AN: I've noticed that I have too many stories with Spencer's POV, so I decided to go with Ashley's for once.

The suns already down, which doesn't surprise me one bit because it's already 7:30 and it's summer. The sunset looks so beautiful that I almost wish that Katie could watch it with me, Katie or whoever that would like to watch it with me. Aiden is here with me tonight, though. I think he thinks that I'm going to do something reckless, but I'm not. Not tonight, at least.

Running away isn't that reckless. There's always something worse. I highly doubt he would prefer me to do any worse. I don't think that he would vote for drowning myself in a bottle of Jack Daniels rather than running away. Well maybe he would- he'd probably join me, but that isn't the point. Aiden; the best friend that I believe would protect me no matter what. Our parents are best friends, so it was pretty much dawned on us to be best friends ever since birth. He's been pretty into the title of being a best friend as well- from beating up Tom Handleson after he pulled my hair in 3rd grade, to giving girlfriend I've ever had 'the talk' about taking care of me and not hurting me, he even got to add the 'and if you do hurt her, I will personally hire some bulldyke chick to kick your ass and believe me, you will not like that' into the talk, which happened to be my favorite part of the talk because Aiden actually wrote a script for it.

I am very proud to have a best friend like that, though I will never tell him.

"You can't just run away Ash," He exhales and passes my cigarette back to me. I smirked. We're sitting on top of my roof while he tries to convince me to stay in L.A rather than flee. "What about Kyla? Who's going to take care of Kyla?"

"Kyla is a big girl," I take a drag. In all reality, that's the only real reason why I would stay, if I do. Kyla and Aiden. The only people worth staying in this shitty town for. Maybe Madison. Actually no, not Madison. Maybe Katie."Plus, you can take care of her, yeah? You two are practically dating now."

"Still," he shook his head at me, looking onto the horizon. I just smirked again. "What about school?"

"Aiden, its summer and I already graduated."

"College."

"It's summer."

"You're so impossible," He rolled his eyes, turning away from me. Aiden is incredibly stubborn, if you hadn't noticed by now. He was captain of the basketball team for every team he's ever been on- from little league, middle school, side teams, and high school. I think that's what got him to be so stubborn and got him to hate losing. I'm not surprised though. He's so good at not wanting to lose that he got a scholarship to 13 different colleges that want him to play for them. Character traits will get you somewhere in life, obviously.

He looked down at his hands, "There isn't really anything I can tell you to get you to stay, is there?"

"Not really, no," I sighed. I don't really know where I'm going to go if I actually do go through with everything I have planned already, which isn't much. All I know is that I need to get away. That's all I want right now, and I'm sure that it's not very hard to get. "Here; if tonight goes well, then I'll stay. If it doesn't, then we'll see what happens."

"Whatever you say Ash," He stands up and starts straightening up his suit. "Speaking of tonight though, we've got to get downstairs."

I sighed. Just the place I want to be.

xxx

It's crowded downstairs, which I like because there is a less chance I have of my parents finding me. Tonight is my parent's 20th wedding anniversary, which is why everyone is over at our house. It's not really the way that I would want to spend my anniversary with my wife, but I guess this is how not-so-intimate couples celebrate theirs. But then again, I'm planning to try that whole 'marry for love' thing first.

Everyone I have ever seen as a child is here. Some I remember, some I don't. Some I see regularly, some I don't. Some are here for show, some aren't. Some know about my parent's real marriage, most don't.

"There you are!" My mom grabs my arm and leans her annoyed looking face toward mine so no one will hear what she has to say. "You weren't even here for the ceremony Ashley, what the fuck are people going to think about that?"

I lean back so my face doesn't have to be so close anymore, "Uhm, nothing? I highly doubt that anyone other than you noticed that I wasn't there."

"Well I did," she rolls her eyes. I sighed, just because there isn't really anything I can do about it now, so I just stand there and survey the people. I start to wonder how many people actually really know how things are with us. "That's all that really matters, right?"

"No not really," I rolled my eyes and for a second, she looks like she's about to slap me- which she won't, not in front of all these people- but Mr. Dennison comes up so she immediately turns to him. I smile fakely at him, "Hello Mr. D."

He smiles at me, "Hello Ashley. Christine, lovely ceremony."

"Thank you Al," she smiled a smile that you don't smile to your friends at him, which weirded me the fuck out. I made a face, silently praying for Aiden to get over here quick. There was a glint in my mother's eyes that I didn't like. It was the same glint that Aiden has in his eye whenever he looked at Kyla. It was the same glint that I allegedly had in my eye whenever I looked at Katie. It was the glint that you're not supposed to have when you're looking at a friend- especially your husband's best friend. I felt like gagging right then on account of the fact that my mom just might be having an affair with my best friend's dad, whom she had known even before she married my dad.

I made a face and took a glass of Champagne from the table, immediately downing it once it touched my lips. Christine rolled her eyes at me once Mr. Dennison walked away.

"Are you kidding me right now, Ashley?" She pointed over at the people that I didn't know who were taking pictures. "If you hadn't noticed, we don't know everyone here. We can't trust anyone. You of all people should know that, right? We've got people taking pictures everywhere. We don't know where these pictures will end up. What the fuck will happen if pictures get out of you drinking? You're underage for Christ's sake. Put the glass down, we can't risk it right now."

