Fire And Ash

by Nia Davenport

  I am considering grabbing one of my new gleaming knives from my messenger bag in the car when a perky blonde who looks about my age emerges from it.

  “Hi!” She calls out over the truck roaring past us. “I saw your tire blow and thought you might need some help. I know flat tires can be a pain.”

  “Yeah, they can be.” I pull my spare out of the trunk and wheel it to the front driver side of my car. When I turn back around the too friendly blonde is heaving the hydraulic jack out of my trunk.

  “This should make things nice and easy,” she says as she rolls it over.

  “Thanks.” I take it from her. “And it does. Every time I have a flat, I go home and thank my dad for getting it for me.”

  Something flashes in her green eyes. But it’s there one minute then gone the next before I can guess at what it could be.

  I change my tire in less than sixty seconds, exactly how Dad taught me to do. Learning was one of the conditions of being able to drive the car he bought me after I got my license. He said sitting in a car on the side of the highway waiting for roadside assistance was too dangerous. In the time it took them to get there a car or a semi-automatic truck could come barreling down the highway and smash into me.

  As I lug the busted tire to the trunk to dispose of later, the blonde pulls the jack alongside me.

  “Thanks,” I tell her again.

  “I’m Cass,” she says as I close the trunk. “Well actually the name is Cassie but I prefer Cass for short.”

  “I’m Ash,” I smile back at her.

  “Is that short for Ashley or something else?”

  I grimace at the the mention of my full name. “Unfortunately it is.”

  “Well Cassie is really short for Cassandra and that makes me sound like an old croon or a tragic greek figure so yeah…I understand about shortening names.”

  I laugh. She’s funny. “I’m assuming you’re new in town.”

  “Yeah I am. Me and my family just moved here from Utah a few weeks ago.”

  “I’ve never been to Utah but it seems…”

  “Not too much to get excited about,” Cassie finishes for me.

  “Ha! Welcome to Laurel Springs,” I say in a too sweet tone as I wave my hand around. “We have a population of forty thousand and the nearest real mall is fifty miles away.”

  “Well I guess I can’t miss what I never really had.”

  Her friendliness is kind of infectious. Which is why when she asks where the best place to get lunch is, I tell her about my favorite diner with mouthwatering burgers and creamy milkshakes and when she asks if I want to join her I say yes, offering to lead the way in my car. We get food and end up catching a later showing of the new Avengers movie I was on my way to see. Afterwards, we exchange numbers and I find myself agreeing that we should definitely hang out again.

  ******

  Two days later it is the Fourth of July and I’ve spent the entire day trying to amuse myself in an empty house. Everyone except my grandmother is in Highland Village helping with the massive search for the missing girl that has ensued. Dad has a contact in their sheriff’s department that calls on him from time to time when he comes across a case that seems it might be something that is more Dad’s speed than his.

  I wander from my bedroom to the kitchen and pour myself a glass of lemonade. Then I sit down at one of the bar stools around the island with a huff. At the very least I could have gone to Highland Village and helped with the search. I can only stare at my television and laptop screen for so long before my brain turns to goo and there is only so much time I can spend in my home gym or the local one before my body goes from athletically toned to muscled and I start looking like a boy.

  I could start on my summer reading but it’s a holiday so the library is closed and the next summer release I want to see doesn’t come out in theaters for another three weeks. I pick up my phone that I left on the kitchen counter hours before not really expecting for there to be anything of interest on the screen. Becca is the only person who would call or text and she’s busy hanging out in the Big Apple and doing what I am supposed to be doing. She keeps in contact about once a week and I just talked to her yesterday. I’m surprised when I see a red one next to the text message icon in the lower left corner of the screen. I click on it and am even more surprised to see that it’s from the new girl, Cassie, inviting me over to her house for the Fourth. They have a pool and her uncle is making burgers on the grill. I put the phone down then after thinking it over for moment pick it back up.

