The Dark World - Chapter 4

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I enjoyed writing this Chapter so much! So, I hope you guys enjoy reading it! Lol. Anyway, here it is :D
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I was barely aware of the fact that I wasn’t alone when I woke. My vision wasn’t the best, but I could still see a black human shape sitting in a chair across the room. I sat up slowly, trying to knock off the dizzy feeling I had.

"Finally," the person said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"What?" I asked confused.

My vision blacked out completely for a moment, then cleared up. It was Ash sitting in the chair. I reached up and tried to fix my disarrayed hair.

"No one cares what your hair looks like," Ash announced.

"I do," I replied, sounding as annoyed as he had earlier.

"Whatever. If you’re really awake now, would you mind getting up and putting the clothes on the end of your bed on? Tiffany brought them for you."

"I have clothes in my bag."

"But Tiffany brought those for you. It would be utterly rude not to accept them," he argued.

"Oh, and you’re really one to be preaching about rudeness," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Just put it on."

"No."

"Fine! I don’t care," he exclaimed.

I watched as he jerked himself out of the chair and walked to the door. He was so annoying! Even the way he walked was annoying.

"Breakfast is ready if you’re hungry. Just go down the stairs and turn right at the end of the hall," Ash muttered before leaving me alone in the little room.

I pushed the covers aside and shifted my legs off the bed. I had clothes in my bag, but I guess I would wear the ones Tiffany brought. After all, Ash was the one I wanted to be rude to, not Tiffany.

I sighed, picking up the clothes that lay on the end of my bed. I unfolded the shirt first. It was a long sleeved, black latex shirt. It looked small compared the all the t-shirts I had. The jeans were regular cut off knee-knockers.

I went to the bathroom to take a shower. After that, I would go down stairs only to be faced by my current enemy: Ash.
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"’Morning, Ang!" Alex exclaimed when I entered the kitchen.

"Good morning," I replied with a smile.

Now, why couldn’t Ash be more like Alex? Simple, sweet, selfless, caring, and cute. Instead of his usual arrogant, mysterious, unloving, cold, foolishly handsome self. Ugh.

I seriously disgust myself sometimes. I hate Ash, yet some of the things I said were actually good?

Festering Fetus! I’m losing my mind! I thought, mentally slapping myself back to reality.

"Are you okay?" Tiffany asked, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"I’m fine," I lied.

"If you say so." She shrugged and took her seat next to Ash.

I groaned silently to myself. The only seat left was beside Ash. Great.

"It’s not that bad. I promise I won’t bite," Ash muttered as I took my seat beside him.

"It’s not you I’m worried about."

"Then who?"

"Myself," I answered honestly.

"Why so?"

"Because you may be an arrogant jerk, but that gives me no reason to beat the shit out of you. I should just ignore you. But for some reason you make that impossible. So I’m not worried too much about what you could, or even would, do to me as much as I am myself and what I could or would do to you," I rushed out.

Ash stared at me blankly. I might as well have been talking to a wall as far as him getting all that went. Gosh, couldn’t he just once listen to me and actually get what I’m saying? Sheesh.

"You’re worse than a child when it comes to listening," I mumbled more to myself than to him.

"Oh, right. I’m sorry to have displeased you, Your Majesty," he replied sarcastically.

"Just shut up and eat."

"You shut up and eat. Besides, you started it."

"I did not start -" I started to say when Elsie cut me off.

"Both of you shut up and eat!" she yelled over everyone.

The whole room got quiet at her demand. Ash said nothing farther, but kept glaring at me. I held his gaze, trying to look scary. I didn’t think I was doing as good a job as he.

Still, I glared back and kept my ground. He never flinched, but I did see something flicker in his expression. It almost looked like respect, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared.

"Oh for Christ’s sake, you guys. Stop staring daggers at each other and eat your meal!" Elsie said.

"Sorry," Ash muttered.

I didn’t say anything. I grabbed a plate and helped myself to eggs, fried potatoes, and some gravy. Everything else looked… not so appealing. Especially the orange stuff with red things floating around in it.

"It’s Jellocan," Alex said to me.

"Jellocan?" I asked incredulously.

"Jellocan," he confirmed.

"What the heck is Jellocan?"

"It’s jello and bacon mixed together. In this case, it’s orange jello and turkey bacon. It’s actually pretty good. You should try it."

