Unconditionally

Chapter Eight

“Ignorance is a lot like alcohol: the more you have of it, the less are you’re able to see the effect on you.” –J M. Blysma

Ashton’s arms are wrapped tightly around me. My body becomes stiff at the sudden contact of his body. I was not expecting him to hug me. So I may have been ignoring his calls and texts all afternoon just to pull his tail. It was payback for texting me early in the morning!

“You know,” Ashton whispers in my ear. “This is the part where you hug me back for being away so long.”

I can’t help myself so I start laughing. Ignoring the tingles from Ashton’s voice, I hug him. I rest my head where his heart is and I’m able to hear his steady heart beat. I have a faint smile on my face as the world seems to fall silent around us. My arms are wrapped around his upper back while his now hang loosely around my waist. I feel warm and ecstatic. Ashton’s back from baseball camp. I have truly missed him.

I loosen my hold and take a step back. Ashton has a smile on his face when I look up at him.

“Did you miss your only friend?” He asks me while pinching my cheek. I try to keep the blush from appearing on my cheeks. I scoff and slap his hand away from my face. “In your dreams, baseball. I had Haze to entertain me all week.”

Ashton laughs but seems to be hiding something. “What are you not telling me?” I ask him skeptically. Ashton’s eyes widen and he zips his lips. Rolling my eyes, I pick up my bag that’s beside dog pen door and lift it on my shoulders.

“Knowing you,” I begin. “You probably have something planned and won’t tell me till we get to that place.” Ashton shrugs his shoulders and opens the back door for me. I look around at the parking lot to see where his Jeep is but its nowhere in sight. My lower lip slightly puckers out and I sneer my nose.

“How did you get here?” I ask Ashton.

“Mom dropped me off since we had to run some errands.” He tells me.

I nod my head and walk to my car. As I start my vehicle, I quickly glance at Ashton to see him watching me. Our eyes meet and a faint blush appears on my cheeks. He smiles wide when he notices my blush. He doesn’t even seem embarrassed that I caught him watching me.

I realize that outside its getting dark. Sighing out loud, I wait for Ashton to tell me where to go. After driving in complete silence down Route 5, I grind my teeth and poke his leg.

“Are you going to tell me where to go?” I ask him.

“Bonfire tonight if you haven’t heard. Thought we could go.” He tells me.

My mouth drops and I bring my eyes back to the empty road. I check the time to see its 8:13. Hopefully Sill will be too busy to notice me missing tonight. Great, people are going to talk since I’m coming with Ashton.

“Do we have to go?” I ask Ashton.

Of course I’ve been to these bonfires tons of times. But that doesn’t mean people really noticed me. My teammates went but they would always get drunk off their heads after their first two drinks of beer. They’re complete lightweights. Haze was usually the one that persuaded me to go. I also went to some after we won some of games.

You know how school teams may celebrate by going out to eat, or the win is announced the day after? My school always celebrates with a bonfire. No adults allowed. Just the teams and lucky fans come with packs of beer and music from the main truck.

I have to admit. It is fun for the first thirty minutes, but once people begin to get drunk and bad decisions are forming it’s not my style anymore.