Roughers | an Ashton Irwin Fanfic

Chapter 11

Anxiety had always been a problem of mine. It was always there, dragging me down in already stressful times with no evidence of light around the corner. But it was also something I had been taught to ignore. 

In the Pure, your goal is to lead a stress free, perfect life. You do as you please. There's no schedule and no due dates. And without these things, what is there to worry for?

So the world being the one we live in, anxiety was nothing but a dead emotion; or so they said it was. The newer generation thought otherwise. Constantly, peers my age were scolded for their anxiety, as it was something elders seemed to lack. Why only we seemed to be the ones with such an emotion, I have no clue. All I know is that for some strange reason, we had it and they didn't.

And at this moment, my anxiety was higher than ever.

I pulled myself tighter to Ashton's body, trying to keep my gaze ahead and not at the ground a hundred feet below us. My hair whipped around my face, blown by the wind as we traveled, us both planted on his hover board. 

I mumbled an apology for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last five minutes for my hair blowing into Ashton face as well as mine; although he didn't seem to mind and only responded with a chuckle.

My dress billowed in the pressing wind as we went, my poor clothing choice very obvious for this sort of travel. But delicate skirts and dresses were all I had. Those were the only things socially acceptable for girls to wear in the Pure, and therefore, that's what I was provided with. 

Jeans and shorts had been chastised decades ago, and it was rare to find a boutique selling such clothing here in the city. At least in the girls section.

So there I was, riding on the back of a hoverboard hundreds of feet above the ground going 40 miles an hour, wearing a dress.

I had managed to crawl out my window after Ashton's persuasion to come along. He had said he wasn't leaving without me, and hovered by window ten minutes after I had refused and shut it. But eventually he had gotten his way, forcing me to quickly dress and maneuver my body through the small slot.

I had been worried he wouldn't catch me if I took a fall without landing behind him on the board, but after 5 minutes of gathering the courage to make the jump from the window to the board, I had landed alright.

He hadn't told me exactly where we were going, but I assumed it was somewhere outside of the city. I remembered him telling me that's where the rest of the boys lived; outside the Pure and into the Rough.

This was another cause of my overbearing anxiety. We were leaving the Pure and entering the Rough. This was something unthinkable by Pure standards. Entering the Rough was an extreme felony itself. But going with a Rougher that was currently wanted by the government, was one even bigger.

If anyone were to see me or potentially find out, there'd be nothing my Uncle could do. He was the head of the city and the overall power, but he was definitely willing to put law before me. 

My Uncle was very serious with his job. No one and nothing could over rule his love for power and being in control. Not even the only family he had left. 

Sure, he'd make some adjustments for me and not be too hard all the time. But in a case like this, he'd gladly plant me outside the city for good. He had done it to others before. And for this reason, I did not depend on his status too much.

I kept my face in the shadows as we rode, admiring the skyline disappearing behind us with every passing second. I could tell my assumption had been right, that we were in fact heading for the edge of the city. But with the Bubble surrounding us, I didn't know how he planned to actually get outside the boundaries.