10It starts to get good now!
Thanks to Neurotic-Idealist for writing this with me.
Their walk went on being silent until Jeff Hardy pulled up beside them in his dad's black Camero. "Hey boys." Jeff said stopping in the street to talk with them. The street going in and out of this part of town was always empty. Until now no one had the balls to leave, and the rest of the town had the good sense to stay way. "Hey Jeff, what's up?" Evan greeted. "You boys want to go get a bite to eat?" He offered. Cody griped Randy's arm a little tighter and Randy returned the pressure to reassure his safety. "The café is open all night." Ted suggested. The four young men got into the car; Evan was the only one brave enough to sit up front. "What are you doing out here Jeff?" Ted asked a bit attentively. "Yea." Evan seconded his question. Evan was the 'nice' one of the group; he was imposable not to get a long with. But on the other hand he was bleak enough to keep Randy straight. "Where are you going?" Jeff looked at Evan and for a split second there was something in his eyes. Remorse? Fear? Guilt? "I killed 'em" He said in a quiet contrast to his usual vivacious voice. Ted looked from Randy to Evan. Cody griped Randy's knee hard enough to leave a mark; Randy knocked his hand away then took it in his. Evan and Randy kept looking at one another; they were obviously having a mental conversation. "Who?" Evan asked. "All of them, mom, dad, my brother." The men shared scared and shocked looks, except Jeff who keep driving calmly. Everyone knew Jeff was crazy but no one would have guessed this. He lived in one of the better neighborhoods, like Cody did. But Jeff's home was just a house to him, his parents didn't approve of him, they shared the house with him but for the most part they pretended he wasn't there, it was his little brother that was going to be there 'somebody'. "All of them? Matt too? He was just a kid." Evan said. "I know, but who knows maybe he is better off." His voice was back to Jeff's now. "Why Jeff?" Cody asked, Randy was surprised that Cody was speaking to him after this, Cody was usually terrified of the man, but Cody's sweet voice was full of pity with only an underline of fear. Randy was quiet proud of him for this and gave his hand a little squeeze. "Well, Matt made a B and dad was pissed off, he said that he was going to turn out like me. So I got dad's gun and I shot them then I burned the house." Oh yea, of course Jeff burned the house.
"Jeff we have to get out of here now!" Randy said and Jeff floored the gas. This news didn't make anyone think less of Jeff, maybe they didn't approve of killing your whole family, but maybe he was right and the world really was a better place without them. Besides, they all knew better to say anything to him about it, because Randy would have said it was Jeff's business and to stay out of it. Randy was a firm believer in not talking about your personal feelings.
It was getting on into the wee morning hours; they hadn't talked since Jeff's confession. Each man was lost in his own mind. Thinking about what they were going to do once they were free of the past, the things, the people they were leaving behind, they were all just thinking. Cody's head keep lolling over onto Randy's shoulder, Randy, Evan and Jeff were use to staying up all night and sleeping all day, as where Ted and Cody because of school, were in the opposite pattern. "We need to find some where to sleep." Randy said from the back seat. "I don't know Randy, maybe we should keep going." Evan suggested. "Yea I can keep driving for a few more hours." Jeff said.
"Cody's sleepy, we are going to find somewhere to sleep." Randy said annoyed that they would challenge him. "I am fine Randy, really." Cody said shooting up and rubbing his eyes. "I said we are going to stop! Just because we left does not change my rank!" Randy said sternly. "And that goes for you too." Randy said coldly to Cody. He was going to do what he thought was best for him even if Cody didn't want him to.
It was a few miles away from their argument that there was a girl who was going to impact their lives in more ways then any of them could know.
"Hey, over here! Please stop!" The blonde cursed under her breath as another cab carried on past her.
She was cold and wet by now. She wore a black vest top with a pink bra peeking out from underneath. She was wearing a black leather jacket also with a worn denim mini skirt with fishnet tights and black biker boots. Her hair was dirty blonde with some streaks of pink and black.
Her worldly belongings were carried in a black hold-all; her change of clothes, her driver's licenses and what money she had managed to scrape together. The most important thing was close to her heart. A cheap silver locket that contained a picture of her daughter. It was the only one she had left. She was determined to find the little girl, who had been taken away by her father.
