A Dream, A Destiny 2

All gone down

Ash POV

"Then why start now?" she continued, seemingly emboldened by my hesitant answer.

"But I didn't do it!" I exclaimed, fed up with trying to get her to understand my logic or lack of it. Frustrated, I stood up too from my seat and she flinched, taking a small step back. "I don't get it, why are you so pissed off?"

"Because you were thinking of dumping me, I can tell! Wouldn't that make you pissed off?" Sere answered in dismiss, standing her own ground.

"So what if I was? I didn't go through with it, did I?" I was close to pulling my raven hair out and I tried breathing through my nose to calm me down. Didn't work. Or was it supposed to be through my mouth? Oh well. "It's not a big deal."

"Your dad told me he would write me a check if I dumped you," she reminded me as her head face down a little. "You know how much I need money, Ash. But did I even consider his offer? No!" My cheeks burned with shame as I listened to her. She was right about that, of course. "So why couldn't you offer me the same consideration?"

I wanted to be nice and thoughtful and patch this whole ridiculous mess up, I really did. But part of me was just itching to bust back at Sere and give as good as I was getting. And I'm sorry to say that I gave in to temptation. Hell, I was getting angry as well. This didn't even have to go this route!

"Oh yeah, refusing to pick up a check at my dad's expense was really noble of you," I said, my lips twisted in a sardonic smirk.

Her eyes wide and full of hurt, Sere said, "At your dad's expense- he's the one who offered to pay me, Ash! And I wasn't even thinking about being noble. I didn't take the money because of everything we've been through to get to where we are right now. But I see that it doesn't really matter to you."

Sighing, I said, "Stop putting words in my mouth."

"I'm not." Sere tossed her head. "I'm just – I'm disappointed in you, Ash. You're not the same as you were." She trailed off.

My shoulders slumped. Ouch. That was hurting. "I'm sorry I'm not as noble as you are," I replied solemnly.

"I thought us meant more to you. You said he told you this the day we baked cookies with Leaf. Basically, you've had all this time to think about it and you didn't tell me anything? Do you know how that makes me feel?" I opened my mouth to make another smart ass reply but she talked over me. Thank God. I had a feeling I hadn't been about to say something nice. "That's probably why you were so vague on the phone yesterday, right? Cuz you were contemplating dumping me."

Running a hand over my face, I said, "I'm sorry I let you down, but look at it from my point of view."

"I am. And if anything were to happen to you, you wouldn't have to worry about it. I would be the one doing the grieving." She blinked up at me, a full sad expression in her eyes. "So why won't you just let me deal with it?"

I nodded, glad that she wasn't crazy pissed anymore. Having Sere mad at me wasn't something I enjoyed.

"Okay, I get that. And I apologize for thinking that dumping you would change our feelings for each other." Hesitantly, I took some steps forward as my feet arrived in front of her. I wrapped my arms around her body bringing me and herself close together with our body's touching each other over garment. Expecting her to do something like claw at my face or start yelling at me. She didn't do any of those things but she didn't hug me back. "Please don't be mad at me," I whispered in her ear.

Sere sighed. "I think I'm entitled to being a little mad at you," she pointed out.

I let go of her from my grasp, watching her taking a step back away from me. "I'm sorry."