A moment flew by in absolute silence. He stood there hugging me, as if nothing had happened. As if he didn't do anything that had scarred me, and made me loose faith in humanity. Right when I was putting the finishing touches on the guard of my dignity that had shattered Ashton had come and shatter it back into teeny tiny pieces, without a care in the world.
"That's amazing," I tried putting as much positive emotion as I could but it came out rather monotone and unimpressed. He pecked my cheek and pulled away, his hands still on my shoulders.
"I've missed you so much baby girl," his bright smiled showed off the creases at the outside corners of his eyes. All the memories crashed down on me like a tsunami.
I remember it like it was yesterday. The twenty-third of August, the second to last weekend of summer break. Ashton has invited me to a party, saying it was completely safe and that he would have me back home by midnight. Lies.
-
The fluorescent blue, magenta and purple flashing lights nearly blinded me as we stepped into Blake White's party home. My grip on Ashton's hand tightened each time we swam deeper into the crowd of intoxicated teenagers. Before I knew it, Ashton had left the interlock of our hands and ran off somewhere.
There was no point of asking anyone where he was. They were all either drunk or high. The stench of alcohol had become overpowering and kept me on the verge of puking. I stumbled onto one of the porches. They were long, so long you could basically add rooms in them. Laughter got louder each step I took closer to the left side of the porch. A wave of relief washed upon me as I saw Ashton, but he didn't see me. Desperate to get his attention, I waved and called out yet he left me with no response.
I studied the game they were playing. A much more salacious version of "Truth or Dare". The bottle landed on Ashton and a playful smirk danced amoung his lips.
"Both." He announced proudly making a bunch of "oooo's" fill the atmosphere.
One of his friends I'm assuming, Ethan tapped his chin deep in sarcastic thought."Is it true that you genuinely like uh, what's her name? Jasmine? Jamie? Jackie? Wait, Jade yeah!"
Ashton scoffed and shrugged. "That the best you got? Of course not. I consider her my rag doll I guess you could say." A painful string pulled at my heart. Ethan then continued, "Prove it. I dare you to sleep with Cameron." Cameron was the most well-known, wealthy, conceited person at school. Which by default, made her popular.
Cameron danced over like saying her name immediately summoned her. Her brown short curls swirled onto her red sequenced dress that showed off her hourglass figure. She swayed over to the couch where the guys were with a red solo cup in her hand. "Hey guys." She sounded a bit sober, but for the most part slurred. I caught Ashton smirking at her as she shot him a seductive wink.
"Is there something going on here that we don't know about?" Blake, the host of this party, whistled. More importantly, is there something that I don't know about for God's sake? Cameron undulated her hips slowly towards Ashton before wrapping her arms around his neck and sitting on his lap.
The close proximity of their bodies made me want to gag. And cry, and kill someone, and die. The fact that Ashton didn't do anything to push her away nor did he protest made me livid. He brought his lips closer to hers and smoothly brushed them against Cameron's before completely smashing them together.
-
"Jade? You okay?" He tucked one of my dijon brown strands of hair behind my ear. The mere presence of him made my body tense up, and made me immediately super uncomfortable. He stared right into my Prussian blue eyes, resulting in forcing me to gaze into his green eyes. They were still full of wonder, just like before. The thought makes me sick. The thought that I could be as foolish as to letting someone like him play with me and throw me around like, and I quote from Ashton Cooper himself, "a rag doll."
"Baby, are you okay?" He cupped my cheek in his hand and traced my jawline with his thumb. I wanted to pull back so badly but his left hand was basically glued onto my lower abdomen. Then, the guy had the nerve to start leaning in. He gently touched my lower lip with his before I head butted him. Ashton's jaw clenched and he almost instantly let go of me, slightly pushing me towards the couch.
"What the hell Jade?" Fury. Of all the things he could be feeling right know it just so happened to be that he's stuck in the state of anger. He rambled and yelled on, "I haven't seen you in like two damn years, and you push me away? What the fuck is your problem?" My throat went dry. He was yelling at me of all people? He chose me? The one who was heartbroken because of this douche, and he yells at me?
Being careful not to slip about that night I built up fake tears in my eyes and looked at him straight into his fuming eyes. "I-I'm sorry, I just" I took a moment to wipe away the "tears" that built up in the corner of my eyes and sighed.
He eventually calmed down and looked at me. Afraid of him noticing my false act, I acted quick and took him into my arms for awhile to make it seem real. It felt wrong hugging him, especially when I decided to do so. But a part of me, well three fourths of me knew that it was all an act and it means nothing to me.
He stuttered his apology, "I'm sorry - it's just that I've missed you so so much."
A.N.
I'd like to thank you all for 100+ reads already! It's only five chapters in and it's doing great. Thank you for all the support ♡
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