Ani's POV
6:58pm. I was driving in my car, my hair curled and red lipstick painted on. I had told Ashton I would be a few minutes late to dinner because I needed to pick up my dress from a special dress repair place a ways away.
He had no clue I was meeting Michael in the park, it'll just be a quick talk. I already had my plan: go in, ask whats the deal with the picture and then leave. The parking lot by the park was empty except for a few cars, one being Michael's. My pumps made a loud clicking noise as I got out of my car and walked towards the center fountain. I could see Michael's bright red hair as he sat down on the fountain.
Once he heard the sound of my heels, he turned around the look on his face extremely confused. "Ani? What are you doing here?" He asked standing up and coming over to me. "Well I kind of saw the picture on Ashton's phone and then replied to you and deleted the message" I used my tone of voice to make it sound better than it actually is.
"You did what?" Michael's eyes widened at my explanation, probably not a good thing. "I'm sorry Michael I was getting his phone for him and-" "ya but you could've just locked the phone and given it to him" he sighed dropping down to his knees and running his hands through this hair "god Aniston".
I stood there awkwardly as Michael refused to look at me "well I saw the picture, so I think I deserve an explanation" I finally said making Michael glance at me with a frusterated sigh. He stood up taking out his phone and opening it up, holding it up for me to see "is this the picture you saw?" He asked his hand slightly shaky. I squinted closely at the image, there was a man in a band T-Shirt with a small name tag that read Aiden and he was holding hands with a little Michael.
"Yes thats the right picture" "sit" he said patting next to him on one of the benches. I sat down next to him on the bench and he took in a deep breath staring me straight in the eyes. "My dad was named Aiden and he was in a band that had a few gigs here and there but never really took off from there. One night he met this girl, with beautiful perfectly spiral curled light brown hair and glowing green eyes" he smiled at the thought of his mom.
"Jaci (J-C) was her name. Shortly after Jaci had me, she flat out just left and Aiden was left to take care of me and tour with his band. One night when I was around 15, I found one of Aiden's journals and kind of chucked it in the back of my closet after about reading one or two pages. A month or two ago I found that journal deep in a box as I was unpacking for my new apartment and sat down to finish reading. I read about how Aiden had a wife named Celeste who he left pregnant to go off on tour. This hit me hard and made me think about how I felt when Jaci left me. So I looked up this Celeste girl and found out she died at an early age from cancer and that she was in a successful business but I could never find the name of her and Aiden's kid. I must have read those journal pages 100 times before I finally got so frustrated that I threw it against a wall and a small piece of paper flew out. It was a letter from Celeste explaining how she had a son named Ashton so I looked into this Ashton kid so I could make a bond with him like his dad never did. But I thought it might be a little weird to show up randomly at his doorstep and say hey we're step brothers so I thought it would be smarter to kind of work from the outside. I know it was a really stupid decision to make because now i'm going to end up hurting way more people than if I just told him in the first place" he finally took in a deep breath and I was speechless of all that just happened.
"So you were just pretending to be friends with me this whole time? At the hospital when you brought me all that stuff and helped me you did it just to get closer to Ashton?" I asked my voice slightly raised and Michael stood up putting his hands behind his head. "No Aniston I promise you its not like that" "then what is it like Michael?" I said clearly frustrated.
"Ya exactly, what is it like Ansiton to ditch someone on a date saying you're going to get your dress when you really run off to talk with another guy?" Just when things couldn't get any worse. Ashton walked up behind the both of us, his hands in his pockets dressed in a suit a look of clear frustration on his face as he looked at me and Michael.
"Ashton I-" "I don't know if I can take anymore Aniston, you've been acting super distant lately. Ever since I moved out to that new apartment I feel like theres been a little something missing, and then you just skipping this date which was my one little conformation of our relationship?" He sighed running his hands through his hair. "I still love you Ashton I promise, Michael and I were just having a conversation" "a conversation about what?" Ashton asked his voice raised and clearly angry.
Why did I just keep digging myself deeper and deeper? "Well when I was getting your phone the other day, Michael sent you an important picture telling you to meet him at 7 and I kind of replied yes and kind of deleted the message" I said slowly glancing over at Michael who was just standing there frozen.
"You did what? I can't trust you at all anymore Aniston and its driving me crazy" "Ashton please-" "I honestly have no trust in you anymore and thats one of the most important things in a relationship" I felt my throat clog up, I knew where this was heading. "It was only a small message!" I said trying to defend myself and then Ashton let out a huge fake forced laugh shaking his head.
