Turned Out

Chapter Thirty Two

Ashleigh.

I jumped out of my sleep, slightly scared. Wiping my forehead, I realized that it was just my phone ringing. I answered with out looking at the id and plopped back down into my pillow. "Hello?" My voice sounded sleepy.

"Ashleigh..." All of the air in my lungs got caught hearing that voice. I sat right back up.

"Shannon..." I looked at the caller id to make sure I was right, although I already knew I was. I caught a glimpse of the time and saw that it was nearly five o'clock in the morning. "It's too early for you to be up, what's wrong?"

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too, Shannon. What's wrong?" I had to ask again. I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't calling after three months, at five in the morning, just to tell me that he missed me.

"How much?" His voice was low and very monotone compared to normal.

"Shannon..." I sighed. He was never good at letting his emotions out.

"How much? My answer is a lot."

"Not according to media."

"I don't want to talk about that. Not important... Tell me how much, Ash."

"Shannon I've missed you a lot, okay. Please tell me why you called."

"It's the 29th..."

"Okay?"

"Elexa..." My mouth gaped and I took in a short breath. "When I was out I talked to a little girl, I had a conversation with her about how beauty didn't just come from wealth and popularity. I made an odd connection with her. I couldn't find her, she kept disappearing. She lifted my spirits. She reminded me of an older, teenage Lex. Then I came home and went to sleep and had a dream about me and Elexa years from now. She was thirteen, she looked just like the girl from the festival. I thought about how unreal it could be for hours, but things still aren't adding up. I still haven't went back to sleep thinking about this. You're the only person I could call. You're the only one I wanted to call." And with that, the gates opened. I could hear Shannon's tears. They weren't silent, but muffled as he tried to hold them in.

"Oh... Shannon... Stop crying... this should be a beautiful moment."

"But I'm so damn confused. Why now? Why am I seeing shit now? Why is my baby girl haunting me now? Why is she so much older than 6? Why?"

"Maybe it's because you're acting a total ass with women lately. Maybe she felt neglected in your mind. I don't know... You just have to pray." Praying was the one of the only solutions I knew to problems. I was running away from them or praying about them.

"Can you pray with me?"

"Of course."

I spent the rest of my morning talking to Shannon. We prayed and caught up on the past three months we had spent out of each other's lives. Well, mostly. He still refused to tell me about Anaya and I didn't want to pressure him too much. After all we weren't together anymore.

By 7 am I was just drifting to sleep with the light snores of Shannon as my lullaby. We had went from a phone call to FaceTime, but he was nodding off most of the time. I screenshot him before ending the FaceTime call.

It didn't even seen like I had been sleep for 30 minutes before three knocks sounding at my door had me jolting out of my sleep yet again. I looked at my phone seeing that it read 9 am. I sighed and turned over in my bed, face plunging into my pillow. I didn't want to deal with anyone. I was too tired. I smothered my ears with the pillow to drown out the reoccurring knocking, but they just got louder and louder. My phone rang and the knocking continued. Letting out a loud, frustrated growl, I snatched my phone up from beside me and then got out of bed. "Hello!?" I spoke angrily into the phone, using a low tone.

"You good?" Devon asked.

"Yeah, what's up?" I calmed down...

"Well, I been knocking at this damn door for who knows how long.." I laughed under my breath a little, finally making it to the door.

"I didn't know it was you..." I looked up at him.

"Oh so you did hear me?" He walked in, pushing me backwards as he did so. He kept walking until the back of my knees hit the couch and I was falling backward onto it. Following, he fell forward onto me. "Why didn't you answer?"

"I was tired and you're heavy. Move Devon..." I pleaded with the saddest puppy dog face I could make. He rolled over on the empty side of me and rolled his eyes. "You annoy me so much when you roll your eyes." I laughed. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"I told you every time you roll yours, I roll mine because I want you to know just how annoying it is." I rolled mine again and got up from the couch. "You gone make me slap you." Devon joked, pulling me back down by my arm.

"Blah blah. I'm going back to sleep." Devon looked at me with an eyebrow raised and proceeded to ask me how I could leave him alone. I didn't ask him to show up unannounced at nine in the morning.

When I woke up a few hours later, I felt refreshed. I yawned and stood up, going straight to bathroom. I showered and finished all of my daily hygiene in less than hour. Going back into my room, I pulled out underwear from my dresser. I moisturized with almond butter and ventured into my closet. After deciding that I would just go simple and comfortable for the day, I picked out a pair of light denim jeans and a tight fitting white tshirt. I slid into the the clothes and put on a pair of no show socks. I had decided on my all white Authentic Vans.

I sat at my vanity and pulled my hair back into a curl ponytail. The ponytail sat up high on my head. I dabbed a thin coat of clear lipgloss over my lips.

I made my way to living room. Devon had stayed the time that I was sleep and ended up falling asleep himself. One arm and one leg dangled over the open end of the couch, his mouth was slightly open. I rolled my eyes at how wildly he slept, smiling a little.

I found my way to the kitchen, letting Devon sleep a little while longer. Digging through the cabinets, I eventually chose to just eat something simple.

I popped two slices of whole grain bread into the toaster and twisted the cap off of the peanut butter I had got from the cabinet. I dipped my spoon in and ate a little bit of the peanut butter. While my toast was finishing, I rinsed and cut up some strawberries and poured my self a cup of iced milk. I spread peanut butter over my freshly toasted bread and stood at the counter eating and scrolling through my twitter timeline.

"Yo ass finally decided to wake up." I heard Devon's sleepy voice, followed by a yawn. "Took you long enough!" He leaned against the fridge and smiled at me.

"No took you long enough, who told you to go sleep!?" He laughed, shaking his head at me and just answered with a shrug. "You hungry? Nah, knowing you..."

"Knowing me what?" He cut me off, smile still on full display.

"You helped yourself to whatever I have in here. Comfortable ass."

"You're right. That Alfredo you whipped up was bomb ass hell." I rolled my eyes, making him roll his, and turned to finish what little food I had. I drank the milk fast and went to the sink to wash my dishes.

Finally ready to go, I grabbed my brown, oversized cross body purse that was already filled with my essentials and headed out of the house with Devon leading.

💞

Very much unedited... just so you all know...