The Ashes 3.3

“I have project for you, driver has information. Get from him, do it tomorrow.” He said quickly.

“Got it boss,” I said, and with that Jae hung up. One thing that I can never decide if I like or not about Jae is that it was always short and right to the point when he’s talking. Sometimes he doesn’t give all the information I would want, but sometimes it was easier for him just to say a couple of sentences then hang up.

Audrey came back for another beer while cleaning, and downed it in about twenty minutes. We were finish cleaning by 3:30 am, and Audrey and I closed up everything. “Are you driving?” I asked her once we got outside, I was worried about her being a little too intoxicated to drive as she was having trouble walking in a straight line.

“No, my house isn’t far from here, I’m just gonna walk,” she said, stumbling away from me.

“Okay, I’ll go with you, I walked too. And I’m not letting you walk alone in the dark while you’re drunk,” I said, coming up next to her. I put my hand around her waist to steady her.

She hazily looked into my eyes, smiling, “I’m totally good Mason, I’ll be alright,” she slurred. How much had she had to drink? I didn’t think she had much, but maybe she was just easily intoxicated. I kept my arm firmly around her, and she finally leaned into me.

“Where do you live?” I asked, looking around in the dark. I hoped I could find it even though I didn’t really know where anything other than my house was in this town.

“Oh, you know. My house…” she slowly drifted off in her sentence, falling. Audrey fell, passed out, and I caught her before she hit her head on the ground. I sighed, picking her up in my arms and cradling her in my arms, her head against my chest. I tried not to think about how close she was, but rather how I was supposed to get her home.

I finally decided to just take her to my place and let her crash in my bed, and I could sleep on the couch. I’m sure Mershon and Aysia were sound asleep so I’d have to be quiet, but she was out cold and there was no way I’d be able to get her out to take her to her own house. I started walking towards my home, her body warm in my arms.

I looked at her peaceful face as she slept. Her makeup was a bit messed up, but my god she was so damn beautiful. I had never seen someone’s face so appealing. She had something about her that made her stand out against the others, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I wondered if the only reason she talked to me was because she was buzzed, and if she really wanted to ‘do something crazy’ with me or if she was just too buzzed to realize she was talking to me.

The house looked odd with everything being pitch black. I tried to set her down but she was still limp, so I put her over my shoulder. I quickly dug through my pockets for the house key and unlocked the door. I turned on the light, knowing I didn’t know my way through the house well enough to walk in the dark. I really hoped Mershon was a heavy sleeper, I didn’t need him questioning me, I was so tired.

I walked to the back of the house and went into my bedroom, carefully laying her down on the bed. I felt bad that she was in more comfortable clothes, but I wasn’t going to undress her and invade her privacy just for that reason, and I’m sure she would appreciate that. I guess the best I could do was take off her heels, tuck her in, and let her sleep it out with coffee ready for her in the morning. But what kind of coffee does she like? Will she like what we eat in the morning? Will she leave before we eat breakfast? Will she hate me for taking her here instead of her house?

I sighed, going to the end of the bed to unstrap her heels. I slowly slid them off her feet, and I couldn’t help but notice how soft her skin was to the touch. I shook my head and put the shoes at the end of the bed, and readjusted her so I could get the covers over her. She looked so peaceful, almost angelic. I smiled and frowned over and over again while looking at her dreaming face. I didn’t know how to make sense of everything going on.

I grabbed a pillow and blanket from the closet in my room and quickly changed into pajamas while she was asleep. I took one more glance at her before I left to go to the couch. I pounded at the pillow until I certified it as comfortable enough for me to get a few hours of sleep on, and slowly let my eyes shut.

---

I woke up to the smell of Mersh’s cooking, and smiled. I sat up, and looked over to see Aysia watching cartoons and Mersh whistling as he cooked. He noticed that I had woken up and gave me a pointed look as if to ask why the hell I was sleeping on a couch without having to actually say it out loud. “God, it’s been a long night.” I half muttered half answered, and got up, walking towards him.

“So how was the first night on the job?” Mersh asked me, his eyes looking away from the pancakes he was making. I sighed, not sure If I should tell him everything or not, trying to find the right words to say, when Audrey walked in. I saw her before Mersh, and she looked like she was hungover. I felt bad, and immediately started making some coffee.

“Good morning Audrey,” I said, my voice weak. I didn’t know how she was feeling, and she obviously wasn’t voicing her opinion. Mersh glanced over and gasped when he saw Audrey, club dress and all, standing in the entrance to the living room.

“Audrey? Why are you here?” he turned to me, “Why is she here?” His eyes raced back and forth between us, at our messy hair, and god, I wasn’t wearing a shirt. I suddenly felt exposed in front of her eyes, and I cowered behind Mersh. Audrey wasn’t saying anything, so I’m guessing she couldn’t remember, and I could see both of them jumping to conclusions. I sighed and quickly filled them in on what had happened the night before. I skipped the conversation Audrey and I had before she was super drunk, but other than that I told them pretty much everything.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know your address and I didn’t know what else to do, you were out cold…” I tried to explain, scared because neither of them were responding. It was dead silent, and then suddenly they both broke out laughing. laughing. I felt like I was about to explode, and they were laughing. “What?” I gritted my teeth, almost angry that I was getting laughed at.

“It’s just a funny situation when you look at it, Mason, don’t take any offense to it all.” Mersh laughed. I rolled my eyes, going on to make the coffee for Audrey. She soon stopped standing in the doorway and sat next to Aysia, watching cartoons. She continued to sit and smile, although I didn’t think she was smiling at the TV. She hadn’t said one word since she woke up in my bed, and it was starting to worry me. What was she thinking? Probably that I’m some kind of fool. God.

