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CHAPTER FOUR:
a day that just gets progressively worse.

Aster sits down at a table outside her college, a huff of frustration leaves her lips as she rubs her temples. Today has not been a good day for her, from the moment she woke up she's been in an anxious and irritable mood. She can't quite put her finger on what has been bothering her, all she knows is that it feels like she's waiting for a ball to drop. For the past few months her life has felt like smooth sailing and she just can't help but feel that she's due for something to go wrong. Maybe that's pessimistic of her or maybe its realistic of her, honestly she could care less. The beeping of a phone breaks Aster out of her reverie. The red-head grabs her phone from her bag and clicks the notification.

"Does the carpet match the drapes?"

Aster scoffs at the message from the dating app she signed up for while drunk in her room one night. Aster rolls her eyes before carelessly dropping her phone back into her back. She lets out a groan while rubbing her eyes in exhaustion completely forgetting about her mascara, which starts to spread making black outlines around her eyes.

"How is it that everyone I know is in a happy stable relationship and I can't even get a guy to talk to me without making a sexual remark?" She rhetorically asks herself, unnoticing of the guy who has walked towards the table.

"Um, do you need a minute to finish your conversation with yourself?" A raspy voice asks.

Aster lifts her head up to look at the stranger who has approached her. She blocks the sun with her hands to try to get a better look at him. A tall brunet with bright blue eyes smiles back at her, his hands tightly gripping the straps of his backpack.

"I.. uh, all the tables are full and I saw this one and thought, hey why don't I sit there and so I did..." The brunet stutters before trailing off slowly at the end, his eyebrows furrowing and his pink lips in a small pout.

Aster glances over the courtyard seeing a few open tables before looking back at the guy, her eyebrow raised.

The guy chuckles shyly as he rubs his neck in discomfort. "Um..."

Aster smiles. "You can sit if you want, I actually have class in like 30 minutes so I'll be leaving soon anyways."

"Oh okay cool, thanks," He smiles at her, smoothly sliding his backpack off his shoulders and sitting down.

Aster opens her binder, mindlessly reading over some notes for her next class since that teacher was known to give pop quizes.

The guy in front of her clears his throat pulling Asters attention away from her binder. She smirks at his not so subtle way of trying to gain her attention.

"I'm Evan, by the way," he says, putting his hand in the air and giving her a slight wave.

Aster's smirk drops slightly before replacing it with a small smile that she's sure must look like a grimace. "I'm Aster," she greets politely. Her phone beeps again, this time a message from her aunt.

Abby: Can you stop at the store after you're done with classes?
Aster: Sure!

"It's my friend, she wants to meet up before class," Aster tells Evan as she packs up her stuff. "It was nice meeting you!" She tells him politely.

"Oh yeah yeah you too Aster!" Evan waves.

Aster closes her eye and sighs. A cute guy who's seemingly interested in her and he just has to have the same name as her ex. The universe loves to play with her, that's the only explanation. It's probably upstairs on its high horse looking down and laughing at at her unfortunes.

"Bitch," Aster mumbles as she continues to head to her next class.

Pounding.

That's all Aster feels in her head, is just a constant pounding. Between the screams of joys from children or the constant ringing of the bell her booth makes as an attempt to draw people in, Aster's head feels like its ripping open. What was an already bad day seems to only keep getting worse. Blow after blow, it feels like and Aster is raise the white flag and just drop dead.

"Hey, Hey!" Nala greets, her shining white teeth smile brightly at Aster which she returns with a scowl.

"Alright, who pissed in your cereal?" Nala asks, used to Aster's moods when she has a bad day. It wasn't that the red-head was brattyor anything, it was just Aster liked things to go smoothly and when it didnt it would severely stresd her out.

"Nobody's peed in anything, including me who has been asking for a 15 for the past two hours," Aster mumbles grumpily.

Nala frowns. "Didn't you start at four? Jake already got his break and he came an hour and half after you."

Aster rolled her eyes."I know, it's so annoying. I should not have to literally beg for breaks."

Nala sighs before checking her phone. "Well I get off my lunch in five so I can take over the booth, just take a 20."

Aster sighs in relief. "Thank you so much. Today has been such a bad day."

"What's up?" Nala says leaning over the booth, and pulling her phone out to start clocking in.

"It's not even like its a bad day more like a bad mental health day, you know? I've had a killer headache, I've been so anxious I got like two hours of sleep last night. It's my last year of school but god the workload is crazy. I'm trying to cram everything. My Grandma seems to only be getting worse. I'm questioning my degree. I've been in the constant state of anxiousness because I feel like something is about to go wrong. Also, I'm lonely," Aster rants, her shoulders sagging with relief after each wors.

Nala sucks in a deep breath. "Okay, so there's a lot to unpack here."

