Matters of Circumstance Read online




  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

  MORE

  Other Books by Ashley Andrews

  MATTERS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

  Ashley Andrews

  All Rights Reserved © Ashley Andrews

  Chapter 1

  Farrah O’Brien looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced. Those ungainly lumps were getting bigger and harder all the time; they were almost down to her waist now.

  If she knew what was going on with her back she would have fixed it by now, you know?

  It had started last week as soreness between her shoulder blades. She had initially chalked it up to stress. A huge English paper had been due in a dew days and she had procrastinated on it—it happened to everybody at some point in their schooling career. But then she finished the paper with confidence, the deadline passed, and the ache continued. Her shoulders had been hot and pained, as if her very bones were on fire. No matter what massage machine she used, or how she rolled her shoulders, the discomfort would not abate.

  Then the granulomas formed.

  As if to isolate whatever was going on in her back, hard lumps had developed. They surrounded the soreness exactly, but the problem was they kept getting bigger, not smaller. And yes, granuloma was the medical term for it. Farrah had looked it up.

  She was a regular high school girl—this shouldn’t be happening to her!

  Farrah poked at the right granuloma cautiously. It was hard and unrelenting, like some kind of super egg. It was also hot enough to rival a fresh pot of coffee.

  She withdrew her hand fast, disturbed on a very deep level.

  Should she tell her parents about this? Things had only been getting worse, but what if she was back to normal tomorrow? What if she made a big deal out of absolutely nothing? She didn’t want to do that. Farrah trusted her parents, but they were always working so hard, and always so tired at the end of the day. They did so much for her; she didn’t want to give them anything more to worry about.

  No, she wouldn’t tell them unless things got really bad. She was a little scared right now, but it wasn’t life threatening or anything. That was right, she was strong. She could handle it on her own.

  Farrah glanced at her cell phone for the time. She needed to eat breakfast and go to school. Act like everything was dandy and all that.

  She clipped a bra on, and then threw on a t-shirt and an oversized hoodie. Those sweaters were godsends—she usually didn’t wear them unless she had to, but they were the only things that hid the lumps on her back.

  It was February, anyway. Nobody could fault her for still feeling chilly.

  “I still can’t believe junior year is almost over,” she said to herself as she tromped down the stairs to the kitchen, where both of her parents were already eating and drinking the discount Joe’s Joe coffee Farrah had bought two days ago. It paid to work at a coffee shop that wasn’t Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts. She could actually drink what she sold.

  “Hey Farrah,” her father said with a teasing smile. “Sleep in?”

  She grinned back and plucked an apple out of the fruit bowl in the center of the table. “Just a little.”

  “I bought some mini-wheats yesterday,” said her mother without looking up from the newspaper. “They’re in the pantry.”

  “Great! Thanks.” Farrah took a huge bite out of her apple as she went into the kitchen. While she was chewing and going about fixing her cereal she got a text message from her friend Ruby.

  ‘can u bring me food? i 4got brkfst this morning. ;P’

  This happened often, but Farrah was just glad that her friend liked to eat. Ruby was a bit of an airhead. When she said she forgot something she usually meant just that—and if she didn’t, then nobody could tell the difference until much later.

  ‘sure thing’ Farrah texted back, As soon as she put her phone down another text came in.

  ‘dude did u fall asleep last night? U suddenly stopped talking.’ That was Dalton, another one of her friends. Farrah was pretty sure he hadn’t actually spoken on the phone with another human being in the last three and a half years, his texting addiction was so bad.

  Oh well. She didn’t have unlimited for nothing.

  ‘haha yeah. Sorry ‘bout that. See you at school?’ she texted. Using full words and proper punctuation in texts was, quote/unquote, “a nasty habit” but her phone had a keyboard so Farrah felt like she didn’t exactly have an excuse to half-ass words.

  ‘yea totally. hugs!’

  Dalton maintained that such dialogue got him in touch with his sensitive side and thus made him more attractive, but Farrah personally thought it made him seem fruity. He wouldn’t listen to her about it, though, so that was his own problem.

  Farrah finished breakfast trying to roll her shoulders as little as possible, something she was a little proud of accomplishing. Then she had a great discussion about prom dresses with Andrea Barbados on the bus to school. Well, it hadn’t only been with Andrea (when the girls around them heard what they were saying they all decided to add their two cents), but it had started with her.

  Now she was at school, and so far things were status quo. She hoped they would stay that way.

  “Farrah, Robin’s throwing a huge party this Friday—are you coming?”

  “Hey Farrah!”

  “O’Brien, how’s it going?”

  “Oh Farrah, I was wondering if you could tell me if Ruby’s really dating Michael…”

  For whatever reason, once she had entered high school Farrah had gone from relatively well liked to popular. It seemed that everybody knew her name, everyone had something to say to her—people even thought she was pretty! Farrah couldn’t understand why she was suddenly so well liked now when nothing about her had changed, but she took things in stride and was nice until she had a reason not to be. Being suddenly liked was much better than being suddenly hated, after all.

  It made it a little awkward that she was suddenly rejecting hugs, though.

