Chapter 26
I was sitting in my room, packing up a few of the things I wouldn't need in the next few days, when I heard a knock on the door. Since Aunt Carol was a work and Cal was at soccer practice, it was up to me to answer the door.
"Coming," I yelled, hopping off of the floor and running over to open the door.
I swung open the door and would have fallen out of my seat had I been sitting down. Brittany Sanches was standing there, with a very nervous look on her face.
"Can I help you," I asked, leaning against the door with what was probably a confused expression plastered on my face.
"Actually, I'm here to help you," she sighed, looking at the ground.
"With what might I ask?"
She was still standing at the doorway and I didn't plan on letting her inside until I found out why she was here.
"I know who told your secret to the press."
I suppose that was reason to let her inside.
****
"Are you sure," I asked again.
"Yes Rory. For the hundredth time, I was there. I know what happened."
When I gave her a pointed look she sighed.
"Sorry. I'm not use to being so...nice? I don't know, but at least I have a bit of a moral compass, unlike him," she mumbled the last part and I knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Well thanks for telling me, but I have to go."
I stood up to go grab a pair of shoes and a jacket, but Brittany stopped me.
"You're going to go talk to him are you," she look horrified and I almost couldn't help, but laugh.
"Yes I'm going to go talk to him. He lied to me and I'm going to go find out why."
"Good luck with that," she snorted before showing herself out of the door.
I let out an aggravated sigh, and continued putting on my shoes.
Even though Brittany had admitted that she had been there when he had talked to the press, I didn't feel betrayed by her. Don't get me wrong. I was furious with her and would definitely not be best friends with her anytime soon, but she had come clean.
I grabbed my keys and dashed out of the front door.
****
I gazed up at the house and checked the number on the mailbox one more time. Since I had only been here once, it took me a while to remember how to get back here.
I balled up my fist to knock on the door, but beaten to the punch when he opened the door.
"Rory...uhh...Hi. I would love to stay and chat, but I have to go pick up my sister," the traitor smiled at me while shutting his front door and sliding past me.
He had barely gotten a step away from me before I spoke up.
"I know it was you who told the press about Callan and me."
He froze, his back faced towards me. Slowly, he turned around and stared at me with a placid look on his face.
"I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later. I just didn't think it would be this soon. Congrats," he smiled, still standing there as if this was just a casual conversation.
"Why would you do this to us? Ashton, you're Callan's best friend and I thought for some crazy reason we were friends too," I said, staring right back into hazel eyes.
"I can see you're not going to let this go anytime soon so I guess I'll tell my sister I'm going to be a little late. Well, would you like me to be perfectly honest with you," he asked, the smile slipping off of his face.
"That would be nice for once," I coldly replied, putting a hand on my hip.
"Lets see. Callan told me about you two being twins when he first found out. At the time, I really didn't think about telling the press because who would believe me anyways. I had no proof. So I continued being his friend and then you came. I realized that this was my chance to get proof that you two were twins, but after a while of talking to you in class, I realized you had no idea of the family secret. So out of the kindness of my heart, I waited for you to find out before going to the press. Once I contacted a journalist, it wasn't very long before they had enough dirt on the issue to reveal it to the world," he shrugged as if he were telling me a nice story about his dog.
"That's it?"
"That's it. Unless you count that I had a crush on you, but that's old news," he smirked.
I walked closer to him and stared into his eyes for a few seconds before doing the nicest thing I could think of at the moment. I slapped him across the face and tried not to smile at the satisfying smack that I heard with it.
"And that was out of the kindness of my heart," I smirked before walking past him and to my car.
Once I told Mom and Dad, they would not be happy. I pitied the poor boy, but not enough to keep the information to myself.
****
I had talked to my parents for over an hour on the phone as they tried to figure out what should be done. They weren't going to press charges or anything rash like that, but they were going to talk with Ashton's parents. I'm not sure what they hoped to accomplish from that and I didn't ask. I was happy to leave the punishing up to them.
