~Esther~
On the way to school the next day Josie still hadn't given up the whole 'Ash is in love with me' thing. "So, has he confessed yet?" She asked me we walked towards the front doors of the school, passing by groups of friends who were all talking while they waited for the bell to ring.
"No, we haven't even talked since he dropped me off at Indi's place yesterday."
She huffed. "Fine but when he does, I want to be the first to know."
I rolled my eyes. She is never going to let this go.
My first four periods went perfectly fine. Ava and her posse were nowhere to be found and I hoped it stayed that way. Every time I saw her she did something to hurt me, not physically, just mentally. I don't even know how she knows what to do. I like to think I do a great job of hiding my emotions but Ava somehow still knows exactly how to hurt me.
Today was no different, as I walked into fifth period I saw Ava sitting on Ash's lap while they were waiting for our teacher to arrive. My body froze in the doorway and I debated whether to turn around and walk out or stay and deal with it silently. Sighing, I realized my parents would find out if I skipped and I really didn't want to endure the scolding I would get from my mother. I took a deep breath and walked past Ash and Ava, sitting down in the only empty seat left in the last row.
As I was walking to my seat Ash tried to get my attention. "Hey, Mae." I ignored him and continued walking. "Mae, how's your ankle?" He asked me. I told him yesterday that sometimes it still hurts if I walk too much, I guess this was his way of telling me he was listening. I didn't care, I finally made it to my seat and sat down. I was two rows behind him and Ava so any time I looked up I had to watch everything they did. Why did they have to sit directly in front of the board?
Ash still hadn't seemed to care about Ava sitting on his lap. Did I overthink everything that happened yesterday? As much as I've tried not to, I started to hope he had some kind of feelings for me, especially after we cuddled yesterday. That had to mean something to him right? I guess not.
I pulled out my book and headphones so he wouldn't try to talk to me anymore. After five more minutes our teacher walked in, apologizing for being late. He made Ava get off of Ash and into her own seat. Finally, after what felt like forever, class started.
Halfway through class I saw a note slide onto my desk. I unfolded it and read 'You okay?' I looked up to see who had given it to me and saw Ash looking at me. He must've had the guy behind him give it to me since he was too far away. I crumpled the note and threw it in the trash can a few feet away from me. I didn't want to talk to him right now. I know I can't be mad at him because we aren't together but I am anyway.
So many thoughts are running through my head right now. Yesterday was really nothing to him? Maybe the cuddling for him was just that, nothing more. Maybe he doesn't actually want me and I misunderstood. Maybe he thinks yesterday was a mistake. I was too busy thinking about what yesterday meant to Ash to notice another note slide onto my desk until I was putting my books away at the end of class. I opened the note and read 'Why are you ignoring me, darling?' I crumpled the note and threw it in the trash, just as I did the last one.
Does he seriously not know? Wow. Men are clueless, aren't they? Just cuddle with a girl one day and have another girl sitting on your lap the next. Yeah, because that's totally fine.
I rolled my eyes as I walked out of the classroom.
"Mae, wait up." Ash called as he ran to catch up with me. I didn't say anything and continued walking. When he caught up he kept talking to me. "Why are you ignoring me? What did I do?"
I can't believe he hasn't figured it out. He is the definition of clueless. "Take the hint and go away." I finally replied.
I was walking towards my locker to get the books I needed for sixth period but before I could open it Ash jumped in front of me and blocked the locker. "I'm not letting you get your books until you tell me what I did." He looked at his watch and continued. "You might want to say it now cause otherwise you'll be late."
I realized he was right but I still wasn't going to give up. "Figure it out yourself, Ash. You're a big boy right? You can do it, I believe in you." I mocked.
He still didn't move so I tried to push him out of the way. "I'm not moving until you tell me, darling."
"Don't call me that and get out of my way." I didn't want him calling me 'darling' after another girl sat on his lap.
"I will when you decide to tell me." He crossed his arms, silently telling me he was serious. He wasn't going to move.
"God, you're so fucking clueless! Why do you want to know? It doesn't seem like you care much anyway." I told him. The bell rang and I decided to go to class without my books, we didn't need them most of the time anyway and I wasn't going to be late because of this asshole. He just stared at me as if I had confused the hell out of him as I ran to class. He could figure it out on his own.
I finished the rest of my classes and went home. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and cry. I told myself not to get my hopes up for this reason. Yet I did anyway. Look where that got me.
I texted Josie and told her she was wrong, Ash didn't have feelings for me. Just like I had told her. I normally would've just walked to her room to tell her but she had stayed at school tutoring some kids that were behind on math. A few minutes later I got a reply. 'What do you mean? What happened?'
