Chapter 32: Chapter 30

I felt tears forming in my eyes as I tried to swallow the huge lump in my throat. I bit the insides of my lips to stop them from trembling and sat on the corner of his bed.

How could he just say that and walk away? Did he really not trust me at all? Even after I told him that I had no idea as to what happened last night? I get it; I understand that he dislikes Austin but how can he even think that I would let Austin cross his limits?

I took in a deep breath to compose myself and when I exhaled; along with my breath, tears came rushing out too. I buried my face in my hands and let all the frustration pour out.

I heard a knock and my eyes widened a fraction before I hastily wiped away the tears and sniffed.

Was it Ethan? Was he back?

I cleared my throat before softly asking the person on the other side of the door to come in. The door opened, revealing Erica. Her eyes widened when her eyes landed on my face.

“Ash?” she said, alarmed. She walked towards me and sat down. “What’s wrong?”

Her question made tears roll down my cheeks. Her eyes widened again. Helplessly, she did the only thing I needed. She hugged me. I hugged her back, my hand forming into fists as I tried to push away everything that Ethan had said.

But I couldn’t.

Crying too hard, I found myself gasping for air.

“Ash, Ash, relax,” Erica instructed, pulling away. “Calm down. I’ll get you water, okay?”

I shut my eyes and did as she had instructed. I felt the bed dip as she sat back and handed me a glass of water. I emptied the glass and faced her, wiping at my tear-stained cheek.

“Better?” she asked softly.

I nodded.

“Do you want to talk about what’s wrong?” she questioned, her eyes scanning my face with concern.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly.

“Okay,” she said, trying to think of what to say next. “Did-did Ethan do something?” she asked, cautiously.

Her question was answered by my silence.

“That ass!” she exclaimed angrily. “Who does he think he is? He has no rights to make my best friend cry! Where is he? He’s going to witness a side of me that I know he prefers to not.”

“No,” I said quickly. “Don’t say anything to him. Not until I figure everything out.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her anger subsiding. “What happened, Ash?”

I sighed and recalled the events from last night and told her the way Ethan reacted to it.

“You don’t know what happened after he gave you the drink?” she asked slowly. “At all?”

I nodded.

“Which means he spiked it?” she inquired.

“It seems like the only possible explanation, doesn’t it?” I asked, wishing that it wasn’t the only possible explanation.

“But why did Ethan react like that?” He should’ve been sensible enough to talk to you,” she said, a scowl appearing on her face.

“I don’t know,” I replied helplessly.

“I think it’s just the anger talking,” she said.

“Everyone says that you should never forget what someone says when they’re angry because that’s when the truth spills out,” I told her softly.

“That’s not true,” she denied.

I didn’t say anything.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to talk to him?” she asked again, almost pleading with her eyes.

“Yes,” I said firmly.

“Then there’s only one thing left to do,” she declared. “We have to contact Austin.”

My shoulders dropped. “I tried. He’s already on his flight back to Germany.”

“He clearly had all of this planned out,” she said, her nostrils flaring.

“I guess,” I muttered.

“Don’t be so blind, Ash,” she said softly. “You know that he spiked you and probably tried to…do something but you don’t want to accept it.”

“I don’t want to accept anything without finding out exactly what happened that night,” I said, staring at her concerned eyes.

She sighed. “Then we’re going to find out what happened.”

“How?” I questioned.

“Right after I figure that bit out,” she said sheepishly.

A shaky chuckle managed to get out of me, making Erica smile.

*

“Okay, remember, try to indirectly ask your mom as many questions as possible about last night,” Erica instructed one more time as she slowed the car down near my driveway.

“Yes, Erica, I get it, you already told me about ten times,” I deadpanned.

“I’m only trying to help!” she exclaimed.

“I know.” I sighed.

“Good. Now, go,” she said, unlocking the door.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said as I got out of the car.

She nodded, giving me a smile. I started walking towards my house.

“Hey, Ash!”

I turned to see Erica’s head out of the window, her long brunette curls dangling freely.

“Yeah?”

“Call me if you want me to rip Ethan’s hair out for you,” she offered.

I gave her a half smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She smiled and said, “Though, seriously, if you want to talk to anyone, you know my number.”

“Yes,” I replied, nodding.

“Later,” she said, sitting back on the car seat properly.

