Perilous Flames [clifford a.u]

chapter thirty - cemetery

CHAPTER THIRTY - CEMETERY

"How long have we been on the road?"

Ashton's fingers were drumming against the steering wheel when he answered. "Five hours at the most."

My head lulled back against the headrest in a groan. Five hours of driving on an endless highway road. Five hours of being stuck in the same seat. Five hours of Ashton attempting to make small talk. Five hours of awkward silence. Five hours of being drown into thinking of just Michael.

Those five hours were long, painful hours and it seemed like every minute that passed by was even agonizingly longer. Ashton and I didn't talk as much--or at least I didn't talk to him. Ashton was always trying to bring up random conversations that were way out of topic. Things that should be the last things on our minds, so most of the time I just ignored him. But my silence didn't discourage Ashton to stop talking. If anything, it just made him talk more.

We had just switched the highway into Pennsylvania and the rolling hills of stark green grass and cattle were beginning to appear around, when Ashton decided to attempt to break our silence once again. "So," he took a glimpse at me. "Are things between you and Michael okay?"

Immediately, all the muscles in my body tensed. My head came down from the headrest and I sent him a quick glare. "Not you too," I muttered, already becoming even more irritated with him. I should've suspected that if Calum was the first to ask me about Michael and I, then eventually Ashton would be the one to do it too.

His eyebrows rose in surprise. Of all the questions and things he said, it was this one thing that I finally uttered a word to him in the past five hours. "What?" he asked, the corner of his mouth quirking up a bit. "I know the reason you decided to ride with me in the first place was because you didn't want to ride with Michael. Clearly something happened between you too."

I forced my mouth shut, biting back the snappy remarks I wanted to throw at him. It was enough to think about it in my mind, but out loud too? "Whatever," I whispered, and placed my attention back outside of the window. The best thing to do was to just ignore him and hope that he would drop this conversation altogether.

"Did something happen at the club?"

A frustrated sigh escaped my lips. "That's none of your business Ashton."

Ashton took in the annoyance in my tone, but didn't keep quiet. Instead, he pressed even further. "Did you guys have--"

"Can we not talk about this?" I immediately interjected with a snap. "Yes, I rode with you because of Michael. Yes something did happen. But no, I do not want to talk about it. Especially with someone like you."

He fell into an abrupt silence, taken aback by sudden outburst. After a few moments, his eyebrows rose again, nearly reaching his hairline, and his lips pinched together. I hoped to God, that as I stared at him with a glower, that he got the message and dropped the topic of Michael completely.

And as several moments of silence passed and the drumming of his fingers started again against the steering wheel, I really did thought he decided to let it go. The tension in my shoulders relaxed and I leaned fully back against the car seat, my eyes travelling back to the view outside. The sun was shining bright mid-sky and yet, as my fingers came to brush to the window glass, I could feel the cold temperature of outside sharply against my skin.

The east side weather was completely different from what I was use to. Since I lived most of my life in Arizona, I was use to the common hot weather and its blistering heat. Here, all on the other side of the country though, most of the time I was freezing. On the inside and on the outside. Even inside the car, I was sure that the temperature was barely maxed out at sixty. And I was positive that Ashton wanted nothing but to keep it that way considering that any sort of heat would be unpleasant for him. Asking him would be pointless.