I also had to break the news to Cal. Lets just say I saw a new side of him in that moment.
I adjusted my Louis that hung on my shoulder and checked my phone again.
Nothing.
Soon enough, I would have to put my phone on airplane mode so I could board the plane and then all hope would be lost.
My family jet was running late, as always, so I sat in a separate terminal of the airport as I waited for it to arrive.
I sighed mostly out of frustration that my phone screen was still blank. I had hoped for something from Noland, but I was left disappointed. There was not even so much as a 'bye' sent my way.
"Bad day already," a man sitting a couple seats away from me asked with a small smile.
He was dressed in a nice suit that had the signature Armani shine to it. I didn't recognize the man, but he was clearly someone that had a great deal of money if he was sitting in this wing of the aiport.
"Sort of. I was hoping for at least a text from my...friend, but nothing."
"I don't suppose that would be your friend would it?"
"What-"
I eagerly searched over my shoulder to where the man nodded towards and saw Cal weaving through the small crowd of people, headed in my direction.
"Not quite," I laughed, watching as he accidentally knocked over someone's luggage and then had to stop and pick to back up. He looked like he was apologizing as he continued rushing towards me.
"Rory! Wait!"
"I'm not going anywhere," I mumbled, looking out of the window to my left where my plane was still missing from.
Cal finally reached me, slightly out of breath, and said, "I found you. Finally. I better tell him."
He quickly grabbed his phone out of his pocket and started taping the screen.
"Tell who? Who are you texting?"
He didn't answer me as he continued to type out his message.
Not even a minute later, Cal smiled at me and pointed in the direction he had just come from.
Rushing towards me was a guy with messy brown hair and a rumpled shirt that looked like he had taken it off of his floor. One of his shoe laces was untied and his soccer shorts didn't at all match the rest of his outfit. He looked perfect.
"Rory...You're still here. I-I thought I had already missed you and I would have hated myself for not apologizing before you left," Nol sputtered out, as he stood in front of me.
I watched as his chest quickly rose and fell and noticed his cheeks were a bit flushed from rushing around.
"You're here," I squeaked out, earning a laugh from Cal.
After I gave him a glare, he quickly turned his laugh into a cough and motioned over to the unoccupied wall where he soon stood.
"Yeah. I was stupid. I was so stupid and I thought that we could never happen and I was so afraid that you would only go back to LA with that actor guy and forget about me and I couldn't live with that. I thought it would be easier if I pushed you away and blamed everything on you. I was so stupid."
He continued rambling on about how he was sorry, but I realized I had forgiven him a long time ago. I didn't feel one shred of anger towards this amazing guy standing before me. Knowing he had come rushing here to see me was more than enough to know that he cared about me.
"I'm sorry," he quickly said, finishing his monologue of apologizes.
When I didn't say anything for a while his cheeks started to tint pink.
"Umm. I uhhh... I probably shouldn't have said all that," he mumbled, his earlier adrenaline turning into embarrassment.
I set down my Louis on the seat I had just stood up from and grabbed his hand. "You're pretty amazing. You know that right."
He looked back up at me with a confused expression and I couldn't hold back any longer. Smiling, I stepped forward and pressed my lips to his. He quickly recovered from his shock, slipping his arms around me, pulling me closer. Someone whistled from behind me and we broke the kiss, laughing and smiling insanely big at each other. I probably looked like an idiot, over here smiling and staring dreamily at Nol, but I didn't care.
Nol liked me! Like, really liked me and we were okay.
Well, I was more than okay. I was in perfect bliss.
I still had to go to LA of course, but I could delay my trip for a couple of days. He was worth it.
****
That is it! The last chapter! Wow. I can't believe I actually finished my first story. I hope you enjoyed reading it. And thank you for suffering through all of my spelling and grammar mistakes. Give yourself a pat on the back for that.
There won't be a sequel or anything to this. Initially I had planned on writing an epilogue, but I feel like it's okay just like this.
Thanks for being a dedicated reader! Feel free to check out my other stories!
xx
Ariel