A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait, but depression hurts, so I was trying to deal with it as best as I could. Hopefully this uncharacteristically-long chapter makes up for all that time. Review and tell me what you think. Enjoy! :)
Buddy Pep Talk
Aiden's POV
"Kyla…I…" I stuttered. It broke me to know that to be a loyal boyfriend I had to be a horrible best friend, but I knew this was necessary, it had to be done. "Please, Ashley's right there…I'll feel even worse if I tell you when she's around…"
Kyla looked down at our intertwined hands. After a few seconds of silence she finally lifted her gaze towards me. "Okay…when we get home," she said in tears.
"I promise." I leaned forward to try and kiss her, but was interrupted by the screams and hollering coming from a gathering crowd.
"You b-bitch!" I hear what sounds like Annie's shrilly voice and then the crowd gets even louder, some whistling and others yelling "Fight!"
Instantly, I turn my head to look at Kyla, whose worried, horror-stricken expression must be a mirror image of my own. "Aiden!"
"Yeah, come on!" I take her hand and begin leading her towards the enthusiastic crowd.
"Oh. My. God," Kyla's eyes widen and she covers her mouth with her hands in utter shock.
"Huh? What? What are you looking at?" I look around quickly, desperately trying to find what's so shocking. Kyla grabbed my shoulder to get my attention and points to the middle of the dance floor.
"Woah...two chicks fighting…wow…" I blink repeatedly to make sure I'm not dreaming. This is like one of my fantasies…except one of the chicks was Kyla…damn. "This is so hot!"
Smack!
"Ow!" I rub the back of my head. "Kyla! What the hell was that for?"
"Look again, you idiot!" She points to the two fighting females again.
I turn to the scene once again. "What are you—"
My eyes can't believe what they are seeing. There, in the middle of the gathered crowd is Spencer…on her back…with Annie straddling her…trying to rip her clothes off…What the hell am I seeing?
I thought she liked Ashley…
"Holy shit!" I push some people out of the way to make room for Kyla and me to approach the girls. For a few seconds we just stand there, completely perplexed with the situation. "Kyla…" I poke her arm and she turns to look at me. "I thought Spencer was after Ashley—"
SMACK!
"OW!" I rub the side of my head frantically. "How can you possibly hit that hard?! I'm like twice your size!" She glares at me. Ooh…pissed-off Kyla…that's scary…I quickly take a step back. "I-I mean, why did you slap me?"
"Ugh! Because you dumbass!" She uses her hands to roughly yank my face to look at the scene again. "That slut is hitting her!"
Sure enough, now Spencer is trying to flip them over. Out of the corner of my eye I finally see Ashley, an unimpressed look on her face, as she goes and roughly wrench Annie away from the other blond and lock her arms behind her back, rendering her useless.
"Annie stop it! Enough!"
She continues to struggle against Ashley, but I know she won't budge. I told her working out with me would come in handy. "Wh-what makes you think you can k-kiss her, huh?!"
Spencer stands up and brushes herself off. "Because I can, you doofus!" She looks over at Annie with an unreadable expression on her face. Then she smirks, and says, "Because I love her!"
"Woah." "Wow."
Kyla and I stare at each other again, both of our pairs of eyes wide and glazed over.
"That was…" I stammer.
"I can't believe…" She hesitates.
We both look towards the girls again. They all mimic our earlier expressions. Annie has slumped over in Ashley's arms. Ashley seems to have been petrified in her spot and she gawks at Spencer, clearly surprised by her revelation. Spencer just stands there. She looks from Annie to Ashley and locks eyes with her.
Wow…I seriously didn't expect this…I feel bad for Spencer…this was probably not the best way to confess an undying love to another person…And Ashley…she's probably gonna have a heart attack right now…
"…Spencer…" I hear Ashley say softly, almost whispering. "Spence…I…I…don't—"
Expecting a response from Spencer, I turn my head to look in her direction and am shocked to only see her back as she makes her way past the crowd and toward the exit. Why is she running?
"Aiden!" Kyla snaps her fingers in front of my face. "I'm gonna go after her. Please make sure Ashley doesn't do anything stupid, okay?" I nod my head absent-mindedly. "We'll talk when we get home."
