Chapter 40

"What are we doing here?" I asked, looking out toward the beach. "I thought you were taking me home." I glanced over at Ashton.

"I thought you'd like to come here for a little bit. I can take you home if you don't want to stay here." He looked over at me with his hand on the door handle. "I didn't think you'd want to sit alone in your house."

"Here's fine. I glanced out toward the glistening ocean water. I grabbed my phone from my purse, took off my shoes and socks, and opened the car door. I walked around to the front of the car and paused for a few minutes, waiting for Ashton to join me. I wanted to stand at the edge of the ocean and inhale the saltiness as the waves rolled onto shore.  "Are you coming?" I motioned for Ashton to hurry up. He held up his index finger, telling me to wait a second, then returned to what he was doing. I sighed, turning to look out toward the ocean, debating on whether to start walking without him or not.

"You ready?" Ashton closed the door and hit his key fob, locking the car. He started walking barefoot across the sand. My foot sank the minute it hit the sand. For someone who has grown up around the beach, I still walked across the sand like someone who had never stepped foot on it. I could only imagine how I looked to the people around us watching. Ashton was already a few feet away from the water by the time I got to him.

"How are you doing?" Ashton asked, not taking his eyes off the waves rolling into shore.

I shrugged, twisting my mouth. "I guess..." I turned my head so he wouldn't see me cry.

"Gem, it's okay to be upset."

"Why didn't you tell me that's what  they were doing?"

"Tell you? I had no idea. Jude and I don't hang out anymore. He started hanging out with Noah and now Rhys. I honestly didn't know what those dickheads were up to." He shoved his hands in his pockets, raking his toes through the sand. "I need to apologize to you, too."

"For what?" I bent down and picked up a seashell. "You didn't partake in their stupid bet." I examined the pinkish shell in my hand. I peeked over at Ashton, who was moving sand back and forth between his feet. I started to stick my toes deeper into the sand, waiting for Ashton to find the words he was looking for.

"I didn't stick up for you sooner. I thought if I backed away, Claudia would give up on being a bitch to you, but somehow the opposite happened. I don't know why I thought she'd back off." He ran his hand through the top of his hair, looking out at the ocean. I stared at him in complete shock because this was the first time he'd ever apologized for letting Claudia be a bitch to me. Honestly, I didn't know how to respond to it either.

"Can I ask you a question?" I motioned for Ashton to follow me along the shoreline. I didn't even wait for him to say okay. "Why did you sleep with Hannah?" I glanced over at him with his wide eyes and parted lips. "Of all girls to sleep with, you picked her. Why?" I looked toward the ocean, the waves rolling in, and how they sparkled in the sun. I turned to my right, pausing to find where Ashton had disappeared. "What are you doing back there?" He was a few feet behind me, his lips parted, staring blankly at me.

"You saw?"

"How could I not? I was walking into my house." My feet shuffled through the sand. "Of all the girls. You picked the one that Jude had dumped me for. That's a smack in the face."

"Gemma, I can explain." He moved closer.

"Ashton, you don't owe me an explanation. I just wanted you to know it hurt a little bit that our friendship doesn't mean that much to you." I turned to continue walking along the beach. I walked two steps before my body jerked back from Ashton, grabbing my arm. "What?" I glanced down at his hand gripped around my bicep.

His eyes drifted to his hand, and he let go of my arm. "Did I hurt you?" He pointed to my arm.

"Uh...No." I saw the concern in his eyes. He turned and walked closer to the water, letting it cover his feet. He ran a hand through his hair while the other rested on his waist. I tilted my head, studying his stance, trying to figure out what he was trying to say to me. He crossed his arms across his chest. I walked up beside him. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I grabbed your arm. I didn't want you to walk away mad at me, even though you have every right to be." He looked down at the water flowing over his feet. "There's something you should know. I didn't sleep with Hannah. I had every intention but couldn't go through with it."

"I saw you two together at Sweet Escape."

"She was trying to get me to take her out. I kept trying to tell her no, but she kept insisting we go out so we could try again. She wasn't getting the hint; I didn't want to take her out or have sex with her." He peeked over at me, lowering his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder for a minute, gazing at the ocean. He rested his head on top of mine. "Let's go get something to eat." For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had my friend back. "I know you're hungry, even though you say you aren't. My treat."

