"He won't pick up his fucking phone!" Michael yells angrily, throwing his phone down on the bed.
"You need to calm down." Ashton says. He had been telling Michael to do this for the past hour. It hasn't worked at all. It just seems to get him more angry.
"You need to shut up!" He yelled back furiously.
Ashton sighed and watched as Michael picked up his phone, again and call Luke, again. This had to be the fifth time after texting him about fifty times. Ashton just wanted to go home now. It was all getting very boring. The whole Luke, Michael and Charlie thing wasn't a big surprise. It didn't surprise Ashton that Luke did that. It shouldn't surprise Michael. He should probably just accept the fact Luke set his sights on a girl so he went for it. Maybe Ashton is feeling a little bored by it all because he is just happy Luke didn't try anything with Jade. Ashton can't even remember Luke saying anything to her. Wait...
As Michael left another angry voicemail Ashton started thinking.
He remembers being partially sober. Luke was the same. Michael was frantic looking for Charlie. She was with... she was with... CALUM!
They went outside and Charlie was with Calum on a swinging bench. Jade was of course with them. Then Michael and Charlie went somewhere and then something else happened. But Ashton couldn't think what. He just had a bad feeling. Something to do with Jade and Luke and him.
"... you motherfucking fuck-face!"Michael yells before throwing the phone down again. This action pulls Ashton out of his the ought train.
"Fuck-face?" He raises an eyebrow at Michael and tried to stifle a laugh.
"Motherfucking fuck-face." Michael corrects him.
"Right." Ashton says, rolling his eyes. "Did you see me last night?" Ashton gets an idea.
"Yeah..." Michael says hesitantly. "Much more than I wish I did." He chuckles a little but stares at his phone angrily again.
"Did I do something stupid?" Ashton asks him quietly.
"You were drunk Ashton. Of course you did something stupid." Michael rolls his eyes.
"No," Ashton sighs. "I don't mean something like strip teasing on the coffee table-"
"That was the best night of my life!" Michael exclaims.
Ashton groans. "Please don't." He remembers that night far too well. "I mean like..." Ashton sighs in frustration. "I mean mean stupid."
"Oh." Michael says and looks at Michael quizzically. "I mean the whole party was talking about how you called Jade Jones a prude and literally slammed her in front of everyone in the backyard." Michael smiles slightly. "After a while you wouldn't shut up about it." Michael rolls his eyes and Ashton takes a deep breath. "You kept saying something about Luke not needing to deal with a prude or a waste if space like her. I was still trying to calm Charlie down so when you started saying that about Jade an Charlie found out what you did she tried to kill you." Ashton stares up at Michael in silence. "Seriously you just made her mad. She has this weird protection thing over..." Michael's voice disappears as Ashton begins thinking again.
'She isn't worth it,'
He actually said that. He remembers saying that. He remembers looking at Luke and saying that with a smile. He laughed and joked about and smiled about it. He really felt as though all that was necessary. He really thought that calling her a prude, saying she wasnt worth it, wasnt worth a quick fuck, Ashton really thought that would help anything. He really thought that would do something. He reallt thought that if he did that it would be okay and it wouldn't upet her. Why the fuck did she drive him home after? WHy did she even give him any of her time afterwards? She should have went home. Calum should have taken her home and he shouldn've been with her last night. Not Ashton. Ashton shouldn't have gotten whatever chance he had with her last night. He deserves not to remember. But Jade doesn't.
"You aren't listening. Are you?" Michael pulled Ashton out of his thoughts again.
"What?" Ashton asks.
"Exactly!" Michael huffed and slumped down next to Ashton on the bed. Ashton saw his friends face fall flat.
If Ashton didn't know Michael as well as he did he would say he is heartbroken but Michael doesn't get heartbroken. That's what Michael says anyway. But looking at him now Ashton can see the desperation and sadness in his eyes. He must really, really care about Charlie. He must really actually love her.
"You okay?" Ashton asks him.
"No." Michael replies glumly. "I can't believe he did that."
"It's Luke." Ashton replies quietly. "Why are you so surprised?"
"Because he is also my best friend." Michael rolls his eyes. "I thought he would take my feelings seriously and realize that he can't sleep with Charlie. He can't just do that."
"It's Luke." Ashton repeats.
"You aren't much help." Michael says.
"Sorry." Ashton really means it. He wishes he could be here for Michael. He wishes he could be more help for his obviously heartbroken friend but he is just too distracted. He is just too busy thinking about Jade and everything to actually help Michael. "It might be better if I just go." Ashton says, beginning to stand.
"Yeah." Michael sighs and stands too. "I'll try calling Luke again; if I can't reach him I'll go see Charlie." Michael begins walking Ashton to the door.
"Didn't she kick you out this morning?" Ashton asks.
