Outer space

Chapter 8

"Ash, you're gonna squish me like a bug"

"bull shit, I'm not even touching you."

"You sort of are, but you'll learn that I'm an exaggerator." I would of shrugged but I didn't have room to.

We heard footsteps close in on us, as someone jiggling a pair of keys walked really close. He or she touched the door knob, but as if by miracle, they never actually opened it. So they didn't have a single clue we were in here after all. The sound disappeared down the hallway.

Actually realizing what was going on I moved my eyes away from Ash and blushed. Why always a closet? "umm, we should probably get going, we don't want our friends to think we are DOING something" My heart seemed to be rushing a million miles an hour. Everything about this situation was making me nervous, but I was comfortable.

"eh, give them something to think about" He laughed. "Besides, you haven't even told me why we are in here in the first place."

"Some asshole was texting my sister so I stole her phone, speaking of which" My hand raised as I looked through the several messages that "Jake" texted back.

I gasped "He called her a hoe"

Ashton kind of laughed at me, but he placed one hand at my elbow, and looked at the phone. He put his hand over it and then, simply as that, he slid it out of my hand, smooth as fuck. Clicking the screen off he put it in his pocket. I was distracted by the hand on hand contact, it wasn't fair on my side

"If there's one thing I've learned from being famous, it's that it's best to leave these situations to be. Let them think what they want, and say what they want. The best thing you can do for her is to encourage your sister in not believing what they are saying.

"but-"

"No Lay, leave it be, your sister is almost an adult, she can handle this herself"

"Well, you see, that wasn't what I was going to say"

"what were you gonna say?"

"I was going to say..." I trailed off. Vibrant eyes were distracting me from my main point. "You're distracting me, I can't tell you" I shook my head.

"Oh come on. That's unfair lay"

"Well, I was going to say that Lay doesn't stick up for herself very often. Quite frankly this is what big sisters were born for."

"well that's too bad because you aren't going to get the phone back, and neither is your sister, we will settle this dispute my way." He crossed his arms over his chest. My head was spinning.

"How's that?"

"We will go get her a new number tomorrow. This douche is gone, and your time here with us goes back to piece. No rivalry between you're sister and yourself"

"Sometimes I really hate you" My frown appeared.

"and inbetween those times?"

"I really, really, hate you then"

"well I guess we'll just have to change that now won't we?"

"Ash, we should really get going" I rolled my eyes. It kind of all flooded back to my mind. Alex, I felt weird and emotionally scared. I just wanted to get out now. My mood change was sudden, but very clear, and Ashton kind of got the point.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't breath in here"

"Asthma? I swore you promised not to faint on me again!" He yelled.

"No"

"Well don't panic, let me just" He reached behind him and rocked the door knob back and forth, when it didn't budge he moved to try both hands. "It's locked"

"It's what!" My heart was racing. Everything about what was going on made me feel numb to the touch.

"Maybe it's just jammed" He tried kicking at the door, but it re-framed from opening.

"Ashton!"

"Well it isn't my fault, it must of been the jiggling keys guy!"

"NO, NO, NO!" I refused to believe what was happening and backed up against a towel rack in the corner of the smallest room history ever told.

"Don't freak out Lay, just breath in and out, in and out. I'm gonna see if I can call anybody" He searched his pockets and found his phone. "What the fuck! when I actually need you!" Ash yelled at his phone "There's no god damn service"

Every bit of faith crashed inside of me. I felt as if my heart was going to pump right out of my chest. There had to be a mistake, there had to be something. My knees gave out so I kind of fell and jumped forward toward Ash, who almost didn't catch me.

"Shit Ashton! I think I'm having some kind of panic attack!" I yelled. Instead of just holding me up, at the words that I randomly spat out, he folded his arms over me delicately and then squeezed me tightly. He rubbed circles into my back after he let loose on my body.

"Shh, hey, it's only me remember. Think of a giant huge room and just us being there. Concentrate on breathing." I heard his voice slightly turn into one of panic in himself, but he refused to show it to me which I admired.

However, I started thinking about Alex. How come this asshole had to always appear at the worse times? It seemed as if he was out to ruin my life again, and slowly, but surely I was letting him get to me. But these thoughts were all I could handle. There's only so much things you can have on your mind before you break. I couldn't tell if this was a real panic attack or an emotional break down, either way, by now I was crying a river. Mortified over myself for crying I hid my face in his chest and just let the tears flood.

"You're okay Lay, It's just me." Slowly Ashton slid down the door, still managing to hold me close, only now I was practically laying on him. I was scared as hell, and had no reason to be. Surely Ashton was confused because I was crying out of no where

My mind cluttered with memories of the idiot. The dumb fuck that screwed up my life, literally. It all came back, not just small glimpses or flashbacks, now it was the full picture. Every living pain surged over me at once. The held emotions just poured out. I wanted to scream as loud as possible, but re-framed from it for Ashton's sake.

"Lay?"

Between my sobs I somehow managed a noticeable "Yeah"

"Who's Alex?"

Obviously I'd had to have said the name out loud. I was stuck, how do you tell someone you are starting to have feelings for about something so personal. I wanted to tell him, but I had no words to explain in the indescribable feelings.

It was a jumble of pain forming in my mind, and I noticed that these few words had almost completely calmed down. This guy worked miracles. I sat up a and wiped tears from my eyes, then I pushed back my thoughts and leaned against the apposing wall of Ashton.

"I-It's hard to explain" I sighed out my last sob. "H-he ruined my life, honestly. He crushed it"

"Oh"

I wanted to say more to Ashton, I wanted to do everything in my power to allow him to know what kind of things swirled in my mind, but I didn't have the will power.