Ashley
"Come on, Ash, we're going to be late." Nathaniel says, knocking on my bedroom door.
"I'm not going." I say bluntly. I needed to stay home and clear up my mind. He opens the door and gives me a questioning look.
"What do you mean you're not going?" He asks.
"It means. I'm not coming to school, get out." I groan, hiding under my duvet.
"What happened?" He asks, I felt the space beside me dip, signaling that Nathaniel sat on my bed.
"Leave me alone." I mumble.
He throws the duvet open and I jump, whipping my head to look at him.
"Tell me what's wrong." He demands.
"I just have a lot of thinking to do and a lot of homework to catch up on." I say, half-lying.
"Fine," Nathaniel says, sighing. "I'll make up an excuse to mum as to why you're not going."
"Thanks, you're the best." I say, smiling and giving him a quick hug. He stands up and leaves, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
I pull the duvet up onto my shoulder and flip over, staring outside the window.
Why did Zayn kiss me? How is that proving that I liked Niall when it proved that I liked Zayn instead? As much as I enjoyed the kiss, I didn't either. I don't know if it's because Zayn has girlfriend or..
Or I like Niall?!
Oh, God.
I like Niall.
I sat up on my bed and sighed, frustratingly running my hand through my face and my hair. I stand up and walk into my bathroom, taking a quick shower and made myself look presentable even thought I had nowhere to go. I sat down in front of my laptop and open it, I open up Facebook and I jump at how much notifications I had.
I had 7 unread messages, 23 unnoticed notifications, 15 friend requests.
I didn't really go on Facebook a lot so I wasn't very surprised. I clicked on 'Notifications' and scrolled through it, the majority of it were just game requests. I looked at my unread messages and my lips broke off to a smile as I spotted my dad's name on it.
From: Zach Johnson
To: Ashley Johnson
Hey princess! Just came to tell you that I miss all of you, I'm swinging by for a visit on the 5th. See you soon! love you x
My eyes widen and I stand up abruptly. I look at the little bar on my laptop that said the date and indeed it read '7/5/14'
"Mum!" I shout, jumping up and down.
"What?" Mum walks in minutes later with a tray of food in her hands. "Your brother said you had a massive stomach and head ache and you couldn't stand up, what are you doing on your feet jumping up and down?"
"If you see the message dad sent me you'd be doing the same!" I chirp, grinning widely.
"Oh, darn it. Your father said he was going to come visit us today, didn't he?" She asks, smiling. "I wanted it to be a surprise."
I nodded over enthusiastically and squealed.
"I haven't seen him in ages! I mean, sure I saw him for a brief moment in California. But, that wasn't enough. I hadn't seen him for years." I sigh, smiling.
"Okay, Ash, I got you some food. I'll call you whenever your dad comes." Mum says, placing the tray of food on my bed and kissing my forehead before leaving.
I lay down in my bed, slowly eating my food. I wonder if that was really Niall's girlfriend who called me yesterday. With the thought it my head, I grabbed my phone and quickly texted Niall.
To: Niall
'Do u have a girlfriend?'
I press send and finish up eating. Sitting up on my bed and playing on my phone for who knows how long. I was just about to beat my record in Temple Run when Niall's name flashed on the screen.
From: Niall
'No? Y?'
To: Niall
'This girl called me on ur phone yesterday and said she was ur girlfriend'
From: Niall
'Shit, sry that was my ex girlfriend. I have to go, bye, love ya (:'
The last message sent butterflies into my stomach and giggle as I sent 'love you too' back. I open up my laptop again and started an essay that I was suppose to do a long time ago.
The door to my room opens and I just figured it was one of my annoying siblings.
"Go away." I say, turning around and frowning as I came face to face with my sobbing mother.
"What's wrong?" I ask, wrapping her into a hug.
"No time to explain, g-get into the car." She sniffles. I just let go of her and follow her instructions. I get into the car with her quietly, clicking on my seat belt.
"What happened?" I ask as we pulled out of the driveway. The rain hitting our car, making loud noises.
Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter
I felt more and more uneasy with every beat.
Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter
"We're going to your school and picking up Nathaniel, okay?" She says after awhile.
"Okay." I nod.
"Your other siblings can't know, okay?"
"Mum, wha-"
"Okay?" She cuts me off.
I sigh and mumble an 'okay.' We arrive at my school and we stayed put on the driveway for about a minute.
