Dark (The Past Never Changes)

Chapter 55

Kaylee's POV

"Bree what's wrong?" I ask when she comes down stairs. Her eyes are red and swollen, and her face is pale.

"I just didn't get enough sleep." She says softly. It's been awhile since I've seen her this way and I'm a little worried.

"Why didn't you get enough sleep?" I push.

"Had a bad dream." She shrugs.

"Where's Harry?" I ask.

"Taking a shower." She answers monotone.

"What the hell is going on?" I shake her.

"Nothing. Just tired." She pulls away but I force her back.

"You never act like this. Tell me about the dream." She pauses and hangs her head down low. I see a tear slip from her face. "Tell me." I say sternly.

"It's the same one, Kaylee. It's always the same damn one. And for a second, for one second, I felt close to them again. I felt the same way I used to feel being in the same room as them. It felt so real, and it's like a punishment, you know? Making me relive the worst day of my life. It's taunting and painful, and it makes me want to fall asleep and never wake up." She finishes softly and cries a little more. I wrap my arms around her.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper.

"It felt so real." She sobs.

"I know, I know. Don't worry, they'll pass. Mine have." I tell her.

"Yeah but you lost someone whose still alive." She whispers.

As much as this should anger me, it doesn't. She's right. She lost the two most important people in her life, and she can't even see them anymore. I lost someone just as important to me, but I can see him. I can make up lost time with my father if I really wanted to. But the worst part in all of this, is that Bree blames herself. She thinks that if she would've stayed home that night, they wouldn't have been robbed. Then she feels even worse because she let them leave this world on a bad note with her. The only thing she feels good about is the fact that the last thing she said to them was 'I love you'. I've heard this story a million times but it effects me the same way every time.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"Don't be. I need to be here for you." I tell her.

"It just hurts." She says and pulls away.

"Tell me all of it. Say what you feel." I say. She sighs.

"I guess what hurts the most is seeing you and Mariah and Devin with your parents. You guys fight with them all the time because they disapprove of what you do. You don't get the fact that you're going to regret this when they're gone. If I could, I would go back and take every bad thing I ever did away, just to make them happy. The last decision I made while they were alive was to lie to them, and that shows a lot about who I am. I'm not a good person, I can feel it. I didn't start trying to do the right thing until I found out they were gone. Before that, I didn't care because I knew that they would be there for me to help me get through it." She starts sniffling. "I knew they would love me regardless." She cries. "I could have saved them. I should've have the daughter they always wanted. I should've done the right thing and listened to them. I hate it. I hate myself for what I did." She breaks down in front of me and I'm completely dumbfounded.

"I-I I'm so sorry." I hug her. I start to tear up, and I was gonna hold it back, but seeing her this way hurts me. I start crying with her and she pulls away.

"No, stop. Don't cry for me." She wipes my tears away with a slight smirk on her face.

"I was crying with you." I correct her. She shakes her head.

"Don't even do that, I'll be okay." She drops her head.

"Don't tell me what to do." I reach over and wipe her tears away.

"Thank you." She looks back up at me.

"For what?" I ask.

"For being the best friend anyone could ever have." She smiles.

"Okay, don't get all mushy on me." I shove her.

"Don't tell me what to do." She winks and laughs, then shoves back.

"There she is." I say. "I was afraid I lost her." She smiles and hugs me.

"I love you, Kaylee." She says.

"I love you too." I say.

***

"No! Ashton, stop!" I yell. We are waiting for Mark to get here for training and Ashton suggested we mess around. He currently has me over his shoulder and is spinning me around.

I knee him in the chest and he falls to the floor. I land on top of him, and he whines. His arms wrap protectively around me to make sure my body is secure so I don't get injured. I push my hair out of my face and attempt to get up, but he still holds onto me.

"That wasn't nice." He says.

"I'm not a nice person." I wink at him.

"You're a little shit." He huffs.

"Is your chest okay?" I change the subject.

"It hurts." He whines.

"Probably will for a couple days. If you can't handle the pain, don't play the game." I laugh.

"Boxing isn't a game, it's a sport, and we compete in matches." He gets all genius on me.

"Yeah well you have a habit of turning it into a game with me." I point out.

"That's because you're fun to play games with." He smiles at me.

"What other games do you like to play?" I ask.

"Well there the police game th-" he starts but I cut him off.

"Don't. I get it." I uncover his mouth.

"Do you?" He asks, sliding a hand underneath my shorts. My cheeks heat up and I pull away.

"I do. Now. Get up and fight like a man." I stand up and wait for him.

"Last time we played this, we ended up on the floor. Are you trying to tell me you want to be on top next time we have sex?" He looks at me seductively.

"You're horrible!" I cover my face with my hands. He chuckles and wraps his arms around me.

"You're so innocent when it come to these things." He whispers.

"That's because you would be the first to actually talk about them." I push at his chest, but he only loosens his grip on me.

"You like when I talk about them, don't you?" He kisses just below my ear.

"No. Now stop." I take a step back.

"You so do." He laughs, which causes me to laugh.

"You guys are always laughing when I walk in. What do you guys talk about?" Mark says, walking toward the ring.

"Uhm. Nothing, just stuff." I push Ashton and he trips over his feet, only to fall down. I laugh and surprisingly marks laughs with me.

"You're gonna get it." He chuckles while getting up and picking me up over his shoulder. He spins me around and I laugh. I'm still partly laughing from him falling down, but I'm also laughing because he's tickling me so I'm defensless. And when he finally sets me down, I catch a glance at Mark, whose just watching us with a smug smile on his face.

When I look back up at Ashton his eyes are bright and his dimples show from the pressure of his smile. I was a little too busy examining Ashton to notice that I was smiling too. And I don't know why, or what has changed with in me, but I like this part of me. I like this part of Ashton, and I love how everyone around us can see the things we've done to make each other happy. I wouldn't have it any other way.