Andy

Ashley was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the day, and I could tell it was making Andy restless. I was sorry, in a way, for chasing off his best friend, but on the other hand, I was pissed at Ashley for not even giving me a chance to prove myself before he got pissy about everything.

Ashley had given me a few gestures of kindness the night I’d met him, but looking back on those, I think they were all just tests to figure out who I was, and apparently, he was not pleased.

He mentioned during their little huffle puffle that I was going to “End up just like Scout.”

I rememeber the story well even though it’d been nearly three weeks since I’d heard it. Walking home from the bar the night before Andy’s funeral while he enlightened me on his past love life, telling me about the girl Scout who had cheated on him while he moved to Pendant.

I could understand Ashley’s hesitation towards having another girl in Andy’s life, and how that would complicate things. I was just trying to stay out of the way without stepping on anyone’s toes, which was getting harder and harder with all the people from his past coming back full swing.

I don’t want to be like Scout, and I have no intentions of cheating on him. Hell, it was hard enough to get this far in the relationship, why the hell would I want to kick back a few steps just to live an exciting life? I don’t.

Andy sat beside me on the floor of the back porch. My Aunt, Uncle, and my parents on the full size swing across from me, and the cousins and Juliet in assorted lawn chairs around the deck. They swapped tales and played a few games of Go Fish, no one having much enthusiasm to do much else beside relaxing in the shade.

I had to admit, it was nice. A nice life I could see myself eventually adapting to. But it was the hesitation of everything I’d be leaving behind back home that banned any positive thoughts surrounding California. I was still feeling stubborn about the whole thing. I did not want to move and there was nothing that could change that.

“Alright, I agreed I would, let’s do it. Who wants a palm reading?” Juliet offered, sitting up in her seat, leaning forward to place her glass of iced tea on the glass top coffee table in the center of our meeting place.

“I will.” I agreed when no one else jumped up straight away. Mark got up and moved from the spot beside her so I could sit. I extended my hand towards her and she flipped it over, palm side up.

“Okay,” She began, her long, beige painted fingernail trailing along the different lines at the center of my palm. “This one,” she tapped the line running just below the first joints of my fingers. I observed it briefly, noticing it tapered up at the middle finger.

“This is your heart line. It’ll tell the health of your heart, emotional relationships, etc. We’ll start with this one.”

She studied the crease carefully. I looked over at Andy, who watched her work over my hand intently. I wanted to smile at him, but that’d be weird.

“This crease tells me that you freely express your feelings and emotions... Would you consider that to be true?”

I laughed and nodded, “Oh yeah.”

She smiled and looked back down, tapping the wavy crease a little below the heart line. “This is your head line, it’ll reveal your learning style, communication approach, intellectualism.”

I looked down at it, noticing how close to the heart line it came. It also crossed paths with the other broad creases of my palms.

“Your head line is wavy, which means you have a short attention span.”

I shrugged “I suppose I do sometimes.”

She laughed, “Okay, then. This one here,” she pointed at and traced the crescent shaped line inside my thumb, “is your life line. It reflects physical health, general well being, and major life changes. For example, cataclysmic events, physical injuries, and recolation, like your move.”

She turned my palm up further, holding it closer to get a better look, “Yours curls in a semi circle to your wrist, which means your greatest traits in life is your enthusiasm and strength.”

“That’s Ash, alright.” My Dad laughed, leaning back in his seat. “Is stubborness apart of that, by any chance?”

Juliet laughed, looking down. “Well, that concludes... Oh, you have a fate line.”

“A fate line?” I asked curiously, trying to see which crease she meant. She outlined the thin crease that cut across the others at an angle. “Not everyone has one of these.”

“What does the fate line mean?”

“It’s the line of destiny, and it indicates the degree to which a person's life is affected by external circumstances beyond their control.” Juliet clarified, “Yours breaks off halfway through, meaning you are prone to many changes in life from external forces.”

I breathed in exaggerated relief, “Oh good. I was thinking you were going to tell me I’ll die tomorrow.”

“I’ll need my crystal ball to determine that.” She replied with a serious expression before laughing. “Was I accurate, at least?”

“Pretty straight on,” I admitted, getting up, admiring my palm with a new sense of interest. “Nicely done.”

“I want my palm read!” Andy wailed, and Juliet looked at him, blinked and pretended to have something in her eye. She, too, would have to learn how hard it was to ignore spirits that were literally right in front of you.

Juliet read Danny and Daryl’s palms next, which led to an argument between the twins as to why one had a life line indicating a successful future and the other did not.

“It’s all in the lines, boys.” Juliet waved her hand at them wistfully. “Who wants cake?”

She got up with my Mom and Aunt Lucy to go cut the cake and serve it. I lingered on the porch with the others, taking a moment to smile at my grandmother.