"You just don't get it to you? You know another little thing you can delete? My phone number from your phone because I think we need a little break right now" he said turning around to leave without even looking me in the eyes. Tears started to leave cool wet streaks down my cheeks as I hopelessly called after him. He hoped in his car and drove off without even saying good bye leaving me a destroyed sobbing mess on the concrete. Why do I always screw up everything? I lifted my head up to see Michael through my blurred watery eye sight.
"I'm not going to sit here and comfort you Aniston because what you did was wrong, you left him on a date and deleted that message that was one of the biggest things I needed to get off my chest from his phone destroying my chance of finally getting out the truth. He's probably really pissed at me now too" Michael said walking off "Michael?" I called and I heard him stop walking. "Tell him the truth I don't want him to get mad at you too" "Okay" he stood there for a minute not moving anywhere "I didn't do this all to use you, I did all of this to try to give a little something back that I know he kind of missed out on" he said softly and then turned on his heels and awkardly left without saying anything else.
Michael's POV
After I left Ani I just sat in my car breathing heavily for a few moments. Anger and frustration rising up in me causing me to let it all out with an explosion of intense emotions as I pounded on the steering wheel sliding down in my seat. I needed to fix this right now before it go any worse, so I drove to Ani's apartment.
My mind raced with anger and worry as I pulled into the parking lot. I made my way up to the apartment and there was a small yellow paper taped to the door that read:
'Aniston, I have decided to move to a motel because I thought it would be too awkward living in the same apartment when we're trying to spend time apart from eachother. I hope you trust me on this one -Ashton' in scratchy handwriting.
The door shook as I gave it a powerful kick with the toe of my black leather combat boots. My head rested on the door as I inhaled deeply letting myself relax. The pressure of the truth bearing down on me like two huge boulders balancing on my shoulders.
If I didn't tell Ashton now those boulders would just crush me, leaving me a heaping pile of defeat and regret. But as I was sitting there in that moment of worry I remembered one thing: Find my friends.
I took out my phone and opened the app, smiling as the small tiny blue dot popped up with the contact name Ashton Irwin. I followed the directions and drove up to a small motel on the side of the highway. The place was small and run down, with rotting bricks and dried up flower beds. I got Ashton's room from the front desk and went up to the door.
After a few knocks and minutes of waiting, he opened the door shirtless and in a pair of light grey sweat pants. By the look on his face I could tell that he wasn't exactly thrilled to see me since I was a small part of this fight of his and Ani's "hey, Aniston didn't send you to mend things did she?" He asked leaning against the door frame.
"No uh I came on my own, I wanted to tell you the flat out truth about what the message Ani deleted was about. I understand if you're not up to hearing it right now" I said looking at my shoes and I head the creaking of floor boards before I looked up and Ashton had a small ghost of a smile on his lips "come sit" he gestured towards the bed. I walked in closing the door behind me and sat down on the bed as it creaked in the room, coughing in the musty air.
"Sorry Mike its a little stuffy in here you'll get used to it, alright shoot" he said patting me on the back and sitting down next to me. As I told the same story I told Ani, I watched as Ashton's facial expressions slowly morphed.
A smile, to a small grin, to blank. I could tell he started to get what was going on when his face dropped to a flat line and his eyes widened. "How can I believe you?" He asked immediately denying the concept. I showed him the picture and he said nothing.
We sat in silence for a few minutes I could see Ashton getting slightly angry. "I didn't do anything to use you I promise" "then why the hell did you do it Michael? You can't just show up at someones door step and tell them their real dad is also your dad" he stood up from the bed, running his hands through his hair as he paced back and forth.
"I'm sorry Ashton I thought it would make things better" "well it didn't" he snapped loudly making my body jolt. "I guess this wasn't the right time to come" I stood up from the bed.
Ashton just said nothing facing the corner as I walked up and opened the door. "For a guy who likes trust you sure don't have a lot in others" I said as I opened the door and before I closed it I made one last remark "I did all of this to give you back the experience you missed with your dad" and as I closed the door I swore I heard a small sniffle.
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WOW THAT WAS INTENSE CHAPTER BUT THE DRAMA AND ACTION DOESNT STOP HERE THERES A LOT MORE TO COME!!