Always a Friend

Chapter 44

I knocked on the door while opening it and hollering for Ashton. He yelled back that he was in the family room, playing a game. I carried my book bag down the hall and into the kitchen connected to the family room. Ashton was sitting on the couch with a controller, shooting zombies. I should've known; he was playing a zombie game online with his buddies. I slid my bag off my shoulder and set it on the floor in front of the couch between Ashton and me. I asked who was on his team, and of course, it was Caleb, Braedon, and Ty. I sat down on the other end of the couch, peeking over at him as he concentrated on the game. I grabbed my book bag, sat it on the middle cushion between us, and pulled out my laptop. 

"Are you really going to do homework now?" Ashton glanced at me briefly, twisting his mouth, then went back to shooting zombies. I glanced down at my shiny, new, pale blue laptop resting in my lap. "Time out for a minute. You don't have to study all the time. You need to have some fun once in a while." His character threw a grenade, blowing up a swarm of zombies approaching him. Their body parts flew in every direction imaginable. 

I wrinkled up my nose in sheer disgust. "Ew..." 

"What?" Ashton laughed, not taking his eyes off the game. "It's not real." 

"It's still disgusting," I scrunched up my face. I opened my laptop, peeking over at him. We sat there the rest of the time, doing our own thing. I kept my nose in my laptop so I wouldn't see him shooting or blowing anything else up. Ashton sitting at home and playing a game was not his usual after-school entertainment. This was foreign to me, and I wasn't quite sure whether to be relieved or scared. Deep down, I felt relieved that he wasn't out corrupting some girl from our school, but then again, it made me wonder why he wasn't out chasing girls. 

Tuesday morning came way too fast. I lay in bed, staring out my window at the bright blue sky and watching the clouds drift by. I couldn't stop thinking about dinner last night and how I caught Ashton staring at me a couple of times from across the table. Each time I'd caught him, he looked down at his food, picking at his spaghetti, taking a bite here and there. I wasn't the only one who noticed he wasn't eating much. Elizabeth had kept watching him in between her sips of wine. At one point, I could've sworn I saw her glance at both of us and then smile. I wasn't sure because I was trying to keep my head down when Elizabeth wasn't talking to me. I didn't want Ashton to catch me staring at him. 

I started to fling the comforter off me when my phone vibrated on my nightstand. I picked it up, expecting to see Chloe's face on my screen with a video icon at the bottom. Instead, I saw Ashton's face with the video icon. I quickly ran my fingers through my hair and hit the icon. 

"Morning. I wanted to catch you before you started getting ready. Don't be alarmed when you leave your room and realize your mom is just getting home." 

"What?" I rushed over to my window with my phone in hand. "Her car's here. How do you know she just got home." My eyes shifted to Ashton's bedroom window. 

"I started to walk down to the kitchen when I heard her talking to Mom. I heard Mom tell her that she needs to start staying at home more with you, and that made your mom mad." He shrugged, looking back at me from his window. "Mom's trying, but your mom isn't listening. I'm sorry, Gem. Go get ready real quick, and I'll take you to coffee before school." He motioned me to turn around and walk away from the window. "Go. Get. Ready. I'll see you in forty-five minutes." He turned away from the window. "Go." He laughed, then ended the call. I tossed my phone over on my bed, grabbed my clothes, and headed for the bathroom. 

"Gemma, is that you?" Mom hollered from the kitchen.

No, it's the tooth fairy.  "Yes, but I'm getting ready to leave." I hollered back, grasping the front door. 

"Can you come here for a second?" She peeked her head out of the kitchen, her hair messed up.

"Mom, I need to go. Ashton wants to take me for coffee before school." I turned, keeping my hand on the doorknob. 

She took a couple of steps away from the kitchen doorway. "It won't take long." 

Something in me snapped. "Talk. You want to talk now? How about last night when you didn't come home? Or how about when I come home after doing my homework at Sweet Escape because I know you won't be here? You can talk to me at any of those times, but you choose to stay away most of the time. But you expect me to put my life on hold when you decide to be a mother. I'm sorry, but my friend is waiting to take me for coffee. Maybe you'll be here after I get home from school." I opened the door, startled by Ashton's fist inches from the door, getting ready to knock. 

His eyes narrowed as he dropped his hand. "Um...Everything okay?" He leaned to the side, glancing between Mom and me. I rolled my eyes, inching out the door and closing it behind me. "What happened?" He motioned his thumb over his shoulder at the front door. I shook my head, letting him know that I didn't want to talk about it. One thing about Ashton was he didn't press me to talk about things unless I brought it up. I needed to follow in his footsteps more and not press matters. "We don't have to go to school today." He smiled, backing out of his driveway. "We could skip school and just hang out today." As nice as that sounded, I couldn't skip another day so soon. 

"I have to go." I sighed, turning to look out the passenger window. I watched the car's blurry reflection in the windows of the buildings as we zoomed down the street. "Besides, I dare someone to say something to me today." The corner of my mouth curled up in a crooked smirk. I peeked over at him when he didn't say anything in response to my comment about to say something when he pulled into Sweet Escape. I looked away before he could catch me gazing at him. It wasn't the fact that I was looking at him, but more of how I was glancing at him. I knew Ashton was one of the good-lookin guys at school, but I'd never realized how hot he was until recently. I had no idea what was happening, or maybe I did and refused to admit it. 

"What are you going to get?" I asked, walking in between the parked cars. 

"I think I'm going to get what we got yesterday and a muffin." 

"Oh...That sounds good." I reached for the door handle when Ashton pushed my hand out of the way. I lowered my hand, peeking at him through my lashes. He opened the door and followed in behind me. My eyes glanced over the shop, looking for anyone from school who would decide to insult me. I was a couple of feet away from the counter, envisioning my cup of heaven, when it happened. 

"Ashton, I didn't know you were going to be here." Olivia's high-pitched voice pierced my ears. I rolled my eyes, not wanting to turn around and watch her flirt with Ashton. 

"Um...Why would I tell you?" Ashton answered her with such annoyance. 

"Because this is our place." 

Their place?  I forced myself to turn around against my better judgment. Olivia's eyes flashed past Ashton, glaring at me. Her pouty lips pressed together into a thin line. She wrinkled up her nose, then turned and walked away without another word. My eyes narrowed at what had just happened. I was fully expecting some snide remark from her but got nothing in response. She walked back over to her table of friends, leaning across the table into a little pow-wow, whispering and glancing over at us. Olivia grabbed her drink off the table and waved for her friends to follow. Once they were all out the door and headed around the corner to the parking lot, Ashton placed his hands on my arms and faced me toward the counter. I wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but deep down, something told me it was a huge.