"How come I never knew you had a baby sister?!"
"Because I never told you?!" He laughed slightly.
"Not the time Ashton." I said.
"We weren't exactly friends and I never told anyone either so if it makes you feel better not many people at school know." He shrugged.
"Well it doesn't. And I'm pretty sure we were friends when she was born. How old is she anyway?"
He paused for a moment, sighed, then opened his mouth to continue again.
"Alright. In 9th grade my mom got pregnant. We didn't want anyone to know. My sister was already sick back then but I didn't know. So it wasn't exactly okay. When we started high school, Brea was born. And shortly after Jenna died. My parents didn't want to keep her. It was too hard for them to look at her. They were gonna give her away for adoption, but I stopped them. She was a baby. And we were able to look after her, why send her away?! I convinced them to not go through with it. So they agreed at last. And Brea actually helped them with Jenna's death. She helped my parents move on. It's strange, how my mom gave birth and then a short time later, death took her other daughter away. It wasn't easy learning to love Brea. But we managed. The three of us together."
"I'm speechless Ash. I don't know what to say." I said my eyes getting teary.
"Well, just say anything but 'I'm sorry'." He said with a chuckle.
"Oh no, God no. Of course not." I said with a laugh.
"She's everything now. To me ,to my parents. She's almost three. But she's so smart, she looks like Jenna a lot of times. She moves like her, does small gestures that reminds me of her. It would have been great if she knew her sister. If Jenna was alive right now she would have been thirteen, she would have made an amazing older sister." He said as his voice broke.
And at that moment. Ashton Holmes started to cry. He was sobbing like a baby. Crying out loud, with his face burried in his hands. I moved closer to him on the couch slowly, and wrapped my arms around him. He hugged me back holding on to me tightly and burried his face in my shoulder and continued crying.
I never thought I would see Ashton cry. He was so vulnerable, so broken, I never knew his sister's death affected him that much.
We weren't on speaking terms when his sister died. I found out a while later. But I never knew she died of cancer. He never told anyone, only Darren knew the truth about his sister's death and his other sister's birth.
After a while he calmed down and washed his face. When he came back all I did was sit next to him and watch tv with him. He didn't want to talk, neither did I. Silence took over the room, but it was a comfortable silence. Not an awkward one.
Two hours later he was the first one to speak.
"Thank you." He blurted out.
"For what?" I said.
"For being there for me, I knew I'm the one who should be there for you, but." He trailed off.
"From now on, let's just be there for each other, okay?" I said and he nodded.
Not a moment later, the door opened revealing his parents.
"Oh hello." Becky, Ashton's mother said with a smile. I greeted her back.
"Mom, you remember Maisie." He said as we both walked towards his parents.
"Of course, we haven't seen you here for a while." She said shaking my hand.
"Well you're gonna be seeing a lot of her now." Ashton said.
"Are you two dating?" Gregg, his father chimed in with a grin.
"Something like that." I said with a smile of my own.
"Well it's nice to have you back Maisie." His father said shaking my hand as well.
His mom asked Ashton about Brea and he told them that she's taking her nap.
"Maisie, would you like to stay for dinner?" Becky asked as I was getting ready to leave.
"Oh thank you, bu-" I was saying when Gregg cut me off.
"We insist." He said.
"Dad!"
"No it's okay." I said to Ashton.
"We don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"No it's not that. Wouldn't it be trouble for you?" I asked trying to be as polite as I can.
"Nonsense." Becky said already adding another plate on the dinner table.
"Well thank you." I said. "Can I help you with anything?"
"No, no. We got this. Ashy, can you wake up your sister?" She said and Ashton nodded.
He walked out of the kitchen and I followed him.
"Ashy?" I asked amusement clear on my face.
"Shut up." He said annoyed. "Would you like to join me in waking up Brea?"
"Sure, Ashy." I said with a laugh.
"Great." He murmured as we were going up the stairs.
We woke up Brea and then played with her, until dinner was ready. We had lasagna, which was delicious, by the way. Then I insisted on doing the dishes, because Becky wouldn't let me help out earlier.
They were in the living room playing with Brea. While Ashton and I were drying the plates and puting them in their places.
"I like your parents." I said looking at them playing with their baby girl.
"More than me?" He said with a smirk.
"Who said I like you?" I said making his smirk drop and get replaced with an annoyed look.
"Yeah, they're pretty amazing." He said after a moment.
"We need to add a new rule." I said.
"What?" He asked.
"You need to stop keeping secrets from me. Okay? Be honest, tell me everything. I fucking hate secrets."
"Okay." He said.
"Do you have anything to say to me?"
"Well yeah, since you brought it up, and since we're being honest, I guess I have to tell you this." He said getting serious all of a sudden.
"I'm listening." I said putting down the plate and the cloth I had in my hands.
"I'm... I'm married, and I have a kid." He started saying. "But my wife divorced me when she found out I'm a serial killer. I kill babies and I eat them. She was afraid I would eat my own baby." He continued with all seriousness.
It took me seconds to realize that he was joking.
"Not funny! You asshole." I said starting to hit him.
"You actually bought that?" He said laughing.
"No!" I lied.
I kinda believed it at first, the being married and having a kid part. I wouldn't be surprised. He has had a lot of adventure in his life, who knows what secrets he has.
"You believed me." He said with an adorable smile.
"A little." I said flipping him the finger. "You're Ashton Holmes. I wouldn't be surprised."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He said walking towards me as I started walking backwards.
It was too late when I realized there was a door behind me leading to the backyard.
"Come here." He yelled as I ran outside and he followed me.
"You've done a lot of things. That wouldn't be surprising." I said.
He carried me and started tickling me. I was laughing so hard that my stomach started to hurt.
And suddenly,bthe sprinkles went off, causing us to get wet. He put me back down on my feet. We were both screaming and laughing altogether.
Five minutes later we went up to his room.
"There you go." He said giving me a grey sweatpants and a plain white t shirt to change into, due to being wet.
"Thanks." I said taking the clothes from him and taking off my wet top after.
"Whoa there, at least let me leave the room."
"Oh come on, quit being such a gentleman."
"We agreed to no more getting naked in front of me." He exclaimed. "And I am a gentleman."
"We go by my rules, not yours." I said as I slipped on the pants as well.
He ignored my statement and just stared at me his mouth open.
"What?"
"Damn Morgan, you look better in those than I do." He said.
"I know." I said with a smirk.
"Don't push it."
I spent that night at his house. His bed was huge so I didn't worry about him cuddling or anything. Not that I wouldn't like that. But it would be wrong, since we're not really dating.
I was glad that he was opening up to me. Telling me things he never told anyone. I started thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to actually date him. But then I remember that my time here on this planet is limited and I can't give him something I don't have. Which is time with me. I always seem to forget about being sick these past few weeks.
I guess he was doing his job well.