  What the hell else do I have to do?

  I text her to send me the address and that I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Her address pops up immediately on the message screen followed by a smiley face.

  When I arrive at Cassie’s the first thing I notice is that it isn’t surrounded by neighbors on all sides like mine. Instead, it’s on the outskirts of Laurel Springs near the base of the Rockies and the last house I passed driving to it was at least five miles back.

  “Cass how hard is it to just use your key. I swear you do it because you know I’m not going to not come to the d—” The boy’s grumbling stops short when he fully swings the door open and sees I am obviously not the person he assumed was on the other side of the door.

  Except for the nicely defined arms shown off by the muscle tank that most high school boys don’t have, he looks to be about my age.

  I frown. Cassie hadn’t mentioned a brother. When we had lunch at the diner she had only said she moved to Laurel Springs with her mom and uncle. Maybe the boy glowering down at me was a cousin who was visiting for the summer of something.

  “Who the fuck are you?” His previously smirking lips flatten into a sneer. I notice how full they are. Along with his thick lashes and high cheekbones they present a pretty face that sits in stark contrast to his words.

  “Um…Does Cassie live here?” I bristle at his abruptness but I force my voice to remain calm and polite.

  “Depends on who wants to know.”

  Which means she does and he is just being a douche. I really, really do not like this guy. My hands clench into fists at my side. I take a calming breath before speaking again because what I really want to say is Who the hell do you think you are? Instead I manage to remain on my best behavior. “I’m Ash. We met in town a couple of days ago and Cassie invited me over.”

  “Did she now?” His dark gaze roves over me from head to toe, making me feel completely exposed. Then his eyes lock with mine and they hold my gaze as he tells me, “No. She did not.”

  “Yes, she did.” What the hell? Why would I lie? Who just shows up at someone’s house uninvited and pretends like they were? He is starting to piss me off.

  His eyebrows scrunch together as if something has left him perplexed. A sharp, intense look flares on his face then it disappears just as quickly. He continues looking at me for a long, silent moment. “Well, she shouldn’t have,” he finally says.

  My temper finally gets the better of me and I can no longer remain on my best behavior. “You’re an ass!” I snap at him.

  “She’s right. And Derek Jensen I can’t believe you, I taught you better!” A petite middle-aged woman with the same dark eyes and even darker hair appears in the doorway behind me. She glares daggers at the back of his head. I gather that he’s in trouble and he knows it when his back straightens and his muscles tense after he turns to meet her stare. “There are burgers on the grill that need tending to.”

  “I’m on it Mom.” His tone softens when he speaks to her. He no longer sounds like a Grade A jerk. He disappears into the interior of the house but not before pausing to look back and shoot me a caustic look over his shoulder that says regardless of what she says you are not welcome here.

  The woman turns to me with a blinding smile that communicates the exact opposite. From first impressions they seem like night and day. She is bright and sunny and he is Mr. Dark and Moody. I marvel at how she can be his mother then wonder where Cassie’s and Cassie herself
is on the tail end of the thought. She grabs me by the arm and pulls me into the house.

  “My son will refuse to so I apologize on his behalf. He forgets the manners that I went through great pains to teach him sometimes. You must be Ash. Cassie told me that she invited you over and to keep an eye out for you in case you arrived before she got back. I forgot the eggs when I went to the grocery store this morning so I sent her to the drug store for half a dozen. It’s the price of not contributing to the meal. I love my Cass but she would burn water.” The woman chuckles at her own joke and I smile politely.

  She doesn’t look like Cassie but both of them have the same springy and uber friendly personality.

  She leads me by my arm down a hallway and into the kitchen. “My son has grill duty and I’m responsible for the sides and the sweets. Cass should be back soon but in the mean time I’d feel bad about leaving you sitting in the living room alone. I was in the middle of making a fruit tray when I heard the doorbell. Would you like to help me?”