"Well...In that case..." I laughed. "Thanks, Ashton, for bringing me here. It helped."

Ashton took me back to my car after we got something to eat and picked up lattes at Sweet Escape. I talked him into getting the new Toffee Nut latte and even splurged on cookies for us. It was nice spending time with him, not having to worry about Claudia causing drama. He was relaxed and not so much on edge. He had waited long enough for the parking lot to clear out before he dropped me off. I thought he'd head off somewhere when I pulled out of the school to head home, but he stayed close behind me.

"You going to be okay, Gem?" Ashton asked, walking around his car in his driveway.

"Yeah."

"Gemma..."

I froze, staring at Ashton, whose eyes shifted to the right, his jaw clenched. "What the fuck do you want?"

"I just came to apologize to Gemma." Rhys motioned to me.

"Well, she doesn't want to hear your pathetic apology." Ashton stepped in between Rhys and me. "Why don't you do yourself a favor, get back in your car, and drive off." Ashton pushed him backward.

"I didn't hear her say it!" Rhys pushed him back. "Unless she says something, I'm not going anywhere." He tried to move around Ashton. They started to scuffle in my front yard. I couldn't take any more drama for the day. I ran down the steps, trying to break them up.

"Stop!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I pushed my way between them, placing my hands on each of them. "Enough!" I pushed Rhys back, keeping my hand on Ashton. "Rhys, you need to leave." I turned, keeping my back to Ashton. I had no interest in listening to Rhys because I knew he was in on the bet. After all, he'd been hanging out with Jude and Noah. They probably talked him into it. It didn't matter at this point because he ruined things, and I'd never be able to trust him.

"You seriously aren't going to let me explain." He backed away, glaring at Ashton. I shook my head no, pressing my lips together. He warned Ashton to watch his back, then turned to walk away. "You can have the bitch. She probably wouldn't have been that good of a fuck, anyway." My body lunged to the side; I stumbled to stand. Ashton jumped Rhys, knocking him to the ground. I stood there, watching in horror as Ashton and Rhys stumbled to their feet and started throwing punches at one another. I went to run over to break them up again, but it was like my feet were moving in slow motion, as if the grass was wrapping around my feet, trying to keep me from getting to them. After about the fourth exchange of punches, I grabbed Ashton, yelling for him to stop.

"Rhys, get the fuck out of here! Now!" I screamed, motioning to his car. I tugged on Ashton's arm as he kept cursing Rhys. Rhys shook his head, glaring, cursing back at Ashton, telling him to watch his back. I yelled at Rhys again to get the fuck in his vehicle and leave. I turned to face Ashton, and my eyes locked in on the blood running down his chin. I scrunched up my face, lifting my hand toward his poor face. I told him to come inside so I could clean his face up and get him ice for his hand. I didn't want his mom to see him like this, even though I knew his lip was going to swell up. I dropped my book bag by the table next to the front door and walked to the kitchen, motioning to Ashton to come with me. He hopped up on the counter next to the sink while I grabbed a towel and filled it with ice. After handing him the towel, I went to the bathroom for Mom's first aid kit in the cabinet. I set the first aid on the counter next to Ashton, then raised his hand, holding the towel of ice, and told him he needed to keep it on his lip.

I grabbed a cotton ball from the kit and poured peroxide on it. Ashton lowered the ice, wincing in pain as I dabbed his cut. I apologized, dabbing his lip as gently as possible without hurting him worse. I grabbed another cotton ball, raising it to his lip. "Sorry." I dabbed the peroxide running down his chin. I put the cotton ball down; my eyes caught Ashton's intense gaze. We stood there staring into each other's eyes, not saying a word. He brushed a piece of hair away from my face; his fingers glided across my skin like a feather. He leaned forward, pausing a few inches from my face.

"Uh...I should probably get going. Thanks, Gem." He handed me the damp towel from the ice. "I'll talk to you later." He hopped down and walked out of the kitchen. I was left there wondering what had just happened.