Starting Over

I took another bite of my yogurt. I had ordered strawberry yogurt with blueberry granola clusters. It was my favorite and always managed to cheer me up at least slightly.

I looked over at Ash, he was the only one skeptical about eating this 'stuff' as he called it. Alyx had already downed hers and was up at the counter ordering another one and Chelsea had excused herself to go outside and answer Brody's call. So it was just Ash and I at our huge table. He was sitting across from me with his feet propped up on the seat next to him, his cup of yogurt sitting haphazardly on the edge of the table. He'd pick it up occasionally and stare at it before putting it back down.

Alyx came back and sat down next to Ash, quickly taking spoonfuls of yogurt and shoving it in her mouth. "What kind did you get this time?" I directed my question at her.

"Pineapple mango." she answered between mouthfuls and I twisted my face up in disgust. I'd never been a huge fan of Pineapple or Mango.

She snorted at me and I'm surprised yogurt didn't fly out of her nose, I think it came pretty close though because her eyes widened and she rushed to the bathroom, cup of yogurt in her hand.

I laughed at her retreating form and Ash chuckled, an evil smirk on his face.

It was a nice quiet evening and it was at times like these that I was thankful Caribbean Crunch was a twenty four hour place. I didn't have to worry about them kicking us out -- It was a nice little store/restaurant on the beach, they usually had alot of swimmers come along after dark and hang out here. I'm not sure why there weren't many people here now, but I wasn't going to complain.. I didn't feel like being around too many people I didn't know right now.

"So do you not like yogurt?" I signaled towards Ash's untouched cup and he shrugged.

"Anything healthy really, not a fan of it."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows, surprised. Granted, I was no health nut.. But there were some things that were delicious and good for you.

He nodded and pushed the cup further onto the table, he must have noticed how close it was to plummeting to the floor.
"What do you prefer then?" I took another bite of my yogurt and placed the empty cup onto the table, a slight frown on my face. I knew I should have gotten the large instead of the medium.

Ash shrugged before responding "I don't know.. whatever I can find that isn't healthy."

"Very funny." I rolled my eyes.

"Do you want mine?" He signaled to his cup of yogurt and I nodded hesitantly.

"If you're sure you don't want it."

"I'm sure." His face had a hint of disgust on it.

"You should at least try it first."

He grabbed the cup and inspected it for a moment before sliding it across the table to me "I'm good, thanks."

I shrugged "Your loss."

I took a couple of bites and Alyx reappeared from the restroom. She sat down close to me and stared at me.

"Riley?"

"Um, yes?" I looked over at her, slightly worried and frightened.

"Are you going to finish that?"

I was about to answer but Ash beat me to it "Yes he is."

We both turned to look at him and Alyx looked at him suspiciously "Did you give him yours?"

"Yeah, I didn't want it."

"Ashley, I'm hurt! I'm family and you'd give it to a co-worker before your own flesh and blood?!" Alyx proclaimed dramatically before huffing and crossing her arms.

Ash just rolled his eyes "If you want some more so bad why don't you just go buy more?"

A frown graced Alyx's face "I'm out of money."

"Oh here you go." I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet, giving Alyx a five.

"Riley, you can't afford this... You don't even have a house right now."

She was right, I knew she was. But I felt the need to pay for SOMETHING. Chelsea had payed for my first cup of yogurt and Ash had given me his for my second. I frowned. When had I become a mooch?

I guess Ash knew what I was thinking because he scoffed and spoke up "Relax, Riley. It's not your fault your parents are retarded and cut you off. It's hard to start on your own with no help. That's what we are here for."

I looked at him trying to cover my shock. Seriously, when had he turned so nice? Everytime he said something like that it threw me through a loop. I guess it did the same to Alyx too.. Because she was staring at him with her mouth dropped open.

Ash looked over at her and glared "Shut your trap, Alyx. You're catching flies."

Alyx's hand shot out and smacked the back of Ash's head.. which caused him to smack her arm. "Ow." She pouted and Ash rolled his eyes.

"Oh whatever, I didn't even hit you that hard."

Alyx's eyes teared up and I instantly started to worry "Dude, careful.. you can't hit girls that hard."

Ash's mouth dropped open as he gazed at me "You have got to be kidding me."

"What?" My eyes widened innocently.

"She's faking!" He pointed at his sister and I looked over at her, tilting my head.

"Are you faking?"

She wiped her tears and looked up at me, her face morphing into a grin "Of course I'm faking, I'm a beast." She flexed her 'muscles' and I blushed.

"Sorry, Ash."

"Whatever, dude."

We sat in silence for a few moments as I finished the yogurt Ash gave me, Alyx watching me. She looked like a puppy waiting for any fallen morsels.

By time I was done with my yogurt Chelsea came back inside, stuffing her phone in her pocket. "Sorry guys, wedding details."

I grinned at her "Have you set a date yet?"

She smiled back at me. "Yeah, we have."

"What?! When is it?!"

