The Silence Is Scaring Me

It was Friday. Three days after Ashlynn decided to go back home and so far her dad had been keeping his promise, but it wasn't that hard considering the only time they ever came in contact was when Ashlynn woke her dad up in the morning. They barely spoke to each other and they ate dinner in their separate rooms. This was fine with Ashlynn though. She enjoyed not being hit everyday. She enjoyed not having to explain the bruises that she couldn't find a way to hide.

Ashlynn sat, cross-legged, on her bed singing quietly to herself. Her phone vibrated on her nightstand, but she didn't notice until it fell off. Ashlynn jumped a bit when she heard a loud thud on the floor. She recognized the picture of Danny that she had taken in "A Cafe" almost a week earlier show up on her mobile screen and immediately answered the phone.

"Hello, Paul's Pizza Place. How may I help you?" she said after answering the phone.

"Um, yeah." Danny said, "I'll take 27 large peperoni pizzas and cheesy sticks."

Ashlynn laughed. "Hi Danny. What's up?"

"So I'm guessing that would be a no on the pizza?" He joked.

"Yep, that would be a no."

"Well I kinda wanted to ask you something." Danny said slowly.

"Yeah?" Ashlynn said with butterflies in her stomach. Ever since she had read the text message that Danny had sent to Tom she had been waiting for him to ask her out.

"Do you wanna go out with me tonight?" He asked timidly, as if he was expecting her to say "no" (Yeah right. As if I was gonna let that happen).

Ashlynn had to bite her lip to keep from screaming."Yes! Oh my god of course."

"Great! So should I pick you up or..." he asked, trailing off in the end.

"I'll meet you at 'A Cafe'." She told him. There was no way in hell she was going to be able to tell her dad that she was going on a date. She'd be better off telling him she was a lesbian.

"Which one?" He asked. Ashlynn sighed because the the, very inconvenient, name "A Cafe" tends to make conversation a little difficult.

"You know, the cafe we met at that's actually called 'A Cafe'." she tried to explain.

"Oh right. They really should get a new name." he said.

"You can say that again."

"They really should get a new name." he said laughing.

"Okay, you know that's not what I meant." Ashlynn said, also laughing.

"Well that's what you said."

"Shut up!" She yelled making Danny laugh harder. "What time do I meet you there?" she asked him.

"Uh, probably around six." Danny told her, still trying to stop laughing.

"Alright I'll see you later." she told him.

"Yeah, see ya." Danny told her before she hung up the phone.

Ashlynn walked slowly down the flight of stairs. She knew she had to ask her father if she could leave the house. It's not like he had to know the exact reason why. As much as Ashlynn hated it, she was going to have to lie.

"Dad?" Ashlynn spoke loudly and clearly as she walked up to her father. She didn't want it to be obvious that she was lying.

"Yes, Ashlynn." He said, turning away from the television.

"Could I stay at my friend Gio's house for the night?" She asked, making up a lie on the spot.

He was quiet for a minute. Her dad took one loud gulp as if to restrain himself. "Yes, I do suppose that would be okay."

Ashlynn's face lit up and her father made a small attempt at a smile.

"Thank you so much." She managed to say politely.
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(At "A Cafe" )

Ashlynn went to the cafe early, she really didn't want to stay in the house. She was sitting at a tall table with two chairs on either side. She hadn't gotten any coffee because she didn't really want to be bothered with standing in the line. Her smile grew wide as she saw Danny walk through the door. She hopped off her seat and jumped into Danny's open arms.

"It's nice to see you too." he said smiling.

"How are you?" she asked kindly.

"Pretty well. You?"

"Fantastically awesomely awesome." Ashlynn said as if it were something she said everyday.

"Well that's nice." Danny said laughing. "Come on lets go," he said, taking her hand.

"Where are we going?" Ashlynn said curiously.

"Why would I tell you?" He asked, smiling.

Ashlynn shook her head and laughed as Danny led her to his car.

They stopped at a building where Danny held her hand as they walked up the stairs to the door. They went inside and entered another door. Ashlynn's mouth dropped to the floor.(Hey that rhymed!...simple things please me. hahaha.)

"This is the studio." Danny announced.

"Oh my word." she said in almost a whisper as she looked around. "It's amazing."

There were instruments everywhere. Electric guitars, acoustic guitars, drums, basses(I really don't know the plural of bass), but what really caught Ashlynn's attention was the marble white grand piano that rest against the back wall of the room.

She walked to the piano as Danny said, "Yeah, it is pretty cool."

Ashlynn ran her fingers over the keys and stared at it in admiration.

"You know you are allowed to play it if you want." Danny said noticing how she was staring at it.

Ashlynn sat down and began to play "Minuet" by Mozart. Danny sat down next to her as she played the song flawlessly. She went on to play many many more songs as Danny played along on his acoustic Gibson guitar.

"That was awesome." Danny told her as they finished. "Now it's time to sing."

"Me?" Ashlynn asked.

"Yeah you," he said dragging her over to the sound booth.

"Oh no you don't, I'm not singing," she told him stubbornly.

"Look it's not that big of a deal. I just want to hear you sing. I do it all the time" Danny told her. He pulled her into the sound booth with him."Just close your eyes or turn around or something."

"Fine." she groaned as he walked out of the booth.

Danny pressed the intercom button, "Go for it."

Ashlynn took a few deep breaths and began to sing.

"Oh yeah, I'll tell you something
I think you'll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand"

Her voice was soft and airy. She carried notes with ease and it didn't even look as if she were trying. In-fact she would have continued if it weren't for one small interruption,

"Wow you're awesome." someone said over the intercom.

Ashlynn's eyes shot open to find four boy's on the other side of the booth window. Danny had smacked Harry in the back of the head so it had to have been him who said it. She screamed at the top of her lungs.

(To be continued...)