The Runaway: An Ashley Purdy Love Story

Ashley Purdy was sitting next to the window in the Kobe Japanese Restaurant, eating Japanese cuisine and laughing with his bandmates. Their tour had been successful so far, and they were rounding out the end of this half of the tour with a show in Los Angeles the next night. Tonight, they were taking a day off in Santa Clara, enjoying a much-needed break and some bonding time.
As Andy Biersack launched into another story about his dog, Daredevil, Ashley glanced out the window, and he caught sight of a young girl, who couldn't be no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, heading into an alleyway, looking very forlorn. Her sweater was torn in several places, and it looked like she'd been a little worse for wear. As he watched her lie down and cover herself in a newspaper, Ashley started making his way out of the booth. "Hang on a sec, guys," Ashley said. "I'll be right back."
He could feel the guys' eyes on his back as he headed out the door and across the street, could feel them watching him through the window as he made his way toward the young girl. "Excuse me," Ashley said, kneeling beside her.
Startled, she sat up and started to get up and move away from him quickly. "Wait. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Ashley said, raising his hands in surrender.
She paused, regarding him warily with forest green eyes.
"I want to help you," Ashley stated.
"Why?" she asked. "No one ever does."
"I don't know. You just seem like someone who could use a little help." Ashley held out his hand to her.
The girl remained where she was, not moving an inch.
Ashley tried a new tactic. "I'm Ashley. What's your name?"
The girl hesitated. "Audrey," she finally said, brushing a strand of strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes.
"Well, Audrey. How would you like something to eat?" Ashley asked.
Audrey started to say no, but her stomach's grumbling betrayed her. Ashley offered his hand to her again, and this time she took it.

Ashley led her into the restaurant, where the patrons of the restaurant started making faces because of the smell that Audrey was giving off. She made a face like she was embarrassed, but Ashley held onto her hand tightly. "Don't worry about them," Ashley whispered to her. Somehow, his words made her feel a little better, even though she had just met the guy.
Andy looked up as Ashley slid back into the booth, Audrey sliding in beside him. Audrey regarded the other guys warily. "It's okay, Audrey. These are my friends," Ashley stated. He introduced each of them to her. Audrey started to relax slightly. If his friends were as nice as he seemed to be, she figured she would be okay to get a meal from them at least. The waiter had shown up a few minutes after they had sat down, and Ashley had told Audrey to order anything she wanted and that it was on him.
Once her plate arrived, Audrey had done everything she could to keep from wolfing it down quickly. For some reason, she felt safe with these guys and found that she felt like she could trust them. She hadn't been able to trust anyone in the last two months when her life had fallen apart, and it felt nice to have the potential for having friends again. The one called CC caught her gaze as she paused in her eating to take a sip of water from the glass in front of her. "Where are you from, Audrey?" CC asked.
"Why?" Audrey asked, defensive.
"I was just wondering," CC stated quietly, trying to alleviate some of the tension that had formed from the question.
Audrey relaxed a little, looking at her plate a little forlornly. "It doesn't matter anymore. I can never go back there. And I refuse to."
"Do you mind us asking what happened?" Andy asked.
Audrey hesitated. Then, "I don't really want to talk about it," she stated.
"Okay. Well, do you mind me asking where you were headed? Santa Clara isn't exactly a stopping point for someone coming out to California."
"I was heading for Los Angeles, but I ran out of money and ended up having to stay here. I couldn't afford a bus ticket to LA, so I was stuck," Audrey replied.
Ashley looked at the guys. "Well, this may be a bit presumptuous of me, but...what if we could give you a ride to LA? We're heading there tomorrow for the final show on this leg of our tour, and it wouldn't really be much of an issue to give you a ride," he stated.
"I don't want to impose..." Audrey said.
"It's not a problem," Jake said. "Really. We want to help."
"Well, it's just that...I don't really have anywhere to stay there either. So either way I'm stuck on the street, living out of garbage bins," Audrey stated.
"Not if I can help it," Ashley stated. "You can stay with me."

Notes