Changing paths

Leaving

   Ashley Pov

It had been a week since I had chosen what Joe had called path B. Path B being seeing what type of life Lana would offer me. It was true Lana was the more exciting option I hadn’t known her too long. She was still ‘confused’ about things and I wasn’t going to push her into anything..
   I had invited her around my house. I heard a knock on the door before running down the stairs to get it. I opened it up to Lana who was smiling.
   ‘Hey you’ I grin.
   ‘Hey yourself’ she replies before I open the door further.
    The hobbit also known as my brother runs out of the kitchen and stops dead in his tracks staring at Lana.
   ‘Is that your new girlfriend?’ he asks chuckling. ‘She looks so different from Charley.’
    ‘No I’m just a friend’ Lana quickly replies before I chase my brother back into the kitchen.
    ‘Why didn’t you say yeah?’ I ask when I return to Lana.
    ‘About what?’
     ‘When he asked if you were my girlfriend’ I reply. ‘He doesn’t care. I mean he doesn't know anyone you do to tell them’
     ‘I don’t know I guess I’m not ready yet to tell anyone I like girls too’ she shrugs.
     ‘When will I be able to hold hands with you in public or greet you with a kiss at work?’ I ask.
    ‘Please just give me time’ she pleads. I shrug.
     I head up to my bedroom with Lana following me. She stands nervously in the doorway.
    'Come in girl. Its not like I'm going  jump on you or anything' I laugh out loud. 'I'm not a 15 year old hormonal boy.' I say more bluntly.
    'Of course I know that!' she blurts out turning a shade of red.
    'You can sit on my bed if you want' I add as she continues to stand there looking around my room.
    'I'm just looking at your photos they're beautiful.' She walks over to a photo I took 5 years a go and touches it.
    'Take a look at my camera if you want' I say grabbing my camera off the side and handing it to her. 'I'm just going to change, be back in a second' I add before leaving her.

Lana POV

‘Did Ashley ever tell you why she and Charley broke up?’ Laura asks inquisitively whilst I was cleaning up the bar.
  ‘No. Why’d you ask?’ I ask curiously.
   ‘I just thought she might have mentioned something’ she shrugged getting back to her own work.
   ‘Do you know why?’ I ask.  She kept quiet as if she didn’t hear me. ‘Why?’ I ask louder this time with an edge to my voice.
   She mumbles something inaudible before returning once again back to her work. I walk over to her no getting annoyed. ‘Why won’t you tell me Laura?’ I plead.
   ‘I shouldn’t have said anything I just thought maybe she would have mentioned it’ she shrugged.
   ‘You need to tell me. You can't just leave me guessing’ I say.
   ‘It was because of you’ she mumbles.
   ‘Me?’ I ask a little louder than I should have.
   ‘Charley found out who you were. Ash had told her about her crush she had on you long before you two had actually met. Long story short Charley became jealous and told her to stop seeing you Ash got angry at her possessiveness and well they kinda split up. As I said it’s none of my business.’ She concludes before disappearing behind the bar.
   Wow news overload. I was the cause of them splitting up? Why did I suddenly feel so awful over something I didn’t even know about?

Ashley POV

Me and Lana decided we should probably try to go on a date. Me and my track records of dates wasn’t good so we just decided to hit the local restaurant and cinema. Keeping it simple. I told Lana I would pick her up and drive her into town.
  
‘Why didn’t you tell me why you and Charley broke up?’ she asks suddenly out of the blue.
    ‘Why are you asking?’ I ask.
    ‘I just want to know. I know it was because of me’ she retorts.
    ‘Why are you worried about this?’ I ask confused where this suddenly came from.
    ‘Because I didn’t ever intend to be the cause of someone’s relationship breaking down’ she burst out.
    ‘It wasn’t anything to do with you’ I almost shout quieting down my voice when I see some of the other people looking around at us. ‘You didn’t do anything. It was between me and Charley, you were…’  I pause searching for the right word. ‘You were just a catalyst in a relationship that would have failed in the end.’  I shrugged unsure of what else I could say to the situation. Who had even told her about mine and Charley’s breakup?
    ‘You still love her’ Lana said as a statement rather than a question. I look at her curiously.
    ‘Of course not’ I splutter out.
    ‘Then why do you keep that photo on your camera?’ she asks. I had forgotten that she had looked through my camera. I realised I had kept the photo from our first date I had organised. It was too beautiful to delete.
   ‘I don’t even remember having a photo on there’ I lie. ‘On the subject of being truthful. When will you ever be comfortable with me doing this?’ I reach out for her hand holding it briefly before she flinches away.
    ‘I told you I’m not ready yet!’ she’s the one now shouting.
    ‘Will you ever be?’ I ask.
    ‘I,I, I don’t know’ she stutters.
    I stand up to leave. ‘Where are you going?’ she asks.
    ‘I’m leaving. I can’t deal with this anymore. I can’t deal with the constant secret keeping. And yes you were the cause of my break up!' I shout before leaving.
     I realised that storming out of relationships was becoming a speciality of mine. I stand outside for a few brief moments breathing in the chilled night air.