It was just another day of rehearsing for the great competition. The same competition that would pay her and Lance $100,000 dollars for them to live their dream. She froze. Lance. He hadn't been chosen to participate in the competition, and was even less supportive of her after that. She went home determined to talk to him about it. This one time, she'd do it. She'd talk to him, and demand for him not to put her down and support her, since she was doing it for them.
Until she unlocked the door. Who was she fooling? She wasn't good enough. The only animal who thought she was good was the same crazy koala that pictured her as a punk-rock princess. If she was good in the eyes of that guy, there was no way she'd be good in the eyes of normal animals. Right?
"Babe, I'm home!" She went straight to the living room, where she knew Lance would be composing. Then, she froze upon seeing him singing with some other girl. Their mouths were nearly glued together. "What is going on here?" She asked, outraged.
Lance gulped. Oh oh.
"Hi, I'm Becky." The female porcupine said.
"Becky?!"
"Look babe, I can explain…"
She scoffed. "Get out."
"Ash, wait."
"GET OUT!" She grabbed Lance's guitar case and started walking towards the entrance door. "After you!"
"Come on Ash, what did you expect? You're never around anymore, you're always at that rehearsal of yours!"
"I was doing it for us Lance, you and me!" She threw his case at his feet.
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry but I think I left my sunglasses in there…" Becky began, only to get a door to her face.
"Come on Becky, let's get outta here."
On the other side of the door, Ash sat on the ground, still in shock. She knew she wasn't being the best girlfriend, but never expected her to be bad enough for Lance to cheat on her. She could feel tears burning her eyes, before allowing them to run free. She was mad, and she was upset, and above all she was lost, and she didn't like it the least bit. Probably why she got together with Lance, anyway. She felt so lost back in the day...
She tried ignoring all this. She tried playing some upbeat song in her guitar, listening to some tune, watching TV, and even going into an early sleep, until finding out it was really hard to go to bed when you were sobbing. Not having anyone to turn to and any other place to go, she grabbed her backpack and left for the only place she could think of.
The Moon Theatre. She had seen pictures of it in her school books, and it always struck her to be a great show house, but now it looked like it had fallen on hard times. The walls were in desperate need of repainting, carpets were scratched and stained, and most of the outside ornament was scratched or falling apart. She wondered why an owner that has $100 grand in his pocket doesn't use it to fix his theatre. She brushed the thought off, and knocked at the front door.
"Mr Moon? Someone in there? Hello?" She saw a faltering lamp going off somewhere at the theatre, and circled the building to find the backstage entry. She forced it. Locked. Great. Just near the door, there was a large trash can. She dragged it to under the window, and climbed it, trying to reach the latter. No success. Stepping on the upper doorframe, she tried grabbing hold of the window frame, that is, until she heard a tiny snapping noise.
Oh oh. She came crashing down to the ground, bringing part of it with her. Yep, this definitely needs repairing. She thought, positioning herself to try again. This time, she managed to dig deeper into whichever room she was going into, and managed to plop herself onto it. She smiled. Success.
Dusting herself off, she started going around, trying to get some idea of her surroundings. The last thing she didn't expect to find was a really startled koala holding his Glock .357 gun pointed at the door.
"HALT RIGHT THERE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP! HANDS UP!"
"Mr Moon! Mr Moon, it's me!" She held her hands up high, shaking.
He lowered the gun, slowly approaching her. "A-Ash?"
She nodded. "Hey there, Mr Moon."
"Ash, what… What are you doing here?" He turned on the lights, and what he saw scared him. She was a mess. Her face was bloated up, and her eyes were red from crying. "Oh boy. Well… Okay, I'm going to make us some tea. Wait here, please." He took off down the stairs. She merely opened his minibar, and pulled out a beer can.
Not too long later, she sat at his office, drinking, and staring at the town from above. This wasn't like her, and she knew it. Going out to someone's theatre in the middle of the night, practically breaking in, and above all drinking. Yep, this really wasn't her. Although she was familiar with the taste of beer, and enjoyed it quite a lot, she almost never had a drink out of her house. Especially given the fact she was 17. That helped. Being an escapee, the last thing she wanted was to get in trouble and be sent back to her parents' house. The thought sent a shiver up her spine. She dried up a couple of fresh tears that came to her eyes.
"You know, I shouldn't let you drink." Buster spoke, slowly approaching her. "You're 17, right? That could get us both in trouble, and… Man, judging by your face I can tell neither of us needs more of them!" He laughed. Ash, however, didn't.
"Who cares…" She replied, turning away. Buster didn't know what to do or say. He could tell the matter was serious. He took her hands and looked into her eyes. She looked down.
"I kinda do, actually. If someone catches us I'm the one who'll get um… Busted." Both exchanged looks, and burst out laughing, the sound echoing through the many empty rooms. He was happy finally getting to lighten the mood. Helping himself, he laid the tray down and took a seat near the teenager. After some time, the laughter was substituted by mad silence. After what seemed like an eternity, Ash could finally retort with a tease.
"So, you choose that stage name only to make that pun?" He laughed.
"Stage name? That's my real name, Ash. I don't perform, I don't get a stage name."
"Figures. I don't see anyone picking out that name in a replacement for their own." She laughed. Buster only faked annoyance and replied in a similar teasing tone.
