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Chapter4~Hunter

She stayed quiet.

I spoke up. "It's ok, Marissa went back to her hotel." Silence. "Ash? I really need to talk to you."

She unlocked the door and I quickly opened it. When I walked in, she was turned so her back was to me.

She fumbled with her phone before turning around. "Hey, Hunt! I just remembered it was my cousin's birthday and I wanted to call him." She wouldn't meet my eyes.

She had a fake smile on and looked like she had been crying. 'Why would she be crying? Did I miss something?'

"Why are you lying to me?" I was a bit frustrated as to why she didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth, considering how long we've known each other.

"What? What do u mean I-"

"Look, Ash. I know you better than anyone. I know when you lie... I also can tell when you've been crying." I squinted my eyes slightly as I peered at hers. "Your eyes look turquoise after you've been crying. They look like they do now."

She glanced into the mirror to see what I was talking about.

"See?" I put my hand on her back. "Turquoise." I waited a little bit longer before speaking again. "Now, Ash, can you please tell me what's bothering you? I can't stand to see you like this." It honestly made my heart hurt to know she had been crying. And since she wouldn't tell me what happened, I couldn't do anything to help her.

"Like what?" She wouldn't meet my eyes.

I thought a second. "In pain. Is it your headache again, or something else?"

She didn't say anything, but the silence spoke for her. I knew it was something else... 'Does it have to do with Marissa? Ash seemed happy until she showed up...Maybe she knows something I don't know... I have to get to the bottom of this.'

"If you're not gonna talk, can I ask you something else?"

She nodded.

As I figured out how to word the question, I noticed her tug at her ear and blink a couple times... She was acting strange, but I just shook it off.

She grabbed her head as I spoke. "About earlier, how do you-Ash? Ash?! ASH!!" I started to panic.

I saw her body sway. She looked frail like a leaf in the wind. When she started falling, I reached out and caught her before she could hit the ground.

"ASH?!" I yelled.

No response.

'What do I do?! Should I tell someone? Did she only faint or is this something worse?!'

I carried her out of the bathroom and down the hall until I reached the dressing room. Once we were inside, I gently set her down on a couch. Then, I jogged into the bathroom and ran a cloth under cold water.

As I walked back over to her, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked. It made me stop in my tracks. 'What are you doing, Hunter?! You have a girlfriend. Remember?' I shook my head as if it would help me get rid of the thought about Ash. But it kept coming back to me.

I pressed the cloth to her forehead and held her hand. Then, I studied her features as if I were meeting her for the first time. She had little brown freckles splattered across her nose and cheeks. She had really long eyelashes, even without mascara. She was a natural kind of pretty, but I knew she didn't believe she was. She would never accept a compliment. It made no sense at all to me that she didn't know how stunning she was. I had always wanted to tell her, but I didn't want her to take it the wrong way and mess up our friendship. But earlier that day at sound check, it just sort of came out. She looked upset when I said it but I think she forgot about it right away. At least I hoped so...

After I thought about her for a while, another thought crossed my mind. 'I wonder what it would be like if she was my girlfriend?' I started to consider it, but then I remembered Marissa. She was so amazing, I couldn't forget about her for too long.

Then, I got up and walked over to the mini fridge to get a water for Ashlynn, but there were only bottles of lemonade inside. I grabbed one anyway and walked back to the couch where I had left her.

'Probably should let everyone know where we are.' I thought as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and typed out a text.

"Hey, Shawn. I'm with Ashlynn rn and she's not feeling very well. Please tell Rachael so she knows we aren't skipping sound check."

"Tell her we hope she feels better! Rachael's cool with it so don't worry. Do you guys need anything?"

"Thanks! No, I think we're good. Gtg see ya."

"No problem. Bye."

Then, I turned back to Ashlynn.

"Ashlynn? Ashhhhlynn... Ashie?"

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(A/N): Hey, guys! Thanks for reading my next chapter!! I have a lot of homework, but here I am on wattpad...😓 What can I say, it's addicting!! Well, I better get to work.
PEACE✌
T.