"Mommy's coming home soon baby." She told the faded picture and kissed the locket.
Her ex had taken their daughter away six months previously. He thought that Ashley was a bad mother. She admitted that she wasn't perfect, but she loved that little girl and would do anything to protect her. She had been a teen mother and things got really hard. Foolishly, she had fallen into the trap of taking drugs and drinking a lot of alcohol. Eventually she was prostituting herself to pay for her fix. That was why her ex had snatched their daughter away. Now she was going to find her.
"Hey hot stuff." a drunken man leered at her.
"Who you talking to?" Ashley asked as she posed seductively.
If she could get this idiot close enough she could rob him and he would be too hung-over to remember in the morning
"Looking for business honey? How about a freebie?" The drunk slurred as he staggered over to her.
He started to grab at her clothes. His breath smelt of stale beer and cigarettes. The dirty blonde turned to face him, administering a swift kick to his crown jewels and watching him as he slid down to the pavement. He groaned in discomfort as Ashley picked up the change he had dropped on the way down and raided his pockets for cash and valuables as he lay in a drunken stupor. She stood up straight and carried on walking.
She reached a quiet street and counted out the money she had managed to steal. It still wasn't enough to get her to her little girl. She headed back to her lodgings. It was getting late and she was tired by now. Her lodgings were a couple of old mattresses in an abandoned store building. The dirty blonde climbed up and slid through the window, before she realized that she had company.
Five young guys were sitting in the room, looking up at her with confusion. One of them was cradling a box of matches and rocking back and forth.
"What the hell are y'all doing in my bed?" Ashley yelled.
"We didn't know." Evan spoke.
"I don't want any trouble." The dirty blonde said, jumping down from the window.
"We won't be any trouble." Randy nodded.
Ashley took a seat next to him and looked across at the others.
"Are y'all going somewhere?" She asked, noticing a lack of belongings.
"Maybe. What about you?" Evan replied as the rest of the guys looked at her.
"I'm on my way to find my daughter." She said.
"You mean you lost her?" Ted said very stunned, almost comically. Randy threw him a look that said, 'shut-up-and-don't-pry'.
"No jack-ass, I know where she is! Sorta…"
The boys looked on with an underlying curiosity. The dirty blonde sighed and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. The boys looked up in interest. Ashley smirked as she put a cigarette in the side of her mouth and took a lighter from her jacket pocket. She raised an eyebrow and held out the pack of cigarettes. She tossed them to Evan.
"Help yourself." She said as she lit up.
"Thanks." Evan replied, taking one out and passing them to the other guys.
The dirty blonde took a couple of puffs before speaking again.
"You guys know where you're going?" she asked them.
"Not yet." Randy replied when the others look at him for an answer. Cody held onto his hand tightly, but not in an uncomfortable manner. It was where no one could see, and it was saying 'I'm not sure about this.'
Ashley blew some smoke at the ceiling and nodded silently.
"So, why did you lose your daughter?" Ted asked again, with curiosity in his eyes.
"Are you sure you boys can handle the truth?" Ashley asked them.
Randy and Evan nodded, while Ted and Cody were silent. Jeff carried on rocking.
"There is nothing you could tell us that would surprise us." Randy said and Evan nodded in agreement.
Ashley ran a hand through her streaked hair and sighed deeply.
"I was only a teenager when I got pregnant. The father was a good guy, so we stayed together for the baby. We got ourselves a place to live, which wasn't much. Phil sent me out to work at this club his friend owned. I thought it was a strip club, but turns out there were a lot of extras involved." The dirty blonde paused and took another puff of her cigarette.
"So were you a hooker?" Jeff spoke for the first time, smiling to himself. Ted and Cody exchanged glances again.
"I guess I was. But I got into other things too, like booze and drugs. Started off with some party pills and I ended up on heroin. Phil's no angel, but he took my girl and ran. Now I wanna find her. I'm her mommy." She explained.
"That's too bad." Ted nodded, without really understanding. Randy frowned and shook his head. Ted was now understanding why Randy always told them to stop wile they could.
"You're cute." Ashley grinned at Ted, causing him to blush. Randy smirked at this. Ted wasn't used to any attention from women. Or anyone else for that matter, the only one of them that really liked Ted's company was Evan, and that was a pairing that would never happen!
