Tell Me Your Truths

Chapter 6: Elio

"Well if it isn't the certified asshole."

I lock my car and turn around to see Ayla walking towards me in the parking lot. My eyes scan the vicinity for a familiar flashy yellow car keeping in mind of the rules my brother had set in place during his freshman year pertaining to the likes of Cole.

Ayla usually would hitch a ride with me to school since she didn't have her Honda Civic anymore. When Maddie found out about it she almost blew a fuse so I had to stop giving Ayla unsolicited transportation. She didn't complain at all knowing full well how batshit crazy Maddie can be.

I relax when the dickhead's car was nowhere to be find. A part of me was relieved she took the bus which was shitty because sweat-covered and gum bottom seats was not what she deserves.

I can tell from her tone she knows something that I probably don't. "What did I do this time?"

Falling in step, I can smell her sweet scent of Cherry flavored soap I would recognize anywhere. Ayla used to spend nights at the house when she moved out from Charlie's mansion. The bathroom always reeked of her soap.

"Take a wild guess." 

I try to recall the past week. From the head nods in the cafeteria to the sleepless night at two in the morning, those were the only time I ever saw Ayla. And those encounters happened in a civilized manner.

"I underpaid you for the weed?"

Her brows furrowed, pausing for a beat. She points a finger at me. "Also that, but no. Your little date last night went superb, I'm assuming?"

"With Maddie?" How'd she know about that? 

Ayla rolls her eyes. "No, with your fist," she says sarcastically. "Yes, with Maddie. I saw her on Park and Fifth walking home alone wearing a grumpy ass pout I'm assuming you had to do with it?"

Oh, right. That date. 

Last night Maddie and I went to get drinks at Big Gulp. It's not like I planned to ditch her ass on a curb but she was being fuckin' difficult and accused me of flirting with that blonde chick sitting at the bar. Not once had I looked her way.

We argued for roughly a solid ten minutes and another five when she wouldn't get in the fuckin' car before I drove away on my own. Not my finest moment. I admit, that was a complete d**k move on my part.

It isn't like I didn't make a U-turn after I grew a conscience but by the time I arrived at Big Gulp, she was already gone. I dialed her phone but it always went straight to voicemail so I circled around main square for an hour until I finally settled on calling her mother to ask if she arrived safely home last night. Thank f**k she did otherwise it would have been a completely different story.

I brave a passive look on my face. "Why do you care?"

I was never under the impression Ayla and Maddie were friends being the former a judgmental higher then thou drug dealer and the later an entitled cheerleader. I care about both either way.

"I don't. It's the you owe me part I do."

"Excuse me?"

"Yup. Cole and I dropped her off last night," she speaks nonchalantly.

My eyebrows quirked in surprise. "Oh, really? How did that go?" A missed punch and a lost shoe, probably. 

Ayla sometimes had a temper, and my girlfriend developed one from Ayla. Somehow those two can never get along. They damn well don't make my life easy for me that's for sure. 

My close friend and my girlfriend getting along, those are made for cheesy movies.

A junior student wearing a Ghostface mask bumps into Ayla hard as we round the corner almost making her ass collide with the tiled floor. My hand jut out to keep her steady but immediately recoil when she managed to balance her heel and forcefully shove him away from her. He wasn't apologetic one bit as he started running and howling in the other direction.

God, I hated October. No, I hate Halloween.

Not the festivities itself but the dressing up and the rich aura of joyous spook that I don't even know what the big deal was. 

Ayla swiped a loose strand of hair away from her face and huffed. "Considerably decent, believe it or not. She was quiet the whole ride. Well, that's because I forced her to otherwise she and Cole would have thrown it down on the grass."

"Did your greasy boyfriend lay his hand of my girl?"

I don't miss how her shoulders tensed as I said that. I don't think anything of it.

She inputs the combination of her locker and stuffed her books, shaking away the unspoken thoughts from her head. Most days I wanted an in inside her head. Get a glimpse of the Ayla inside that big brain of hers.

This was one of those days.

"As if he'd hit a girl." 

He hits you, I desperately wanted to point out, but I don't think picking a fight with her this early was a good idea. She always takes the dickhead's side.

Honest to fuckin' God, I have no clue what she was doing with Cole Fuckin' Jenkins of all people she could possibly date. The drug lord of Ridgewood Bay who has no decency to treat his girlfriend like an actual human being. Ayla was beautiful and has got one hell of a personality. I know a s**t ton of guys who were falling in line to sweep her off her feet when this thing she had with Cole goes t**s up.