I didn’t bother replying since she was already driving away. Sighing, I turned to my door and stuck my keys in. Opening the door quietly, I walked in and shut it behind me. I could hear the faded sound of the television coming from the living room. I followed the sound and found mom lazily sitting on the couch with a bowl full of carrot sticks and mayo. I frowned at her. Who eats carrot sticks with mayo instead of popcorn?

She looked up at me and sat up straight as if ready for a deep conversation. Hesitating, I sat down next to her.

I cleared my throat and said, “Eating carrot with mayo again?”

She laughed and nodded. I shook my head and rolled my eyes at her.

“So, how was last night?” she asked, muting the television.

“I-it was good,” I responded hesitantly.

“And?” she prodded, expecting more details.

“We just hung out,” I said, shrugging.

“What time did you come back?” she asked, taking me surprise.

She didn’t know? I was expecting to get the answer from her! If she doesn’t know what time I came home. Then, she won’t know who dropped me either.

“Don’t-don’t you know?” I stuttered.

Her eyebrows pulled in together. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Weren’t you home?” I questioned.

“No,” she said, frowning.

“Oh right! Sorry, I thought you were home,” I lied.

“So, what time did you come back?” she repeated.

“Around 10,” I lied, cringing inwardly.

She nodded, humming.

I removed my phone from my front pocket and quickly sent Erica a text, blocking my phone from mom’s view.

My mom doesn’t know anything about last night. She wasn’t at home when I came back.

My phone buzzed almost instantly. I unlocked it quickly to read Erica’s text.

Sucks but we’ll figure something out. Talk to Jared, Michael and Abby on Monday in school. They’ll definitely have some solution to this.

That seemed like a good idea. Jared and Michael will surely have some other way of looking at this than we do. Hopefully.

The thought of school, though, made me nervous. What would happen when Ethan and I came across each other? Would he apologize? Hear me out? Or flat-out ignore me?

Would he sit with us for break? Will he even attend Chemistry or English? Or just skip it because I sit with him during those subjects.

Questions bounced in my head like a game of tennis as I tried hard to keep my face straight instead of worried. I tried to ignore the way my mom was looking at me from the corners of her eyes and typed out a response for Erica.

Abby already knows about this but yes, I’ll make sure that I talk to Jared and Michael.

“Listen, Ashley,” mom said, removing her glasses and setting them on the center table and turning the T.V off. “I need to talk to you about something.”

I set my phone aside and turned to face her. “Go ahead.”

“My trip to Australia was amazing. It was a great exposure and business wise, it was very successful as well,” she started. “I had to work with numerous Heads and CEO’s because my boss was unavailable. That’s partially the reason why he sent me instead of going himself.”

“That’s great but where are you taking this to?” I asked slowly, nervous.

“My boss went through the reports and feedbacks. He is thoroughly impressed with me. He wants to promote me,” she said with a grin.

For the first time in the day, a genuine grin broke out on my face.

“That’s amazing, mom!” I exclaimed.

“It is, isn’t it?” she

I nodded happily and hugged her with excitement.

“This calls for celebration,” I said in her shoulder. “I’ll cook today.”

“Please don’t,” mom joked.

I pulled away and shot her a flat look. “I cook better than you, mom.”

“That’s why I expect you to do it often,” she responded.

I shook my head. “No, thank you.”

“I can’t believe you’re taking this positively.” She beamed at me.

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re getting a promotion!” I exclaimed. “Hopefully, this promotion also means that we won’t have to move that often anymore.”

Her smile faded. “Ashley, I meant he wants us to move to Australia.”

A/N- Literally heard Porcelain Fists 15 times on repeat while writing this chapter.

Well, hello! I'm sorry for taking so long to put this chapter up. It was pretty evil of me. And it's even more evil of me to end this chapter with a cliffhanger sort of thing. :/

You guys probably hate me for this D: First, Ethley's fight and now, she's going to move, most probably. ._.

Never mind, I'm just going to talk about something else. So, my birthday was recently and I got so many books! I have about 20 books! Few of my friends gave me book vouchers so I bought 4 Sarah Dessen books today! Can't wait to start reading them. Have you guys read any Sarah Dessen books? I love them! If you haven't read any, you should! My favourite is This Lullaby :D

PS-  Please, please suggest me any good series to start watching! I was thinking about Sherlock but I'm not sure yet.

Love you guys <3