Falling in love with someone happens unexpected, it's so sudden that one day you have a different attraction to this person and it grows stronger every day. Love isn't easy though, you have to fight for it to stay alive, breathe air into it whenever the fire starts to turn to smoke. You've got to live for love and love has to live for you.
After the graduation party, most people weren't seen for a couple of days. They were all trying to get over their hangovers still, trying to cover up mistakes, rekindle fires that were smoked out. But today was different, especially for Mia since she was one of the many people who stayed home, not because she was scared to go out, just to recover from her emotional beating that night. Today, Ashley showed up on her doorstep, alone for that matter and waited patiently on the other side of the door which a tiny slender box in her hands. She knocked three times and after a couple of minutes, the door swung open and revealed a puffy eyed red head who's eyes immediately went from sad to soft.
"Ashley," She breathed out, her voice hoarse from the constant crying.
Without any words spoken out of the brunette, Ashley wrapped her arms tightly around Mia who immediately broke down once again. Mia continued to cry on Ashley's shoulder in the doorway for countless minutes before she took a deep breath and calmed herself down and gained the strength to pull away. "Mia," Ashley spoke softly, never taking her eyes off the young girl in front of her.
"What're you doing here?"
She was short but quick to the point, "Here," Ashley handed over the slender box.
"What is it?" Mia looked up at Ashley after wiping her nose on her long sleeve shirt.
"Open it whenever I'm gone, you'll know." She smiled slightly as she took in the broken girl again in her arms, "Kyla and I are having a house warming dinner, I'd really like it if you were there," She pulled back and looked into Mia's eyes.
"I don't know," Mia replied softly, pulling away completely out of the girls grasp.
Without thinking though, Ashley leaned in and placed a light kiss upon Mia's cheek, "Please think about it, for me." And she turned away from the younger girl, walked down the porch steps and made her way into her car.
After Ashley was out of sight, Mia opened the box and inside revealed a small sterling silver, feather shaped necklace with the words 'love every day' on it. The small gift made Mia smile, it was the first smile in many days but it felt nice. So nice that she jumped into the shower shortly after opening the gift and got dressed up for the dinner at Ashley's house that night.
Later that evening, everyone was gathered around the table at the Davies' new house. Wine glasses in their hands as Ashley stood, "I'd just like to thank everyone for joining us tonight," She motioned to Kyla and then to Spencer who was living there with Ashley as well, "I'd also like to make an announcement," Madison cheered, already knowing what was going on but everyone else, including Kyla was unaware of this sudden announcement. Ashley looked down at Spencer who was sitting by her side, holding onto her free hand and wearing a smile upon her face, "Spencer and I will be flying out to Paris this weekend because Spencer here got a full ride scholarship for a year at some school I can't pronounce!"
Once the group settled from their laughter, Spencer spoke up with a smile upon her face, "The name of it is Ecole Parsons à Paris."
"But, what are you going to do in Paris for a year?" Mia spoke up then, completely concerned about Ashley giving up her dreams just so Spencer could go after hers.
All eyes turned to Ashley then, "Um," she sat down then, "Well I plan to eat a lot of pizza!"
"Honey that's Italian," Spencer smiled adoringly at her girlfriend next to her.
"So tell me again, how did you manage on graduating high school?" Aiden laughed along with everyone else sitting around the table and with this sudden topic change, no one bothered to ask again what exactly Ashley was going to do in Paris. But Mia continued on staring at the brunette who sipped her wine slowly, ever so often catching those eyes looking at her.
Everyone left shortly after dinner was finished which the young couple was happy about so they could enjoy the peace and quiet together, "Friday is coming quickly, Ash," Spencer looked up at Ashley as they both laid down together in their bed, "You sure you still want to come?"
A bright smile came from the older girl, "I wouldn't miss this for the world," She placed a kiss upon the blonde's lips and minutes later, they were both fast asleep.
The next couple of days were filled with packing, shipping and a lot of beer. Kyla, Aiden and Madison helped get everything together for the two girls for their departure the following morning. It was both exciting and sad to see the two girls move onto this next step but they were glad to share it with the closet of friends.
It was their last night in America and Ashley had yet to see Mia which broke her heart and only Kyla knew. When the night was nearing to the end, Ashley started to become emotional and it wasn't like her to become like that, but after so many beers, no one really could tell if there was something else bothering her or if she was just sad about leaving. Kyla eventually pulled her older sister aside to talk to her, "Ash, what's going on?" She asked quietly, not to grab anybody's attention.
To be honest, Ashley hadn't had many beers that night, it was the fact that Mia still hadn't said goodbye to her that was hurting. "I leave first thing tomorrow morning at 6 and Mia still hasn't come by," Ashley explained quietly, "I just, I thought I meant a little more to her than this," She stared at the ground, trying to control her emotions.
"Ash, you mean more than the world to Mia, its killing her seeing you go. That's why she can't say goodbye, I'm sure of it," Her sister pleaded and tried with Ashley but she was still going to be sad no matter what.
"it doesn't even matter, Ky," Ashley finally looked up into her sisters' eyes, "I'm leaving tomorrow with Spencer, to Paris, if Mia doesn't say goodbye to me then that's her own fault. I don't know how long I'll be in Paris, Kyla, I honestly don't. But for her to not do this?" She paused for a minute to think about what she was going to say next, "Fuck it, I have to go see her," Ashley mumbled, turning away from Kyla to grab her coat.
"Hey, hey sweetheart, where are you going?" Spencer grabbed ahold of Ashley's hand, pulling her back. "You can't leave now, we're opening our going away presents," Blue eyes smiled brightly at Ashley.
"I'll be right over," She shared a kiss with the blonde before turning back to her sister, "When you see Mia, tell her… tell her I love her and I'll be back soon and to finish high school!" She quickly added the school part before turning away from Kyla and made her complete attention back on her girlfriend.
The group of friends stayed up way too late that night or morning as 4:30 would be considered. With an hour and a half of sleep, the two girls, their luggage and anything else they needed were packed up in their car being driven by Aiden and Kyla on their way to the airport. It was the dreaded morning and the dreaded painful goodbye that lied ahead.
Once at the airport though, they didn't have much time to say yet another goodbye because traffic at LAX started piling up quickly. The young couple watched the car drive away, they looked at each other and smiled, "Here's to starting our life," Ashley smiled at the blonde who smiled back just as big before placing a giant kiss upon the brunette's lips.
"Here's to starting our life together," Spencer repeated, grabbing Ashley's hand as they began their journey inside of the airport.