Hallows: Duets

Weird Sh!t On My Face

Kings of Leon- Supersoaker

Ashley:

"We're outside," I inform Lily.

"You're not the girl with Dante and David are you?" she whispers. Oh no!

"Yes," I cringe internally.

"Aww, man. Okay, I'll be right out," she sighs. The three of us wait outside for her to come out. I'm so nervous. My hands are sweaty and my heart is racing.

"Do you think she still wears those sweaters?" David laughs.

"What did I say before we got out of the car?" I scold him. Dante laughs shaking his head.

"Hello," we all look up at her. "I'm Lily," she holds out her perfectly manicured hand for me to take. "Wow, you're pretty in person,"

"You're stunning," I blurt out and put my hand in hers.

And it's not a lie. Lily is gorgeous. She's slightly taller than me. Curved in all the right places. Her long dark wavy hair has red highlights in it. She's dressed in a black pleated skirt, and a black button-up with a cute black and red fitted vest over it. Her knee socks match her vest and the Mary-Janes on her feet are to die for.

"Hello," she waves awkwardly at the guys.

"Lily," Dante greets her. She turns away with disgust not liking him saying her name. "It's been a while,"

"Wish it had been longer," she huffs. "Espinosa,"

"Lily," he looks her over and shakes his head.

"I suppose they've told you we're all acquainted," she tells me pushing her squared sunglasses up the bridge of her nose with her middle finger.

"Just ignore them. You don't have to see them if you don't want to," I step away from them with a glare. "Please, don't embarrass me,"

"It was never the plan," Dante reassures me. He elbows David.

"Right," he agrees.

"Okay," Lily spins around and walks back inside the cafe.

"Holy s**t, she got hot," Dante Laughs.

"I wouldn't say hot. She's cute at most," David scoffs.

"No, creepy Lily is a hot ass goth b***h. Oh, man. The girls at the school are going to eat her alive," he shakes his head. "Go have your tea. We'll have ours out here,"

"Thank you for being the mature one, Dante. David, you're a d**k," I huff.

"That's true," David agrees. "And he's only being nice because he wants to get laid,"

"That is mostly true, yes," Dante laughs.

"If you guys ruin this for me, I'll remain a virgin until I die," I glare at them. The two of them immediately stop laughing. "That's what I thought. Shut up and play nice with my friend,"

I spin around to walk inside. They're both laughing again before the door even closes behind me. Lily is sitting at a two-person booth making it clear she didn't want them here. She's sitting properly. Her ankles crossed at her ankles, her hands interlocked, and sitting on her lap. Lily De Laugrey is a hot goth b***h. Her plump lips are lined with black and the dark red lipstick over it is perfectly blended. Her makeup looks professionally done. The acrylics on her nails make her hands look like claws. Claws adorned with pretty gold rings. Black and red gems.

"I know you're dating Dante. It's why I wanted to meet with you," she says removing her sunglasses. She sets them down on the table and orders a tea with raspberry or something. I'm not big on tea. I order a latte. "Uh, his friends and I have bad blood and-"

"I know. They were telling me. But hear me out. This is very important to both of us. I know it's asking a lot and I'm not saying you know forgive them or whatever, I just don't want that to get between us. I think we can make this work. I've heard you play. I have your demo and I've been playing to it every time I get the chance so that when we met I'd be fully prepared. They're assholes. All of them and I get it. There are times when I just want to punch them but they're not that bad once you get used to them,"

"That is a terrible premise, Ashley," she shakes her head.

"I know and I get it if you don't want to proceed,"

"You're the only one I have left," she sighs. I look up at her. "Listen, I don't play well with others and I've heard you play. I was there the night you blew the Hellbourne Academy Gala away. I mean-Pooof," she pretends her head explodes. "You are literally the one person who can possibly keep up with me and if you promise that they won't hurt me again. I'll stay,"

"I swear to you that they are going to be on their best behavior," I hold my hand out for her to take. She looks down at my hand and smiles. She takes it. "You're not going to regret this, I promise,"

"I hope so," she sighs. "Uh, I have some notes for you,"

"I have notes for you," I say excitedly. I reach into my satchel. We both produce the same black leather portfolio. The one I told Kelly not to buy me. We both laugh and exchange folders.

We spend the next two hours talking about music. The only person I've ever spoken to music with is Dante and it was only to teach him how to read notes. Lily is adorable. At least, she seems adorable but there is something wicked in her eyes. She likes trouble she just seems like she doesn't get out much.

"It was nice meeting you," she smiles at me timidly as I walk her over to her car. She's driving a dark red on-black Aston Martin DBS.

"Likewise, I will see you Monday. What suite are you in?"

"Suite two," she shrugs. "And you?"