"Yeah but she'll probably be lonely now and calmed down. She'll let me in." Michael shrugs and opens his bedroom door for Ashton. "I'll see you on Monday."
"See you."
~~~
It was nearly the time that Ashton would head over to Jade's. It's nearly time for him to be tutored by her. But she hasn't called or texted him to let him know if he is welcome at her house or not. After the shit show he pulled this morning and his behaviour last night he wouldn't blame Jade if she never spoke to him again.
So when she texts Ashton, he is more than surprised.
Jade: Are you coming over?
Ashton: For tutoring?
Jade: Yeah
Ashton: Yeah
Jade: Okay
Ashton: Okay
Ashton quickly rushed around his room trying to get all his math things together. He was trying to also make sure he wasn't forgetting anything because he was worried that if he did it would just make Jade even more annoyed at him.
Just as Ashton is getting ready to leave he opens his bedroom door and is stopped by a small blond boy.
"Ashton can you set up the play station for me." Harry asks.
"I can't buddy," Ashton smiles down at his brother sympathetically. "I have to go."
Harry sighs. "But can you just not set it up for me."
"I really can't." Ashton says apologetically. "Lauren knows how to do it."
"Lauren is out." Harry crosses his arms over his chest.
"Oh?" This was news to Ashton. Lauren rarely went out anywhere. "Where?"
Harry shrugs. "Mom dropped her off somewhere after you went to Mikey's."
"Okay, well when I get back I'll set it up for you, deal?" Ashton promises.
"Fine." Harry sighs and starts walking down the stairs with Ashton. He then brings his voice to a whisper. "Can you tell dad that I don't always want to be playing soccer."
"What?" Ashton asks, he already recognised this conversation.
"I like soccer but I don't want to be playing it all the time though." Harry and Ashton stop at the foot of the stairs. "Dad doesn't get that."
Ashton remembered having this exact conversation with his mom when he was Harry's age. He asked, begged, his mom to talk to his dad about less time spent playing football and more time just spending time with his friends or by himself. It didn't work and his mom didn't say a thing to his dad. She knew better than to step in his territory. Ashton wasn't going to do that to Harry though.
"I'll talk to him." Ashton promises Harry.
"Thanks." With that Harry runs off back upstairs to his room probably.
Ashton calls a goodbye to the hose in general and his mom calls one back before Ashton leaves. He looks across the road and sighs at Jade's house standing there opposite him.
He just had to make sure not to make a bigger fool of himself this afternoon. It might be pretty hard since he is already such an idiot.
Ashton knocks on her for and breathes in and out deeply before it opens. Jade smiles when she opens the door but Ashton can see it's fake. She is just trying to be polite. She probably doesn't wan to make this any awkward than it already is.
"Hi." They both say at the same time. Then there is silence. Ashton can feel the tension building up between them. It just made him want to be hit by a car.
"Come in." Jade stepped to the side to let Ashton into the house. Ashton have her a little nod as he did so. He then stood awkwardly in her hall until she closed the door. "Living room." she nods her head to the living room door and Ashton follows her as she walk in.
Just like last week her books are all set up and everything is all ready for Ashton.
"You can sit down." Jade says as she sits down on the floor in front of the coffee table.
Ashton sits down across from her and pulls out his stuff from his bag. An uncomfortable silence fills the room with the only noise being Ashton flicking the pages of his textbook to get to the page Jade's is on.
"Okay," Jade sighs. "So your graphing is good but I think we can improve it a little and then we can move of to further polynomial a stuff." Jade tells him and Ashton nods his was.
He's a little disappointed at the fact all she wanted to do was math. Sure, that's why he's over here but he was kinda hoping that maybe they could talk. He remembers some of last night, maybe Jade could help him with the rest. He didn't want to ask though. He would have to bring it up somehow.
Half an hour into graphing Ashton just about builds the courage to say something when he hears someone yelling,
"I don't understand!" It was coming from upstairs and it sounded like Jade's mom.
"Well I don't know what else to say?" A male's voice yelled back, probably Jade's dad.
Ashton looked over to Jade to see what her reaction to this was but she didn't have one. She was just staring blankly at the textbook in front of her.
"David just tell me it isn't true!" Another yell from upstairs.
"I can't do that Lena!"
"Well, then, fine!"
Ashton looks up at Jade again to see if there is any response from her that time but nothing. She looks up at Ashton and she shakes her head slightly and her eyes flick down at Ashton's page.
"It's a maximum, not a minimum." She points at Ashton's graph.
"Oh," Ashton looks down. "Right, I see." Ashton lied. He didn't see. He had stopped focusing on math right now. He was watching Jade as she picked out more questions for him to try out. She seemed to have no response to whatever was happening upstairs, no response whatsoever.
"Jade," a voice said from the living room door and both Ashton and Jade's eyes flicked up into it direction.
