Bury The Taste
Alone
“I can’t believe it’s all gone,” Ainsley sighed as she stared at the mound of garbage bags that had taken over most of her living room. “I can’t believe I moved.”
“I know. It sucks that you don’t live right down the street anymore. But hey, forty-five minutes isn’t too far of a drive,” Malorie draped her arm around Ainsley’s shoulders and stared at the large pile as well. “I’m proud of you for getting rid of all that stuff.”
“Well, not all of it. I’m keeping the stuff in the black trash bags. I-I can’t get rid of that stuff. Not yet,” Ainsley bowed her head.
Malorie stood in front of her and lifted her head so she was looking in her eyes. “Ains, I know you miss your mom. But keeping all of her things is just going to make the recovery process a lot harder. Only keep the most important stuff. The stuff with the most value.”
“It all has value. It all belonged to her,” Ainsley sighed and decided that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I wish I had a room-mate. It’s going to be lonely living here all alone with no friends…”
Ainsley was trying to convince Malorie to move in with her. She had even offered for her to live there for free. All she had to do was help with groceries and help keep the house clean. Ainsley even offered to let her bring her cat, and Ainsley hated cats.
“You know I can’t! I want to, but I just can’t leave Casey. He’s already gone most of the year, and moving away from him would be too hard when he is home.”
“Then just live here when he’s not home or something. I just hate being alone.” Ainsley pouted around in the kitchen as she opened the refrigerator and looked for something to eat. “Come on, we’re going exploring. I need to find a grocery store and stock up or else I’m going to starve.”
Malorie followed Ainsley out the door and they made their way down the steps of her new home. Instead of living in an apartment, Ainsley had upgraded to an actual house. It was fairly secluded and almost cottage-like. Since she had been promoted, Ainsley would be making much more money.
As they were driving down the street, Ainsley’s phone vibrated from the cup holder.
“Can you check who that is?” Ainsley asked as she continued to look around the busy streets for a sign of any sort of grocery store.
Malorie picked up the phone and stared at it for a few seconds. “Why is Jaime texting you? I didn’t even know you were friends.”
Ainsley threw her hand out in a rush and knocked her phone out of Malorie’s hands. “What? Huh? Oh, we’re not. Just, nevermind. I’ll look at it later.”
“Woah, relax. What’s gotten in to you?” Malorie laughed as she stared at her best friend. “You know I’m not going to ignore this. Since when do you and Jaime talk?”
“Oh, we don’t. He probably just had a question or something, I don’t know.”
“You have got to be the worst liar on the face of this Earth. Ainsley! Spill!”
Ainsley bit her lip and stared out the windshield harder as she noticed a large blue sign. “Oh, look, Albertson’s. Wow, that’s not far from my house at all,” she said in a flurry as she went straight through the light and pulled into the small shopping center.
They got out of the car. Ainsley left her phone sitting somewhere under the seat so Malorie wouldn’t question her about the text. Ainsley looked around the shopping center – there was Albertson’s, Taco Bell, Los Jilbertos Mexican Food, A Donut Shop, a dry-cleaners, a smoke shop, and a nail salon.
“This is cool,” Malorie commented as she looked around the lot with Ainsley. “Lots of good stuff over here. Oh look! Clothes!” Malorie immediately began to walk into the direction of the small boutique that was tucked away by the Donut shop.
They entered the shop and a bell rang from over the door. Before Ainsley could even look around she collided into a man and nearly fell backwards.
“Woah there,” he said quickly as he grabbed onto her arm and steadied her out. She looked up at him and damn near melted into his eyes.
“Woah, Ainsley, watch where you’re going,” Malorie laughed as she watched her friend stare into the eyes of this man.
“Ainsley? That’s a pretty name.”
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “I mean, uh, thank you.”
“No problem, my name’s Jeric,” he said with a smile.
“That’s a pretty name,” Ainsley copied with a small smile.
Jeric let out a small chuckle before finally releasing Ainsley’s arm. “Hopefully I’ll see you around, Ainsley.” He gave her a wide smile before walking out of the small boutique.