Aster nods. "Yeah, that felt kind of good to get out. Sorry, I didn't even ask first-"

"I wouldn't have asked you what was wrong if I didn't want you to talk to me Aster, it's okay," Nala cuts her off. "Why didn't you call me and Em if all this has been going on?" Nala asks softly.

Aster purses her lips, looking away it alight shame. "I just feel like lately there's always something wrong with me. I've been so down in the dumps mentally and I just don't want to keep dropping that on you guys."

Nala snatches Aster's hand. "Excuse me, Em and I are your friends. We are here to help you fight your demons whether its some bitchboy that we scheme to get back at or its the insecurities in your head. We are always here for you."

Aster holds tightly onto Nala's hand. "I just don't want to be a burden," she whispers to Nala, who looks fully offended.

"If Em and I came to you about our problems would you think we were a burden?" Nala asks the red-head, ferocity dripping from her voice.

"Of course not!" Aster answers quickly.

"Okay so why do you think we would feel that way about you?" Nala says.

Aster stumbles over her words. While Nala's tactless at times, she has always been really great at reassuring Aster something the red-head seem to desperately need lately.

Aster smiles.

"Thank you," she says honestly, squeezing the brunette's hand.

Nala smirks. "Anytime, buttercup" she says patting the red-heads freckled cheek. "Now go take your twenty."

The blue-eye girl rolls her eyes. "I'm gonna take a dip in the water."

"When don't you Aquamarine?" Nala teases.

"It helps clear my head!" Aster defends as she switches spots with Nala. "Be back soon!" She yells back to the brunette as she walks towards the water.

Aster looks at her watch on her wrist as she carries the bags of groceries into the elevator. She sighs as she sets them down on the floor and presses the button to the level she's on. The hum of the elevator fills her ears before it dings a couple of floors early.

"Going down?" An brunet guy around her age asks as his daschund sniffs around his feet.

"Um, up?" She tells him, her eyebrows furrows. She never understood why people asked when there are lights that tell you right above the elevator door. It just seems like unnecessary small talk.

"Okay," he says brightly, tugging his dog into the elevator with him.

Aster gives him a forced smile, picking up her groceries and shuffles slightly to the side. She watches as the mans dog sniffs around her grocery bag. She gently nudges the bag away from the dog, sending a warning glance to the owner who seems to pay no mind.

"Hey!" She yells at the dog that's succesfully taken a pack of bacon out of one of the grocery bags. "Give it back!" She says as she crouches down and tries to wrestle the bacon away from him. She huffs as she continues to lightly tugs it, the dog shaking his head and wagging his tail. She feels his hold start to lossen and she snatches it from him completely.

"Ahh, sorry about that," the older man says, a smile on his face as he looks at his dog petting him on the head.

Aster huffs as she inspects the ripped package. The ding of the elevator announcing her arrival at her floor. The red-head stands up and slams the ripped bacon package into the guys chest. "Keep it," she mutters as she picks up her groceries and stomps out the elevator.

Aster walks down the hallway, a feeling in her gut bubbly over almost making her want to put right then and there. She slowly walks towards her apartment her breathing getting slightly heavier as she notices the apartment door wide open.

Fear paralyzes Aster's body. Her limbs suddenly feel disconnected from her, she doesn't even notices that the bags of groceries have fell from her hands and the food now spills around her feet. Every worse possible scenario runs through her head almost as fast as her rapidly beating heart.

And then it was like something within her had clicked. The red-head bolts into the apartment, incaring of what her fate might be. The only thing she could focus on was making sure her family was okay. Her tennis shoes squeak as she reaches the living room, the unoccupied hospital bed stares back at her making the hair on the back of her neck raise.

"Grandma?" She shrieks. She frantically runs to her Abby's room, the sight of a limp Abby setting more terror into the young girl's mind. She drops down in front of Abby immediately checking for a pulse, when she notices one she violently begins to shake the older red head. "Aunt Abby! Aunt Abby!" She frantically yells pulling the older red-head from her deep slumber.

"What?" Abby groggily whispers, her eyes blinking fastly to try to wake up.

"What happened? Where's Grandma?" Aster yells gripping tightly onto Abby.

"Mom?" Abby calls out as she sits up. Her eyes zeroing in the empty bed.

Aster watches as her aunts eyes fill with fear. She quickly whips out her phone from the back of her pocket.

NOTES.
its been awhile since i've updated this book and i wish i had a good excuse like i've been busy or something but honestly i've kind have lost motivation for writing this book. it's not the plotline or anything, gosh i have so much planned, its more like i lost my motivation to write aster. i feel like i may not have thoroughly outlined her character as much as i wanted to. which leads me to ask you guys some questions...
honest opinions please, is aster an enjoyable character? does she come off as a mary sue?? any thoughts you have of her even if they're harsh please leave them!