"Hey, my name's really beautiful alright!"
"Maybe to your parents." She shot, smirking.
"And me, and that's all that matters." He retorted, confident.
More silence. She was amazed at him. How self-confident and positive could someone be? He was equally amazed. How much could someone taunt and joke while feeling hell burning in their chests? He didn't knew much. He was aware of that. But he had been a teen, and knew these were the clear signs one of them was going through something, but wasn't going to outright ask.
Oh what the hell. He thought. He had nothing to lose.
"Ash. You climbed up my window at 1 in the morning. You haven't really faced me. You're drinking, and you're sitting on my office making fun of my name. Either you are trying to win the prize by bonding with the director or there is something wrong. You're a fair player, so there's gotta be something wrong… The Ash I know doesn't do these kinda things."
She frowned, still looking away. "What do you know about me, Mr Moon… "
He racked his brain for an answer. "I was a teen once." She gave him one of the most annoyed looks he had ever seen, but he didn't seem to mind it as he carried on. "I know what teens do when they're upset." She laughed.
"Most uptight teen ever?" Buster cocked a brow, but kept his tone.
"That's exactly what they do. They try to put on a cool act so no one can see how they feel… But deep down, all they want is to let it all out. And you know that, because you're wanting to let it all out now." He earned more mocking laughter.
"What, are you some kinda wise old man now? The type who knows it all and walks around giving away some of his precious wisdom?"
"No, I just lived. That's all."
"Not enough to know me right away!"
"Maybe not you, but your mindset yes. You feel like you gotta hide your feelings from the world because you don't want anyone to think you're weak." He began. She outright froze in place. "You're afraid you're gonna be judged, and people will think less of you-"
"That's not true!" She interrupted, feeling tears come to her eyes. She tried her best to fight them back, unsuccessfully.
"That is what I'm talking about. You hide your tears and fears because you're afraid, and Ash, it's okay to be afraid! You aren't less for being afraid, if anything, you are MORE!"
"ENOUGH!" She yelled, sound echoing in the empty halls. She grabbed her backpack.
"Ash…"
"It was a mistake coming in here!" She pushed the doors open, tears flowing from her eyes.
"Ash, come back, don't- Streets are dangerous at this hour!"
"Walked all the way up here without a scratch, and see where it took me." She venomously spat out, shutting the doors closed. Buster was just about to run after her when he had a better idea. He quickly scribbled some words in the back of a pizza flier that was sitting by and ran to the main entry, grabbing his bike, and quickly picking up with her.
"At least don't go alone. Get on, I'll give you a ride." Ash simply shook her head, prompting him to climb off the bike. He stood in front of her, and held onto one of her wrists.
"Let go!" She said, trying to break free. She couldn't believe how strong Buster was. And didn't notice when he slipped a small piece of paper into her bag.
"Come on, Ash. Get on… I'll take you home and you won't hear my voice or see my face unless you come to the theatre tomorrow. How does that sound?" He said, letting go of her. She sighed and went up to the bike. A quiet ride after, she stood in front of her apartment door. Opening it, she looked back to make sure the koala had left.
She was tired, and sad, and wanted to sink through the floor. She knew he was right, but wasn't going to let him know that, let alone give him the pleasure of seeing her tears. She had heated up some food and was sitting down at the couch eating when her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey um… It's me, listen, I left some things at your place, I tried going there sooner but there was no one. I'm kinda heading there right now. You home?"
"Whoa whoa whoa, wait. You are-" She paused to steady her voice and wipe her nose. "What?"
"Heading there. Hello, Miss Airhead? Aren't you listening to me? I gotta pick up my clothes and cash if you want me to move out. Are you home?"
"You can't just come here!"
"Too late. Just pulled over. Oh good, lights on. Open the door."
"No!" Her voice cracked. The voice on the other side sighed.
"Ash, this will take no longer than a minute. Then you can go back to your crying, and drowning your sorrows, or going back to wherever you were not too long ago."
She hung up, and was determined not to open the door. Lance rang, and rang, and rang, and rang.
"Darling you don't even have to be there if you don't like it!" She heard a feminine voice say, "You can leave for a little while for me and Lan-Lan to pick up his stuff!"
Ash didn't know if she wanted to cry for being cheated on, or if she wanted to laugh at the nickname Becky had given Lance. She gave a somewhat teary laugh. Not too long after, she heard the doorknob turn.
"Still have the key." Lance said teasingly, tossing the keys into open air just to catch them afterwards.
Ash wasn't facing them. It took all she had not to start crying as she spoke. "Might be a good time to turn them in."
He rolled his eyes and threw the keys to her, as he picked a couple of boxes off the ground. "Yours to keep. See you around, Ash." With that, he closed the door.
Ash laid her plate down and let herself lay flat at the couch, hugging her backpack, trying to avoid more tears. One tighter grip plopped a piece of paper from the bag. She picked it up. Pizza? But she never… She then proceeded to flip the paper, and instantly recognized the handwriting.
I will never judge your tears. Sorry for pushing you. If you need anything, ranging from a shoulder to cry on to a hug, or even if you just want to beat someone up until you feel better (although that'd be painful to me) give me a call. 956-4491
-Buster
A/N: This is it guys, first chapter. Rate and review :D
