Nicotine | Ashton Irwin ✔

0.9

Ashton quickly hurried out of his seat once the bell rang for lunch. He was so thankful that the class was over, he was beginning to fall asleep. As he walked along the hall towards lunch, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to look out the window, and saw Ara sneaking out behind the back of the school. Curious, he followed.

Ashton walked around the back of the school, careful not to be seen, and found Ara, sitting against the school wall with a bottle of alcohol, and smoking a cigarette. His eyes widened. "You know if someone found you, you'd get into a lot of trouble." he said, walking towards her. Ara jumped.

"Jesus Christ." she said, facing him. "What do you want?" she snapped, taking a long drag of the cigarette she held between her lips.

"Nothing." he said with a smug grin.

"Go ahead then. Rat me out. See if I fucking care." she growled. Ashton shook his head, and sat down next to her. He held his hand out. Ara cautiously passed the cigarette to him, watching as he took a drag.

"If I rat you out, where else am I going to hide when I ditch class? Teachers will automatically look here." he said. He passed the cigarette back. Ara took it, leaning her head against the wall.

"So it's not okay to take your seat in class, but it's completely okay to smoke in your favourite hiding spot." she stated sarcastically. "Make up your damn mind."

"What are you even doing out here, anyways?" Ashton asked. "Aside from smoking, and drinking whatever the hell that is." he said.

"One, it's vodka." she said. "And two, I needed to clear my mind." Ashton raised a brow. Ara laughed lightly, smiling. "I got caught, sneaking out of the house." she said.

"What did you do?" Ashton asked.

"I went to visit my mother." she replied.

"And so you got in trouble for that?" Ashton asked. "That's fucking stupid."

"Yeah, well . . ." Ara trailed off.

"Does your dad not like you seeing your mom?" Ashton asked.

"It's not that." Ara said. She shook her head, confused. Why was she telling him all of this? One minute their fighting, and now . . .

"Then what is it?"

"You know, you're a confusing person Ashton." she said. "You get mad because I sit in some stupid spot, and now I'm explaining my life story to you."

"If I apologize, will you tell me?" he said. Ara looked to him.

"If you mean it." she said.

"Alright." Ashton sighed. "I am sorry for snapping at you every time I see you."

"Apology accepted."

"So will you tell me?" Ara nodded.

"Liam, my 'dad'" Ara said in quotations. "He never knew my mother was pregnant with me when they split. He's a cop so he, and was afraid that his job might get her hurt or killed, so they broke up. Anyways, my mom met her boyfriend Craig. Boy was he ever fucking abusive." Ara breathed out. "He'd always hit my mom and everything. He never hit me before, but that was probably because I was only two at the time. He got her pregnant, and that's how we got Teddy. The abuse stopped when Teddy was born. I figured that was because Teddy was his son. His blood. He was always nice when Teddy was around. He didn't want him to know how horrible he was. Teddy was only eight when he realized what his father was doing. I was ten, and he found me crying in the hallway. Teddy was twelve when Craig first hit him. He was sticking up for mom and me." Ara stopped, taking a long drag. She breathed out, the white smoke filling the sky.

"What happened next?" Ashton asked quietly. Ara turned to him. She lifted up her shirt a little, and Ashton saw round circles on her skin. They were scarring over. There were three.

"Two years later, he shot my mom in the head. Tried to kill Teddy, but I took the bullet. I'd do anything for that kid. All this happened no more than three weeks ago maybe." Ashton froze.

"This just happened?" he asked. Ara nodded.

"Liam caught me sneaking out. I was visiting my mother's grave. Growing up, I hated graveyards. I was afraid that they would become my permanent home." she whispered. "Teddy and I got into a lot of trouble as kids. He's been kicked out of so many schools, and I've lost count on how many times I've been arrested. We try not to cause any problems for us, but it never works. If you visited our old home town, you couldn't go five feet from the grocery store without hearing out names come out of someone's mouth. Everyone knew us. And they knew better than to mess with us." she looked at Ashton. "I'm a messed up person, and cause trouble for everyone. You're safer if you stay away from me."

"Safer?" Ashton asked her. "Or because you don't want to get emotionally attached?" Ara took another drag off the cigarette.

"Emotions . . . I don't even know if I have those anymore." she mumbled. Ashton didn't say anything. He just leaned up against the wall. Ara passed him the cigarette again, which he took. "People around me just get hurt." she said, facing him. "Regardless of whether or not I'm emotionally attached. Either I get hurt or they do."

"Maybe you haven't found the right person yet." Ashton said. Ara laughed.

"Maybe." she replied. "You know, you're not a total asshole." she said with a smile. Ashton grinned.

"You're not so bad yourself."

"But this doesn't mean you're getting your spot back."

"Damn it." Ara laughed. She put the cap back on the bottle of vodka, and tossed it to Ashton.

"Do with it what you will, If Teddy finds out I brought it to school, he'll have my head." Ara stood to her feet. "I'll see you around Irwin." Ashton watched her leave. He took another drag of the cigarette before standing up. As he walked back into the school, he smiled to himself.