Getting to Know You

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

                “Ashton…”  I couldn’t think of what to say, he had completely caught me off guard.  I didn’t think he would look under my sleeve.  “What happened?”  He asked again, stroking my cheeks with his thumbs.  I locked eyes with him, holding his wrists in my hands.  He was doing it again, and I didn’t even know what ‘it’ was.  If I kept looking at him, I was going to tell him about Marcus.  But I couldn’t… I couldn’t tell anyone. 

                I took Ashton’s hands and pulled them away from my face, sitting up as a familiar sinking feeling filled my stomach.  He pulled himself up, slipping his hand into mine as he did so.  “Ash.”  I took my hand back, balling my hands into fists as I folded my arms.  He looked hurt and I immediately felt worse than I did before, adding on to the weight in my stomach. 

“You don’t need to be worried, I’m okay.”  I said, trying to make it sound convincing.  It was hard to convince another person, though, especially when you couldn’t even convince yourself. 

“You’re asking me not to worry, and your arm is covered with bruises and scrapes?”  He asked, looking straight ahead as he tried to process what I was asking.

His brow furrowed. 

“You’re asking me not to worry, which makes me worry even more.”  He said, turning to face me. 

“You don’t need to worry.”  I repeated.  “Can you please just let it go?”  I asked, getting frustrated. 

“I do need to worry.”  He said, wrapping his fingers around my wrist gently.

“Ash, stop…”  I pleaded, looking away as he pulled my sleeve up my arm.

 “Just tell me what happened.”  He said, lightly tracing the scratches on my skin with his fingertips.

“Ashton, stop!”  I said, taking my hand away and yanking my sleeve down over my hand.  I caught the tears on my cheeks with my sleeve, not realizing I had started to cry.  “Can we please not talk about this?”  I asked. 

Ashton was quiet for a long time before he finally sighed, rising from the couch.  “Let’s go swing.”  He said, not really looking at me as he walked to the front door.  I followed, grateful that he wasn’t going to push me, but anxious because he was being so quiet.  He was angry with me for not being willing to confide in him, and he wasn’t very good at hiding it.

He opened the door, gesturing for me to lead the way out.  We began to walk to the park, but Ashton kept his distance, walking about a foot away from me.  I didn’t want to fight with him, he was the last person I wanted to have angry with me. 

“I’m sorry…”  I said quietly, stepping to his side and taking his hand back.  I tried to smile, glancing up him.  He nodded, staring at his feet as we walked. 

ASHTON’S POV:

                “I’m sorry.”  She said, slipping her hand back into mine.  I accepted her hand, but I didn’t say anything.  If I did, I might have shouted at her.  She had come so close to telling me what was wrong, again, but still I had gotten nothing.  She was being stubborn.  Whatever she was dealing with, she wanted to deal with it herself.  But I couldn’t let her, she was getting hurt. 

                When we reached the swing, I sat down, pulling Natalie into my lap.  I wrapped my arms around her waist and dug my toes into the grass, setting the swing into a slow back and forth motion.  I was only to keep silent for a few minutes before I spoke up again.  I knew that she didn’t want to talk about it, she had made that perfectly clear… but something just kept nagging at me.  I rested my forehead on her back, taking a deep breath.