playing daddy ||a.i.||

[12] BOGIES pt. 2

"Hey, mom," Mellony's voice is steady despite her bouncing leg. Ashton knows she's putting on a calm facade so her mother doesn't worry, but the contrast is honestly terrifying. "How was Neo?"

Ashton starts the car, the rumble of his engine partly blocking out Ms. Martin's reply. It sounds vaguely typical, but the way Mellony's face falls says otherwise.

He hopes in the pathetic part of his mind that Neo's talked back, or thrown a tantrum, or drawn on the walls, just something relatively harmless. Of course, that wouldn't change the fact that he's technically missing.

"Oh, yeah, he told me. I just wanted to make sure." It hurts to hear her voice crack. Ashton can see tears welling in her eyes, and his hands instantly yearn to make sure they never fall past her cheeks.

"What else did he say while he was inside?" She goes on, further worrying Ashton.

If he weren't driving he'd have his ear pressed to the other side of the phone. He hates not knowing what's going on, especially when it's something concerning someone he cares about. Especially when Mellony is moments away from crying in the passenger seat.

The girl lets off a laugh so fake that even Neo would be able to see through it. "Yeah, I couldn't believe it either." She breaks character to shake her head, briefly shifting her gaze to Ashton. He sees the panic dancing across her features, from her furrowed brows, to her wide, glassy eyes.

Mellony bids her mother a rushed good night, ending the call before the woman can finish her sentence, with a shaking thumb.

"Mel, what happened? Where's Neo?" Ashton questions, finding a balance between looking at her and looking at the road ahead of them.

"I-I don't know," She starts, shortly covering her mouth with her hands, trying to normalize her breathing. "Michael has him."

Ashton blinks, readjusting his grip on the steering wheel.

"Michael?" He begins, sorting through the mass of words flooding his brain, to find the right ones. "Why would your mom let Michael take him? Doesn't she know he bailed on you in the first place?"

He's so confused. He's a lot of things; worried, angry, upset. Mostly, right now as he drives ten miles over the speed limit, he's confused. He figured her mom would hate Michael more than she does.

"I never really told her the details of our breakup." Mellony admits, wiping under her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket.

Ashton tries not to snap at her, really, he does, but he can't believe she'd keep the fact that Michael left her with their child from her mom.

"So, what, she thinks you guys just coincidentally split before you realized you were pregnant?"

"Well, it doesn't matter what she thought, because now she thinks that Michael and I are trying to co-parent!" Mellony snaps back, throwing her arms in the air. She crumples once her hands slap down against her legs, curling up on herself as much as she can while in her seatbelt. "She thinks I'm letting him take care of my baby. The one I took care of, on my own, while he got to hide behind his parents and live his life."

She's fully crying now, pressing her lips together in a failed effort to stop them from trembling.

Ashton sighs, hating himself for finding something to yell at her about when there's more important things going on.