The Crystal 3, Jones M [fox in socks read aloud TXT] 📗

said, practically dragging me with her to buildings I did not know.

She took me here, she took me there, she took me everywhere! – That is how I can explain the first part of the shopping. She decided to go clothes shopping, saying that I needed new stuff and to avoid dependency on the old ones I had left at Rachel's. My mood was suddenly brought down by the memory, but I quickly shook it off.

"We are done," Ashley said after about three hours of constant movement across four buildings. I sighed in relief.

"Now it's time to go grocery and electronics shopping," she said, making me widen my eyes in incredulity at her.

"What?" she asked with a furrow of her eyebrows.

"Haven't you seen these?" I questioned, raising the six bags that were dangling on my arms.

"So? I'm still up for more stuff," she said. "Now come on."

I let out a low groan as I let Ashley lead me through another building. I decided to go along with her because she was the only one I could depend on to show me around. Who was I to complain to her if I didn't want to have a reason to leave the house for a while?

"But where do we put these?" I asked her with a frown. Ashley rolled her eyes before waving her hand in the air. In an instant, the shopping bags were gone.

"They are now at your house. Let's go," Ashley said. I rolled my eyes at her before following her lead. We went past an open area with a signboard having the word 'GROCERY STORE'. Ashley and I entered and took out a trolley before moving around the store.

"I don't know about you, but I'm thinking about ordering two large pizzas for myself after this," I told Ashley as I looked around for the food items I would like to buy. My trolley was getting full, and I wasn't even done with the shopping.

"I'll get another one," Ashley announced once I voiced out the problem, leaving me with the trolley full of foodstuffs. I looked around, noticing that other people were in the store.

The store had yellow cream walls with white lights on the ceiling. At a far point on my left was a dairy aisle that had milk products and packaged meat items. There were also large shelves that had other food items. It looked like a basic grocery store.

In all my life, I never expected to see such a place in Crystalia. Most witches bought items on earth before bringing them to their homes in Crystalia. The city had really improved.

A sudden jab on my back had me slightly pushed forward. I winced, reaching to rub away the pain.

"Sorry," a deep voice with a British accent apologized. I stopped breathing at that moment, seemingly frozen in shock. I had no option but to turn to the owner of the voice.

It was Zane.

 

Chapter 11

 

Emery's P.O.V

"I'm sorry," Zane said with a smile as he nervously looked around before meeting my eyes again. "Are you okay?"

I didn't do anything but stare at the person in front of me in shock. 

I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe my luck! A day hadn't passed since I got back in Crystalia, and fate just couldn't wait to bring Zane into my path again. I knew I was going to see him, but I did not expect to see him so soon.

My eyes skimmed over his features as I thought of what to answer.

He had definitely grown; Zane was no longer the growing teenager I had known. He had become a full-grown man. A stubble adorned his chin, and his voice seemed to have gone slightly deeper. I hated to say that it had an effect on me. 

His skin had gained some color, making it look a bit golden. The long-sleeved sweater he had worn did not hide the fact that he had grown more muscle. 

Just looking at him was hard at the moment. I didn't want the feelings I had for him to come back and haunt me again.

The awful past I shared with him came to mind, and so did the good moments we had. I had no idea of what to feel about our past because I always viewed him and the rest as villains. I didn't think much of it because I was certain I wouldn't talk to them again. However, being back in Crystalia meant that I had to revisit those thoughts and take another look on how I felt.

"Hello?" Zane said as he waved a hand over my face, drawing my attention back to the present.

"What?" I inquired.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I blinked my eyes, mad at myself for letting Zane have such an effect on me.

"I'm fine. It's okay, I'm not that hurt. I was just looking around for stuff to buy," I said, and Zane smiled at me. 

Damn, that smile.

I just hoped he didn't notice how flustered I felt in his presence. 

"What's your name, love?" he asked, and that had me pausing for a moment. I furrowed my eyebrows at him in confusion.

Didn't he recognize me?

I wouldn't lie if I said I felt kind of hurt he had forgotten me. I then decided to shake off the feeling and give him a smile. If he had forgotten me, it was good. I would get more time to prepare myself for a conversation until he realized who I was.

"Emery!" Ashley called out. I turned around to face her, noticing she was reading something printed on a large bag of chips as she walked towards me.

"I thought you would..." whatever Ashley was going to say ended up incomplete because she noticed I was with Zane. Her eyes widened, and she looked like a girl caught by her parents sleeping with her boyfriend.

