How The Allies of Old began: (Novella) BORN Chapter Twenty-One "Angel Faced Punk-Ass"

Painting in Acrylic by @therealpaul

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18

Chapter 19 Chapter 20

For those of you who missed the post of the release, I briefly explained how the series began as an idea for a Young Adult novel, and that I had in fact written what amounts to a novella taking place the summer before REBORN begins, and I decided to release it here on steemit.

BORN

Chapter Twenty-One

“You guys are sooo cute together!” Jess gushed as she and Anna weaved their way out of the crowd, heading for the potties.

Anna inwardly rolled her eyes at her friend’s obvious ploy to receive the same sentiment in regards to her and Nate. Normally she would’ve obliged but she was overwhelmed with the need to get away from the crowds of people, and a back and forth relay of “No, you guys are” was bound to make her irritable.

So she answered with “I really hafta pee,” and took off in a jog, reaching her destination just as a toilet opened up. She escaped into the plastic cell-like space, and quickly did her business. She pushed open the door and Jess took her place. As soon as the door shut behind her friend, she darted away from the area feeling slightly guilty at the abandonment. Jess will be fine, she rationalized, the stage is nearby, it’s not as if she’ll get lost….and I just need a few minutes of solitude.

She found a beer tent and ordered a Long Island iced tea, then sat down at a table in the corner to drink away her escalating fear, or at least subdue it. It sucked that it was the alcohol that prevented her from tuning them out but was also the only thing that kept her from losing her shit. She really needed to tell Austin, she knew he was beginning to worry about her drinking so much. But the problem was that as soon as she drank her first beer of the day she lost her ability to block out the bastards, turning the whole thing into a vicious cycle. She’d considered not drinking at all, but it was Grassroots for God’s sakes. She definitely had to tell Austin. He loved her, he’d understand wouldn’t he?

“Hey beautiful.”

She was jarred out of her thoughts by the nearness of the voice and she nearly dropped her glass. The owner of the voice caught her hand and steadied it, sliding in beside her. Leo freaking Giovanni of all people, smiling at her like she was his lost love.

“Heyy,” she stammered, her first thought of “why is he so damn gorgeous?” causing her to inwardly gape at herself. Seriously Anna? He’s an idiot and an asshole, and he made a bet about you! She tried to hold onto this thought but she’d downed more than half of a drink that had about eight shots of different liquors in it and it was already bringing her to that floaty place she’d been desperate to attain.

“What are you doing sitting here all by yourself?” He asked smoothly.

“Uh, Jus’ taking a break,” she smiled at him, thinking that his voice matched his face, beautiful and soothing.

“Oh yeah, from what?” He traced his finger down her arm and goosebumps erupted in its path.

Huh, his touch is like his voice, or his face, or both…she hazily realized he’d asked her something. Oh yeah. “Just, uh, you know, the crowd…just needed a moment…”

He nodded, “I get that. So I saw you sitting here and wanted to apologize for the other night. It was my idiot friends you know, not me. They’re always using me for their stupid bets, they call it Leo’s Lady Luck…eh you don’t want to know the rest, but really it’s not me doing the betting. Okay, to be honest it was me once upon a time when I was young and dumb, but it got old by the end of high school. Now all I want is to find a nice girl who I can have an actual relationship with, but it’s like every time I talk to someone with potential my retarded friends fuck it all up. You understand what I’m saying?”

Anna nodded mutely, fighting to stay coherent and becoming increasingly distracted by the finger that was still dancing up her arm. She took another swallow of her drink.

“So you believe me right? You forgive me?”

Believe what- what was he saying? She forced herself to nod.

“Wow, your eyes really are incredible,” he reached up and brushed her hair back…

“What the Fuck??”

Leo stood up so fast his chair fell over. “Hey man, I was just apologizing to her for the other night.”

Austin ignored him focusing solely on Anna with his head cocked to the side and his tongue depressing his bottom lip.

Wow, I thought I’d seen him angry the other day but that was nothing compared to this, she mused hazily. She got up from her chair and started toward him but he held up a hand in a “stop right there” gesture then turned and stalked out of the tent.

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