Not on my watch they don't.

It would make sense if she was just in it for the money since her line of work payed good but I know Ayla enough not to brand her a gold digger or a leech that feeds off someone else's dime. Her pride won't allow it.

I thought when we burned down Cole's warehouse last year that she would leave him since her dealings didn't pay as much as it used to. Go-fuckin'-figure, she still stayed with him.

She fronts like the bruises marking parts of her body were accidents. There was always one common denominator. Every single fuckin' one of those accidents happened when she was with Cole.

Fuckin' lowlife.

Three years of making her see sense but the little s**t only knows how to pick a fight.

I lean my shoulder beside her locker, gripping the strap of my backpack hard. She looks at my white knuckled hand, then looks away. If she suspected the mention of Cole triggers something in me, she doesn't voice it out. 

"How's your mom?" I ask to distract the thoughts in my head before I do something stupid. 

This time, her face falls and it takes all my might not to drag her into my chest and shield her from all the problems in her life. "Same old bed-ridden wine breath." 

"Is she forgetful lately? I don't know if it's the same but that's how we knew my dad was wigging out."

Good fuckin' times, I tell you.

"When does she ever remember anything?" The Biology book she held in her hand gets shoved hard into the back of the locker. I pity the poor thing. 

"Think you should get her checked."

"Dude, my mom's a person not a Toyota I can just drop off at the mechanic shop. Besides, you know how much an appointment costs alone?" I might have an idea.

"If you need the money I can—" 

She points a finger at me. I can tell she'd been spending way too much time with my older brother to adapt his mannerisms of intimidation. "Don't you dare finish that sentence." 

See, what I mean? Pride.

I put my hands up in mock surrender. "Chill, I'm just trying to offer my services not whack you with a hammer."

She rolls her eyes and shuts her locker. "She hasn't fallen off the wagon just yet so that's a plus." 

"Yet?" That's not good. "You know something I don't?"

She swallow hard. "No, I don't mean it like that. It's just, it's a big change she's going through right now and whenever there was change, a syringe or grass was always involve." She waves a hand dismissing her thoughts. "But what do I know. That's just ugly talk. I'm still trying to convince her to get a job but I don't think she's ready for that sort of commitment, something that don't involve pleasure or a high." 

"So you're just going to let her feed off you?" I point out. That should have been the other way around. 

"She's my mother, airhead. I'm not going to ditch her in the street to scavenge through garbage bags for food." 

Shit, that came out wrong. "That's not what I mean." 

"I know what you mean." That was the end of that conversation and Ayla and I start to walk. 

Much to my fuckin' luck, Maddie appeared down the hall. When she sees me, she narrows her eyes. Yeah, we haven't exactly talked about last night. 

Her eyes narrowed even more when she saw who was beside me. Regardless, she calls me over. I didn't realize I was hesitating a beat too long until Ayla nudged me forward.

"You better go before your girlfriend beats the s**t out of my locker again. It's time like these that I'm glad I don't own a car anymore." 

Like I said, Ayla tends to bring out the worst in my girlfriend. 

So I leave Ayla and walk to Maddie, an apology ready at the tongue. She didn't deserve to get left behind last night, pissed off or not.

"Hey, Mads."

To my surprise, she smiles warmly and gives me a scorching hot kiss that I return.

Her lips were soft and warm that I always seem to get lost in them touch after touch. It was easy to remember why I had fallen in love with Maddie. Despite her tendency to be a b***h once in a while, she was also sweet to the people who mattered to her the most.

She was a comfort I was so ready to get lost in at the end of a tiresome day.

We both come up for air when the five minute bell rings.

She placed a finger to my lips when I open them to speak. "It's alright. I forgive you for ditching me last night. I shouldn't have assumed you were eye fuckin' that blonde." Ain't that a relief.

I pinch her cheeks and she playfully squeals. "I told you not to do that anymore," she exclaims. "They stretch out my skin loose."

I roll my eyes. "Because there's nothing more horrifying than for people assuming you have bad skin."

She beams. "Exactly! You so get me. Come, let's go before Lachlan blows a fuse."

Maddie takes my hand and pulls me toward the classroom but not before seeing a glimpse of Ayla's slumped shoulders right where I left her looking defeated. She stared for a moment too long, no doubt witnessing the kiss my girlfriend and I shared, before averting her eyes and walks to the other direction.

I wanted inside her head, to know what she was thinking about. What she's feeling.

But I've come to terms with the fact that I would never know.