I walked over to give her coffee, “I hope you’re okay with it being black,” I said as I gave it to her. She just took it in her hands, not saying anything and barely looking at me, still smiling. God it was so frustrating not knowing what she was thinking in this very moment. Why was she being so quiet? Did I do something wrong? Did she not like black coffee? Did she think I violated her in some way last night? Did I offend her?

I was guessing she was okay with the black coffee, because she took tiny sips of it every so often. I just didn't know what her deal was. Mersh and Aysia soon decided to go out to the market to pick up some things, and that left me and Audrey alone. At first, it was a long, deafening silence. I finally walked over to her and looked her in the eyes, "What's your problem?”

She looked up at me, her smug smile finally turning down at the corners. She still didn’t say anything, just looking at me. I was so frustrated, I didn’t know why it made me so mad, but it did! Why was she doing this to me? What have I done other than good things for her? I turned around, stomping down the hallway to my bedroom. The bed was made, and almost everything looked as it did before, except for the shoes at the end of my bed. I gripped the bedpost tightly until my knuckles turned white.

I heard footsteps enter the room behind me, but I didn’t look to see who it was, I already knew it was her. I could hear her breathing, could feel her presence. “Look, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to say. I figured I scared you off last night with my buzzed chatter. I didn’t know it was making you so angry that I wasn’t talking, I thought you liked me better that way. I’m so sorry, Mason. Thank you for letting me sleep here, I’ll see you tomorrow at work I guess, take tonight off,” The room was dead silent and I almost wasn’t sure if she had left yet or not. I turned around to see her gone, her shoes still lying at the foot of the bed in front of me. I sighed, wondering how she had left without shoes, but I’m sure she did it anyways, afraid of facing me. Now I was the one that scared her away, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

How could she possibly assume that she scared me off, when all she had done was make me want her. And now that I thought about it, I knew it was true. I didn’t know exactly how I wanted her though. I had no time in my life for girlfriends, it was a petty thing to deal with. I had no time for a relationship. I never could see myself getting married before I met her. Although I didn’t have a clear image of getting married, I knew it would someday be a possibility that I’ll probably take.

I heard someone come through the front door, and for a moment I hoped it was her, but when I stepped out to the hallway to see who it was, all I saw was Mersh and Aysia unpacking groceries. I sighed, deciding there was no time to whine about it. I sat at my desk to start on the report that I had to get into Jae’s email in two days. I knew it wouldn’t take long, and I love writing them, but I was so tired. Maybe I’ll just get in a paragraph or two, then sleep.

I started to write, but my mind was on tomorrow. I remembered that I should probably talk to Joshua to get details on the next assignment, but he was on a break so I wasn't going to bother him. I wondered who it would be this time. What if it was Audrey? What would I do? Her family had hidden books before, why wouldn’t she? What if it was Mersh and I had to burn this house? What if I had to send him and Aysia to the White House to be tried? This was one of the many reasons why I had decided to seclude myself while on business, it made it easier if I didn’t know the criminal breaking the law.

I yawned as I neared four detailed paragraphs of the incident, sending it to Jae after proof reading it two more times. I could barely keep my eyes open, sleep wanting to take me over badly. It was fighting with my eyelids, but I had learned to type with my eyes closed, and I did that for a while before I finally decided I was done with the report.

I stretched, closing my laptop. I stood up and yawned as I walked over to my bed. I didn’t have to work tonight so I’d be able to get a lot of sleep, which is one of the reasons I stayed up to finish that damn report. As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw Audrey, replaying the scene from the bar over and over and over again in my mind. I wondered if she would hide that side of her from me now on because of me overreacting this morning. I really hoped not, it was a side of her I really, really liked.

I noticed the bed smelled like her, almost like a rose and vanilla mixed with vodka. It was a strangely beautiful scent, and it helped me fall asleep.

---

I woke up around midnight, confused at first because of how dark it was. When you wake up, you usually expect it to be light outside unless something’s terribly wrong. I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes. I needed to use the restroom, so I trudged across the room to the bathroom door.The light was blinding when I turned it on, and I closed my eyes in shock. My head was pounding from a headache I had and the light made it worse. I quickly turned off the lights and decided to stand there until my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

I quickly flushed the toilet when I was done and washed my hands, my eyes avoiding the mirror. There were little things that everyone does that just shows you how their past has damaged them. Like how some people refuse to wear belts because that’s what they get beat with, or how someone refuses to look you into the eyes because they’ve seen so many lies behind other people’s, and so much more. I don’t know exactly why I didn’t like looking into the mirror, but I know something in my subconscious makes me feel like I should avoid looking into them.

I went back to my bed, laying down and getting under the covers. I laid straight on my back, looking up at the ceiling. What a mess my life has become. I loved it and hated it at the same time. I mean, doing something new was always exhilarating and scary as hell all at once, but it was heightened now, because I usually stuck to routine, kept to myself, and kept a good order to my life. Now I was friends with a once homeless man and his child and I worked at a bar and a beautiful woman by the name of Audrey was my boss. And even more, she must have hated me now. Maybe she only saw me as someone with a bad temper now, or someone that overreacts.

But why was I thinking about her so much? Any free room in my mind was always on Audrey, no matter when it was. Now, when she’s here, with Mersh, in my dreams, it’s all Audrey. But I barely knew this person! Plus she’d never like me more than friends anyway, so why even go there? The whole situation was incredibly annoying yet I hung on every single goddamned detail. Why was she so in my head? I had never felt like this before, never been so confused. Just with a few days of knowing her she’s become my every thought, and it killed me.

I sighed, my eyelids so heavy that I just let myself drift into unconsciousness.