Shoot Me Now

Prince Charming's Overrated

Chapter 7- Prince Charming's Overrated

I sat on the counter waiting for Ash and Marissa to have their little talk. It wasn't really a little talk, it was more like a full on shouting match. As I sat there munching away on a packet of Oreos, I caught bits of their conversation. It was mainly Ash telling her to get the hell out of here and Marissa's desperate pleas.

"Baby, I know you still love me," I heard her cry.

I stopped munching as I awaited Ash's answer. There was a long pause, the whole house was silent.

Finally, he spoke. "Please just leave Marissa."

I was confused. He hadn't denied her words; did that mean he still loved her? Although I wouldn't be surprised as she was absolutely beautiful.

There was another long pause before she spoke. "It's her isn't it?"

The packet of Oreos dropped out of my hand on to the floor. Wait... was she talking about me. What did I have to do with anything, she didn't even know me.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I barely heard Ash mutter. "Now would you kindly fuck off, and don't come back."

His words were harsh, but probably needed to be said. As I was facing the hallway, I saw the door open suddenly and Marissa ran out in tears. Before she opened the front door, she turned. Her eyes burned holes in me. The amount of hatred present in her eyes shocked me. How could someone hold that much hate for a person they barely knew. I looked down, not wanting to look into those deadly eyes for any longer. I let out a sigh of relief when I heard the door slam shut. I had half expected her to run up to me and punch me in the face with the way she had been looking at me.

I jumped off the counter and walked into the room that Ash was in. He was sitting on the couch with his head buried in his hands. He was clearly angry and I debated running out of there.

Suck it up Dotty. Be a man.

I had trouble thinking of what to say. "You look sad, you should eat an Oreo." I mentally slapped myself. Here I was, going on about Oreos when he clearly had other things on his mind than eating yummy, mouth-watering, scrumptious Oreos, with the soft fluffy white insides...

Snap out of it Dotty.

Ash didn't react to my words and remained in the same position. I took a seat next to him and I don't know what made me do it, but I gently placed a hand on his back and gently started rubbing small circles. He didn't move but he also didn't slap my hand away like I thought he would.

So there we were having a nice moment and I was acting like a mature adult for once. Of course I had to go and ruin it by letting out a huge burp. Although I have to say I was quite proud; it was one of my loudest burps.

I was supposed to be comforting Ash, not trying to break the world record for the loudest burp. I felt Ash shaking under my hand that was still placed on his back. I looked down in confusion and soon realised he was shaking with laughter. I made a mental note that when in doubt just burp.

He finally moved his face away from his hands and sat up. His eyes had tears in them from laughing too hard. "You're actually the best," he said, after he had calmed down.

I smiled proudly. "I know. Everyone loves me...everyone apart from your girlfriend," I muttered without thinking. Ash's smile disappeared and he looked away.

"She's not my girlfriend." I could hear a hint of anger in his voice and wanted to slap myself for bringing it up.

"Sorry Ash, I know she isn't. I don't understand why she hates me so much if she's not your girlfriend?"

He gave me a nervous look. "Did you hear our conversation?"

Oh crap, should I lie or not? "Not really, I just heard some shouting and that was it. When your ex came out she looked as though she wanted to kill me."

Ash didn't seem surprised by this. "Yeah... Marissa's known to be a bit extreme. "

He didn't elaborate on that comment so I decided that I was going to find out about all his drama once and for all. "At the risk of sounding like a nosy busy body, I have to ask, what actually happened with Marissa?"

His blue eyes stared intently at me after I said this, as if he was debating whether to tell me or not. I became uncomfortable when his eyes still hadn't left mine after a minute.

I jumped up. "Is that the time! I didn't realise it was so late, I should get to bed," I lied. I soon realised that it was only midday so my excuse was idiotic. As I was about to leave, Ash finally spoke.

"I met her when I was 19," he started.

I immediately took my seat again and urged him to go on.

"She was a friend of a friend and I was fascinated by her beauty. I just had to use her for my photography."

Wait... did he say photography. "You're a photographer?"

He nodded. "I've been into photography since I got my first camera when I was ten."

Ash was a photographer. I never would have guessed. There was one thing that confused me though, if he was a photographer, where was his work, better yet, where was his camera? I had been in his room and I hadn't seen any of his work or any sign of a camera.

"That's so cool, I've always wanted to take pictures of shit and call it art," I joked.

He chuckled and continued with his story. "So anyway, as I was saying, I asked Marissa to model for my photography. Not long after, we got together and I asked her to be my girlfriend. I was young, and fell hard for her."

"You were in love?"

"Yes. I was completely and utterly in love and it scared me at first," he explained, running a hand through his hair. "Have you ever been in love Dotty?"

I shook my head. I'd had boyfriends before but it had never got that far with them. The only boy that I had started to fall for turned out to be a creep who liked to watch clown porn in his spare time. Yes... clown porn is a real thing. "I'm waiting for my prince charming to whisk me away to fairytale land," I joked.

He raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Prince charming's overrated," he stated and I glared at him. Of course I did agree with him, I always seemed to root for the evil characters in fairytales.

"Listen kid, love is nothing like that fairytale bullshit," he muttered. "It's a dirty trick played on us to make us think that we're insanely happy, but really all it leads to is misery and hate."

That was the most cynical view on love I'd ever heard and I'm not even a romantic. I didn't really know what to think of love. I usually didn't think much of it but sometimes when I looked at Jack and my mom I could see love in a positive light. Ash had clearly been affected by something... or someone for him to talk about love in such a spiteful way. "Not quite the romantic are you?" I commented.

He stared out the window not bothering to reply. I took the time to admire his strong jaw and chiselled features. His blue eyes were narrowed and it was strange seeing such a serious expression as opposed to his usual playful smirk. I asked the question that I had been dying to ask from the start.

"Ash... what did Marissa do?"

His eyes focused back on me. "She cheated on me," he said flatly.