Status: Active

Are You Happy?

Sugarcoated

His name is Ashton. I’d only found out a week after that party when he had come into Darby’s and gotten into my checkout line. He didn’t say a word to me as I was ringing out his sandwich and soda, just smirked. He took his receipt and pulled his leather jacket to the side, revealing his name tag from work. Gave me a wink and walked off.

It’s been a few days now and I haven’t seen him since. I kept thinking about that whole situation though. If he’d known my name, why keep calling me Dollface? Why didn’t he just tell me his name when I asked instead of showing me a name tag?

I decided he was just weird and that it didn’t mean anything and focused on cleaning the rest of my room. I put all my clothes away and finished organizing my closet before turning to the last messy space. My desk.

I had papers and half finished drawings all over it. My paintbrushes had been knocked over, along with a small bottle of now-dried paint. I hadn’t sat down in front of it in ages.

I used to love it. I couldn’t wait to get home from school and break out my palette. I’d doodle on all my notes for school, napkins at the dinner table, anything I could get my hands on really. Emily was my biggest supporter. My parents didn’t think anything would come of it, but she encouraged me and told me all about art school. Mom and Dad didn’t care what I went for, as long as I went to college. Emily saw my potential. When she died, I lost sight of that. I didn’t paint that much anymore. Every time I picked up a brush, I just thought of her.

Wait.

ASHTON.

I grabbed my keys and ran out to my car. My mind was blank as I drove and I didn’t have any sort of plan. I drove past Darby’s and pulled into the parking lot of Duke’s Auto. I gripped the wheel tight and took a few deep breaths before getting out of the car. I could feel my hands shake from the nerves.

He was standing behind the receptionist, telling him what to put in the computer. After the woman in front of me was done paying and moved, we locked eyes. Why didn’t I figure it out sooner?

“I know who you are.”