Chapter
9
At
around 6:00 that evening, a few hours later, Ashalyn sat in her living room,
waiting for Brian to come pick her up.
Mike had agreed to the double date with Brian and Leighanne, and so she
was ready for an evening of fun.
Just
before six, Brian pulled into the driveway.
“I’m leaving now, Mom!” Ashalyn called, as she grabbed her purse and
jacket and headed out to the car.
“Have
fun, honey!” her mother called from the kitchen, as Ashalyn left the
house.
“Hey,
Ash,” Brian and Leighanne greeted, as Ashalyn climbed into the backseat of the
car.
“Hi,
guys,” she said, smiling.
Next,
they drove to Mike’s house to pick him up.
He came right out and climbed into the backseat next to Ashalyn.
“Hey,
Ash,” he said, kissing her.
“Hey,
babe,” she replied.
“Hi,
Brian. Hey, Leighanne,” Mike greeted
them.
“Hi,
Mike,” they both replied.
They
all chatted with each other all the way to Avanti’s, where they had decided to
eat at.
Once
they got to the restaurant, they all went inside and were seated.
A
few minutes later, a waitress came to their table. “Can I take your order now?” she asked.
They
all gave her their orders and settled back to wait for their dinner to
arrive.
***
Two
and a half hours later, the four of them were just coming out of the movie
theatre. After they had eaten dinner,
they had gone to see “Hollow Man”.
“That
was an awesome movie,” Mike commented as they headed to Brian’s car.
“It
was scary,” Leighanne replied, snuggling up against Brian, who was walking with
his arm around her.
Ashalyn
smiled as she watched them and snuggled closer to Mike.
They
all climbed into the car and buckled in.
Brian started the car and turned on the radio. “Oops… I Did It Again” by Britney Spears was
on.
“Change,”
Ashalyn announced, grimacing. Brian
grinned at her in the rearview mirror and flipped through the stations,
stopping when he came to “Last Kiss” by Pearl Jam.
“I
like this song,” he commented, as he turned onto the back road that was the
shortest way home.
“Yeah,
me too,” Ashalyn agreed.
“It’s
sad,” Leighanne said, gazing out the window at the starry night sky.
Ashalyn
turned to Mike and put her hand over his.
He smiled at her, leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“What
was that for?” Ashalyn whispered, blushing lightly.
Mike
just grinned. “Cause I love you,” he
said simply.
Ashalyn
felt her heart swell with happiness. “I
love-“
Suddenly,
she was interrupted by Brian’s gasp. She
jerked her head up to see a large pick up truck barreling towards them – on the
wrong side of the road!
Ashalyn
was smashed against Mike as Brian jerked the steering wheel to the left, trying
to swerve to the other side of the road before the truck hit them, for to the
right of the road, there was a deep gully.
Brian
slammed the accelerator to the ground, trying to get out of the speeding
truck’s way, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of screeching tires, the crunch of metal,
loud screaming, and then silence, as everything around him suddenly went black.
***
