Chapter Two: Storm

Ashley pushed herself up on her hands, a scowl swimming over her pretty features. "What the hell!" she yelled, all her sudden rage for Madison spilling out onto this girl. Maybe it wasn’t right to take her frustration out on her, but she was pissed… heartbroken… and now officially annoyed. It didn’t matter that she’d been the one to blindly run around the corner. It didn’t matter that she’d been the one who had crashed into the brunette before her. A moment of deafening silence surrounded the two teenagers. Ashley glared at the girl, a string of curse words slipping out with her breath. Pushing herself off the ground, she silently waited for the girl to spout off an apology, but she didn’t. She remained silent, her dark locks sheilding her facial expression from Ashley’s probing eyes. Which only fueled her anger and annoyance at the girl who didn’t have enough brains to sense Ashley rounding the corner. "Are you deaf as well as fucking homocidal? Because you nearly killed me!" she ranted, another string of colorful words flying from her mouth as she smoothed her skirt down.

Spencer couldn’t breathe. The air filling her lungs was putrid, poisoning her organs. She felt like she was choking on it. Couldn’t she see? Couldn’t Ashley see that she was staining the air around them, killing Spencer slowly. She hadn’t been able to pull herself up off the ground yet. She sat there, thankful for the way she had fallen, because her dark hair had managed to get disheveled in such a way that she was partially hidden from the swearing girl. She wanted to hide. Because… she wasn’t sure she’d survive the moment her eyes fell over Ashley. Her Ashley. Only.. she wasn’t hers anymore. She was just Ashley. And Spencer was just Spencer. They used to be a unit, two halves forming a whole. But, now they were broken, and Spencer knew that she had broken off jagged. They’d never be able to fit together again.

It was strange. Spencer had pictured this moment over and over. Sometimes she screamed at the other girl for leaving her. Sometimes, she just kissed her. Other times, she did both. But, her daydreams had always ended the same. With Ashley in her arms, whispering apologies, telling her that she still loved her. She kept those daydreams a secret, even from Madison. They were wrong. She shouldn’t be thinking about loving a girl who had shattered her. So, she had learned to stop. Stop thinking about her. Stop picturing the way her nose crinkled at the bridge when she smiled, and felt it. Stop remembering the way she tasted… a sweet salty mix that only Ashley could possess, a contradiction in herself. Stop wishing that the girl would come back, and hold her hand, and touch places that only she could.