Chapter 33: Some Time to Think
Ashley woke up to the sound of knocking. She rolled over and saw that Rae was gone. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was twelve thirty in the afternoon. Whoever was at the door continued to knock so she got up and went out to the living room. "Why does she do this to me?", she thought as she walked to the door. Rae was making a habit of leaving while she was still sleeping and having guests that she had to wake up to open the door for. She opened the door to find a brunette standing there in black jeans, a black shirt and a white jacket and sneakers. She held two coffees in her hands. Ashley stood there in nothing but her cut off tank top and boy shorts looking the woman up and down. "Can I help you?" Ashley said breaking the silence between them. "Uhhh...ummmm.." Olivia stuttered. She recognized the girl standing in front of her as the one she'd seen Rae kiss leaving her apartment and put it together that this was Ashley. Olivia wasn't sure what to think. Not only was another girl answering Rae's door but she was half naked. And it wasn't just any girl, it was her ex. She saw Ashley looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. "Is...Is Rae here?" she finally asked. "No. She...went out." Ashley was a little annoyed with the woman being there. She just wanted to go back to sleep. "Oh. Ok." Olivia said. She was turning to leave before she heard Ashley speak again. "Do you want to come in and wait for her?" Ashley asked. "Uh...no. It's ok. I'll just call her later." Olivia just wanted to get out of there. She turned and quickly headed down the stairs and out of the building. She couldn't believe that Rae had been with Ashley. She had promided her that they were just friends. Olivia felt like she's been played and lied to. She was furious. She got in her car and sped out of the parking lot, not looking back.
Ashley went back into the bedroom and went back to sleep. Her slumber didn't last long. Rae arrived back home about twenty minutes after Olivia had left. She walked in with coffee, donuts and Maureen. Rae woke Ashley and she came out into the living and sat on the couch. She turned on the tv and proceeded to scroll through netflix. Maureen walked over and sat on the loveseat. She stared at Ashley who was ignoring her, keeping her focus on the tv.
"Why don't you go put some clothes on?" Maureen snapped. Ashley was still in the cut off and shorts she'd worn to bed. "Why don't you bite me?" she said back.
"Hey. Don't start. Please. I don't understand why you two can't just get along." Rae walked into the living room with the donuts and coffees. She handed one of the coffees to Ashley and put the box of donuts in the center of the coffee table. "You two used to get along just fine."
"Well that was before she became a complete bitch." Maureen said glaring at Ashley. "Whatever Maureen, ok! My mom died! I'm sorry if I didn't handle it to your liking. I never did anything to you. Yeah ok, I was crappy girlfriend to Rae but she's forgiven me for it. Would it be nice if we could be in the same room without biting each other's heads off? Yeah. Do I intend to kiss your ass to make that happen? Hell to the nizzo." Both Rae and Maureen were shocked by Ashley's outburst. "If that's what you're looking for I suggest you go to someone else because you won't find it with me." Maureen sat silently. She didn't know how to respond to what Ashley was saying.
"Ok" Rae said breaking the awkward silence. "This is good, you know. Sharing is good. Maureen, do you have anything you want to say?" she asked attempting to play mediator. She sat quietly and waited for her to speak up. "I get that your mom died. That sucks but that's not an excuse for you to treat people like shit. I was the one who was there for Rae after you hurt her and then disappeared. So sorry, if I can't just get over what you did." Maureen's voice was full of disdain. She really didn't like Ashley. "It was almost three years ago. I'm not the same the person I was then. You'd know that if you'd release the vice grip you have on that grudge and actually gave me a chance" Ashley shot back. Rae listened silently as the two went back and forth for the next few minutes. It got to be redundant so she decided to intervene. "Ok, ok. Let's all just calm down. How about this? You both have been rude to each other so you both need to apologize" They both started to speak but Rae shut it down. "Hey! Shut it. This has gone on long enough. You both need to apologize to each other and agree to put this whole thing behind you. Fresh starts all around" she said looking back and forth between them. "Now, apologize. Ashley you first."