With that, my girlfriend leaves my side and jogs her way over to catch up with the blonde. Crap, I forgot about our little 'conversation' earlier! Ashley's gonna hate me after this one…
"Ashley!" I yell out her name, having remembered Kyla's instructions. I approach the two women. Ashley looks like she's about to cry. Her eyes are still wide but are now watery. Her bottom lip is trembling as she continues to support the drunken idiot in her arms. "Ash…" I don't really know what to say right now, so I do the next best thing, I hug her from the side, careful not to crush the other girl. "Come on…let's go sit down."
She nods vaguely and starts walking in the direction of our seats, dragging the inebriated package along with her.
"Ashleeey! Y-you don't like herr do ya'?" The blonde turns in Ashley's arms, complete with an unattractive pout and smeared mascara. "I'm much betterr than herr, righttt?"
Ashley's face immediately hardens at the comments and her expression turns to one of sheer disgust and irritation. "Will you shut the hell up?! Do you not realize what has just happened?!" She violently shoves the other girl into the booth and raises an intimidating finger to point at her. "I do not like you! And I never will! How can you even begin to think you are better than her?! You're not even in her league, you asshole! Now sit your ass down, and please, shut the fuck up!"
Annie could not possibly sink any lower into the leather seat. The brunette's outburst must have scared the shit out of her, because she settles for nodding her head fearfully and then turning to slump down in her position and grab a few drinks I left there earlier.
"Aiden…let's go sit elsewhere, I can't talk here." She eyes the girl evilly before going off toward the bar. As we grab our seats she orders a couple more drinks. We spent a few minutes of silence just drinking, before I have the nerve to talk to her.
"So…umm…are you, uh, okay?" I stumble out. She glares at me and I quickly backtrack. "Sorry! Sorry, stupid question…"
"It's okay…" She puts her glass down and shifts to stare at me. "…I wasn't expecting that…she totally took me by surprise…I-I blew it…I shoulda said something—"
"No, no you didn't." I grab her wrist and squeeze it gently, reassuring her. "Ash, she freaked out…it wasn't your fault." I sigh deeply before getting closer to stare at her deeply. "Don't blame yourself for something you're not responsible for. In a situation like that, anyone would've reacted the same way."
Ashley looked down at the floor in deep thought. "I-I really want to be with her, Aiden…But just when things are seemingly going right, something like this happens…I can't stand it."
"Hey," I use my other hand to lift her chin, and I instantly see the tears that have made their way down her cheeks. "This is an opportunity don't you see. She just confessed to loving you, something you had been wondering for a long time, now just go and tell her you feel the same way."
She scoffs, and then a sad, fake smile plastered her face. "If it were only that easy…" She trailed off.
Ok…why isn't that easy? What the hell is she talking about? Is it—...oh. I get it now.
She must've seen my obvious confusion, because she rolls her eyes and continues. "Aiden, how can I trust myself with her? I'm—I'm a freaking addict!" She clenches her jaw and throws her arms in the air. Angry tears stream down her face as she sets her elbows on the bar surface and rubs her temples furiously. "…I'll end up hurting her…I don't want that…"
For the second time tonight, I really don't know what to say, so again, I pull her into a tight embrace and rub her back. "Ashley, it's not like you're doing right now…" Wait, is she? "…Right?"
"Of course not!" She pushes me away and stares at me angrily. "It's been two months, don't you remember?! I told you!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, sorry I asked…" I give her a contrite look and her anger quickly dissipates. "Anyway, this just proves my point."
"You had a point?"
"Naturally!" She laughs softly and I continue. "You've been clean all this time on your own effort, being with Spencer will give you that extra push you need to quit for good."
Ashley raises her head from her hands and gives me an expression of confusion, and maybe even hope. "You think so?"
"Yes I do," I rub her arm encouragingly. "All you need to do is go out there and tell her that—"
My cell phone interrupts me, alerting that I have a new message. I quickly spot my girlfriend's name as the sender. Kyla? What could she want?
Text: I dropped Spence off at her house. Hope you and Ashley are ok. See you at home. Love you.
Aww…I love you too Ky…I love you so—Wait!
"Perfect!"
"What's perfect?"
"Spencer is back at your house," I raise my eyebrows and nod, silently telling her my idea.
"Aiden…I don't think I can…" She frowns.