  “Sorry, it’s nothing personal,” she said when Ruby tried to embrace her in appreciation for the fruit Farrah had brought her. “I just think I’m might be coming down with something. I don’t want to give it to anybody.”

  Or there were freaky lumps on her back that she didn’t want anyone to know about. You know, the usual.

  “Oh, fine.” With her full mouth and big, soulful blue eyes, Ruby could craft a brilliant pout. She displayed it now as she looked at her friend. Then her expression changed. “Oh yeah! Have you heard about Robin’s party? Sounds like it’s going to be ah-maze-ang! You’re definitely coming, right?”

  “I—well, I don’t know. If I have work then I can’t.”

  “Oh, Farrah…”

  “That’s such bullshit,” proclaimed their friend Michael as he marched up to them. He was quite the specimen of man, Farrah thought: nice frame, fiercely loyal (if a little blunt), great face and hair. The only problem was that he tended to be the same height as or marginally taller than most females, a trait said females didn’t exactly love.

  Right now he was also shooting her a matter-of-fact look that made her a little uncomfortable. “You’re freaking seventeen, Farrah. You’ve got to live a little.”

  And if anyone found out about her back she probably wouldn’t be living too well anymore. Ostracism would be the least of her worries.

  “Yeah, and I als
o need to pay for college,” she retorted good-naturedly. “Sometimes give and take is inevitable.”

  “That’s what scholarships are for. Write a pretty essay, maintain a decent GPA, and tada! Free money for your schooling convenience.”

  “Ah, shut up Michael. A job is a job—I can’t bail because of a party.”

  “Whatever. I’m just saying—you’re going to miss out if you don’t go.” The bell rang, and he poked her shoulder as he whisked off to homeroom. For her part, Farrah had to work really hard to keep herself from wincing.

  *****

  Joe’s Joe Café was a pretty popular place, although Farrah suspected that this was partially because most of her school knew she worked there and wanted to see why for themselves. The shop had quality product, though, so most came back.

  The owner and founder of Joe’s, whose name was actually Nancy (go figure), thought Farrah was absolutely indispensible, and that wasn’t only because she could make a good cup of coffee (“I’m telling you, you need to go to community college. Where’s all my clientele going to come from if you leave?!”).

  “Farrah O’Brien, how are you?” said a boy she didn’t recognize as he came up to the counter. He was about six feet, she was guessing, and wearing a Led Zeppelin hoodie and fashionably ripped jeans. His hair was wavy, dirty blonde, sort of in his eyes but not really. He had a light tan, though she couldn’t guess where he would have gotten it at this time of year. Probably natural.

  “Getting along just fine,” she replied, accustomed to being spoken to familiarly by people she didn’t know. “Yourself?”

  “Can’t complain. Can I have a white chocolate cappuccino? With a shot of coconut, too?”

  It was kind of a strange order for a guy, but she knew better than to say as much.

  “Sure thing. What size?” she was already putting the information into the touch-computer register.

  “Uh… medium?”

  She tapped the computer screen. “Okay, that’ll be $4.75.”

  He retrieved a five-dollar bill and dropped the leftover quarter into the half-full tip jar.

  It wasn’t much, but Farrah’s policy was that anything extra deserved a nicer-than-usual Customer Service Smile. “It’ll be ready in a couple of minutes. Pick up counter’s right over there.” She pointed to it, since she had never seen him here before and he may not know.

  “Yeah, okay.” But he didn’t go even when her co-worker Shellie handed him his drink. He just leaned against the little strip of counter between the order and pick up bars, sipping his coffee and watching her enigmatically.

  Finally Farrah got fed up and asked during a small lull between orders, “Is there something wrong with your coffee? You keep making the same face.”

  “Nah, the coffee’s fine. I’m just wondering why you’re wearing a jacket when this place has decent heating.”

  “Well,” she said, taking a damp rag and swabbing the counter. She meant to look thoughtful, but in reality she was stalling in hopes of coming up with a brilliant excuse. “I guess I could ask you the same question. That looks like a pretty warm sweater you’re wearing.”

  Evidently amused by her evasive dialogue, he smirked. His teeth weren’t dazzlingly white or straight—he actually had a snaggletooth on the far right—but they weren’t bad, either. He had probably rejected the opportunity for braces in middle school. “Yeah, but I’m leaving soon. What’s your reason?” he said glibly.

  “Poor circulation?” Which wasn’t true, but since he didn’t know her he wasn’t in a position to see through her bluff. Another customer was also approaching the counter, so Farrah turned away and said, “Hey. How can I help you?”

  Six people and approximately $35 later, she saw the guy in the hoodie offering a small slip of paper roughly the size of a business card. She didn’t take it, merely stared. “What’s that?”

  He put it down on the counter and slid it over to her. He looked her dead in the eye, as well, forcing her to privately acknowledge that his were a nice shade of blue. They weren’t pool-blue, like Ruby’s, but much darker, like the deep ocean. “First of all, I can tell that you’re in pain. Don’t even tell me I’m wrong. And secondly, you look like you need someone to talk to. So when you decide that I’m not some creep that’s out to sabotage you, here’s my cell. Let’s talk sometime, ‘okay?” Then he grinned, a winning expression on a fairly attractive face, despite the snaggletooth.