"Why do I have to go first?" she asked sounding like a whiny child. "Because I want you to" Rae said annoyed by both of their behavior. "Fine. I'm sorry for how I treated Rae and that I left you to deal with it. And I'm sorry for how I've treated you since I got back" Ashley said. "Maureen" Rae said prompting her to go next. "I'm sorry for how I've treated you since you got back and for not giving you a chance to show me that you're different" Rae didn't feel the truce was complete so she added in a little something extra. "And you both promise to do better and try harder to get along and be friends" she added. They both nodded their heads. "I wanna hear it."
"I promise" Ashley said softly. "Yeah, me too. I promise." Rae smiled satisfied with the job she'd done mediating the argument between her friends. "Good. Now let's eat donuts and drink coffee and watch bad movies on Netflix." She leaned forward and grabbed a donut from the box on the table and took a bite. Ashley picked a movie and hit play while Maureen got up and went to the bathroom. "Oh yeah I almost forgot" Ashley started, "some woman came by looking for you when you were out" she said grabbing a donut and taking a bite. "What woman?" Rae asked curiously. "I don't know. She didn't say her name. Just asked if you were here. I said no, so she left."
"What'd she look like" Rae said sitting forward on the couch. "Kinda tall, I guess. Shoulder length brown hair, really pretty" Ashley spoke in a casual manner. "And you were wearing that when you answered the door" Rae asked nervously. "Yeah" Ashley said looking down at her attire, "she woke me up." Rae was freaking out on the inside. "Did say anything else?" she asked a bit of panic evident in her voice. Ashley looked over at Rae noticing the change in her tone. "Uh...not really. I asked if she wanted to come in and wait but she said no. Said she'd just call you later. Why, what's wrong?" Rae leaned forward and put her face in her hands. "What?" Ashley asked completely clueless. "That was Olivia, Ashley" Rae said talking through her hands. "Really? No way." Ashley said surprised. "Dude, she's hot" she said. She wasn't sure why Rae was freaking out right now. Maureen walked back into the living room and sat on the couch with Rae and Ashley, taking a jelly donut from the box and biting into it. She knew neither one of them liked the jelly filled donuts so she hadn't worried about them eating them while she was gone. Rae tried to calm down so that Maureen wouldn't notice that anything was wrong. She got up and went into the kitchen where she'd left her phone and grabbed it then headed into her bedroom. She dialed Olivia's number and waited. She called three times and each time it ended up going to voicemail. She was getting pissed off that Olivia was doing what she promised she wouldn't do anymore. She sent her a text message reminding her about the conditions of their relationship. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself she went back into the living room and joined her friends.
Later that evening, after she'd dropped Maureen off at home and taken Ashley to get her car, Rae stopped over to Olivia's apartment. She knocked on the door and waited for an answer. When Olivia didn't answer, she pulled out her phone and dialed her number. She didn't hear it ringing inside and Olivia still wouldn't answer. She figured she really wasn't home so she turned and headed down the stairs. She walked out the front door of the building and saw Olivia walking up with a blonde. They stopped at a blue suv where Olivia hugged and kissed her on the cheek before the blonde woman got into the driver's seat. Rae stood there and waited as Olivia watched the woman drive away. Olivia turned and was walking to the front door of her apartment building when she noticed Rae standing on the stairs. She walked up to her and stood there silently.
"You've been ignoring me" Rae said hurt evident in her voice. "I just...needed some time to think" Olivia said softly. "Ok. Why couldn't you just tell me that?" Rae was annoyed by Olivia's apparent lack of communication skills. Olivia just shrugged her shoulders. "Who was that?" Rae asked referring to the woman Olivia had walked up with. "Alex. She's a coworker and a friend" Olivia explained. "She's pretty" she said remembering what Olivia had said when she told her who Ashley was. It didn't slip past Liv. She descended down the rest of the stairs, pushing past Olivia, and started to walk to her car. "You're leaving?" she asked as Rae walked away. She stopped and turned around. "Did you want me to stay? Because you don't always show me that you want you me around, Liv. You promised that you wouldn't disappear on me again. I've been calling and texting you all day." Olivia just stood there, not knowing what to saw. She didn't really have any excuse for ignoring her. Rae scoffed, "I'm standing right in front of you and you still have nothing to say. So, yeah I'm leaving. You need some time to think, right? Here ya go." She turned around and went to get in her car. Olivia was still standing on the sidewalk when she drove away.