Always a Friend

Chapter 40

"What are we doing here?" I asked, looking out toward the beach. "I thought you were taking me home." I glanced over at Ashton. 

"I thought you'd like to come here for a little bit. I can take you home if you don't want to stay here." He looked over at me with his hand on the door handle. "I didn't think you'd want to sit alone in your house." 

"Here's fine. I glanced out toward the glistening ocean water. I grabbed my phone from my purse, took off my shoes and socks, and opened the car door. I walked around to the front of the car and paused for a few minutes, waiting for Ashton to join me. I wanted to stand at the edge of the ocean and inhale the saltiness as the waves rolled onto shore.  "Are you coming?" I motioned for Ashton to hurry up. He held up his index finger, telling me to wait a second, then returned to what he was doing. I sighed, turning to look out toward the ocean, debating on whether to start walking without him or not. 

"You ready?" Ashton closed the door and hit his key fob, locking the car. He started walking barefoot across the sand. My foot sank the minute it hit the sand. For someone who has grown up around the beach, I still walked across the sand like someone who had never stepped foot on it. I could only imagine how I looked to the people around us watching. Ashton was already a few feet away from the water by the time I got to him. 

"How are you doing?" Ashton asked, not taking his eyes off the waves rolling into shore. 

I shrugged, twisting my mouth. "I guess..." I turned my head so he wouldn't see me cry. 

"Gem, it's okay to be upset." 

"Why didn't you tell me that's what  they were doing?" 

"Tell you? I had no idea. Jude and I don't hang out anymore. He started hanging out with Noah and now Rhys. I honestly didn't know what those dickheads were up to." He shoved his hands in his pockets, raking his toes through the sand. "I need to apologize to you, too." 

"For what?" I bent down and picked up a seashell. "You didn't partake in their stupid bet." I examined the pinkish shell in my hand. I peeked over at Ashton, who was moving sand back and forth between his feet. I started to stick my toes deeper into the sand, waiting for Ashton to find the words he was looking for. 

"I didn't stick up for you sooner. I thought if I backed away, Claudia would give up on being a bitch to you, but somehow the opposite happened. I don't know why I thought she'd back off." He ran his hand through the top of his hair, looking out at the ocean. I stared at him in complete shock because this was the first time he'd ever apologized for letting Claudia be a bitch to me. Honestly, I didn't know how to respond to it either. 

"Can I ask you a question?" I motioned for Ashton to follow me along the shoreline. I didn't even wait for him to say okay. "Why did you sleep with Hannah?" I glanced over at him with his wide eyes and parted lips. "Of all girls to sleep with, you picked her. Why?" I looked toward the ocean, the waves rolling in, and how they sparkled in the sun. I turned to my right, pausing to find where Ashton had disappeared. "What are you doing back there?" He was a few feet behind me, his lips parted, staring blankly at me. 

"You saw?" 

"How could I not? I was walking into my house." My feet shuffled through the sand. "Of all the girls. You picked the one that Jude had dumped me for. That's a smack in the face." 

"Gemma, I can explain." He moved closer. 

"Ashton, you don't owe me an explanation. I just wanted you to know it hurt a little bit that our friendship doesn't mean that much to you." I turned to continue walking along the beach. I walked two steps before my body jerked back from Ashton, grabbing my arm. "What?" I glanced down at his hand gripped around my bicep.