twisted // michael clifford au

0.3

hands down - dashboard confessional

"I spoke with your mother, I think you should call her." I scrunched my nose. Dad, are completely oblivious to the fact I have no idea what the fuck is going on? "Could you explain what is up with her? You're acting weird. Fill me in, dude."

"Vi, about three years ago we got a divorce." There it was. It hit me. "Why?" I was shocked. The family I remember was my parents being in love, although I was an only child we were happy. We did everything together.

"It just wasn't working anymore." He sat at my bedside, resting his hands in his lap. I could feel him holding details back, the psychology side of him taking over. "She moved to upstate New York and remarried. You have a half brother whose two."

My chest hurt. The woman my father described was not my mother. My mother would never do that. She writes columns for the newspaper. Upstate New York is not the place for her. "But she wasn't able to have children after me," my voice low. "Actually, I was the one unable have children after you. It wasn't her." he sighed, and I felt extremely bad for him.

"You guys had a little falling out over the years, but maybe-" "I'll call her later but I don't want to see her." I was hurt. New York? What the hell was she doing there? "I think that's enough filling in for the day," he added.

•

My first week at home was challenging, since we had moved to a different house post-divorce. I had learned that my dad spends most of his time in his office, doing whatever important business a therapist does. When he's not in his office at home, he's at work. Apparently, the only life that has stopped since the accident is mine.

Attempting to figure things out got harder. I spent a lot of time in my room failing to find things to answer questions. I don't know who I was before this, but I obviously wasn't the documenting type. Other than a few photos, I had nothing to answer any of the questions I had.

I was locked out of every social media account, I couldn't even get into my laptop. You would think I would write down all my passwords in my phone, but I didn't. I even hoped to find old text messages to rely on- deleted. My phone had useless applications and stupid pictures of people I didn't recognize, and a flood of text messages I couldn't reply to, because I didn't know what to say. I was lost.

I spent even more time crying in frustration because everything around me was unfamiliar. I knew nothing, besides the fact my sailor mouth came from uncensored movies on VH1, as my dad had said. He liked that I was comfortable enough to curse around him, because it showed that "I trusted him to show him that side of me." He wasn't as reasonable as he sounded, apparently I wasn't allowed to be verbally free until I was almost seventeen.

I was sitting in the floor of my closet, digging through old boxes of school projects when I heard a knock on my door. As a psychologist, my dad always said it was healthier to trust your child and respect their privacy. He always knocked before entering.

"Vi, Ashton is here." he said behind the door. "Come in!" I called, though I could barely hear him. Since being released from the hospital I hadn't come in contact with anyone. My dad convinced me that I had tons of friends, but I didn't believe him for a second. When I was younger I was a loser.

I slept a lot, because the medicine I was on made me tired, and there wasn't anything else to do. Bright light and loud noise gave me headaches, I was practically in the dark 24/7, I had no need for visitors.

I stood up from the scattered pictures and old school projects to open the door for my dad. Since he hasn't entered the room already, I assume he didn't hear me before.

"Hey," a boy said, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me close to him. "I missed you." he kissed the top of my head. "Damn, it's kinda dark in here." he chuckled. I had a dim lamp bright enough for me to see inside the closet.

I pulled away from him, confused by the gesture. Obviously, everything confused me. "I, uh," I backed away from him, "I don't know who you are." Didn't he know this already?

"Sorry. I know it's gonna be kinda new for awhile," he said. Possibly forever. "I'm Ashton, we've been dating for over a year."

So this was Mr. President himself. I studied his features. He was attractive too, and I wondered how I came in contact with two attractive boys claiming to be my boyfriend. I never did this well when I was in middle school.

"I tried to see you at the hospital but they said you didn't want any visitors." "Yeah. Sorry, it's just weird right now." "I get it. Tom said you get to come back to school next week." He's on first name basis with my dad, wow.

It would be just like starting at a new school, but worse. I dreaded it. "I don't really want to go back." I sighed, sitting on the edge of my bed. "I don't even think I can remember how to drive. How clumsy do I have to be to fall down a fucking flight of stairs?" I felt myself rambling, because I hadn't talked to anyone in so long, besides dad.

I ran my fingers through my hair, a dark blonde color that I didn't really get. I've always been a brunette.

"That's not a problem, I can drive you. I used to before you got your license." he sat beside me.

"I have so many questions about everything. It's tough being super incognizant." "I didn't really plan on staying long because Calum's party is later. You can come if you want." This guy didn't care to hear me babble either, apparently.

I scoffed. Why was I dating him again? Give him a chance Violet, you don't know how he is yet. He's an asshole. I can tell.

"I get headaches really easy, I probably shouldn't." "But you get to come eventually, right? It's no fun being the life if the party without you." I furrowed my eyebrows. I had never been the type to want to be in the spotlight. Or at least, I wasn't a couple years ago.

"Hold on." He put his finger against my lips, answering his phone. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I'm gonna get it after I leave here. I'm visiting Violet. Can you believe she doesn't remember us? I know, crazy. Okay I'm on my way, bro. See ya." "Calum says hi. Anyway, I gotta go pick up party stuff. I'll call you tomorrow." he kissed my forehead.

He spat out too much information at once without explanation. I'm guessing Calum was a friend, but that's all I'm doing. I'm just guessing about everything. "Um, bye." I called as he left my room, leaving me completely unaware of what the fuck just happened.

-

i love ashton so much he's actually the sweetest person ever but he's gonna be a dick in this that's just how it is srry

ily