Page 11 of Ashes to Ash’s

Holy crap.

Callum

I had this horrible feeling they were going to ship me off to my uncle. Apparently their visit to the Cross family had gone badly, like I ever expected anything else, and now they were ‘fearing for my soul’ or some crap.

“I met a girl,” I blurted, while they were bitching about his depraved family. Both of them fell silent, and they stared at me for a moment, probably wondering where the fuck that came from.

“Lovely,” mum finally said, nodding in dad’s direction for a moment. “Who is she? We’d love to meet her, wouldn’t we, Derek?” Oh Jesus. Now there had to be an actual girl?

I shouldn’t have tried to play them, should I? I stared dumbly at them for a moment, and spat out the first name that occurred to me.

“Brenda. Uh… she’s in some of my classes, and we’re getting to be really good friends.” Fuck. I barely knew her, and I knew she was into me, but I really didn’t want her back. Now I’d have to pretend, and that’d lead her on. Wow, maybe I really should go to hell. Look at me fucking up other people’s lives every day.

“Invite her to dinner, son. Sometime this week would be good.”

I blinked at them in a panic for a few agonisingly long moments. “So soon? It’s not like we’re there yet. I mean, I haven’t even asked her out yet, and-”

“Best get on with it, boy. Girls don’t wait around forever. Just make sure she’s not one of those promiscuous ones, who’ll sleep around before marriage.” Jesus fuck. My parents were literally insane. Was she ‘promiscuous’? Who the fuck knew!

I shrugged, my mind racing as my lies started to catch up with me, before I’d even finished spinning them.

“What if it’s not a girl?” I blurted, feeling the colour drain from my face, as I realised I couldn’t take those words back.

“You said her name is Brenda… oh… she’s older than you? How much older?” Typical of mum to go anywhere other than where a logical person would go.

Both of my parents stared sternly at me, waiting for some kind of explanation, and I had no idea what to say anymore.

“Whatever. I don’t like her that much. She’s probably a slut anyway.”

Two days later, I was on the coach to my uncle’s place, to finish out my school year.

“Fuck Ash, this is all his fucking fault.”

Chapter Eight

Ash (now eighteen)

Ihated my new job. Ask me again why I thought that office work would suit my mentality. I guess I figured since I’d got good grades in the end, not great, but good enough, I might as well put them to use, but this shit was boring as fuck. I was working for a stationery supplier, and it was monotonous, and mind numbingly boring. Plus the place was mismanaged by the upper management, so the staff were earning fuck all, for working our asses off. It might be time to take a leaf out of the family book and burn this asshole place to the ground.

“Ashley, are you done with that file yet?”

I turned to glare at Eddie, the person who seemed to believe he was my manager, even though he was the same fucking pay grade as me.

“I’ve told you a shitload of times, that my fucking name is Ash. Get it wrong one more time, and I’ll introduce your face to that fucking window. And yeah, take the stupid file. I’m not doing anything with it. I could do this bullshit in my sleep.”

The scrawny little shit blinked warily at me, and snatched the file, backing away to his desk again.

“Ash, that wasn’t cool, but it was absolutely hilarious,” Rosa said to me. She was my desk mate, as she called it, pushing forty something, and as done with this place as me. She’d been here for twenty fucking years though. How the hell hadn’t she ditched this shitty job long ago?

“I’ll kick his ass next time, I swear. It’s not difficult to get it right. Stupid fuck.”

“Ash, a word,” my line manager was at my desk now, and glaring down at me, so I stood up, knowing I had a foot of height on him, and I could smash his pathetic little face without even breaking a sweat. It’s called the gym, but apparently I was the only person here fucking using one.

“Problem?”

He blinked up at me for a moment, then steeled himself. “Yes. My office.” He turned and marched off like a pissy little fuck, and I turned to roll my eyes at Rosa. Two months I’d been here, and it was enough for me. There was nothing keeping me here except laziness.

“I think I’m about to get my ass fired, babe, don’t miss me too much.” She laughed and waved a hand at me, as she grabbed the next incoming call.