"Suite six,"

"Wicked, I'll give you a ring," she waves and goes over to her excruciatingly sexy car.

"Bye Lily," Dante waves at her. She looks over at us with a glare before she peels out of her parking spot and runs the red light at the intersection.

"That b***h is still f*****g insane and I say that knowing Anthony Daniels," David laughs.

"I have an appointment to get a septum," Dante announces. "I was actually going to come inside and tell you but you guys walked out before I could,"

"You're getting a piercing?" I turn to look at him.

"Yeah, you want one?"

"No, thank you. I don't want to have weird s**t on my face," I sneer at him. He's caught off guard for a moment and then he remembers what he said.

"Oh, I f*****g knew that belly button thing was going to come to bite me in the ass one day," he laughs. "Let's go, you tiny asshole. That was two weeks ago, Ashley. Let it go,"

"Nope," I shake my head.

"What are you guys talking about?" David asks.

"I'll tell you later. If we talk about it now we'll end up fighting again," he waves him off.

We walk a couple of blocks down to a tattoo shop called FAMOUS LAST WORDS. The walls are all black and there are cute coffin-shaped shelves and frames displaying various artwork. The guys start talking to the attendant while I go around the shop looking around. The guy leads Dante into one of the stalls. A sort of odd sensation comes over me when I see the tattoos behind the door. There's a reaper, a viper, a crow, a little red devil, a bat, a panther, a demonic-looking Doberman, and a hyper-realistic toad.

"That is exactly what you think it is," David presses his body against my back. He pulls my hair away from my shoulder and leans in to press a kiss against my neck. "This place is run by Bradley's little brother. They have special ink for them,"

"That's pretty cool," I nod. "You know, I have yet to meet Bradley,"

"It's better that way. He's a vampire," he bites down on my neck teasingly. I laugh pulling away.

"Dante said that. Really? He's a bat?" I whisper.

"Mhm, he's creepy," he nods. I turn around taking his hands in mine.

"I can't believe you're here. Carter and Tony were betting on you not coming back,"

His hand slides through my jacket and he wraps his arm around my waist. I do the same and instantly feel like I'm hiding in his all-black letterman's jacket. I take a deep breath taking in his smell and warmth.

"I honestly thought he wasn't going to let me come back," he kisses the top of my head.

"Do you want to talk about what happened over there?"

"Not today," he shakes his head. "I'm just glad I'm home,"

"All right. You're good to go, man. Wait a couple of days before you swap them out. They should be healed by tonight if you're feeding regularly," the guy tells Dante.

I pull out of David's jacket to see Dante with his back to us. I straighten up but I don't leave the inside of his jacket. When he turns around his eyes meet mine and then David's. A smirk pulls at his lips when I let go of David to get a closer look. He got freaking snake bits, a septum, and a horizontal eyebrow piercing on the right side.

"Oh, s**t," David nods. Dante runs his tongue over his lower lip.

"Do you like it?" he asks.

"Yes," the two of us say in unison. He grins widely and comes over to the two of us. The two of them squish me between their bodies.

"Stop," I push on Dante as the two of them laugh at me but they only press harder. I drop down to my knees, sliding down both their bodies.

"Whoa," the two of them back away from me.

"You guys are being d***s," I laugh when David reaches down to lift me back up.

"We should head home," Dante suggests.

"Yes," David and I follow him out of the shop.

He takes my hand as I step outside. Dante walks up ahead. I look around feeling like someone is staring. Across the street is my dad. For a very brief moment, our eyes meet and my body locks in place. I shake the feeling that aches in my chest and I force myself to tear my eyes off him. David pulls me into him and when I look back to the spot he had just been, he's walking away, pulling his hoodie over his head as he goes. I stop walking feeling a little breathless.

"Ashley?" Dante calls out my name. I look up at him. He has his hand over his chest. He's more than once told me that he feels what I do if the emotion is strong enough. He comes over to me cupping my face when sees whatever expression is written on my face. "Hey, hey. What's wrong?"

I just stare at him as I play back my dad's shocked expression. He looks so skinny. His eyes were shallow and dark. Even with his baseball cap, I know he's bald. He's dead, I repeat in my head over and over. He's dead. He's dead. He's dead.

"Ash?" David's voice rings in my ears.

"Come here," Dante wraps his arm around me and lifts me up into his arms. I let him. In just a few strides we're in front of James's car. He sets me down on the seat and crouches down before me. "Baby, talk to me,"

"I just saw my dad," I whisper.

"Okay, what can I do?" he asks rubbing circles on my cheeks.

"I just want to go home," I choke out.

He nods standing up. I slide inside to let them in. David climbs in first and then Dante slides in next to me. I scoot all the way over to the door and look out the window in hopes of getting one last look at him but he's gone. Tears land on my jeans and soak through them as we make our way home.