"If you want, I'll go and get Nate." I say, unbuckling my seat belt.
She doesn't answer, she just nods and sniffles. Tears persistently streaming down her cheeks. It broke my heart seeing her like that, it breaks my heart even more that she won't tell me why. I jumped out of the car and made my way to the office. Where I spent about 10 minutes explaining to the office lady that 'No, my mum can't come down here and tell you to get my brother. She is having an emotional break down. So if you go get my brother, that would be great.' Soon she just sighed and did what I've been asking her to do. Nathaniel then arrives soon with his backpack slung over his shoulder, utterly confused.
"What's up?" He asks as we started to head out of the office.
"Honestly, I don't know." I say, my breath shaky and my hands shaking. I've never seen mum like this and it terrifies me. "Mum is having th-this huge b-breakdown and I don't know wh-"
"Ashley, calm down." Nathaniel says, stopping in the middle of the hallway and putting his hands on my shoulders. "You're shaking and you're breathing in a bit of a fast pace."
"I'm just scared, okay? Mum is a sobbing mess and I have no idea what to do. Sh-she won't tell me why she's so sad. I've never seen her this way and it horrifies me." I sigh.
"She'll be fine." Nathaniel says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as we walked out of the school building. Nathaniel walks over to the drivers seat and opens the door, Mum picks her head up from her hands where she was resting it before and looks at Nathaniel with her teary eyes.
"Nathaniel." She whispers quietly.
"It's okay, mum. Whatever is happening, everything will be alright in the end." Nathaniel says, giving her a quick hug. "I don't think it's safe for you to drive, you probably can't see very well because it's raining pretty hard out and you're crying really hard. Sit down at the back, just tell me where to drive."
Mum just nods weakly. She steps out of the car and into the back seat.
"Ash, can you sit back there with her?" Nathaniel asks as he sits down on the drivers seat.
"Sure." I say, jumping in the back with mum and wrapping my arms around her.
"Okay, mum. Where to?" Nathaniel asks.
"The Royal London Hospital." Mum says weakly.
Nathaniel and I exchange nervous glances and Nathaniel steps on the gas. The whole drive there was quiet besides the sounds of mum sobbing and the persistent rain.
Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter
It was like the rain was mocking us for whatever reason.
Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter
We entered the hospital and mum walked up to the receptionist.
And her words were like icicles stabbing me through the heart.
"I-I need to know where Z-Zach Johnson is." My mum says quietly.
The whole world came crashing down. My heart sank 500 feet below and my knees bucked. I nearly fell, but Nathaniel caught me before I could.
"What the hell happened to dad?!" I exclaim. "He was suppose to come visit us today?!"
"Ashley, calm down." Nathaniel says.
"Shut the fuck up, Nate. I'm not talking to you." I snap. "I want to know what happened to my father."
The receptionist told something to mum before mum turned to us.
"You two stay here. I-I'll be back." She says quickly before walking away.
"I need answers!" I shout after her, I start to run after her but Nathaniel wrapped his arms around and me and spins me around, making me look him in the eye.
"Listen, you little shit, she's already going through a shit time don't make her fucking situation ten times more shitty. Don't be a little cunt, cut her some fucking slack. She hasn't seen her husband in a shit long time so shut the fuck up cause you're really starting to piss me the fuck off with your bullshit." Nathaniel snaps, sighing when he finished and running his hand frustratingly through his face and hair. I flinched every time he cursed. He'd never really talked that way to me before.
I pursue my lips and look down at the floor, blinking back the tears. Everything is just crashing down and I couldn't take it anymore.
"Now, tell me what the fuck is happening between you, Zayn, and Niall." He insists.
"Can we at least go some place else." I murmur.
We walk out of the hospital and settled on some benches. It was still raining pretty hard out. Most of the time, the rain usually calmed me down. But not now. It's making me even more angry.
Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter
"Start talking." Nathaniel says.
"Where do I start?" I ask.
"That night in California when you and Niall stayed atop of the roof, that morning when I caught Niall trying to kiss you, that night you fell down the stairs with Niall and you guys were filled with popcorn, and you kissing Zayn." Nathaniel nods.
"Don't forget me making out with Niall." I mumble.
"Fuck, Ash, how slutty can you get?" He asks, causing me to get pissed.