“What? He didn’t even ask for your number? What a dick.” Malorie met Ainsley’s side again with a huff and her arms folded across her chest.
“Maybe he has a girlfriend or something. Plus, just because he thought my name was pretty doesn’t mean he thinks I’m pretty,” Ainsley rolled her eyes, but had to agree with Malorie. Why would he flirt with her and then just leave without asking for her number or giving her his number or anything?
The two girls finally got the grocery shopping over with and also ended up buying a few extra things. Ainsley decided to spoil herself with a new shirt while Malorie went a bit crazy and bought an entire outfit.
“Ains, Jaime is blowing up your phone. Just let me see what he wants,” Malorie said as she picked up Ainsley’s phone from the floor of her car. “What’s your passcode?”
“I don’t know,” Ainsley said quietly.
“What the heck? Of course you do. Let me just see what he wants. It’s obviously important since he won’t stop texting you.”
“It’s not important. He can wait.”
Malorie wasn’t buying it. She stared at Ainsley with narrowed eyes. “You need to tell me what is going on, Ains. This isn’t like you. There’s something weird about Jaime texting you.”
“It’s nothing, honest!” Ainsley tried to laugh as they carried the groceries up the steps and into her new kitchen. Between the two of them they were able to make it in one trip.
As they put the groceries away, Malorie continued to pester Ainsley about her phone that continued to vibrate from the counter top.
Malorie picked up the phone and began hitting in random numbers to try and guess the passcode.
“Stop, you’re going to lock me out for good!”
The phone clicked and opened up the messages from Jaime.
“Got it!” Malorie said as she looked down at the screen. She let out a loud gasp as she began to read the messages. “’Ains text me when you’re free.’ ‘Let’s fuck.’ ‘When can I see you?’ Ainsley what the actual fuck!” Malorie shouted after she had read most of the messages out loud. “Are you fucking Jaime? You are!”
“Oh my god, Malorie!” Ainsley blushed and tried to get her phone back from Mal as she continued to scroll up to earlier messages.
“What is this? An address? You’re totally fucking Jaime! Ains, why didn’t you tell me you guys were seeing each other?”
Ainsley groaned and finally got her phone back from Malorie. “We’re not,” she said.
“Wait, so you mean, you’re just sleeping together? Like friends with benefits?”
“Just benefits. I would even consider us friends.”
“So you’re his booty call?”
Ainsley laughed and pushed her lightly. “I am nobody’s booty call.”
“Wrong, you are Jaime’s booty call,” Malorie let out a laugh in disbelief. “Ains, do you realize you are doing exactly what you hate? What are the boys going to say when they find out?”
“No!” Ainsley shouted. “No, the boys are not going to find out. Because you’re not going to say a word to anybody. In fact, we are never going to talk about this ever again, deal?”
Malorie pretended to zip her lips. “Deal.”
-
“So he just randomly texted you and said ‘let’s fuck’ and you got up and went?”
Malorie’s glass of wine nearly spilled over the edge as she moved her arms as she spoke. Ainsley nodded her head a bit more exaggerated than usual, the wine sloshing around her brain with every nod.
“I’m totally his fucking booty call,” Ainsley groaned as she took another sip of her wine. “But now what? I live forty-five minutes away. There’s no way he’s going to make the drive out here just to fuck.”
“Is the sex good?”
Ainsley nodded. “So fucking good. You have no idea. He can last so long. He comes, and then boom, he’s already ready to go again. It’s fucking amazing,” Ainsley described. “I average like, around... hmm… maybe four orgasms? He has at least two.”
“Every time?” Malorie asked, her jaw dropped in shock. Ainsley nodded. “Fuck, I wish Casey could do that. I’m lucky if I can get an hour out of him. But that’s mostly because he’s always so busy so we have to be quick when we do it.”
“Jaime and I go at it for hours. I could spend all day fucking him. I’ve never been like that – ever! Not even with a serious boyfriend. But it’s just so good. I can’t even describe it.”
