Right by your side

Chapter 23 : The funeral...

Vivienne sat on her bed reading a book with music softly playing from the speakers,her hair was in a messy bun that special Saturday . Leah barged into the room looking tired
"Oh my god...am so tired "she threw herself on the bed her Croptop  riding up a little and showing her slim,toned waist .
"Where did you go to?" Vivienne asked with a smile
"Long story " leah closed her eyes and sighed " just hide me from Aston for a few hours"
"Okay " vivienne smiled and the room fell into a comfortable silence.
"Have you ever wondered..."Leah shifted herself on the bed and now she was lying on her back facing the ceiling ".....if you die,how many people will show up to your funeral"
"...uhm I try not to think about things like that...why?" Vivienne asked dropping her book
"It's just I moved around so much I don't really have friends...that is of course until I met you and ash....and now I can say you'll be two at my funeral..." she did a thinking face as she thought of more people
"...well now you've got me thinking.."vivienne smiled thinking about it too
"....your parents too. ..they'll come for my funeral right?"
"They might not even come for MY  funeral "vivienne joked and they both laughed
"...my dad will probably send flowers to me" she rolled her pretty eyes "...we'll atleast I know there'll be someone" she ran her hands through her hair
"We really live empty lives...."vivienne trailed off
"...sure we lack quantity but we have quality and that's okay with me...I don't want a bunch of strangers pretending to be sad on my grave...I want the real thing "
"Well when that time comes we'll sought it out "
" In 7o years I hope I still have my ass "she joked standing up from the bed
"Where are you going?"vivienne asked . leah turned to look back at her ,her hair bouncing vibrantly as she turned " I am going to see ash..." she gave a cute smile "...we have a date...."she giggled then gave a sexy wink "...bye viv. catch you later " she opened the door and walked out fading away.
   Vivienne jerked from yet another one of her consequtive dreams/memories of leah.she didn't jerked awake because the dream scared her, she jerked awake because in whatever version of her dream leah kept  leaving and she couldn't stop her
"Leah.no!!please come back " she yelled I'm the middle of the night waking brad up .he was already so used to it he reached for the bedside table to get an inhaler ...she wasn't asthmatic but she had been having bad panic attacks whenever she woke up ,he thought this night was different because she slept longer but it obviously wasn't
"Viv..."he wrapped his arm around her trying to calm her down but that agitated her more and she clawed at his arm reopening previous wounds she had inflicted he winced at the pain but didn't move . She does this for some seconds before calming down and now she was breathing evenly "leah...."she whispered falling into his arms
"Shh..." he kissed her head
"I didn't say it back..."
"What?" He asked her
"The day she left for the airport...she said she loved me but I didnt say it back..."
"Am sure she knew baby..."
"But I should have said it back...if she comes I'll say it back " she looked up at him like a hopeful child ,her eyes glistening with unshed tears
"...but she's not coming back " he whispered sadly as a tear fell from his eyes
"....no.." she whispered her lips quivering "..No " she put her head on his chest and sobbed.
    Ashton hadn't slept in his room for 4 days now and that's since leah died.they shared the room together and he just couldn't go in .that's not all he couldn't do ,he couldn't eat,think about anything besides leah and his son ,couldn't smile or talk and most suprising he didn't cry. Everyone was scared waiting for the other shoe to drop and treating him like a crazy trainwreck about to happen. He sat on the edge of his bed in his suit,toying with his tie in his hands when vivienne walked in wearing a classy black dress
"Ash ...."she whispered kneeling next to him "are you alright?"she asked but he didn't reply "....have you had breakfast?" She knew the answer to that but she still wanted to ask. He hadn't eaten since she died no matter how much they begged or tried to force him . Now he looked pale and sickly
"Lemme help you with that" she took his tie from him and began knotting it around his neck "...you look handsome" she commented
"She shouldn't have come ...." was all he said and viv knew he was talking about the airport
"Yeah "she whispered
     Vivienne and ashton held hands during the sermon..leah's father only came towards the end of the sermon looking drunk and distraught
"My daughter!!!!bunny" he yelled bolting for the closed casket as everyone placed their flowers on it
"Don't you dare" ashton shoved him back . His parents were shoked to hear him talk they feared he was mute after her death
"She is my daughter!I know I wasn't the best father but you have no idea the love a father has  for his daughter"
"I don't doubt you loved her as your daughter but that's it!that was where it ended...the limit to your love"
"It was enough!"
"No it wasn't!!!you were meant to love her as a person..for the woman she had grown into...you our were meant to watch the process of her growth and love her even more...but you didn't. You didn't know those special things that made her different from any other man's daughter on earth...you missed it all . So no!your love wasn't enough"
"You loved her? "
"No...I LOVE her and I have a duty to her and if you know for sure that you know her favourite food or how she dances when she sees a food she has been craving for ,then by all means go ahead...go pay your respect but if you don't know any of the few things I mentioned then I know for a fact you didn't love her " ashton moved out of the way "which is it?"
"Was my bunny happy?"
"I was the last person to see her alive...yes she was happy"
"Then that's enough" he took a step back then slowly walked out of the graveyard.
     Ashton was sitting on the couch after the funeral and the house was filled with people paying respect mostly people from school he didn't want to hear forced sad sympathy from people so he didn't talk to anyone but vivienne on the other hand went around asking people how they knew leah and if it wasn't personal enough she sent them out
"What type of music does leah like?"she asked a group of 5
"Uh.."they all went
"If you don't know..don't waste my time .get out" she walked out on them and went to a group of 3
"What did you and leah talk about?"
"Uhm....this one day...we talked about trampolines b-but she was a really great friend "he stammered
"And you?..."she glared at his friends
"He is our friend so we came to...."
"Out..."she immediately said not caring for them to finish. She walked to where ashton sat and sat next to him "quality over quantity "she muttered to herself and somehow he understood exactly what she was saying
"So Lea Ann didn't show up.i gave her the news and details but she didn't come...God!such a bitch " she sighed angrily
"I hope her husband turns out to be a psychopath "
"Amen to that" Viv ran her fingers through her hair . Ashton looked up and saw brad walking around serving food and drinks making sure everything was in order,keeping the line of people dropping flowers at her picture in order e.t.c even with his bandaged arm
"He is a good one...keep him " ashton commented
"I intend to "vivienne looked up at brad and smiled and he blew her a kiss . Their parents walked to them from behind and immediately ashton made a straight face
"Has he said anything?" Her mom asked her leaning over the sofa to talk to them
"Not a word" vivienne lied
"Hang in there buddy " his dad kissed his head
"Love you baby" his mom kissed him too before leaving
"You are really messing with their heads "vivienne smiled
"Well they deserve it ....they aren't much better than leah's dad"
"That's not true " vivienne whispered as the doorbell rang
"Whatever " he said standing up to  go answer it . He opened the door expecting to see another guest but instead he got a delivery..the baby crib was finally delivered .he knew he was meant to send it back but he just couldn't .the delivery man kept apologizing and giving excuses for something but he wasn't listening his eyes remained on the crib
"Yeah yeah..." he quickly signed,took the package and shut the door on his face
"What's that?"vivienne walked towards him her eyes widened when she saw the picture on the package
"I'll be in my room" he said
"Wait ash lemme..."vivienne held the other end of the box
"DON'T TOUCH  it" he yelled and everyone went quiet on hearing his voice. Looking at the scene they immediately understood perfectly what was going on .Ashton held the box tight and ran up the stairs and into the closest room which was unfortunately he and leah's room..