The Lonely (1D)

Chapter 13: Consequences

Joel's POV

Normally I knew Ashton would be happy to see me show up at his house. But today I wasn't sure. I had debated a lot before I decided to come over. My urge to take care of him was just too much.

I stood at his door and rang the doorbell. There was silence for a moment, so i rang it again. Was he home? I figured he would be, but maybe if he was feeling good enough he would have gone somewhere. But then I heard shuffling feet and the door opened. I saw Ashton's face. He looked tired but happy. I smiled. "Hey, Ash."

"Hi, Joel! What are you doing here?" ashton asked me with a laugh.

"Just dropped by to seehow you're doing," I said. Ashton moved aside so I could come in the house. He closed the door and locked it.  Ashton sat on the couch, where the TV was playing.  It was one of those cooking competition shows. I knew Ashton liked to watch them sometimes. I guess today was one of those days.

"Do you want something to eat?" I offered. Ashton frowned. "I don't think you're supposed to offer me food when you're the one visiting." I shrugged. "But I am."

ashton laughed. "Okay, yeah, I'm kinda hungry," he said.

I heated up some pizza rolls and sat on the couch next to Ashton. We shared them. "let me know if you want anything else" I said. He nodded.

Ashton's POV

I sat there dozing off and watching TV. Joel didn't say much, which was odd for him. I thought for something to talk about.

"I got a call from Ashli," I said.

Joel looked perplexed. "Oh? What did she say?"

I laughed. "She thought we were dating and she said she was happy for us. But I told her we weren't."

Joel looked at me with an odd expression, kind of like fear. I looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Joel shrugged. 'nothing," he said, but I knew from his tone that it was something.

I decided to let it slide for now. Joel and I were really close, he would tell me when he felt like it.

Joel's POV

Ashton sat, relaxed, not knowing what was going on inside my mind. Why would Ashli think that? Did she find out what happened?

I felt uneasy. I stood up. "Hey Ash," I said, "I'm gonna head home."

Ashton looked at the clock: it was about 9:30. "Okay" he said. He stood up and hugged me. "Bye Joel."

"Bye."

---

Ashton's POV

That night, I went over what had happened again. It just didn't make sense. I wish I could remember it without things being all fuzzy. I decided to call Ashli. She picked up right away.

"hey Ashton, what's up?"

I was silent for a moment. "Ashli, do you know what happened last night?"

Now it was her turn to be quiet. "Wait... you don't know?" she said finally. I looked at her in confusion.

"You don't know." Her voice toke a serious tone. "You must have been more out than we thought..." By "out" I guess she meant drunk.

Ashli sighed. I'll play you the voicemails you left for me last night."

I felt panicked. Voicemails? I definitely didn't remember calling Ashli last night. I pulled up my call history and sure enough, I had. Three times. I was really starting to regret drinking so much now.

Ashli sat in silence with a serious expression as the voicemails played out.

The voicemails were very disorganized, which makes sense. There were a lot of "um"s and I mentioned Joel a lot but I didn't really seem to be saying anything. I looked at Ashli confused as they kept playing.

Those words.

Something clicked in my brain. I remembered saying them now. The memories came flooding back and I hung up on Ashli. i didn't need to hear any more of that.