Already Taken

Apologies Part II

I didn't have time to re-read this so if you see a mistake let me know. Please and thank you.

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“I was gonna tell you this a long time ago, Madison approached me and told me that if I didn't come clean to you then she would, after she beat the living shit out of me first.” I smile as she continues. We're at In and Out for lunch. Best. Burgers. Ever. “I know everything that Carmen said, seemed really bad but it really all just got blown outta proportion.” She says as we both take a bite of our burgers.

“Were you scared to tell me?” I ask, with a mouth full of food.

She chews and quickly swallows before saying, “Don't talk with your mouth full of food, Spence. Ew.” She smiles and fakes disgust.

“Okay, mom. Sorry.” I return the smile as I dip a fry into my ketchup and put it in my mouth. “So were you?”

“I mean, yeah, of course. Like I said I didn't want you to look at me differently. I didn't wanna be the person I was in San Diego. I'm not that person anymore.” She stops as a family of four walks past us. The two children singing a song about burgers. It's really the cutest thing ever. Both Ashley and I smile at them. As I watch them take a booth in the back corner she continues. “I love you, Spencer. And I think I knew it from the moment I laid eyes on you, I was trying so hard to impress you that I didn't wanna ruin it, by telling you about my past. I didn't think you would want anything to do with me after you found out.” She finishes as I slurp the last bit of shake left in my cup. I keep slurping, although it's gone and Ashley just stares at me in amusement. I look up to see that she's looking at me.

“What?” I say, slurping some more.

“I think it's all gone, Spence. I could totally buy you another one, you know?” I giggle and push the cup aside. “Should I continue, or did you wanna try and get some more shake outta that cup?” She smiles and I shake my head as I take a big bite out of my burger. I swear this is so freaking good. She just looks at me as I bite into my burger again and I gesture my hand for her to continue. “Do you want me to go into details about what happened?” She asks, a little apprehensive. I can tell that she doesn't like talking about her past but I think I need to know what happened.

I swallow the food in my mouth before saying, “Yeah, I would like to know what happened.” I tell her with as much sympathy as I can. I want her to know that I'm not here to judge her, I just wanna listen.

She nods then continues, “It started when I was in the ninth grade, I had just come out to everyone, including myself really. People started treating me differently, calling me names, picking on me, throwing stuff at me—just all types of bad shit really. It didn't matter that I was Ashley Davies, the daughter of a Record Label Exec, to them I was just dyke, who they wanted to disappear from their little tight-nit community.” She pauses and I nod, not really knowing what to say. She sighs then continues, “I didn't expect it to get as bad as it did, in my head I'm like, why does everyone care so much about what I do, and whom I do it with. It didn't make sense to me. And my mom.” She scoffs. “She was non-existent. She knew how I was being treated and she didn't even care enough to switch my schools, or move, or anything. I would've even been satisfied with being home schooled—it's not like we didn't have the money. But she didn't even care enough about me to do that.” I can see the tears building in her eyes and I think about just telling her it's okay, she doesn't need to tell me the rest. I see where this is going. But I think she may need to get this off her chest—someone to listen.