Highly Inappropriate

58.

So, what started like a random beer at Donna's ended up with me staying at her place for the past 4 days.

Crazy, I know.

But I needed to get away from it all, allowing myself some time to think and clear my head. And judging by Jess' endless messages and calls, I knew I would've never managed to do that by going back home. The only calls I made were to my brothers just so they knew I was okay, and I didn't even want to imagine the state of our house with Chase being on his own for the past couple of days.

I must say, spilling my guts to an outsider like Donna actually allowed me to see and put things into perspective. I mean, deep down I already knew Jess was coming from a good place, but that, in my opinion, didn't mean she went on about it in the right way. Then again, when Donna asked me to put myself in her shoes, I quickly realized I would've done the same thing for her.

But from realizing it to actually admit it out loud well, that was a whole different story. Cause I was a hundred percent sure I would've never kept it from her this long, no matter the consequences.

So even though I understood why she did what she did, it was safe to say I was still majorly mad at her. And I hated it.

Waking up to an empty and still unfamiliar house, I dragged myself around just to realize Donna had already left for work. Smiling at a note she left for me in the kitchen, I helped myself to her fridge and the fresh pot of coffee sitting on the counter. While shoving my face with food, I absentmindedly scrolled through my phone hoping Jason had any news and ultimately ending up huffing when I got yet another text from Jess.

Jess 11.30am
'Just wanted to let you know Sky's been discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon.. as for the party tomorrow, consider it cancelled. It would be meaningless without you there.. Again, I'm so sorry Alex, please come home..'

I felt like shit, but at the same time I didn't, nor could I bring myself to reply along the lines of 'don't cancel the party' or 'I'll be there', cause honestly I was in no such mood to even attend, let alone put a smile on my face.

I was determined to talk to her today though.. but before that, I wanted to tackle the biggest issue at hand, such as Ashley herself.

After taking a quick shower and raiding Donna's closet for a decent clean shirt, I looked up the address Jess gave me and climbed into my car.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a nervous wreck. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep my cool with her, especially if she kept dodging my questions and avoiding giving me the answers I wanted.. but it was time to confront her, whether she liked it or not.

Parking across from Skylar's house, I killed the engine and took a deep breath.

"Keep calm and collected Alex, you can do this.", I mumbled to myself. "Things can't get any worse than this, right?"

Exhaling slowly, my hand went to open the door when I saw Ashley step out of the house, causing me to still my movements altogether. What struck me as odd was the outfit she was wearing: she had a big ass black sweater on, the hoodie pulled over her head and a large pair of sunglasses covering most of her face. She also made a beeline for her car, nervously taking a look around her, almost as if she didn't want to be seen. But by who?!

I nervously bit my lip as I knew I was about to be spotted since my car was pretty damn recognizable, but either she pretended not to see me or she didn't pay too much attention to it, cause she climbed into her car and sped off in a matter of seconds.

Awkwardly sitting there like an idiot, I stared at her car as it quickly disappeared around the corner of her street, my hand turning the key into the ignition out of instinct and before my brain could even process what I was doing, I was following her.