"Zane!" Ashley called out to the guy behind me with a high-pitch tone. It was obvious that she was faking her excitement, but Zane did not seem to notice.

"Hey Ashley," Zane replied with a smile. "You are a friend of hers?"

"Yes," my friend replied with an uneasy smile.

"Why haven't I ever heard of her before?" Zane asked, his eyes capturing mine. My eyes widened in shock as I turned to Ashley, noticing that she also had the same expression as me.

"Well..."

"I spent most of my time on earth," I cut off whatever Ashley was going to say.

"But still, why hasn't she ever mentioned you before?" Zane asked with a furrow of his eyebrows as he turned to face Ashley.

"Emery...umm... she loves to remain private. That's why she hasn't been here for a long time."

"Seriously?" Zane asked with raised eyebrows. "You don't strike me as a woman who keeps to herself."

I needed to get out of the store. It was getting too awkward to be around him.

"Umm, Zane, we have a lot to do today. Could we maybe talk later?" Ashley asked as she grabbed my hand and forcefully pulled me away towards her direction. She didn't bother to wait for Zane's reply. She didn't even let me finish my shopping!

"Ashley, what the hell was that?" I questioned as we quickly walked out of the grocery store.

"I just had a mental conversation with Ethan. He said he would be happy to do your shopping and bring it to you later," Ashley said all of a sudden, shocking me to the point that I stopped following her.

"No! Don't tell him to do that."

It would be too soon. I had just seen Zane. Seeing Ethan would be too much. There was a possibility that he would recognize me, and I did not want to talk to him or the others.

"It will be there in about an hour," she continued, completely ignoring me. By then, she was feet away from me. With a sigh of exasperation, I took off towards her. In the middle of running towards her, Ashley decided it would be fun to just teleport.

Without telling me.

I suddenly stopped and rolled my eyes. I was annoyed, especially since Ashley was dodging my questions. In a click of a finger, I was back at my house in Crystalia.

I had no idea of where Ashley went to. She could run, but she couldn't avoid my questions forever.

I came to a sudden stop at the dining room. Ashley had sat on a sofa chair with the Queen beside her.

"Hello, Emery," she greeted with a smile.

"Elizabeth!" I greeted with a smile, going towards her to hug her. She hugged me back, and seconds later, we retracted.

I was smiling, and at the corner of my eye, I spotted Ashley trying to make an escape. I had momentarily forgotten about her, and seeing her reminded me of why I returned to my house.

"Ashley!" I yelled her name, making her almost jump to the roof. She sighed.

"Emery, don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"What the hell is going on? Is it normal that Zane didn't recognize me? It's not like I wanted him to remember me. It was great he didn't recognize me, but I want to know why."

"Emery dear, you have to sit down for this," Elizabeth spoke as she summoned a cup of tea on her hand. 

I eyed her and Ashley with suspicion. Nonetheless, I took a seat on a wooden chair opposite them.

"Emery, do you remember what happened the last time you were here?" Elizabeth asked, and I nodded.

"You left."

Well, it looked like we were going to talk about everyone who had mistrusted me; it also looked like we were going to argue on my first day back to Crystalia.

"Yes, I know that. My sons and their friends did hurt you, but they wanted you to stay with them."

"Elizabeth, you know how much I had suffered in their hands. I wasn't planning to stay."

"But you could have, Emery! The guilt over what they did to you was eating them up. All they wanted to do was to apologize and make up for all the stuff you went through because of them!" Elizabeth shouted, momentarily startling me.

"I knew, but it didn't matter. I didn't want history to repeat itself. I had been burned twice, Elizabeth. TWICE! And that was in a matter of months. I wasn't willing to trust them again, knowing that the shit that happened to me could happen again."

"It won't happen aga--"

"Emery," Ashley interjected what the Queen went to say, "I understand. But Bianca is still in jail."

"Yes, she is. But still, there could be other people who could be willing to trash my name all because they wanted to get to my cousin and the Ordinary Brothers."

"Emery, you said the word 'could'. They wouldn't even dare betray you again even if such people came back. Trust me; they had learned their lesson."

I huffed. "I'm not sure if you know this: Zane and his bandmates said they were sorry for bullying me in high school, but months later, I ended up being accused and arrested for shit I didn't do! So excuse me if I didn't feel like being near the people who hurt me. I was afraid of going through that shit again. I was extremely hurt, Ashley, and being near them had me thinking of other ways I could suffer in their presence."

By then, I realized I had started tearing up. I