and we played

Chapter 36

MADDIE

Mya looks twice around as she walks inside. I invited her over to get ready together for the Halloween party. She's been at home for the past three days. I called her every day, making sure she's fine. She didn't seem so ill in her voice, but one could see her thoughts were elsewhere.

"Is Ashton here?", she asks me.

I am taken by surprise with that question. Ash has also acted weird lately. Especially the last three days. However, I answer her question, by shaking my head. "He's out at the gym. He said he'll come straight to the party."

I don't know why, but she seems more relieved after hearing that answer.

I lead her to my room, where I already prepared a makeup session. There are new bathrobes, masks, nail polish, bunch of other makeup articles like blushes, eyeliners and brushes. I even made some snacks, coffee and set the laptop to watch Gossip Girl. As she sees it, Mya places the bag she was carrying with her costume on my bed and throws her arms around me.

"Thank you", she exclaims. "This is exactly what I needed."

I smile, pulling her even closer.

As we let go, we take a sit on the carpet where I prepared the things, and I offer her a cup of coffee. "What happened actually?", I can't help but ask.

The coffee goes down with a very hard swallow.

"Nothing. Sickness", she lies. I know she does.

"Mya", I let out. "Look, you've become my best friend lately. I might have not admitted it before now, but here it is. You really have become my best friend. So if you're hurting, I really want to know what happened. Cause I care about you. And I hate seeing you sad."

She looks at me surprised. I nod, to assure her what I said is true. It is. She really has become my best friend lately. A soft smile tucks on her lips, then disappears as she looks back down at the ground and mumbles: "Ashton and I kissed."

"What?!", I shout, partly cause she mumbled so low, partly cause I can't believe what I just heard.

"Ashton and I kissed", she repeats, a bit louder now.

"Okay", I say, not knowing how to reply to that. "Just kissed, or..."

She shakes her head. Not just kissed. Oh.

I knew there was some tension between them.

"How? When?"

"Three days ago", she admits. So that's why she's been missing school. She's been avoiding him. Cause she doesn't seem so sick to me. "And how, I'll rather spare you the details."

"Thank you", I reply.

Although she doesn't show it, her lips are a bit twitched. That fades as she explodes. "And these past few days, he keeps calling me and coming to my house and bringing me flowers. I obviously don't talk to him. My parents would open the door and when they're not there, he'll just leave the bouquet in front of the door when he sees no one plans to open for him. But the flowers always have notes, in which he tells me how he loves me. How I have always been and will always be his sweetheart."

I can't help but look at her surprised, and that's when it hits me. Something about her always looked familiar. Why? Because I've seen her thousands of times. In the painting. The blurred painting in Ashton's room. It has always been Mya. The brown hair, blue eyes. I know it's a wild guess, but from what Mya tells me, my brother seems pretty whipped for her. Cause he would never do that for anyone. All the other girls he hooked up with, he'd forget their names the next day. But not Mya. He brings her flowers. Tells her he loves her. Loves her. He never says that. Maybe to me when he's in a good mood, but he would never say it otherwise. But those rules don't apply to Mya apparently.