Addicted to Black

Chapter 9: Him

I couldn't sleep... I get up and look at my phone, 3:00. It's happening again, I should be used to this. The sleepless night was felt from earlier in the day and I knew pain was inevitable. I took a slow, blind climb out of bed, a routine I was familiar with on nights like these. I creep into the bathroom and turned on the light and headed straight for the mirror.
I take a blank stare at the girl staring back at me, so weak, so fragile, and still so broken after all the years of pretending she was okay. Then came the breakdown... My body started to shake and the tears were almost threatening against my eyelids. I collapse on the floor, hands still shaking from my fall. I'm holding in sobs now, taking my hand to cover my mouth so mom wouldn't hear. I get up to turn on the shower hoping the sound of the water would block out the sounds of my hurt, I sit back on the floor and let it all go. "I was getting better." I shake my head and prepared for round two.
I let a couple minutes pass by and I turned off the shower. I dry my face for the thousandth time, and turned off the light. The climb back into bed wasn't as bad as the climb I took to get out of it. I lay my head on the pillow and let the sound of the night hush me back to sleep.

I was absolutely drained when I woke up. The clock read 6 and I only had a few minutes to get ready for school. I settled on blue jeans and my favorite Tupac muscle tee. "Later mom!" I yelled and headed out the door to catch this God forsaken bus.

I went through my day as usual. Ash didn't show up for class this morning which made me really nervous, I hope our plans were still good for tonight.
I walked into my last class of the day, Anatomy, I hated this class, science just wasn't my thing at all! Im good with a C. I take my seat in the back of the class next to my friend Meagan.
She was a perfect red head, boys treated that girl like the last supper! She's been eaten plenty of times. She beams when she sees me! "Hey baby girl!" She smiles her million dollar smile, I see why all the guys go crazy for her, plus the fact that she was just cool as fuck. "Hey Meg! What's up?" I replied. She looked at me up and down before responding, "Nothing much, but I should've asked you first cause you look like shit! Don't get me wrong your gorgeous, but you have more bags than a Macy's sale!" She throws her head back in laughter, she wasn't far from wrong. "Well I didn't really get much sleep last night so..." She looked at me in sympathy, "Oh, well... We've all been there." I look at her and raise my eyebrows in fake agreement. "Anyways!," she continued, "I know it's Friday and you and Carter do that thing you do, but I was wondering if you wanted to just chill tonight, I feel like we haven't hung out in forever!" I look at her and said, "Well babe, I would love to, but I kinda have a...date tonight" I cringe at the word date, because in all honesty I didn't really know what the hell to call it! I cringed and prepared for the squeal. "No fucking way!! You bad bitch!" I just laugh, this girl was definitely amazing. "Well you know what! After school we should go shopping for an outfit for tonight, I would love to help, I can even do your makeup! What do you think?"
I was excited about letting Meagan help out, she was queen of all things beauty and she definitely would be a great last word on how I look. It definitely wouldn't hurt. "Yeah, of course! That would be great!" She reached over and kissed me on the cheek. "Let's do this dumb ass worksheet so we can get the fuck out of here."

Fuck, I loved shopping. This is the reason why I can't be broke when I'm older, I would just die! Meagan and I were walking through Cotton On, one of my favorite stores, the only problem was I didn't have a clue of what I even wanted to wear tonight. While we were going around the store I get a small text:

Ash: Heey!! Sorry I didn't make it to class! I know you missed me ☺️ but tonight I think you'd love where I'm taking you! Don't wear anything fancy, just bring your cute adorable self 😘🙈

I smile at my phone and decided that a dress was definitely out of the question. What's this kid up to?
I didn't realize that my phone was facing towards Meagan and it wasn't until I heard I scream that I decided to shield my screen. "Wait a minute! Ashton?! Like... ASHTON?!"
I knew I was definitely screwed and there was no way to get myself out of this one. She continued to punch me on the arm and scream "Your going on a date with Ashton?! Holy shit! Looks like Willy Wonka isn't the only person that's gonna be swimming in some chocolate tonight!" That was it for me. I laughed so hard that I wanted to pee, we stood for about 3 minutes with tears in our eyes. She absolutely made my day and now more than ever I was very excited to continue on this date.
We carried on throughout the mall and I spotted a little store that I've never seen before. I dragged Meagan with me and it was the best decision I've ever made. Every piece of clothing was beautiful! "Sloan! What about this?" I look over at Meagan and saw her holding up a black shorts romper with a silver necklace. I fell in love instantly! We walked up to the cash register and paid, the next thing I knew we were speeding down the street, smile on my face, ready to begin my night.