'Long story. I'll tell you when you get home.'
~Ashton~
Ever since fifth period Esther had been ignoring me and I couldn't figure out why. If she would just tell me I would fix it, but she's so mad she won't even tell me what I did. After I cornered her at her locker she went to class without her books and I couldn't find her the rest of the day. I know she probably won't pick up but I called her anyway. I needed to figure out what I did.
"Hello?" I breathed a sigh of relief as she picked up, hoping she wasn't mad anymore.
"Mae, I don't know what I did. Please tell me." I begged.
"Ash, I don't want to talk to you. Go away." She ended the call without saying anything else. I called again but this time she declined it. And again. Declined. Again. Declined. I called 3 more times, She declined them all. I finally decided to just text her. 'Mae, answer me. Please.'
'No' She replied.
'I don't know what I did but I'm sorry. Talk to me. I'll fix it, whatever it is.' I pleaded.
'You can't fix it now. It's already been done.' Why in the world wouldn't I be able to fix it? I really fucked up that badly?
'You're not making sense. Please just tell me what it is.' I called her again and she picked up this time. She knew I wasn't going to give up.
"I told you to figure it out on your own Ash."
"I know, and I tried but I can't, Mae. I mean, we were fine yesterday but you walked into the only class we have together and just started ignoring me."
"Oh yeah, there totally wasn't any reason I would be mad at you in fifth period." She said, sarcasm lacing her voice. What the hell did I do in fifth period?
"Darling, I've thought of everything but I still don't know why you're mad at me."
"Don't call me 'darling'." I could tell she was frustrated with me.
"Why not? You've been fine with it before." I pointed out. Maybe if I made her mad enough she would accidentally tell me.
"Yeah but that was before you let another girl sit on your lap the day after I thought we were finally getting somewhere!" She yelled before pausing and going completely silent. "Shit." She muttered, realizing that in her rage she had told me.
She actually got jealous of Ava sitting on my lap? The only reason Ava was on my lap was because she didn't listen when I told her to get off and I didn't feel like pushing her off of me and getting detention for putting my hands on a girl. But of course Mae wouldn't know that. All she saw was Ava sitting on my lap and me not doing anything about it. God, I'm so fucking stupid aren't I? How did I not think of that?
She hung up before I could explain anything. I didn't try to call her back. I had a better chance of explaining it all in person. That way she couldn't keep hanging up on me.
Fifteen minutes later I knocked on her door. She walked over and opened it. "Hey, why did you-" She stopped as she looked up, finding me standing in front of her instead of whoever she was expecting. "Oh, It's you." She tried to shut the door but I caught it with my foot.
"Wait, Mae." I spoke, making her open the door again and glare at my foot that hadn't let it shut. "I'm already here, so we're going to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about, Ash."
"Yes there is."
"Fine. What would you like to talk about?" She asked like she didn't know exactly why I'm here.
"Look at me." I said as I gently lifted her chin. My voice softened. "All of that was just because you were jealous?"
She paused as if deciding whether or not to deny it. She sighed. "Yeah, kinda."
I leaned in and kissed her. I've been looking for the chance to kiss her for weeks and if I didn't do it now I probably never would. "I'm sorry" I said, breaking the kiss. "I didn't think it would make you jealous."
"How would it not? We were cuddling in bed yesterday but then today you have another girl sitting on your lap. How was I supposed to feel?" She asked me.
Shit. I stared at her for a little while, deciding whether I should kiss her again or apologize again. I decided on apologizing. If all went well, we could do more kissing later. "I don't know, I guess I just expected you not to care. I'm sorry, darling." I tried to kiss her again but she pushed me away.
"I'm still mad at you, Ash." She reminded me.
I chuckled. She's cute when she's mad. "What did I do this time?"
"How do I know I'm not just another one of your hoes?"
I laughed at her sudden question. "What are you talking about?"
"You just come to my house and kiss me without even explaining anything, how do I know you don't do this to other girls too?" She leaned back against the door frame and crossed her arms.
"Darling, I like you, a lot. I want you to be mine. I don't want anyone else. I never have. I've just been waiting for you to feel the same about me." I finally told her.
"Then why did you let Ava sit on your lap?"
"Before you walked in I told her to get off but she wouldn't so I gave up and let her. I really didn't think it would bother you." I told her.
"Oh. I'm sorry for overreacting." She apologized.
I shook my head. "You didn't, now please let me kiss you like I've wanted to for so fucking long."
Esther nodded as a blush tinted her cheeks. My hand cupped the side of her face and when I leaned down to kiss her she didn't stop me this time.
