In My Blood

“Nichole, did you get the job at the music store?” Ashleen asked excitedly. She waited for my answer. She seemed desperate for my answer which surprises me because she is never anxious for anything.

“I did,” I answered simply. I set my books down on the table at lunch. I looked over at her waiting for her to say something.

“Oh, this is so exciting! You can get us ‘backstage’ to meet the boys of the band. Of course, you can have any of them that you want,” she rambled on. She nearly jumped for joy. She always wanted to get the job, but they never accepted her for the job. They always respectfully declined her application. She just wanted one of her friends to apply there and get the job.

Ashleen always loved guys in bands. She just loved how they looked and how they seemed to show their face in front of everyone. She would do anything to be with one of them.

Of course, I didn’t get my employment there because of her. The hours were a bit later, and there were more days to work without days off because not very many people worked there when I first started. It always got me away from my parents and away from their arguments.

Ashleen went on and on about something. I eventually tuned her out and just nodded every now and then to appear to be listening to her. I ate my food while I looked out to see if I could find an excuse to leave. Ashleen suddenly stopped talking and looked up to some figure that appeared beside the table.

“Hey, Ashleen, Nichole,” a male voice said. “Do you have room for one more?”

I looked up to see that it was Boston. He was a tall brunette with blue eyes. He always got everyone’s attention in some way. He was always around people, but he wasn’t that day. He was by himself which was odd.

“Yeah, we have room for one more, Boston.” Ashleen smiled at him with a flirty grin. She had a crush on him, and even now I think she still does.

He sat down beside me which angered Ashleen. I glanced around for someone to start laughing at me or something along those lines, but no one did. He stared at me. He smirked at me, waiting for me to say something to him.

“So, Boston, why are you honoring us with your presence?” Ashleen asked, trying to get his attention. She took a sip of her drink. She looked up at him through her eyelashes.

“I decided to talk to two beautiful ladies. Is that a bad thing?” he inquired. He looked taken aback. He gave her a flirtatious smile. He seemed a little bit of a jerk, but the next week Boston and I were dating.

We didn’t argue that much, but we did. We would quickly forgive each other though. He didn’t seem like too much trouble. He was sweet and kind to me. He brought me flowers for my birthday once which made me smile.

Ashleen didn’t like it. She would avoid me for the first three months. She started rumors about me. Like say that he got me pregnant, or that I was cheating on him. No one ever believed it, surprising me. The people at school almost always believed whatever rumor that she came up with. When they didn't believe her, she eventually stopped.

Boston never pushed me into doing anything that I didn’t want to do until the last six months. He would then start to want to do things that I was uncomfortable with. He would get mad at me for telling him no. The next day he would act like everything is okay. But I could tell that he was mad. I knew he was getting bored with me.

A month before I met Cain, Alex, and the rest, I broke up with Boston. He tried to hit me, and I left. I got tired of putting up with him. He just seemed to make things worse for me. I had to get out, and when he tried to hit me, I had an even better excuse to leave him. My dad just loved Boston, so when I broke up with him, my dad was furious at me.

Ashleen was happy that we broke up. She claimed to be my best friend again. She continued to ask for band members’ numbers and everything of the sort. She was back to herself around me. Like nothing ever happened.