A Ray of Hope

>>> 6 <<<

Of all the people in the world, why him? It's like he's suddenly everywhere.

May smiled at the person in front of us, still holding the plate of cookies. "Hey, Ash! What are you doing here? Oh wait, new neighbors...oh! You're Hope's new neighbor!"

I put a hand on my forehead and shook my head. "Oi vey."

"Good to see you too, neighbor." Ashton sent me a wide grin before looking back at May. "Oh, Cookies."

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm confused now." I held up a hand in front of Ashton, stopping him from moving forwards to get the cookies.

Ashton raised an eyebrow. "Confused about..."

"My dad said we had one new neighbor." I pointed out, remembering what Josh had told me.

"Oh, you do. Well, sorta. I kinda live here, kinda don't. It's my mom's apartment." Ashton explained while sneekily moving my hand from in front of him, grabbing the cookie platter from May.

I glared at him and he only gave me a sheepish smile.

"Ashton? Who's at the door?" A feminine voice called from somewhere in the apartment.

"Neighbors." Ashton answered simply with an eye roll.

A few seconds later a woman appeared at the door beside Ashton. I did a double take due to how much she looked like him. The thing that really stood out were her vibrant, gray eyes, just like Ashton's. She was slim but a little shorter than me, her dark brown hair tumbled over her shoulders in lose curls, and she had high cheek bones. The only difference between herself and Ashton was the fact that her skin was pale while his completion was more on the tan side.

"Oh! Hello, I'm Melinda, you must be my new neighbors." The woman introduced herself to May and I with a smile.

Ashton sighed beside her and sent a glare her way. "Oh my God, mom. That's May, you've met her before. She's from AMGT, you've seen her millions of times."

"I have? Oh, I'm sorry, my memory is slightly off." Melinda let out a light laugh.

I awkwardly smiled. "Right. No uh, actually, I'm your new neighbor, May is just a friend of mine. Anyway, we should get going-"

"Oh, no! Please, come in." Melinda opened the door of her apartment even further gesturing us inside while Ashton gave her a warning look.

"We really shouldn't, my dads are proba-"

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly, 'dads'?" Melinda interrupted once again. She was starting to tick me off.

"No, you heard right. I have two dads and no mom, I'm adopted." I explained through gritted teeth.

Melinda's face scrunched up in disgust for a slight second before she quickly smiled, trying to hide it. "Oh, well... Are you...gay too?"

"No." I growled out, Melinda flinched.

"So what if she was?" May spoke up. "There's nothing wrong with it so stop being a homophobic bitch."

This time Melinda's mouth fell open in shock while Ashton stood behind her with a grin plastered across his features. I couldn't help but to smile as well.

"Little girl-" Melinda began but May cut her off.

"I. Am not. A little girl." she growled out through clenched teeth.

Ashton looked between May and his mom before quickly stepping out of the apartment and closing the door. The words little girl must've triggered something inside of May because she actually looked pissed.