Lines // hemmings

Chapter 21

LUKE

Ashton wouldn’t stop peppering me with questions for the rest of the day. However, I didn’t mind. I felt light and almost on top of the world. I didn’t even think about the dirty clothes or the smelly cell. I didn’t care about the food that tasted like feet or the noise echoing through the walls. I only thought about her. I have her face imprinted on my mind, her laugh ringing through my ears and her smile transmitted to my face. Yes, I am still smiling.

She actually came and visited me.

At first I couldn’t believe it was really her that was seated in front of me. I never thought I would ever see her and especially not here. I thought that when I was finally out of here, she would have forgotten about me. 

“Was that really Abby?” Ashton asks, for what feels like the 5184th time. 

I don’t say anything, just look at him and I see his face shifting, making it look softer.

“She was hot.” He smirks and I look away again. “She was and you think so too, at least your face says so.”

Yeah, she was beautiful, is beautiful. Not that it matters because it was her words and the fact that she was there for me that made me start liking her. That she is beautiful is just a bonus.

All of a sudden, I feel someone poke my cheek.

“Damn, those dimples are deep.”

“What’s your problem, Ashton?” I ask and fight his hands off me. “Stop touching my face.”

“You like her,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows, his face only inches away from mine.

Again, I say nothing and just continue staring up at the metal panels holding up Ashton’s bunk above me. It doesn’t screech any longer since I told Mrs. Wilson about the noises and she told me she would talk to someone to get some oil to fix it.

I feel Ashton’s gaze still on me, so I close my eyes, seeing her face again. I wonder what she thought of me. And I wonder if she’ll keep her promise of coming back here. I’ve had people breaking that promise before but this time I will break if it’s broken. 

I was still shocked she actually came. Wasn’t she scared? I would have been, being surrounded by all those horrible people. I’m used to it since I meet them every day. But for her…she should at least have looked more nervous.

“Told you she’d come around soon,” Ashton mutters and I feel his hand push down the bed slightly before standing up.

He did. He did tell me but I just wouldn’t believe him.

ABBY 

“Look at you, Abby, all smiling. What’s up?” Felicity leans forward on the desk, her face in her hands, her newly cut bangs framing her face.

Felicity has worked here for the past 3 years and over these years, not only has people thought we’re siblings but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her not chewing gum or not wearing any makeup. She’s 25 and knows everything there is to know about fashion and makeup. Ask her about fashion from 10 years ago and she’ll start rambling about colors and fashion icons and God knows what. You could really wonder why she’s working here, at a dentist office.

When people see Felicity they think she’s one of those really dumb blondes (I thought so too the first time I saw her), but in reality, she’s really smart. She’s really good with biology and chemistry. She used to help me with my homework sometimes back in High School. That’s also when she told me she used to have braces and after a year she knew every term used in the world of dentists. Apparently she got really interested in teeth and people thanks to that.