All We Thought // Ashton Irwin [AU]

Chapter 18: Pick A Side, Pick A Man

As soon as I walked into Amber's apartment,  I knew something was seriously wrong.  

Her apartment, was a disaster, and if you knew anything about Amber, her apartment was never ever dirty.  It was always spotless, everything in its proper place, I always teased her that she had OCD.  Bottles of alcohol, all kinds of food wrappers, napkins, and dirty clothes, were thrown throughout the house.  The floor looked like it hadn't been vacuumed in months and there was a thin layer of dust on the shelves in the living room.

"Roxie, we need to talk.  I haven't slept, I've skipped work, I can't avoid this anymore, I'm a mess.  You're going to hate me when I tell you everything, but I need to tell you." she rambled as soon as I walked through the door.  

I sat down next to her on the couch and took her trembling hand in mine, "Spill, I can't handle looking at you like this one more minute and I just got here.  What's going on?"

She broke down in heavy sobs and I was only able to catch every other word, "I...while you were gone...Miami....but before that...with work...tried...secret..."  

I gave her a second to finish out her meltdown and calm down.  I got her a glass of water and tissues and then sat back down next to her.  I had no idea what she was talking about but I was already worried. 

She took a deep breath and said, "Roxie, you're never gonna want to talk to me again when you hear this."

"Stop saying that you're scaring me.  Just spill, in full sentences this time if possible." I teased, in my nervous efforts to lighten the mood

"Evan's cheating on you." she blurted out

I sighed and cringed at the word "cheating".  It was still like a fresh wound that still hasn't begun to heal yet, "Yeah I know...I didn't tell you cause it's been...a sensitive subject."

She started to cry again, "I'm so sorry.  How are you still sitting here so calm?"

"Amber, you didn't do anything I'm not going to get mad at you for something I already knew.  It's not your fault."

She looked down at the crumpled tissue in her hand, "Actually it is my fault...which is why I asked you to come here..."

I froze, my heart stopping for a second, "What?"

"Roxie please let me explain, it wasn't intentional."

I shot up from the couch, almost like an instant reflex, "No, no, Amber please tell me I'm misunderstanding you."

She stood up, her voice panicked, "Roxie please sit down and let me explain, it's only been going on a little while and it was by accident!"

I felt sick to my stomach, my best friend had slept with my fiance.  Two people who I thought I trusted the most, I couldn't trust at all.  Me and Amber had been inseparable for years, even through high school a guy never came between us, until now.

My voice quivered, "What happened. Tell me now."

"Why don't we sit down..." 

"Tell me!"  I yelled. 

She flinched at how loud I got, "It all started awhile ago when you got your job.  You didn't have as much time as you did before for Evan.  We were friends because of you and we went out drinking a few times on the nights that you worked late.  We didn't think we had to tell you because it wasn't a big deal.  He was really sweet, and nice to hang out with..."

"Faster.  Get to the point."  I demanded, she was stalling, and it was pissing me off

"Once you went to the ball with Ashton, everything changed.  Evan had come over to my apartment really late that night and was pretty drunk, after he had stopped at your house to talk things out.  He was ranting about his hatred toward Ashton and how he thought Ashton was going to steal you from him for spite.  I was really upset that night as well because I was suppose to go back to Ireland to meet that guy I met a few months ago, Niall, and he had to cancel our plans.  Two lonely heartbroken people, one of them being drunk, led to a one night stand out of pure wreck-less emotions and no thought about the aftermath.  We were going to tell you, when the time was right, but before we knew it you were off to Miami.  The more fighting you two did, the more he came to me to vent, the more times things kept happening."