SECRETS WE TELL THE STARS

xxiii

"At least consider it."

"I have considered it. It's Julian who would have to." I chuckle.

"You're eighteen soon."

"So?"

"Move in with me after. I'll return to the city, and you can live in my apartment with me. My roommate's moving out. She's dropping out of college."

"She?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Jealous?" Ashton smirks.

"Obviously. I'm your girlfriend. That's like if I slept at another guy's house."

"Relax," Ashton says. "Say that again."

"Say what?"

"Girlfriend."

"Shut up," I grumble. I realise Ash's roommate is not a girl. His playful smile says enough. "I guess I can do anything I want when I'm eighteen. I'll figure it out."

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

Ashton asks after a silence, "You still haven't told me why I couldn't come over."

I sigh. "And you can't drop it?"

Ashton shakes his head.

I play with my fingers. "Julian was just worried about me, that's all. He's scared for me." Ashton understands quickly. Or, at least, it seems as if he does. "That's all. I don't really want to talk about this though. We'll figure it out later."

"It's not something you can control, right?"

"Of course not."

"Does he know that?"

"He does."

Ash smiles sadly. "I wish my uncle was like that."

"Uncle?"

Ashton quickly sobers up. "What?"

"What?"

"Wha–"

"Ashton," I cut him off. "What do you mean, your uncle?"

Ashton exhales. His eyes wander across the forest before they land back to me. "I live with my uncle, not my parents. That's all."

"That's all?" I exclaim. "That's a big deal, Ashton!"

His eyebrows furrow. "You haven't been honest with me either."

I groan. "I've been honest with everything I've told you. I just haven't told you everything – but that doesn't mean I won't eventually tell you." I sigh. "Can you explain? You told me you lived with your parents – that they run the diner."

"They don't, my uncle does." That makes sense when I think about it. I have yet to meet his parents, which I had asked Ash about on a few occasions. And the few times I did sleep over, his parents were not home which had only increased my suspicion further. But I did not think much of it – assuming they took long hours at the diner and would meet me eventually when Ashton and I became more established in our relationship.

"Why don't you live with them?" I ask.

"My uncle, my dad's brother, said they couldn't afford it. They gave me up when I was a few months old, and he hasn't heard from them since. My uncle had bought the diner around that time so he was making decent money and could take me in." Ashton pulls his hair out of his eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. I haven't told many people, most of my friends don't know either."

"Why?" I question. "Why couldn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," Ashton admits. "I'm embarrassed?"

"You know that I'd be the last to judge you."