A New Chapter

Chapter 21

E T H A N

I take a deep breath and use the back of my hand to wipe the sweat from my forehead.

Standing near the penalty mark of the field I line myself up; taking a few steps back before making a run at the soccer ball and with my dominant foot sending it flying into the top right hand corner of the net.

"I thought I'd find you out here." I turn to find the source of the deep voice and see Jake making his way towards me with his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets.

"Yeah, I'm just getting some practice in." I mutter as I use the bottom of my jersey to wipe my face.

"So, you and Ashley huh?" He smirks and I can't help but smile at the thought of her.

"I don't know man, we aren't official or anything." I gather up my school bag and the soccer ball as I respond.

"But you want to be." He gives me a suggestive wink before he starts making kissing noises and making out with his hand.

"Jesus, please stop. You're hurting my eyes." I shove him to the side and burst into laughter as he stumbles over his own feet.

"I saw your little moment at Homecoming." He sings, trying to conceal his playful smile.

"Yeah." I sigh, thinking about how great it was to finally kiss her.

"You're whipped man." He pats my back with a sad smile before knocking the ball out of my hand and dribbling it forward towards the goal.

"Jerk." I grumble before chasing after him.

~~

"Ethan?" My mother calls from the kitchen as I shut the front door.

"Yeah, it's me." I reply when I throw my school bag down near the stairs and kick off my shoes.

"Great, I have to run. Elena is upstairs and Evan is in the living room." She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing out the door.

I let out a huff and trudge to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Just as I'm about to serve up the macaroni and cheese I hear footsteps padding down the stairs and getting close to the kitchen.

"When did you get home?" Elena questions with a yawn as she rubs her eyes.

"About an hour ago, sleepyhead." I give her a bright smile and set the plates down on the table.

"Dinner is served madam." I give her a bow making her giggle before calling Evan and digging into the food.

~~

I park my car a couple houses down from Ashley's, like I do every night. Before I hop out I grab my pillow from the backseat and make my way to the two story house.

I climb the side of it and make it safely to the section of roof beside her window and knock three times.

"Hi." She whispers with a bright smile that always blows me away; because I know it's just for me.

"Hey." I smile back and kiss her cheek, catching her by surprise; but she doesn't complain as she tries to hide the pink colouring them, but it's too late I've already noticed and it significantly adds to the butterflies in my stomach.

We settle down to go to sleep and just as I close my eyes I hear her whisper my name.

"Yeah?" I question, sitting up and looking at her silhouette in the darkness of the room.

"I want to tell you something.." She trails off and I can see her fidgeting nervously with the hem of her nightdress.

"Okay, go ahead." I coax her on, intrigued in what she has to say.

"It's to do with what happened at the beach house." She murmurs, her voice almost inaudible with the nightly wind.

"You don't need to tell me. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable sweetheart." I lay a hand on hers to stop it from shaking.

"I need to." She mumbles, sitting up and crossing her legs. She tugs my arm, signalling for me to join her on the bed.

I immediately crawl in beside her and throw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. I'd like to tell myself that I'm comforting her, but right now with what she's going to tell me; I'm the one that needs to be held.

"When I was fourteen..." She begins, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as if suppressing memories.

"You can stop Ash." I insist, rubbing my thumb over her knuckles.

"No. I'm fine." She mumbles, taking another breath before continuing.

"When I was fourteen. I was at Sophie's house, and it was time for me to leave so I decided I wanted to be independent and not call my mom. I wanted to walk home. Sophie offered to walk with me but I declined and said it was fine. I got about two houses down..." I see a shadow of a tear trail down her cheek and I instinctively reach out and wipe it away with my free hand.

"He was drunk. He took me behind the wall of his house and h-he..." Her voice disappears behind a sob and my heart clenches. I have a feeling I know what happened next.

"He r-raped me." She gets out before a choked sob exits her trembling lips.

"Fucking hell Ash." I pull her impossibly close to my chest and let her cry until she has no more tears and my shirt is damp with them.

"T-then a couple weeks later, I was really sick and.."

"You were pregnant." I mumble, filling in the gap.

"Yeah." She breaths out, the occasional sniffle leaving her nose.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it happened to you, I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but Ashley; you are the bravest person I have ever met. You're raising Amelia with so much love and affection. You're an incredible mother and I know that you're afraid but I want to say thank you for letting me get this close to you, letting me comfort you because it killed me seeing you in that hospital with so much fear in your eyes. I want you to know-no I need you to know that I would never hurt you, ever." I kiss away the stray tear on her cheek and let her breathing go back to normal.

"Thank you." She whispers and kisses my cheek before snuggling into my side.

I stare down at her cuddled against my chest and finally realise something.

I'm falling in love with Ashley Merritt.

Author's Note:
Thank you so much for 650+ reads! You're all amazing! :)