  She would have rejected the offer point-blank if it wouldn’t have looked so bad in front of the girl who had just came up to make her order. Instead, however, she shoved the slip of paper into her pocket next to her cell phone, faked a smile and said, “Thank you.”

  Grin still in place, the guy swirled his coffee and strolled casually out of the shop.

  When they were relatively alone her co-worker Shellie had asked her what their whole exchange had been about, but she hadn’t been able to come up with an answer.

  Shellie had only shaken her head. “This is what you get for being so popular, Fare.”

  “Tell me about it,” she had muttered. “I’m not looking for this kind of mystery and excitement.”

  This could have been taken two ways, because of her condition, but Farrah was the only one who knew that.

  Farrah had meant to throw the paper away right after that conversation, but then more people came in and she forgot all about it—out of sight, out of mind and such. She didn’t discover it again until she had come home from work and started emptying her pockets.

  It looked like a Verizon number, and the name below it was printed very clearly: Neal Sumalt.

  Farrah had never heard of him. Yeah, he had guessed that he would come across as a creep, but considering the circumstances wouldn’t anybody? What if it was just a ploy for her to let her guard down? How the hell could he relate to what was happening to her back? How could he guess?

  For better or worse, she was just going to have to see what happened with that strange Joe’s Joe customer. It may be nothing—just a passing weirdo—or it may be serious. Either way, she had no way to tell at this moment, and assuming had always gotten her into trouble.

  That was right. The only thing to do was wait it out.

  Chapter 2

  At school the next day Farrah noticed him for the first time. He was laughing and talking with some friends over by the senior building, but when he spotted her—in the crowd of kids spilling from the morning buses, no less—he looked right at her, smiled and waved. Farrah returned the gesture numbly, somehow unable to believe that she had never seen him before. He certainly didn’t seem like the shy type, and with all the people she associated with one would think that he would be one of them. She had a lot of senior friends.

  “Oh hey, I never knew you knew Neal,” said Ruby, who had pranced over to greet her and noticed the interaction. “He’s cool, isn’t he? My brother’s pretty good friends with him.”

  “No, I don’t know him. He just came into Joe’s yesterday,” she said, still a little dumbstruck.

  “Oh, well—he’s still a good guy. Did you know he’s originally from Hawaii?”

  “So did you get Friday off?” Michael asked, appearing out of nowhere. He was good at that sort of thing. Must be his height.

  Farrah frowned, not liking the somewhat sneaky expression on his face. “Schedule comes out Thursday. I won’t know until then.”

  “Hey Farrah,” said Shellie as she passed. She tended to talk in a monotone, so Farrah would know her voice anywhere.

  “Hi Shel.”

  “Such a weird day to put out a schedule,” Ruby mused. “But I haven’t been able to keep a job for more than two months, so who am I to say?”

  Farrah snorted and said, “At least you realize you’re like that.”

  “How could I not, when I hang out with perfectionists like you?”

  “Hardy-har.”

  “Whatever, you should still come to Robin’s party.”

  “Why? You’re never so adamant about this
kind of stuff, Michael. What’s so special about this one party?”

  Again that sneaky look returned. “You’re just going to have to come and find out, won’t you?” he said pointedly.

  Farrah waved her friend off. “Yeah, sure thing. I’m going to get my books now before the bell rings and I’m screwed.”

  *****

  For the next two days everything progressed as per usual. Farrah did have work on Friday like she knew she would, and that seemed to exasperate Michael to no end. As she was reading Dalton’s texts about the party after work (‘u wont believe how cool it is 2 tell some1 about it! i feel so popular!’) he also added that ‘mike tinks u shud get out more cuz ur a workaholic mushroom. Whatever dat means XP’

  Quite frankly, Farrah had no trouble believing that. Michael would also probably say that to her face on Monday—no, not probably. He would.

  And yeah, Robin’s party sounded like it had been the rave of the year, and Farrah did like going out to such events every once in a while, but right now just wasn’t a good time. She was too tired from school, work, her back…

  Michael was a good friend, but even if she tried to explain what was going on with her he wouldn’t believe it. It was too unreal. If it weren’t for the fact she was having trouble just sitting normally with those huge, uncomfortable lumps, she probably wouldn’t even believe herself.

  Her cell phone started ringing. Farrah, half-drained glass of water midway up to her lips for another set of hearty gulps (she was parched, though she hadn’t been exercising), paused and looked down at it. The number wasn’t on her caller ID, but the digits looked vaguely familiar. Curious, she decided to put her glass down and answer anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “Farrah?”

  She recognized the voice immediately, and it sent a chill down her stiff, sore spine. “Wait a second, how did you get my number?” she realized.

  “I asked Ruby for it. We don’t talk much in school, but we know each other fairly well since I’ve been friends with her brother for so long.” Then he seemed to catch himself. “Sorry. I probably sound like a stalker, don’t I?”