Remember Me

Chapter Twelve

Ashton's POV

After Ellie and I got done with our coffee we traveled back up to her room. Traveled, meaning I carried her most of the way because her leg was still hurting. Throughout the whole day she was limping on it and I kept asking her if she needed a break, but she always said no. Ellie has always been a stubborn person. Even when we were dating I can recall her not wanting to do something and stomping her foot down angrily.

Eleanor also never let anyone do anything for her, she was so independant, and sometimes it was a good thing , but other times you could tell she was hurting inside, except she wouldn't ask for any help. I'm still not sure why she did it, but I think it has something to do with her not wanting to feel weak.

It's evident that even though Eleanor doesn't remember anything from the past seven years, she is still the same person. The only difference is the amount of tragic things in her life she can remember.

She has quite a few more than the average human being. Her mother died when she was only thirteen, and her father became a drunk shortly after. She was always put second. Always one behind something or someone. One behind the drink her father reached for, one behind the smartest kid in class, one behind the most popular girl, one behind everyone.

I didn't know in freshman year that she was so unvalued everywhere, I didn't know why she acted the way she did, and I wanted to find out. Sometimes I would get angry with her for not telling me things, but that just resulted in her keeping away from me. I didn't know then what I know now, and sometimes I wish I did.

Before

It had been a couple weeks since Ashton had started walking Eleanor home and he wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to know her favorite movie, her favorite book, her favorite candy. He wanted to know why there was always a glimmer of sadness behind her eyes, and why she wouldn't let him come inside ever. He wanted to know the little things about her as well as the things underneath her skin.

One day while walking her home he noticed she had been very quiet. He wondered why a such a smart girl would have nothing to talk about and what made today so different from the rest.

Finally sick of the silence he spoke up.

"Eleanor, what's on your mind?" He asked.

She shrugged.

He always hated the fact that when it appeared she had had a rough day, she never talked about it with him. He thought they were getting closer, but she had not yet opened up to him about anything, so he was left confused.

"Well something ought to be wrong, you're not talking at all." This made Eleanor a little angry.

Little did Ashton know that just that morning her father had come stumbling into her house after two days of not being home. She couldn't tell him that of course, because he was always so interested in her and she didn't want to come off as weak. Weak, not because of her father, but because she was so broken up about something that happened regularly.

She was angry and upset with her father and couln't help but take it out on Ashton.

"Nothing's wrong Ashton." She stated firmly.

He didn't believe her, so he pushed furhter.

"Yes, there is. Or else you wouldn't be so flustered by my question."

"Ashton, leave it alone. I said nothing's wrong." She said again, but a little louder than the first time.

"Why won't you just tell me Eleanor? It's not like I'm going to judge you." he so badly wanted her to open up to him, but knew it would take a lot of pushing for it to happen.