  “Um, sure,” I answer awkwardly, hoping that it doesn’t entail anything to intensive. If what she says about Cassie’s cooking abilities is true then we have something in common. I would definitely burn water if left alone with a boiling pot.

  I relax when the woman playing hostess in Cassie and her mother’s absence hands me a cutting board and a knife and directs me to slice a cantaloupe. That I can do. I am pretty good at anything that involves sharp objects.

  I have sliced two cantaloupes, and entire watermelon, three pineapples, and am just starting on the kiwis when Cassie walks into the kitchen.

  She groans as she drops the plastic bag on the kitchen table. “Really mom?! You did not put Ash to work already. There is no way she is going to come back over again if I invite her.”

  Okay so maybe he is her brother and she just didn’t mention him. I wouldn’t either if he were mine.

  “I am so sorry,” she says turning to me.

  “It’s cool. It’s actually kind of fun.” I don’t say the words to make her feel better or to be polite. I mean it. In the last ten minutes I’ve fallen into a kind of enjoyable mindless rhythm as the kitchen knife sliced through one kind of fruit after another, cleaving two by two chunks of fruit.

  “Liar,” Derek, the jackass, snorts as he steps through the partially open sliding glass door that leads from the kitchen to the fenced in backyard.

  I stop cutting the kiwi in front of me and pretend to just happen to hold the knife in a way that it comes level with the spot between his eyes as he crosses the kitchen towards me. “No really. It’s fun to cut things.” I smooth my face into an innocent mask and make my voice drip with sickly sweetness.

  He sits the foil pan with patties in it down hard on the counter beside me and glares at me straight on.

  “Derek!” Cassie and his mom hiss at the same time.

  His jaw clenches tight. I know he wants to respond to my none too subtle poke. But he doesn’t. He shoulders past me and heads for the sliding door. “The rest of the food will be off the grill in a minute. Is everything else ready? The sooner we eat the sooner she can leave,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks out.

  Their mother’s mouth hangs agape and Cassie’s cheeks redden.

  “I am so sorry,” she starts to apologize for his ill manners but I cut her off refusing to let her.

  “You don’t have to apologize for his colossal rudeness.”

  “Was he nice when she first got here?” She asks her mom. The suspicion in her voice makes it clear she is asking a question she already knows the answer to.

  “You know how Derek can be. But don’t be too hard on him about it later. We both know the reason for his newfound attitude,” she says sighing. The oven chimes and she takes a pan that looks like it contains some sort of casserole out of it and puts a round pan that holds the cake batter she used the eggs to make in it.

  “I know Mom but it’s starting to become a poor excuse. Him and his attitude is the reason we keep having to move. This is supposed to be our last clean start.”

  “I know Cass. I’ll talk to him about it. I promise.”

  “If y’all are done talking about me like I can’t hear you, can we eat already? I’m starving,” Derek calls from outside.

  Cassie rolls her eyes and their mom gives her an indulgent smile.

  I don’t stay long after we eat. I tell Cassie I have to get home because my dad is expecting me not to stay out too long. Truthfully, the way her brother spends the entire meal stone-faced and tight-jawed makes me feel like I’m imposing and I decide to go sooner rather than later.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Balance

  “Ash!” Aunt Farrah screams upstairs. “Mom says to come eat!” My aunt can’t help but to be loud. She grew up in a house full of boys.

  I pull on a pair of sweats over my sleep shorts, make a quick stop in the bathroom to brush my teeth, then head downstairs.

  Today is the first time I’ve woken up to my family in residence and having breakfast together in days. Everyone’s time except mine and Grandma’s have been consumed by the search for the missing girl. I thought I missed everyone being around, but I rethink the sentiment when I open the refrigerator and am greeted by an empty carton of orange juice.

  I scowl at Sean and raise the empty carton in the air. “Would it kill you to throw it away?”

  “Why bother?” He says over a mouthful of pancakes. “That’s what I have you for, princess.”

