Deciding on You || a.i. (Book 2)

16 | Ashton

((I'm a writer not a photo editor cut me some SLACK))

As soon as I wake up on Saturday morning, my need to talk to Maddie about us is ten times stronger than usual. It's been a week since I blacked out and apparently confessed my love for her, and she still hasn't spoken to me about it.

I haven't even gotten out of bed before I grab my phone off of my cluttered floor and open up my conversation with her.

can we PLEASE talk? just like 5 minutes thats all.

I wait and I wait, just staring at my phone. I need real closure. If she wants to date Calum and completely end things with me, I need to know.

Busy, she replies and I sit up with a grunt.

Who is busy at 11:30am? I don't even want to think about why she would be busy at 11:30am.

I've sat idly by for too long, though, and I'm going to talk to her. If she told Calum she'd be busy this entire week too, the only other place she could be is Michael's. Maybe they had a sleepover and painted each other's nails.

I don't even bother changing out of my wine-stained sweats and Deadpool shirt, swiping my keys off of my desk and bolting down the stairs.

My speed stays at a reasonable 40mph the whole way to Michael's house, but I don't need to slow down to make any turns. It's either I die, or I talk to Maddie.

"Ashton?" Michael's dad, a familiar face that I haven't seen in months, asks when he opens the door to see me. He eagerly pulls me into a hug, "How've you been, kid?"

"Uh, good," I take a step back after he lets go, and he gives my disheveled outfit a once-over, "Michael home?"

"Yeah, I think so," he nods, looking behind him, down the hall, "Mikey!"

When he turns back around, I know he wants to find out more about me. The last he saw me, I was depressed and curled up in a hospital bed, making snide remarks at his son while I sketched pictures of batman.

"So life is going good?" he asks.

"Well, better than last year," I say, rocking back and forth on my heels. Unlike Michael, his dad hadn't heard about my promiscuity through gossip, and thus probably thought I was a good kid, in the hospital for a good reason, like his son. "My girlfriend and I are in a rough patch, but I guess everything else is okay."

Not that there is anything else but Maddie. 

"You know Michael had a girl over last night?" His dad whispers, and I lift my eyebrows. So I was right. "He's growing up now. I'm glad he lived to see it."

"A girl? Really?" I ask, giving him a shit-eating grin, "Was she nice?"

"Yup, perfect for Mikey," he nods, crossing his arms across his chest before turning back again, "Michael! Your friend is here."

Down the hall, he walks out of his room as he tucks his work polo into his khakis. When he sees me, he shakes his stupid, green head and walks a little faster toward us. 

"What now, Ashton?" he asks, and his dad steps to the side with a curious look on his face. Michael takes the opportunity to shut the door behind him and back me up away from it. "I have work in, like, 40 minutes. Make it quick."

He stares at me with a blank expression as we stand on his front porch. He's lucky most of the snow has melted and it isn't soaking through his socks.

"Is Maddie with you?" I ask, "Is she working today?"

"No she's not with me. Why would she--" he cuts himself off, "She's working later tonight, with Hood."