you be off in the mountains skiing with Jaimie?” Yeah, I was being such a brat but I didn’t care. I was having fun before he came and rained on our parade. He stood there, with the pissed off look on his face, for what seemed like forever, then he removed his jacket and placed it on the back of one of the desk chairs.
Getting Out Page 17