"Yes you can!" I stand up and offer her my hand. "Come on! That girl just spilled her heart out to you, it's your turn to do the same."
She turns back at me and smiles. "You know, if you weren't dating my sister I'd say you were gay."
"Oh yeah, make fun of the guy that just helped you through that nervous breakdown, God!" I look away feeling hurt until I feel her hug me.
"Thanks Aid," she mumbles into my chest.
"Hey, no problem," I kiss the top of her head. "You're not alone Ashley."
She pulls away and continues to smile at me, sniffling and wiping off her previous tears. "What…what do I do with Annie?"
"Huh?" Who's… "Oh! That's right! Maybe you should just ditch her here."
"Aiden!" She gasps at me. "As much as I would love to, I don't think I would feel right leaving that drunken whore alone here; she might get kidnapped or something." She shrugs her shoulders. "Besides, she is…or was, Spencer's friend. She's not gonna want me to abandon her at some random club."
"Eh…true," I mumble. We make our way over to the booth where we left Annie, only to find her passed out, sprawled on the seat with various beer bottles around the table. "Damn, she can drink…do you need some help loading her into your car."
"Yeah...I don't think I wanna touch that…thing." Ashley says, disgusted at the sight in front of her.
"I'll carry her," I scoop the blond in my arms. "Lead the way."
When we got outside, we quickly made our way toward Ashley's mother of a car. "Are you sure you want to put this in your back seat?"
"It's not like I have another choice…" She sighs. "I just hope she doesn't drool on the leather."
I place, or better yet, thrown Annie in the seat and close the door. "Well, time to say goodbye now..." I trail off.
"Aww, Aiden. I have a lot of free time the next couple weeks, we'll hang out again." She smiles and punches my arm lightly. "I need to catch up with my best bud!" She says in a thick accent.
"I know…" I laugh lightly. "Ok! Enough with this! Now you," I point at her. "Get in that car and go get your girl."
"Thanks, dude." She hugs me one more time before getting into her car. She leans from her seat to the window. "You're a good friend Aid," she says fondly. "I'll call you to tell you how it went later."
With that, she drives off, leaving me in a puddle of guilt and remorse.
Bye Ashley…You're not gonna want to talk to me after I tell Kyla…I'm sorry…
Ashley's POV
After saying bye to Aiden I sped off into the highway, anxious to get home. I wanted, no, needed to talk to Spencer right away.
You see, although I tried to hide as best as I could, I had harbored feelings for her since way back in high school. Yeah, that's a long-ass time to crush in secret. But, I valued our friendship. I didn't want to ruin it by confessing to her and then having her reject me; that would make us…awkward, later on. I didn't want that, seriously. My friendship with Spencer was probably the most important relationship I had. No, it was the most the important, without a doubt. She had been there for me through all the hardest points in my life; she had helped me cope with my tumultuous life.
After my father died, I became a wreck. It didn't affect Kyla as much, she didn't now him. Dad had just dropped her off one day while he was on a tour in L.A. What a great dad he was…NOT. As much as she tried to help me, I just wasn't responding anymore, I turned back to my old ways of closing myself off from the world. Aiden too, did his best to break through to me, but it wasn't working. Spencer was the only one that could get me to speak. Despite the fact that I pushed her away at first, she persisted. Pretty soon, I broke down, letting my own tears flow uncontrollably, and she was there all the time, holding me while I cried and cheering me up. I would've died without her…
Now here I am, on my way to finally confess my feelings to her. Although she already kinda told me that she liked me, I can't help but have some doubts of my own. How do I know that she didn't just say that to get Annie off her back? How do I know she meant it? How do I know she didn't just say it out of desperation? I don't know these things, so I'm feeling more nervous than ever.
I just hope that she did mean she loved me. I just hope that she spoke those words out of her heart, and not her brain. I just hope that when I tell her I feel the same, that I won't be four years too late in confessing to her.
I sigh loudly; the house has just come into view. As I park in the driveway I shut off the engine and take a few minutes to breathe in deeply, in a lame attempt at controlling my erratic heartbeat.
"…I can do this…" Deep breath in. "…I can do this…" Deep breath out. "…Ok, I'm good."
I open my door and slowly climb out, heading toward the back seat door to take out the wrong blonde out of my car. I want the other one.