"Mom," Jade said back. The rims of Jade's mom's eyes were red.
"I'm going out for a few hours," she tells her. "Can I talk to you before I go?" Mrs Jones' eyes go to Ashton for a moment and she gives him a warm smile that he makes sure to return.
"Sure." Jade says standing up and following her mom to the kitchen. "Ashton just figure out your mistake and we'll go over it." She tells him and Ashton nods and watches her leave.
He has to resist the urge to go over to the door and listen in on Jade and her mom's conversation. He just wants to know that everything is okay. He doesn't want Jade do go through any shit with her parents. Especially not the shit Ashton has went through. No one deserves that and Ashton couldn't stand it if Jade was getting it right now. He would have to do something.
Jade comes back through to the living room a few seconds after Ashton hears the door close. She takes her original seat back and looks down at her textbook again.
"Everything okay?" Ashton asks.
Jade looks up at him and smiles "yeah it's all good." It's a fake smile, Ashton knows it.
"Are you sure?" Ashton persists. "Because if it's not-"
"Just parents arguing." Jade interrupts him before he can offer his help. "Stupid stuff, it's fine." Jade tells him.
"Just tell me if it's not." Ashton just wants to know everything is okay.
"Why?" Jade says a bit harshly. "Why should I tell you?" She furrows her eyebrows at him.
"I-I-" Ashton stutters.
I just want to to help, I understand this stuff, I care about you.
This is what he should say. It's the truth and what he really means to say but the words don't come out.
Jade's eyes soften when she sees Ashton struggling. "I'm sorry." Jade shakes her head and wipes under her eyes, but she isn't crying. Ashton made sure to triple check. "I'm sorry." she repeats.
"It's okay." Ashton reassures her.
"They just argue over little things." Jade shrugs. "It doesn't even matter half the time." Jade admits to Ashton. "And me and Calum had an argument this morning so..." Jade trails off and clicks her pen.
"It wasn't about..." Ashton hesitates. "It wasn't about me? Right?"
"Not everything is about you." Jade rolls her eyes and Ashton nods. "Sorry." Jade says after she realizes her words did actually effect him.
"Stop apologizing." Ashton tells her. "I should be doing that." Ashton sighs and rubs the back if his neck. "I'm sorry about last night."
"Id rather not talk about it." Jade says quietly but Ashton knows she doesn't know what he means.
"I meant sorry about calling you a prude and saying all that stuff." Ashton says shyly.
"Oh," Jade looks at Ashton curiously. "Yeah, you remember that?"
"Yes," Ashton replies quickly. "But nothing else and it's driving me crazy."
Jade shrugs. "Oh well, back to math." She says quickly burying her head back in her book. This isn't good enough for Ashton.
He reaches over the table and takes Jade's hand in his. He prays she doesn't move it away and she doesn't but she does stiffen under his touch.
"Can we please talk about what happened?" Ashton pleads.
"Ashton," Jade sighs and closes over her math book. "Not until you remember."
"Help me remember." Ashton pleads again. "Just anything. Any detail Jade and I will remember."
Jade thinks about it for a minute before shaking her head. "You remembered that by yourself. You can remember the rest." She pulls her hand away. She was being totally unfair to Ashton. She must be able to see that.
"I only remembered because I was with Michael. He said something that made me remember." Ashton whines.
"How is he?" Jade asks.
"Who?"
"Michael." Jade says again. She was clearly just trying to change the subject but it wasn't so clear for Ashton.
"He is going to end up in jail." Ashton tells her.
Jade's eyes widen in alarm. "Why?" She asks.
"He's going to kill Luke." Ashton says. "He had sex with Charlie last night."
"What?" Jade's mouth goes into an 'o' shape as she stares at Ashton with shock.
"Charlie and Luke had sex last night." Ashton repeats not knowing why Jade was so shocked or surprised or confused.
"Charlie and Luke?" Jade repeats. "You're sure?"
"Well that's what Michael said." Ashton shrugged. He couldn't really remember what Michael said. But he did say Luke and Charlie had sex.
"Fuck." Jade says under her breath and looks down at her lap and shakes her head. "Fuck." She repeats again.
"What?" Ashton was now the one who was confused.
"Nothing, nothing." Jade brushes him off.
"No, tell me." Ashton goes to hold her hand again but she moves it to open her book again.
"Have you found your mistake?" She asks.
"No." Ashton sighs, deciding that he will have to find out what that was all about later. He also still needs to remember.
"Then find it." Jade gives him a sarcastic smiles which Ashton copies.
He then mumbles something about graphs under his breath before searching his paper for the error. He sneaks a glance up to Jade who is smiling for the first time today after she found out he couldn't remember.
Maybe it wasn't all as fucked up as he thought it was.