"He was drunk and I was tipsy, get the fuck out off my back." I snap back. "I don't appreciate you talking to me like this. So, if you continue talking like that to me I'll never tell you what happened and I'll probably shun you for the longest time because, honestly, it fucking hurts." I sigh, looking down at the ground. Silence fell between us and it was just the rain roaring that was making sounds.
Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter - Pitter - Patter
"Fine." Nathaniel grumbles. "Now, start."
"I fell asleep on Niall's lap when we were up on the roof." I explain. Nathaniel just nods. "I don't really remember why Niall was trying to kiss me the next morning, I think he won a staring contest game and he wanted the 'prize' to be a kiss."
Nathaniel scoffs and rolls his eyes.
I just sighed and continued. "The stairs incident was when all of you guys were asleep and I thought the movie was boring. So, Niall and I went upstairs and had a popcorn-mouth-catching-game. He won and wouldn't stop teasing me so I chased him around with a bowl of popcorn in my hands. I ran into Niall by the staircase and we sorta.. almost.. kissed?" I say. "But then he fell down the stairs."
"Almost kissed?" Nathaniel asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Our lips touched for like a millisecond and then we rolled down the stairs." I explain.
"How romantic." Nathaniel remarks.
"Shut up." I roll my eyes. "Now, about Zayn kissing me."
"Yes." Nathaniel says in a tone that said 'Go on.'
"Which one do you want to hear about? Zayn kissing me part one or part two?" I ask, getting ready for Nathaniel to start screaming.
"YOU KISSED HIM TWICE?!" He exclaims. I called it.
"First one was when he was drunk and for some reason he kissed me, I immediately jerked back knowing that he was with Perrie." I explain, Nathaniel nods and gestures for me to go on. "The second time was just yesterday. He was, um, trying to prove to me that I liked Niall? I don't know how it was suppose to show me my feelings for Niall but it worked. But it backfired instantly."
"And why is that?" He asks.
"Not only did I realize my feelings for Niall, I also realized my feelings for Zayn." I look down at the ground and fiddle my thumbs, ashamed to look at Nathaniel.
"I don't know, Ash. I'd tell you to go with Niall because he's single but he also seems like bad news. I'd tell you to go with Zayn because he's a pretty cool guy, but he's not single."
"Niall is not that bad." I frown.
"Guy's a total player." Nathaniel remarks, laughing.
"You don't know what he's been through!" I say, defending him.
"And you do?"
"I've taken the time to look past his flaws and treated him nicely. Unlike everybody else in his life. No shit I know what he's been through." I snap. Standing up and walking back into the hospital with Nathaniel following me. I can't believe how judge mental Nathaniel is.
It's kind of sad knowing that Niall is going through a tough time. It's even more sad because I don't even know half of it.
"Miss Ashley Johnson and Nathaniel Johnson, your mother wants you up at room 304." The receptionist told us, she told us the directions there.
"About damn time." I grumble, starting to head to where she told us to go. After about 10 minutes of being lost, we got there.
I stood in front of the door, a tight grip on the door knob. But, I couldn't get myself to twist it and push it open.
Nathaniel placed his hand on top of mine and softly loosened my grip, putting my hand back to my side.
"I'll go on inside, just come in when you're ready." He says firmly before opening the door and walking inside, disappearing from my vision.
There were so many things running through my head and I felt like my brain was going to explode. My dad, Niall, and Zayn. God, why are boys so complicated?
My dad is probably laying weakly on the hospital bad, and I need to go see if he's okay.
Niall is broken, and I need to fix him.
Zayn kissed me when he was drunk, and I need to explain that to him.
Oh and don't forget the fact that Venus is missing.
I grip the door knob, twisting it and pushing it open a little. My phone starts to ring and I frown, closing the door again and fishing my phone out of my pocket.
"Hello?" I answer, not bothering to check the Caller ID.
"We found her!" Emily's voice ran through the phone. I flinch at her screaming.
"Who did you find?" I ask, completely bewildered.
"Venus!" Emily perks.
"You found Venus?!" I exclaim.
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Author's Note[7/5/14]: I'm not sure if I ended this with a cliffhanger but I probably did so yasss.
How was your 4th of July? Mine was pretty shitty but ya.
Sorry for all the cussing, I kind of had to put a billion in this chapter. It's so short too but ugh, I needed to update.
We're going to post a story in a couple days so ya c:
Love you guys,
Jean Chanty xx