a/n: *suddenly has burst of inspiration after crying for 6 hours straight while listening to every twenty-øne piløts song* ps; i really get inspiration from their cover of cancer and the song itself. maybe I'll incorporate that into this story? or maybe make it have its separate story? idk, we'll see.
|-/ josh |-/
ashlynn left after a few hours, basically when it started to get dark. tyler stayed, though, as expected. we soon found ourselves laying on the couch, noses in our phones.
"josh?" tyler asked suddenly, not taking his eyes from his phone.
"hm?" i hummed in response, looking through my mentions. damn, people would do anything to be noticed.
"since when did you start giving drum lessons?" he lowered his phone to look at me, and when i heard his question i did the same.
"um... honestly i didn't," i admitted. didn't think i'd be telling anybody this so early.
"what?" tyler turned a little bit, his eyebrows furrowing.
"she kinda just showed up. i think she was supposed to go to the music shop a few blocks over," i confessed sheepishly.
"the one owned by the creepy guy with a slicked back combover?"
"that's the one."
"well, in my opinion, i think you save her from that place." tyler then picked his phone back up and kept scrolling.
"well. y'know how the drum lessons over there cost like, three hundred bucks a month for the 2-hour lessons?" i played with the hem of my shirt, folding it over then unfolding it over and over again.
"josh, no," tyler's eyes widened, predicting my next words.
"yeah.. before she left she gave me three hundred bucks out of her pocket for this month's lessons." i bit my lip and looked down at my lap
"josh! you have to give it back to her; it's not right to take her money like this!" tyler scolded, his phone now off and away. not another word was said from him or me; we were just sitting there. silently.
it sunk in what i was actually doing. could this be considered a crime? maybe? probably.
|-/ ashlynn |-/
"lynn!" my little sister shouted when i returned home, much later than i expected.
"hey g!" i crouched down to her height so i could actually hug her.
"lynny? could i talk to you for a second?" my mother walked into the room. her words made my smile falter.
"um, yeah, of course." i glanced down at ginger, who was looking back and forth between us. "outside?" i looked back up at my mom, looking a the front door.
"that'd be great."
the freezing air pricked at my bare skin, my short sleeve shirt not actually helping in the snow.
it was silent. she looked nervous. what did i do wrong this time?
"lynn... i have some bad news..." she tore her eyes away from her feet to look me in the eyes. she was crying.
"what? what's wrong? is everything okay? is it ginger? or ashton? or-"
"they can't find your father, ashlynn." a tear escaped her eye, falling into the fresh winter snow that was numbing my bare feet.
"no..." i whispered. "he's not dead, right? he can't be dead, he has to be alive, he promised he'd come back, he promised!" i was shouting now. i didn;t want to be mad at my mom, i really didn't but i seemed to be blaming her at the moment.
that was when i turned around and walked away. no tears, no more words, just walking down the driveway in the freezing cold with nothing but my phone and the clothes on my back.
my mom didn't call after me, not even mutter. she just let me go. i didn't know where i was going yet, but i was already a block away.
lovely.