“Hey Dad, get a picture of us.” I crouched beside her wheelchair and she smiled warmly at me, hugging my arm. My Dad laughed, fumbling with his camera to get a shot.

“Strike a silly pose.” He laughed. My Grandmother was still young at heart, stuck her tongue out and I gave her bunny ears with a grin.

“That’s one for the books.” My Dad grinned, viewing the photos he’d gotten on the small screen of his camera.

It was late in the afternoon, about four hours to sundown, and the sky looked absolutely beautiful. My Aunt and Uncle’s backyard stretched down to a tree bordered shoreline around a huge lake, which was glistening with the midday sun.

“Ashley!”

I looked over my shoulder in alarm as Andy pushed himself up from the ground roughly, stalking away gruffly. I looked behind myself to see Ashley standing purposefully in the middle of the lawn, a safe fifteen yards away. And even at this distance, with the breeze blowing strands of his long hair across his face, I could see the hateful scowl carved into his features.

His stare was so cold it sent chills down my spine looking at him. There was pure hate in those eyes now. Any chance we had at being friends was long gone... Replaced by this pure darkness.

Andy reached him and started to yell. His words were faint and muted from the distance, but I could tell from his wild hand gestures, pointing, and how Ashley was reacting, that he was flaming pissed.

I looked around, and no one was looking at me. There was a fair chance I could slip away and split them up before something durastic happened.

That’s when the screen door opened, and Juliet came out with a tray of neatly sliced cake. Her eyes darted to the scene down the hill, and then back to me in concern. I shrugged, looking back at them. Andy’s voice had raised, and now he was gruffly shouting at his friend, shoving his chest backwards, prodding him further down the hill.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Huh? Just because you’re not getting your fuckin’ way you’re gonna disappear half the day like a pussy instead of working it out?”

Juliet swiftly served everyone and stood by my side. “What do you want to do?” She whispered to me.

“We need to break it up before they hurt each other.” I muttered back, and just as I said that, Ashley’s leather clad fist swooped through the air in a skilled arc, connecting with Andy’s jaw.

It threw him back a fair bit, and knocked a wave of shock into him, but he did not fall. Instead, he slowly twisted his neck, looking like he was on the verge of full on psycho crazy.

I stepped off the porch calmly making my way towards them. Juliet watched me go warily from the porch, turning to occupy everyone’s attention.

“Andy, Ashley!” I hissed, planting myself between them without looking too defensive. “Knock it off, dammit!”

I glared at Andy, then at Ashley, only to cower down a bit in my effort to be badass. His cold, no fucks glare burning into my soul.

“Shut the hell up, Ash.” He snarled, stepping forward to stand chest to chest with me.

“You don’t even fucking know me you judgemental bastard.” I muttered under my breath. “I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but I’m fucking sick of it. Get out of my ass and grow the fuck up, I’ve done nothing to deserve your hate. I understand the lack of respect, but you don’t get to hate someone for no reason, it doesn’t work like that.”

His eyes flared with a foreign kind of anger I’d never seen on anyone before.

“I’m tired, okay? Please, can we just get along?” I said softer, I looked at Andy again, “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but I appreciate it. If you’re protecting my honor or merely speaking your mind, I get it and I appreciate it, but you both need to remember,” I looked at them both with a harsh gaze. “You’re best friends, almost brothers, don’t let this feud get between you. Ashley, I know you don’t like or trust me, but please, for the sake of Andy, leave it be.”

Ashley continued to glare at me in a way that made my blood go cold. Andy’s stance softened, but was still alert. Finally, Ashley relaxed, but he did not sigh in defeat or anything, his brow only softened and he continued to stare me down.

“I’ll do it for Andy, and only Andy.”

I nod, grateful to have gotten anywhere with him. “Understood. Fine, great.”

“But don’t you ever think I did this for you, cupcake.” He sneered.

“Never.” I muttered, “Now kiss and makeup.” I grabbed their arms and pulled them towards each other before briskly abandoning the scene to return to my family. No one noticed the weird one-person showdown going down on the lawn because they were too busy listening to Aunt Lucy reciting the recipe to her chocolate cake, and how applesauce was the special ingredient.

“All good?” Juliet murmured to me when I sat down. I nodded, sighing. “Another day in paradise.”

She pursed her lips and nodded, “Here,” She smiled kindly, handing me a paper plate piled with Aunt Lucy’s chocolate cake. “Cake makes everything better.”

Notes

Chapter inspired by Never Again by Breaking Benjamin. I highly recommend checking out the new music video if you haven't yet, it's touching in it's story telling techniques.

Also, I love Juliet so much haha. I actually did some extensive research on palm reading to do this chapter, but I'm still not sure how accurate it is, so... Yep.