  Aunt Farrah spits out the sip of water she’s just taken when the carton hits him in the face. Even Gerard doubles over in laughter and they’re thick as thieves. My grandmother doesn’t think it’s so funny.

  She thinks it’s even less funny when the steak knife on the table beside Sean hurls itself at my head.

  “Sean!” She shrieks at him. “That was uncalled for!”

  “And her hurling an orange juice carton across the room at me wasn’t?!” He whines sounding more like a twelve year old than a twenty year old.

  I stick my tongue out at him behind my grandmother’s back. But I swear she has eyes in the back of her head because she calls me on it without ever turning around. “Ash! If you bleed all over my freshly mopped kitchen floor you’ll be cleaning it and every other floor in this house! So I suggest you move on from aggravating your cousin and go wrap your hand before it starts dripping blood.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I mutter and leave the kitchen, but not before shooting Sean the finger who has a triumphant smirk on his face

  “I saw that too!” Grandma yells after me.

  “Good catch,” Aunt Farrah whispers to me conspiratorially when I return to the kitchen and sit down beside her at the table.

  I load my plate up with what’s left of the food after my cousins have demolished it. Two pancakes, a slice of bacon and a scoop of eggs. “Where are Dad and Granddad?” I ask with a mouth full of food.

  Grandma narrows her eyes at me for my bad manners. I pretend not to notice.

  “They left for Highland Village earlier this morning. The rest of us are meeting them there after I get a few things squared away here. I don’t like leaving you by yourself, but you’re responsible enough to do so and your grandfather could use the extra help on this one. We will be gone for a couple of days until the search for her wraps up. It doesn’t make sense to keep driving back and forth when we are helping the sheriff’s office look for her by day and hunting for the phoenix that are responsible by night.”

  “Of course the rest of us doesn’t include me,” I say bitterly.

  Sean and Gerard both snort.

  “Of course not squirt,” Gerard says. “You’re being left behind.”

  I force myself not to let on how much his comment gets to me.

  Aunt Farrah picks up on it anyway. She nudges my shoulder with hers trying to lighten my mood. “Look at it this way. We’ll all be out of town for a few days. You can throw a party or invite a boy over. You know do something a normal teenager would for a fe
w days. You need balance kiddo, and you don’t have enough of it.” Of course Aunt Farrah would say that. Her motto is work hard, play harder.

  “Ash has to actually have friends other than Becca to do those things,” Gerard, Tweedledum, quips from his seat beside Tweedledee.

  Aunt Farrah is about to rip into him and I’m about to along with her. This is how things have always been. Them against us. The girls versus the guys.

  Grandma intervenes before we can. “It’s about time for us to leave. Boys go get ready. Farrah you too.”

  My aunt and my cousins push away from the table without a word and follow the directive.

  I’m chewing a mouthful of eggs when Grandma initiates a conversation I’d purposely been avoiding having.

  “Ash, how’s your summer reading coming along? Did you ever make it to the library to get your books?” She asks taking another sip of her coffee.

  I open my mouth to lie, but then think better of it. Just like she has eyes in the back of her head, she also has a sixth sense when it comes to all of us lying to her.

  “No,” I mutter.

  “It’s already July Ash. The end of summer will be here before you know it. When do you plan on completing it? You have six books to read before September right?”

  “Yes,” my shoulders slump and my head hurts just thinking about it. As a junior I’ll be taking AP Literature, Physics, Algebra II, and AP U.S. History for core classes. My two advanced placement teachers have assigned me three books a piece to read over the summer in preparation for their classes. No doubt, there will be some type of project or test over the material in the first few days of school. I like reading but not when I am forced to and not when I don’t have a choice as to what I read. “Since I’ll be here alone for a few days, I will make it to the book store in Highland Village. It will give me something to do. I can turn it into a shopping day and pick up a few new outfits for school from the mall too.”