Abigail

Chapter seventeen.

Chapter seventeen.

I planned on telling Ashton about my situation, soon, but I had to make sure that things were okay between us before I did. What I didn't want was Ashton pitying me once I told him, and then him only pretending to be okay with me because he didn't want to upset me. No, that's not how it was going to work.

Noah helped me into the car and then closed the door for me, walking around to the other side. As he got in, I buckled my seatbelt up. We were going to pick up Ashton from school and then Noah was going to drop the two of us off at this restaurant place, so we could talk about things over dinner and then hopefully we'd be okay. I was nervous but I was also excited to be able to spend proper time with my best friend, which didn't include the hospital.

We pulled up outside just as the bell for the end of the day rung. "Are you going to tell him soon?" Noah asked, tapping on the steering wheel.

I sighed, "Yeah. I'm just scared of what his reaction will be. I don't want it to change anything, like, the way he treats me. I don't want him to be my best friend just because he feels guilty if he doesn't, you know?"

He nodded. Ashton opened the door and climbed into the backseat. "Hey, what's going on?"

I turned my head to face him as Noah drove us. "I'm taking you out to dinner so we can chat about things," I told him.

"You're taking me out? Shouldn't it be the other way around?" His eyebrows furrowed.

"Why? We're best friends, don't treat me differently because I'm a girl."

"Sorry," he muttered.

Noah pulled up outside, making sure we weren't too far away from the entrance. "Ring me when you're done and I'll pick you up," he kissed my forehead.

"I will."

Ashton jumped out of the car and I was unbuckling my seatbelt as he opened my door for me. I smiled and got out, holding his hand for support. My favourite restaurant was this, which served Chinese food but it was a buffet so you go and fill your plate up as many times as you want. The hot food are in pans and you lift the lid and scoop the food out - it was amazing. Then for dessert, they had unlimited ice cream with sweets to go on top, or you could have fruit salad or cake. Whatever you wanted to eat, there was no limit on how much you could have.

The drinks had a limit though. "Can we have two Pepsi Max's please," Ashton ordered. He then asked for two plates and we went half and half on the price, each paying for our own. Ashton argued with me about this for a good then minutes but after realising I wasn't going to give up, he dropped it.

We were seated at our table and then waited for our drinks to come. "I love this place," I sighed, looking around. "It's a shame they don't get much business."

The waitress gave us our drinks and plates along with cutlery and then left. We both grabbed our plates and made our way over to the food. I piled my plate up with chips, spare ribs, sweet and sour chicken and egg fried rice. Ashton piled his up with sweet and sour chicken, egg fried rice, spring rolls and spicy wings. We carried our plates back to our table and dug in.

"So, I was thinking last night when I was in bed," I spoke, "and I wanted to try and get our relationship back to normal. I mean, after everything that has gone on, I just can't help but feel like we're drifting apart and I don't like it."

He swallowed and nodded. "It really hurt that you thought I was lying to you."

"I'm sorry. I know it's no excuse but there was just a lot going on, what with my dad as well and I didn't know how to handle it. I just saw it as the one person that was keeping me sane, was lying and leaving me all alone?" I questioned myself, unsure if I was making sense.