Malorie took another drink of her wine, nodding as if she understood exactly what Ainsley was saying. “Do you think you’d ever date him? Like, maybe try a relationship?”
Ainsley scoffed as she finished off her glass. She stood up to grab the wine bottle from the kitchen and brought it back over to their spot on the floor. Malorie and Ainsley had been best friends since high school, and because of Mal, Ainsley was introduced to the boys of Pierce the Veil right before they started their first tour. Ainsley had always been close to Vic and Mike, but Tony and Jaime never seemed to be around when they were off tour. Tony lived with his best friend, Jaxin, in LA and Jaime used to have a girlfriend somewhere in San Diego. But now that Jaime was single, she had been seeing a lot more of him. But that wasn’t enough for her to consider dating him. She hardly knew the guy in all honesty. He had a nice body and he was a good fuck, but that didn’t mean she’d necessarily get along with him.
“What? Jaime’s a really cool guy. You guys should hang out like normal. Maybe the next time Casey and I go somewhere we’ll invite you guys to come with.”
“That sounds a lot like a double date, and I don’t think Jaime would be interested in that. Plus, it would be too suspicious. We’re supposed to be a secret.”
Malorie groaned as she filled her glass. “I just think you two would be cute together, is all. You complement each other’s personalities well.”
Ainsley groaned and quickly gulped down her entire glass of wine. “I’m drunk!” she exclaimed as she set her glass down on the carpet. “I’m so glad I have the rest of the week to relax before I go back to my long hours.”
“Oh shut up. You love your job. You get to bake cookies all day and now that you have your own shop, you get to boss everybody around,” Malorie let out a small hiccup as she pulled her glass up to her lips. She let out a giggle as another hiccup escaped her lips. “Yeah, I’m drunk, too.”
Ainsley lay back on the brown, shag carpet. She intertwined her fingers with the long pieces and began to think about her job. She had always loved baking, and after finishing school rather quickly, she was able to land a job as an apprentice in the best bakery in San Diego. After working there for two years, she was promoted to assistant manager, and after being assistant manager for another year, she had finally been promoted to manage her own bakery owned by the same franchise as the one she started at. She really was living her dream.
Malorie got up from her spot on the floor and pulled on Ainsley’s arm to try and get her to get up. “Come on, let’s go to bed. I’m too tired to be this drunk.”
Ainsley got up, which took her a few tries and followed her best friend down the hall. Ainsley looked at the pictures up on the walls and the texture of the ceiling as she walked. This is my house. A house. That I pay for. By myself. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she was living on her own – making her own money and paying all of her bills without any help.
It’s not like she had anyone to help her, anyway.
“Is it weird if I want to cuddle to you?” Malorie asked as she curled up under the fresh, new bedding that Ainsley had bought.
“We’ve been friends for how long and you’re seriously asking me this?” Ainsley asked as she curled up beside her best friend. “You’re like a sister to me. I’ve seen you naked. You can cuddle to me.”
Malorie let out a slight giggle and hiccup before adjusting herself to get comfortable. They didn’t bother changing out of their clothes as they both drifted off to sleep.
Ainsley tried really hard to get her mind to stop reeling, but along with her thoughts of fending for herself she also couldn’t get rid of the thought of how alone she was going to be once Malorie left in a couple of days. And how alone she was going to feel when she would have nobody there on her days off. And how alone she was going to feel when she couldn’t even text Jaime for a quick fuck.
Ainsley was alone, and it scared the shit out of her.
Notes
So no Jaime in this chapter too much. Just talking about him, really. But I just wanted you guys to get an insight on Ainsley's life and her friendship with Malorie.Malorie is a real person, by the way. It's Casey Ervin's girlfriend in real life, and I thought about changing her name and stuff, but I figured that since Casey is actually dating her, I should leave her name the same. Plus, it's a gorgeous name.
Next chapter will have a lot of Jaime in it :)
xoxo
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4/28/16