Rejected At First Sight (Spinoff Series)

33

Ash

I manage to laugh along with Ronnie as he tries to ease the tension between Sage and I. Clementine caught on and was trying to stir up conversations and learn more about me. I only gave them enough answers to satisfy the question, but nothing more.

"Ugh, move I have to go to the bathroom." Ronnie stretches and pushes against Clementine's shoulder. As they shuffle up, I follow Ronnie out.

"Me too." I say quietly and shuffle away from the stiff tension in the air. I reach the bathroom and find that the black and white tile filled in here as well. I sighed and moved to the mirror.

Sage acting like an asshole really put my mood off.

Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe he had just not found it important to mention to me. Maybe I never gave him the chance.

Could it be that living with a bunch of obnoxious teenagers and going to school with them made Sage grow tired of them? Maybe he just didn't want to talk to him.

I breathed out through my nose and realized that I was the one in the wrong here. I should apologize.

Stepping out of the bathroom, my phone starts to vibrate in my back pocket. I pull it out and see that my mom is calling me.

I quickly answer and put the phone to my ear, leaning against a wall around the corner from the main room, so everyone can't see me. "Hey mom." I answer.

"Where are you?" She practically yells into the phone.

My stomach drops at her tone.

"Are you okay?" I ask immediately.

"I get home and you're not here?" She scolds me. "I can't believe that your dad let you go out with kids on a school night."

"What, mom, that's not-" I start but she interrupts.

"I don't care about your excuses Ashlyn. I thought we had a deal. Your studies come first." She says and I can sense the tears that had fallen from her eyes before she called.

I chewed on my lip. "Dad and you had another fight, huh?"

"You need to come home. Now."

"What? Why?" I say, kicking off of the wall. I knew that acknowledging that they had a fight was a little risky, but she can't just demand I come home. "I was studying! And they're not just some kids from school, they're my friends."

I surprised myself at the words coming out of my mouth. "Ashlyn. Home. Now." My mom says sternly into the phone.

Letting out a deep sigh, I gave in like she knew I would. This was her twisted way of asking me for help. She needed comforting. A middle man to make everything okay. "Okay. I'm coming."

I hang up without waiting for her reply.

When I look up from my phone, Jay is standing at the corner. "Hey, uh, is everything okay?" His blue eyes search mine warily.

I note that he has his car keys in one hand and the front door a few paces away. I nod. "I just need to get home." I say, and look around the corner at Sage. "I need to apologize."

Jay turns and looks towards Sage too. "He knows that you're sorry."

When I turn to look back at Jay, I arch my eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"You're both feeling guilty. It's not hard to tell." Jay says, his face sincere. "I mean, you guys are best friends. You'll make up. Both you just need time to cool off." Jay looks me up and down which makes me stand a little taller. "You don't have to be the one to always take the first step. And you definitely don't have to do it now. Wait until tomorrow morning, give yourself some time to process things."