Her arms came up to wrap around my necks as our lips connected in a needy kiss, my free hand moving to her waist. I pulled her body against mine as my other hand moved to her hair. I licked her bottom lip, asking for entrance which she quickly gave me, parting her lips for me just as we heard her sister's voice come from the driveway.
"Excuse me, that's enough PDA, thank you very much." We pulled away from the kiss, both of us already breathless. "So much for him not loving you." She mumbled to Esther as she walked past us, into the house. What the fuck did that mean? What did Esther tell her?
I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What is she talking about, Mae?"
"Nothing." She told me as she tried to hide her embarrassment. She took my hand and drug me into the house. Once I was inside she dropped my hand and shut the door. She walked to the kitchen to talk to her sister and I followed.
"Sorry, Josie." She said as she made it to the kitchen.
"Don't worry about it, I've been there too. Just be glad I came home before dad."
"Yeah, I didn't think about that."
"Sorry to interrupt here, darling, but you never answered me." I reminded her.
She paused before answering. "It's nothing, Ash. Just something we were talking about earlier."
I wasn't easily convinced. "You were talking about me, it's only fair that I know what it was about."
"It was really nothing." I could tell she didn't want to tell me. That just made me want to know even more.
"Mae," I said as I lifted her chin so she would look at me.
Josie took that as her cue to leave. "I'll be in my room if you need me. Don't have too much fun here, at least go to his house first." She gestured to me as she walked out.
"Josie!" Esther yelled as her head snapped towards her sister.
"What? I'm just saying." Josie said, holding her hands up in mock surrender.
I chuckled.
"Shush, don't encourage her." Esther scolded me.
As we listened to Josie walk up the staircase and into her bedroom, I grabbed her hips and made Esther turn back to me. "Now, tell me."
She paused, seemingly thinking of a way to get out of this but as I tilted her head up and raised an eyebrow she finally sighed. "It's a long story."
"I have all day."
"Fine, but we have to go to your house."
I smiled. "We can if you want, but you still have to tell me everything when we get there."
"I know that, why else would we-" She stopped, realizing what I meant. "No. Get your mind out of the gutter, Ash."
I laughed. "Come on, darling." She followed me out the door and to my car. "So, why are we going to my house?" I questioned as I started driving. "Don't want your sister to hear?"
"No, Josie knows everything. My dad should be home any minute and I didn't want him to see you. He doesn't allow boys in the house when he and mom aren't home." She explained.
"Where is your mom, by the way? I almost never see her at your house. Your parents didn't get a divorce did they?" I asked. I knew it was random but I wanted to listen to her talk more.
"No, they're still married. My mom has just been working late shifts recently. She normally isn't home until 8 or 9pm"
"Ah. That makes sense."
~~~~
A few minutes later we arrived at my house. As we walked inside she tried to talk about other things, hoping I would forget about what we were really here to talk about. "What about your parents? They never seem to be home."
"My dad works long hours and normally doesn't come home until 9 or 10. Sometimes he sleeps in his office if he has a lot of work. My mom travels a lot so normally she's not home either."
"Oh, where is she now?" Esther asked.
"Somewhere in Greece I think."
"Really? That's amazing. I've always wanted to go to Greece. Have you seen pictures? It's beautiful."
"Darling?" She looked up at me. "Are you trying to distract me so I forget why we're here?" I asked.
She looked down. "No." She said, obviously lying.
I chuckled as I shook my head. "Nice try." She followed me up to my room, already embarrassed. She sat on the corner of my bed as I sat in a chair across from her. "Tell me."
Her cheeks flushed from embarrassment as she started to talk. "Yesterday after you dropped me off Josie came in my room and said it was obvious to everyone around that you were in love with me. I told her she was wrong because I didn't want to get my hopes up. Then after I saw Ava sitting on your lap, I texted Josie saying that she was wrong." Esther rambled. "That's all."
I walked over to the bed and leaned down to kiss her. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Ash. I'm not mad anymore." She assured me.
I sat down next to her and pulled her into my lap. "Esther?" I asked. If I didn't do this now I don't think I ever would. Plus it felt like the perfect moment.
"Yes?"
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
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Author notes:
I don't know how I feel about this chapter to be honest. I like the idea behind it but I feel like the writing could've been way better. I wanted to get this chapter uploaded though because I was suppose to upload it yesterday. Sorry about that, I've been super busy but I'm hoping to start uploading a chapter every other day. I make no promises, though. I tend to get super busy this time of year.
In other news, Thank y'all so freaking much for 1K reads! It means the absolute world to me <3
(I know this is moving pretty fast but it slows down in a few chapters, when I wrote this I was just trying to get the story moving along.)
[Edited 3/16/22]
xoxo ~ Alex