Betrayal

Chapter 6: Just get on with it Ashley!

Ashley took a deep breath and turned onto her back. Her eyes fluttered open and darted around the room. It couldn't possibly be that she had to do this right? It just had to be a joke. The brunette rubbed her eyes and sat up, regretting her choice to follow through with the plan. 

"Deal with it Ashley." she got up and looked at herself in the mirror. "I need to get rid of all this hair."
Ashley grabbed her scissors and a hair tie, tying her hair up in a low ponytail, then cutting it just under her shoulders. She fixed the remaining hair in a bun and threw the cut hair in her trash can. Her jaw dropped after she realised what she had done. 

"What in the river Styx did I just do?" she muttered. She got changed into her normal clothes and went into the kitchen for breakfast as usual. Luckily Aubrey usually worked longer hours on Saturday so Ashley had longer to hide what she was actually doing.
"Morning Ash." the blonde smiled up at the brunette as she dished out bacon and eggs. "Did you cut your hair?"
"Yeah I guess." the younger woman sat down. "It was annoying me and I finally had enough this morning."
Aubrey chuckled and shook her head.
"Typical Jones." She handed a plate to Ashley.
"Bite me Posen." the brunette giggled.
"I thought that was for Jessica to do?" the blonde shot back playfully, instantly regretting it when Ashley tensed. "Sorry. I meant it as a joke."

"Yeah I know." the younger woman started eating. "I'm just scared to mess up again. She's only giving me one more chance."
"I get you." Aubrey started eating too. "But something tells me that if you do mess up again, and I'm not saying you will, but if you do, I think she'll forgive you. I started talking to her more now. And it's non stop Ashley this, Ashley that, Ashley blah blah blah."
The brunette let out a forced chuckle. The whole situation was just building on her guilt.
"And literally the rest of the Bellas are fully convinced that you two are soulmates." 

Ashley raised an eyebrow.

"She has a boyfriend, even if we were." the brunette blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. "And I'm 100% sure she just wants to be friends, if anything at all."
"She? Just her?" Aubrey smirked. "Are you hinting that you have feelings for her?"
"No. No." Ashley facepalmed. "I mean, I wasn't mentioning myself, because I don't know how I feel."
"You can figure it out Ash." the blonde started cleaning their dirty plates. "You're one of the smartest people I know."
"Academically. Not emotionally." the younger woman reminded her.
"If you can learn academically, you can learn emotionally." Aubrey grabbed her bag. "Remember I'm back late tonight, half 11-ish. And if I haven't turned up I've probably gone to Stacie's." 

"Okay see you later." Ashley nodded, watching the blonde leave and sighing heavily. She knew the older woman meant well, but she was making her feel more and more guilty, the more they talked. Ashley got up and grabbed her stuff, checking the time.
"2 hours." she murmured to herself as she changed into her black attire. She grabbed a small bag and strapped the knife holder to her leg, making sure it wasn't easily seen, while also being easy to access. The brunette sighed and peered up at the photo of her and Jessica on the wall beside her bed. 

"I'm so sorry Jess." she whispered to the photo, pulling on her black army boots and looking out the window.  

The mustiness of the late Fall season had left a dark fog to expand across the ground, making it hard to see much. Even up above the storm clouds were gathering to create an impenetrable gray blanket that spread across the sky. Ashley let out a sigh of relief, it was the perfect weather for a daylight break-in. 

"You can do this Ashley, you can do this." the brunette scanned her eyes over her figure in the mirror. "Just don't let her know it's you."
Ashley had taken a lot of thought into preparation for the mission. She had used a different shampoo, body wash and deodorant the whole week so that Jessica couldn't recognise her by smell, if she could do that at all. She had started wearing makeup in case Jessica could somehow recognise her by her eyes. The brunette had taken every step necessary to ensure that the blonde could not recognise her at all.

Ashley looked over at the photo of her and Jessica, making her way towards it and frowning. Why was she doing this?
She grabbed her phone, opening her chat with the girl. She typed out a message, warning the blonde about the plan and exactly what she had to do to stop it, and hovered her finger over the send button.
She sighed, shaking her head and deleting the entire text. 

"I can do this."
Checking the time again, she groaned.
"Still 1 and a half hours!" Ashley exclaimed, kicking the side of her bed. "Ow. Why did I do that? Seriously Ashley get a grip."

She sat on her bed, looking at the keyboard in the corner of her room. She had barely touched it since she cut off contact with most of the Bellas. For now it just sat there, gathering dust. 

"Why does everything remind me of Jessica?" she flung herself back on her bed in defeat. Frustrated tears filled her eyes. The memories became overpowering, shoving their way into her mind, reminding Ashley of all the good times with the blonde and she broke. Who was she kidding? There was no way. There was no way she could do it. There was no way she could bring herself to break the trust of the one person she cared for more than anything, even if they had completely changed and weren't as close. No way at all.

Apologies for not updating last week, my life has been busy and stressful lmao. But here is the next chapter. I will begin writing again now XD.
~ Ashley Kelley xx