Alyx clapped her hands together and looked over at Chelsea "You're getting married?!"

"Yeah, I am. My boyfriend proposed to me awhile back." She held her left hand out and Alyx grabbed at it greedily, they instantly started chattering about the proposal and a few wedding details. I smiled at them, it'd be good for Chelsea to make another friend.

I looked over at Ash and shrugged "Women."

He grinned at me "I don't think you have any right to be saying it like that."

"And what is THAT supposed to mean?" I raised an eyebrow at him and grabbed my empty yogurt cup, walking the few necessary steps to dump it in the trash can.

"Riley, please.. You'd be the girl in a relationship."

I looked over at him "How do you know that?"

"I can just tell." He shrugged and got out of his seat, walking to the counter, I followed him, listening to him order a drink. He looked over at me once he was done ordering "Do you want anything?"

See.. He's being nice again, what a freak. I mean that in a nice way, of course.

"Err, no I'm good, thanks."

"Suit yourself." He grabbed his drink from the counter and started to the door, looking back at me as I stopped shortly after we passed the table we had been sitting at, the girls still conversing. "You coming?"

He jiggled the car keys and I pointed at the girls... I'd feel bad if we left them here, Caribbean Crunch certainly wasn't in town.

He grinned at me "They'll find a way to get back." And for whatever reason, I wanted to know where he'd take me. So I agreed.

We walked out the door, the bell rung as it shut behind us and we jumped into the car, he started it and pulled out of the driveway.

* * * * * * * * * * *

We pulled up into the parking lot of Chiodos and I smiled. Despite not getting the job here I knew Christopher worked here and I may get to see him again, and I did really want to try the food here. I had heard it was good. Although, I was confused as to why we were here.

I looked over at Ash, eyebrow raised and he shrugged "I'm hungry."

Ah, yes.. He hadn't eaten anything.

I nodded and got out of the car after him, shutting the passenger side door and taking a few quick steps to catch up to him.

He grabbed the front door and opened it, holding it open for me. I would never admit it to anyone, but I had never had a door opened for me.. So this small act certainly stood out to me.

I hid my smile as I walked past him into the restaurant, he followed close behind and Chris was at the scary stand thing again. I grinned at him and waved, once he recognized it was me his face lit up.

"Hey, Riley."

"Hey, Chris. You guys are still open huh?"

He looked down at the watch on his wrist "Yeah, for another hour."

"Perfect!" I exclaimed and Chris smiled.

"Table for o-"

"Two." Ash cut him off and Chris looked over at him.

"Oh, two. Sure thing." Ash was glaring at him and I smacked his arm lightly, giving him a 'wtf?' look. He shrugged me off and we followed Chris to a booth, taking our seats.

Ash opened his menu and I stared at him, he wasn't going to get away from this.

He peeked over his menu at me and I took my opportunity "What the hell was that about?"

He decided to play the innocent act, sighing as me placed his open menu on the table "What was what about?"

I rolled my eyes "Please, you were totally rude to Chris. He's a nice guy."

"I wasn't rude to him. I was normal to him." I thought about it.. and that was normal Ash, why had I become used to nice Ash?

"So why are you so nice to me then?" I frowned, twisting my hands together in my lap.

"Riley, you're going through a hard time.. there's no need for me to add douche-baggery to the list of things hurting you right now."

I frowned, he was right. But why was I so hurt by someone aside from me voicing all the trouble I was going through?

"Are you going to order something?" He motioned towards my closed menu sitting untouched in front of me and he picked up his own menu.

For whatever reason, despite the yogurt I had eaten, I was still hungry. I didn't really have any money though and I didn't want to mooch anymore.

"I'm not really that hungry." I shrugged, although he couldn't see me past his menu.

"Yes you are. Get something."

Demanding much? I could get into that. I mentally smacked myself. Where the hell had that come from? I wasn't over Mason yet! Bad Riley.

I picked up my menu and opened it, hiding my blushing face behind it.

We searched our menus in silence for a moment before Chris came back, asking for our orders.. Ash had already decided what he wanted, taking the time to tell Chris and then they both looked at me.

I frowned at my menu and shrugged "I'll have the same thing he's having." I held the menu out for Chris to take and he smiled at me.

"Sure thing." He left, taking our menus with him and our table was suddenly filled with an awkward silence.

At least, it was awkward for me. I wasn't sure why though, it shouldn't be.. This was two friends just having dinner, right? This wasn't anything more than that, was it?

Oh boy.

Why did I always over think everything? Calm down, Riley. Ash was just hungry so he went to a restaurant to get food.. and he offered to pay for my food too, because I'm poor.

Oh god, I'm poor? I slammed my head down to the table and I guess I must have been mumbling something about being poor and someone Ash got thrown into the mix because he poked the top of me head which caused me to sit up abruptly and stare at him wide-eyed.

"Are you okay?" He frowned.

I nodded quickly "Yup, I'm great."

"Are you sure? You were mumbling..."

Crap, I knew it.