"Well maybe you should have been thinking of all this before you decided to invite strangers to your wedding," I smiled fakely at her. She just rolled her eyes and walked away from me, to which I sighed at.

Now I know where I'll be headed tonight.

"That seemed nice."

I turned around, knowing exactly who it'll be but not really wanting to believe it. I sighed happily for once when I saw who was in front of me; my favorite ex, Katie.

"Well you look nice," I said, looking down at her. She definitely did; wearing her all black lace dress with a minimal amount of jewels. Her auburn hair was put up tonight, which brought out her strong facial features and made her look absolutely beautiful. "Care for a-"

"I heard you're running away again," she made a face, looking up at me. I sighed. When we started dating 2 years ago, one of the things that I loved most about Katie was the fact that there was no bullshit. She was always straight forward and nothing was ever confusing with her. Now 2 years later, I have begun to hate it. She shook her head at me, "Don't, Ash."

"What's it to you?" I smiled at her, to make sure she knows I'm just joking. "You always told me if you were in my situation, you'd run too."

"Well that's different," she bit her lip. "You're stronger than me. You're stronger than all of us."

I just shrugged. There was no reason to argue about this. I know that if we did, Katie would probably end up crying and I would end up staying for her. And running away on your parent's wedding anniversary would leave me with a bang, yeah?

I certainly think so.

"Just come back at least," she yawned. "I don't want to be stuck going to these lame ass parties without you."

I smiled, "You've got it, Katie."

"Where are you going to go?"

I shrugged, eyeing my dad from the corner of my eye. He glared at me, signaling to me that I had to get out of here before he could come over to me, "I don't know yet, but I'll call you once I get there."

She sighed and nodded. I frowned. In all honesty, I didn't really expect to say goodbye to Katie. I knew that it would be too hard for me, even though I know that we will definitely see each other again. It's just always hard to say goodbye, I suppose. Especially to someone that was the most important person in your life for 2 whole years.

I leaned down and pecked her lips, "I'll see you."

After that, I rummaged myself through the loads of people over to the door to leave. Aiden told me that he would be waiting outside to drop me off to the airport. Kyla wouldn't be there because she has to stay with the rents. I sighed once I saw him in his Jeep.

I guess this is really fucking happening.

"We need to establish ground rules," Aiden announced once we got on the freeway to the air port. I smirked, still changing into a more appropriate change of clothes for the plane ride. I wasn't going to bring much to wherever I was going- to which I still didn't even know- I just figured that I could just buy new shit there. I still don't even know where I'm going to go, so that doesn't really matter to me right now. All I've got is my backpack full of clothes, my wallet, and my spare phone.

I smirked, pulling my Guns N' Roses t-shirt on, "Ground rules?"

"Yes," he made a face. "Rule number one... No doing any crazy amazing shit."

"What?" I made a face. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not there."

I rolled my eyes, "Okay."

"Rule number two..." He paused, overly thinking himself. I sighed and laid back in my seat. I'm probably going to break all of these 'rules.' "No getting arrested, because if you do, then the press will get their hands on it and then Raife and Christine will find out where you are."

"Well at least that one makes sense."

"Rule number there," He looked over at me, rolling his eyes. "No falling in love."

I rolled my eyes. That was the one rule that I would NOT be breaking.

"Of course not," I rolled my eyes and we pulled into the airport. It was pretty late; about midnight or so, so no one was really there. Aiden handed me my backpack, which I swung over my shoulder. I sighed at him, hating that I actually had to say goodbye to him. He pulled me into a hug, lifting me up off the floor. I smiled. I couldn't wrap my arms around him because he was holding me; literally holding me by having his arms around mine.

He set me down, sighing. "Be good."

"Always."

He ruffled my hair and kissed my forehead before getting back into his Jeep. I sighed and made my way back into the airport. There were only about 20 people here and they were all waiting to get their bags searched and shit like that.

I went up to the cashier, "I'll take the first flight out of here please."

She smiled and typed something into her computer, "The first flight out of here is to Columbus, Ohio."

I smiled. How exciting.

"I'll take it."

xxx

I slept through the whole plane ride. I hadn't slept for three days, so I knocked out once I hit the seat. I turned off my phone, put my hood up, and just... slept. The flight attendant woke me up telling me that it was 10:46AM and that we had already landed. I was in a daze, so it didn't really matter much. I couldn't really believe it. I actually went through with it. I went to sleep in Los Angeles and woke up in Columbus, Ohio.

Liberating.

I wasn't exactly awake when I walked out of the airport. I just kept walking and walking. I walked on the sides of roads, freeways, fields, parks, everything. Everything was beautiful. The air felt different- lighter. The wind felt cooler, and more breezy. It wasn't as hot. It was beautiful. The sun felt different too. It felt better on my skin. Like it was just there to warm me. It just felt... nice.

I ended up in a park, still walking but just incredibly slowly. I hadn't eaten for 2 days and I was starting to get exhausted. I sighed, leaning against the wall.

"You lost?" I turned my head over to the voice. There next to me was a cute little petite blonde with her arms wrapped shyly around her chest. She wore a dark blue Hollister long sleeve with black jeans. Her blonde hair was free, matching her light blue eyes. She looked... gorgeous.

She looked right.

I nodded, "Yeah."