The Best Mistake

Ashlyn.

I fell onto the couch in complete shock. Nash Carter was just in my house. I’d been getting bitchy with Nash Carter. Everybody knew who Nash Carter was; everybody knew not to mess with him. Before he dropped out a year ago, he’d gotten in a fight with the schools quarterback at the time- who was a pretty buff guy, by the way- and he’d ended up in a coma for two weeks and had memory loss. People also say that he killed his mother with his bare hands, too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t normally follow the rumors and bullshit, but killing his mother is not something I’d put passed Nash Carter. Apparently he also sells drugs and is a street fighter now.

“Honey, what are you doing?” I jumped nearly off the couch as I turned and saw my mom and step-dad, Jeremy standing there looking a little confused. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” I said with a shaking voice.

“Alright, dear,” she said. “Well, we’re going to bed. Don’t stay up too late, please.” I nodded. “Goodnight, love you.”

“Love you too,” I said.



“Holy shit, are you serious?” Taylor asked in disbelief.

“No, I’m lying. Because my imagination is that wild,” I told her.

“It’s really hard to believe…” Kat said, before quickly adding. “Not that we don’t believe you, but your window is on the second floor.”

“I know,” I muttered.

“Maybe Nash Carter is Spiderman?” Kat suggested.

“Kat, shut up,” Jenn said laughing. “But it’s weird because Nash Carter doesn’t even look that threatening.” All three of us gave her a disbelieving look. “What?”

“Have you ever seen Nash Carter?” Taylor asked.

“He carries a pocketknife with him!” I screeched.

“Yeah, but I’ve seen him walking around the mall a couple times. He just looks like a normal kid,” Jenn explained.

“Nash Carter comes to the mall?” I asked. “This mall?”

She nodded. “Yeah, usually with this blonde girl and black haired boy. I don’t know,” she said, shrugging.

“You’re like an angry crowd, I’m a riot in the streets. And you’re a cheap little whore.” I groaned, pulling my phone out of my pocket and answering it, without even looking at the caller ID. “Yes, Susie?” I asked.

“Your break ended two minutes ago, Ashlyn. And where are you?” she asked. “Not here, as I can see. You’ve got one minute. Bye.” Then she hung up.

I shoved my phone in my pocket. “Please, somebody. Kill me. Right now. Just do it,” I begged.

Taylor laughed. “Is that your ring tone for Susie?” she asked.

“Yeah, I figured it was fitting,” I said, shrugging. “Anyway, I’ve gotta get back to work. I’ll see you guys later.”

“Wait! Don’t forget; my house tomorrow! At noon!” Kat called to me as I was walking off. I gave them a thumbs up before I arrived at work, my nose burning the second I walked in. Seriously, I have no clue how I loved this smell at any point.

“Ashlyn, I’ve decided to cut you some slack,” Susie said. “You can have the easy job and greet people when they walk in.”

I glared at her before giving her a tight smile. “Of course, Susie,” I said, before walking back near the door.



Thirty more minutes. Just thirty more minutes and you can go home. It’s been two hours of ‘Hi, how are you?’ in a stupid nice voice. I mean, really, half the people don’t even respond. Like seriously, have some respect.

“Hi, how are you today?” I said, giving the couple a fake smile. Neither of them really looked like they shopped here; the guy was wearing really tight skinny jeans and a black Vans shirt. His ears were also stretched to a pretty big size. And the girl had burgundy colored hair, a jersey and shorts on. Eh, I guess her shopping here isn’t too far-fetched.

The girl gave me a warm smile. “Good, what about you?” she asked.

“Great,” I lied, still with a polite smile.

The guy started coughing. “Yeah, can we hurry up? I can’t breathe here,” he said.

I laughed. “I feel your pain,” I said.

“See? I’m not the only one!”

The girl shrugged. “I like it,” she said.

“Yeah, so did I,” I said. “Until I worked here for a week.”

“Ashlyn, is there a reason why you didn’t greet those two girls that walked in a second ago?” Susie said, walking over.

“Because I was clearly having a conversation with two other customers,” I said, rolling my eyes.

She looked the couple over, scrunching her nose. She turned back to me. “This isn’t social hour, Ashlyn,” she said.

“Shouldn’t you be at the register?” I snapped. “This isn’t Ashlyn-watching hour, Susie.”

She glared at me. “Just do your job before I have you fired,” she shot.

“Ooh, I’m shaking,” I said. She just rolled her eyes before stalking off. “Dumb hoe,” I muttered.

I heard the girl laugh I looked at her, completely forgetting the two were there. “I like you,” she said. “I’m Jasmine, Jas for short.”

I chuckled. “I’m Ashlyn,” I introduced.

She smiled. “This is my boyfriend, Levi,” she said. He nodded at me slightly, while looking back at the door. Jas slapped his chest. “Be polite!”

He rolled his eyes before looking at me. “Sorry, I’m looking for someone,” he said.

I waved it off. “Totally cool,” I said.

He smiled. “Thanks,” he said, before kissing Jas on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

“How adorable,” I teased. She laughed. “How long have you two been together?”

“It was a year last week,” she said and I could hear the love in her voice. We started talking a little bit before Levi came back.

“Are you almost done?” he asked.

“Shit, I haven’t even looked,” Jas said. “Hey, do you wanna hang out sometime? It might be cool to have a friend that’s a girl.”

I chuckled. She was telling me about how she’s pretty much surrounded by guys and doesn’t have any female friends. “Sure, how about tomorrow?” I asked. “Me and a couple other people are getting together, you can join us?”

“Awesome, I’ll text you later,” she said. We exchanged numbers before she hurried to the back of the store.

“Levi! Can we go yet? I kinda have to get to-“ I froze in my spot when Nash turned the corner. He seemed to be just as shocked to see me. Oh shit.