Page 6 of The One Who Got Away

She read my mind and turned around, lowering her head a few notches. There was an infinity sign at the base of her neck. The she whipped back around, gripping my arm as she took off her shoe. She flexed her foot so I could see the bottom. On the sole of her left foot was a Technicolor bug with green goo oozing out of its colorful body.

“Two new ones since I last saw you,” she grinned proudly.

“Nice,” I nodded enthusiastically. I only had one. ‘Breathe’ was etched behind my left ear. It hurt like hell, so it was my first and last tattoo. I’d just have to live vicariously through Ash.

Hunter cleared her throat behind us, and I realized that the girl who had been talking about partying in foreign countries was now watching us with fascination. If her mother was wearing pearls, she’d probably be clutching them.

“Let’s go back to my office,” Ash murmured, looping her arm through mine.

We stepped into her domain and I felt like I was back in her bedroom in Rhoades, but everything had an edge of sophistication now. There wasn’t a tattered, creased poster of David Bowie tacked to the wall near her bed. Instead, there was his silhouette and a quote, surrounded by a striking black frame. The pillows that used to be scattered all over her room were as bright as I remembered, but now they were perched delicately and in their place on a blood-red chaise. She had a pretty similar desk back in high school, but back then it was barely visible amid the junk and covered with band stickers. Today, her vintage black desk had ornate legs and her desktop was organized, complete with a sleek silver computer and a red and black folder system.

“Nice digs,” I commented, hesitating before I made my way to a chevron printed armchair in front of her desk. “I’m gonna have to cut back on my hoarding ways so I don’t junk up your place.”

“Don’t believe the hype,” Ashton assured me with a chuckle, plopping into her seat with a sigh. “This place just looks presentable because I’m sure potential students and parents would frown on dirty clothes, empty Starbucks cups, and vibrators all over the place.”

“What have I gotten myself into?” I gasped, my eyes bulging with faux horror.

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t walk around naked. I’ll wear pasties and G-strings, of course.”

I settled in the seat with a clipped giggle, my eyes following the lines of the nameplate on her desk. She’d only been working full-time for the college for a year and she’d already been promoted to Head of Admissions. She was building a career, a legacy, and I’d been working part-time here and there, at any nonprofit that would have me, since graduation. She was moving forward, no, blazing forward, and I was stuck somewhere between neutral and drive. I couldn’t even handle seeing a billboard with my ex’s name on it without crumbling.

“You saw the billboard.”

I tore my eyes from her desk and dropped them to my peeling nails. “You mean that eyesore off of Hillsborough street?” I shrugged both shoulders and set in on my thumbnail. Bits of scarlet nail polish rained onto my lap.

“That brave face you’re putting on? Save it for your family. I’m your best friend, and I know it got under your skin because every time I drive past it, I’m tempted to climb up and deface it.”

I snapped my chin upward. “You’d commit a crime for me?”

“In a heartbeat.” Her emerald eyes glinted mischievously. “Hopefully, you’ll pay my bail.”

“In a heartbeat.” I smiled. The smile was short-lived because the mere mention of anything Lincoln related was like some stink bomb going off, filling the room with toxic fumes. But that suffocating feeling, drowning in the anger that made me shake and claw for the surface, wasn’t nearly as debilitating as the slew of the good stuff that came rushing back too. He had made me feel that words like ‘love’ and ‘beauty’ and ‘forever’ were made for me. For us.

All the nights we’d stayed up, the hours spilling into morning, talking about everything from our family, to the places we’d visit, to the way we’d use our energy and resources to change the world, replayed in my mind. Everything seems bigger when you’re in love: colors are more brilliant, touch is more powerful, and the future is as expansive as a globe, with infinite possibilities. Then in one swoop, the bottom fell out of my world. And even though he left some bullshit letter and had reached out to me over the years through texts and emails, no amount of reading his words explained a damn thing. It didn’t make the pain go away.

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” Ashton asked warily, her chair squeaking as she scooted closer. Her eyes told me there was only one acceptable answer. If I wanted to be coddled, I’d come to the wrong place. “You can not let Lincoln Carraway take this opportunity away from you. This job? It’s a chance for you to do what you’ve always wanted to do. Help kids-”

“I know-”

“And he certainly hasn’t lost any sleep over what happened.”

She didn’t mince her words or pull any punches and even though hearing it was hard, I nodded in agreement.

“You’re right.” I swallowed my bitterness. “I’m going to take the job.”

“Oh, you can do better than that,” she scoffed, crossing her arms like some merciless personal trainer. “Say it like you mean it. Like you deserve it.”

“I’m going to take the job.”

“Louder!”

I gripped the arms of the chair. “I’m gonna take the job!”

“Damn straight.” She opened one of her drawers and pulled out a key and handed it to me. “Make yourself at home, okay? When I get off, we’ll go get drinks and celebrate.”

I thanked her and left the office after getting a high five from Hunter, of course.

I was ready for the next chapter.

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