"Er… Maybe later?"

"Suit yourself," he said with a shrug.

Okay, there’s a lot of things in this world I could eat. But "Jellocan"? That’s just… wrong.

I ate in silence, listening to everyone else talk. When I was finished, I gathered my dishes and headed for the kitchen. I felt like I ate fast, but I know it was just because I didn’t eat as much as everyone else. Except for the person who was following me into the kitchen.

"What’s your problem with me? I haven’t done anything to you, apart from trying to help you," Ash said as soon as we were alone.

"Nothing," I replied.

It wasn’t a lie, per se, but it wasn’t the truth either.

"You’re not telling me the truth. There’s something about me that ticks you off. I’d just like to know what the hell it is so that I can work on it and try not to get on your nerves as much."

"If you absolutely have to know…"

When I didn’t say anything else, and just stared at him, he raised his hands, urging me to continue. I sighed.

"You’re too arrogant. You need to lose some of you attitude. And you need to get over the fact that a girl saved you the other day," I said with another sigh.

"That’s it?" he asked, incredulously.

"That’s it," I confirmed.

"Shit, I thought it would have been something else. Something more important that my arrogance."

I looked at him, bewildered. How could he say that? He was too arrogant for his own good. He was too arrogant for my own good. Then I smiled. If he truly wanted the whole truth…

"You’re a jerk. You’re horrible, despicable, arrogant, selfish, uncaring, cold, egotistic, hardheaded, stubborn, et cetera. Would you like for me to continue, though? I’m more than sure I could sit down and write out every little thing you are," I rush out.

Ash stared at me, unbelievingly. He didn’t think I’d actually say those things, probably. But I proved him wrong. And if he thinks I can’t come up with more, he’s definitely wrong. Maybe he should just try me.

Instead though, he smiled at me. I felt my eyebrows pull together in confusion. He was smiling? What the hell?

"No one’s ever taken the time to actually point out everything about me that’s bad," he said with his usual air or arrogance.

"Oh, just shut up," I replied, rolling my eyes at him.

"Why? Is that something else that’s wrong with me? Loudness? Outgoingness? Outspoken? Et Cetera." He put emphasis on the last two words.

That. Was. It! I lost it then. I don’t know what happened, but some part of me took over and before I even realized what I was doing, I was on top of Ash.

I had him pinned on the ground, sitting atop him. He was trying to push me off, but I was too resistant. It wasn’t like I was trying to hit him or anything; because, honestly, I wasn’t. I was just trying to get his hands in a firm grasp so that I could lean forward and threaten him, hopefully scaring him a little.

But, I should have known that he’d be stronger than what he looked. I may have had a lead on him, but before I could count to five, he had me on the ground underneath him.

"Get off!" I managed to gasp out.

"No! You were on me first!"

"I was just trying to… I dunno! But I wasn’t going to hurt you or anything! Jeez!"

He stopped everything he was doing. He dropped my hands, which fell to the floor beside my head. And although he didn’t get off from on top of me, he did shift to where I could breath more thoroughly.

When I finally got my breath back, I looked up at Ash. His face was a solid mask; no emotions whatsoever were on it. But his eyes, the eyes I had noticed were a very beautiful blue, were looking at me with such intensity that I almost turned away. Almost.

Instead, I held his gaze. I didn’t realize it till now, either, but the fact that he was still on top of me should have disgusted me, or even made me angrier. But it didn’t. Somehow, looking into Ash’s eyes and him sitting on top of me, it almost felt… right?

Shock of very disturbing realization coursed through me. And before I knew it, I was on top of Ash again. Now, I was angry. Not at him, though. At myself. Mostly for letting myself feel anything for such an arrogant jerk!

But surely there’s something more under all that arrogance, some small part of my mind whispered.

I shook my headhoping to silence the voice, sighed, and then got off Ash.

"What the hell was that?" Alex asked, standing at the kitchen door.

I wheeled around, eyes widening at the sight of him. I hadn’t even noticed there was someone in the room with us. And he must have seen every bit of that, right?

Uh-oh, was the only thing that ran through my mind. I looked to Ash for some help, only to be disappointed when he shrugged and left the kitchen. Alex was still standing there, looking at me questioningly.

Now, I had to explain.