"Oh yeah, it's just something I do sometimes." Good going, Riles. Now he'll think you're crazy too. Wait, why do I care if he thinks I'm crazy?

I glared at my hands as they sat in my lap. Stop caring what he thinks, Riley. This is just a friendly encounter, nothing more. Like the yogurt shop, only without Chelsea and Alyx, no big deal.

Chris came back awhile later and put our plates down, asking if we needed anything else. We both shook our heads no and he smiled at me again before walking away.

Don't get me wrong, I like Chris and all, but was he the only one working here? He answered the door, took our orders and served our food.. What was up with that?

Our dinner passed relatively uneventful, he asked how I got in the situation I'm in now and I explained it to him, everything from the dinner party with my parents to mason asking me to leave, I didn't realize how long my sob story was and by time I was done explaining it all we were done eating.

Ash pushed his plate away as I took the last few bites of my food, at some point during our dinner Chris must have gone home because we had a new waiter. She approached our table and smiled at us both warmly.

"Save any room for dessert?" Ash looked over at me and I shook my head, I was way too full to eat any dessert too.

"Nah we're good."

"Okay, I'll be right back with your check then." She cleared our plates and walked away as my phone started to ring.

I fumbled around in my pockets, before figuring out I had placed it on the seat next to me. I rolled my eyes and picked it up, hitting answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Riles. It's me. Just wanted to let you know we got home fine. When did you guys leave?"

I had totally forgotten we had left Chelsea and Alyx at Caribbean Crunch.. I felt bad now.

"Oh, sorry Chels, Ash wanted to go get something normal to eat so we went to Chiodos."

"He took you to Chiodos?" I could hear the burning curiosity in her voice and I knew I'd get the 20 questions about it next time we hung out.

"Yeah, we're just finished eating."

"Oh, okay.. well, I'll let you go then." I heard her whispering to someone and I assumed she was still with Alyx.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later, Chels."

"Uh huh, Love youuu."

"Love you too." I rolled my eyes and hung up my phone just as it started to beep at me.

Low Battery.

"Shit."

"What's wrong?"
I looked up at Ash and frowned "My phone's nearly dead."

"Oh that's okay, you can charge it when we get home."

"That's the thing.. I think I left my phone charger at Masons'..."

Ash looked me in the eye "Then we'll go get it."

* * * * * * * * * * *

I knocked on the front door, not really wanting to walk in on Mason and Alyssa if they were doing anything I didn't want to see.

Ash and I stood at the door, waiting for a reply. When I didn't knock again Ash stepped forward and knocked again.

We only had to wait a few more moments before the door swung open, Alyssa was on the other side.

"Oh, hey. Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I uh-" I was feeling exceptionally awkward and couldn't quite form a sentence. I silently thanked God that Ash had come with me.

"He left his phone charger here, he needs it."

"Oh!" Her face lit up and she opened the door wider "Of course, come on in." She gave us a sweet smile and I couldn't help but wonder if she didn't know about me and Mason. If she did, wouldn't she be acting differently?

"Thanks" I managed to squeak out and I mentally smacked myself for not sounding stronger.

Ash and I went inside, going to my previous room and searching around it for my phone charger, I eventually found it beneath my desk and I grabbed a few other things, stuffing them into another bag.

"Ready?" I nodded at Ash and opened my bedroom door.. Only to come face to face with Mason.

I was really hoping we'd be able to get in and out without running into him.

"Oh, hi." I looked at the floor and pushed past him, walking towards the front door.

"Riley, wait." He walked after me and grabbed my arm, turning me to look at him.

"What, Mason? What could you possibly want?"

He looked sad and I nearly reached out to him to make sure he was alright, but Alyssa stepped into the living room "Would you like anything to drink, Riley?"

At the sound of her voice Mason's face turned hard and he gave me a stony look.

"I just wanted to make sure you got everything, I told you that you could come back at the end of the week, you aren't supposed to be here." He dropped the remote he was holding onto the couch and turned away, walking over to Alyssa and giving her a kiss.

"Thanks, I'm just leaving." I declined her offer and walked outside, quickly walking down the sidewalk, passing Ash's car in the driveway and walking towards his house, tears filling my eyes.

I was halfway to Ash's house when he pulled up aside me in his car.

"Get in, Riley."

I didn't question and just opened the passenger side door, tossing my bag into the back and jumping in.

I wiped at my face and willed myself to stop crying. "What took you so long?" My voice cracked but I couldn't bring myself to care.

Ash shrugged "Left Mason with a few things to think about."

I wondered what he meant by that, but didn't proceed with any questions. I just wanted to go home and sleep, and when we pulled up to the house I got out, grabbing my bag and heading to the front door.

"Hey, Riley!" Alyx opened the door, I guess I must look pretty pathetic because she grabbed my bag from me "Are you alright? What's wrong?" I shook my head, I just needed to sleep.

"Okay" She frowned "Go lay down, we can talk tomorrow."

And that's exactly what I did.