"What's your name?" Evan asked her.
"Y'all can call me Ashley." The dirty blonde smirked as she took a final puff from her cigarette.
"I'm Evan, that's Randy, Cody, Ted and Jeff." Evan made the introductions.
"Nice to meet you." the dirty blonde nodded.
"So can we crash here tonight?" Randy asked the blonde woman.
"I guess so. It's about as comfy as I can get it." She nodded and stubbed out her smoke on the floor.
The boys nodded and started putting together makeshift sleeping areas. Ashley took off her jacket and used it as an extra pillow.
"Where are you headed?" Evan asked her.
"I think Phil's taken my daughter to New York. So that's where I'm heading. As soon as I make enough money." She replied.
The boys and the blonde sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Everyone seemed to drift into their own world for a moment. Eventually she looked at them and raised an eyebrow. Randy and Evan noticed this.
"Something wrong?" Randy asked.
"Where are you boys off to?" she asked them.
"We don't know yet." Evan shrugged.
"Yeah, we had to run cause Jeff killed his folks." Ted finished.
Randy shot him a 'what the hell?' look and shrugged towards Evan. Jeff seemed oblivious to the mention of him and his crime.
There was an eerie silence as the blonde woman took in this revelation; he didn't look like a murder. She looked at them all and shrugged. The boys didn't know whether to be relieved or not. They didn't have to worry when she looked up and nodded her head slowly.
"Oh well, shit happens." She said.
Their thoughts were a mixture of, 'wow, this chick is crazy!' and, 'we could really get along with her.'
Randy and Cody's pallets weren't exactly touching, but were very close together. They weren't touching except for their fingers, which were lightly locked together. Randy was starting to feel guilty for bringing him on this trip. What could this give him, really? He was starting to get a bad felling about this whole thing, and it was his place to protect them, all of them. Cody squeezed his fingers as if he knew what Randy was thinking. "Good night." Cody whispered just loud enough for Randy alone to hear. Randy returned the pressure but did not speak.
Ashley and Evan were up, smoking. "So, really why did ya'll leave? Gang war?" She asked and this made Evan laugh out loud!
"No way! Nothing like that. Randy thought we would be better off somewhere else, and well, Jeff didn't have a choice but to leave." Evan said looking at Jeff's sleeping form; even he was unsure what to make of the young man.
"Does he usually go around killing people?" She asked, following Evan's stare.
"I don't know, we have known him for years, but know one really knows him that well. He doesn't talk about his personal life much, Randy likes him for that. He likes to catch things on fire, but other that that he is a pretty good kid." Evan said puffing on another cigarette.
"What about those two?" She asked nodding to Randy and Cody "Are they…" "Together? Like this!" And Evan over lapped his fingers. "Hmm. It's too bad, all the good ones have to be taken." She said, she was looking at Randy almost greedily.
"I'm not sure you would call Randy a 'good one', and Cody is just a kid." He said with a smile.
She smiled one of her more seductive smiles at him, "What does that make you?" She asked simple.
He licked his lips and blinked a few times before answering. He shook his head. "Just Evan, I guess."
"I bet that 'just Evan' has a lot more pull in this group that he's letting on."
"Maybe, what do you want?" he asked calmly.
"Take me to New York." Evan looked taken aback. Maybe it was too soon to be asking for things like that.
"I'm not sure Evan has that much pull." Said a deep, sleepy voice. Randy was sitting up looking at the two. Ashley and Evan broke their intense gaze and looked at him.
"I didn't know you were awake." Evan said.
"You shouldn't be, we have to leave in the morning." Randy said.
"I know I was about to go to bed."
"Why would we take you with us? What's in it for us?" Randy asked Ashley. She smirked and opened her legs a little wider. "Anything you want!" Evan raised his eye brows and darted his gaze from her to Randy. There was no doubt she was a very astrictive woman, but Evan couldn't remember anyone ever being stupid enough to try and seduce Randy.
Randy looked angry for a moment then smirked. "Sorry, honey, I don't swing that way. Give me a cigarette." She through the pack and the lighter to him, he caught them and lit up. "Let me sleep on it, I will tell you in the morning."
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