New York Royalty ~Shawn Peter Raul Mendes~

37 -"He helped me smile."

~the next day~
•Ashley's POV•
"Are you ready?" Shawn asks.

I nod my head. He gets out of the car and comes around to my side to open my door. I step out and we both walk towards the hall. We get inside and I see Liz at her desk, Mason at the bar talking to Ryan who is sitting on the bar stool. The door closes and they all look at us. Liz stands up and runs to me.

"Ashley!" She yells as she embraces me in a hug.

I hug her back. She lets go then Mason hugs me. He lets go and Ryan is the only one left.

"I need to talk to Ryan before I say anything." I tell them.

They all nod and I lead Ryan to one of the back rooms. I open the door and step in. He comes in and I close the door. I turn to him and neither one of us speak for awhile.

"What did you want to talk about?" He speaks up.

"Our friendship." I say.

He laughs a little.

"I knew it. Who's making you do this? Shawn? Is he making you cut off our friendship an-"

"Can you just let me speak!" I cut him off.

He stays quiet.

"I didn't come here to argue or to cut you off. I came here so we can fix our problems." I tell him.

"Yea right. I know you, Ashley. You don't like talking about problems." He says.

"You think I like this? The only reason I even called you in here is because I told Shawn that we would fix things." I tell him.

"Fine. Let's talk." He says.

He leans on the desk behind him and crosses his arms.

"I don't like the way you've been treating me and Shawn ever since he came into our lives." I tell him.

"He took you away from me." He says.

"Zara took you away from me first." I say.

He stayed quiet. I laugh a little.

"Yea. I can't believe I actually thought that you would even listen to me." I say.

I'm about to open the door when. . .

"You left me." He says.

I turn around and look at him.

"That day at the garage, you just left me. I had thought that we had something going on. Then, you ran out and left me. I had to close up and I went home that day thinking that you didn't feel the same and you didn't like the kiss. The next day, you acted as if nothing happened." He says.

I look down at my shoes.

"I thought that you didn't feel anything so I let go of any feeling for you. I started talking to Zara and one thing led to another and we got together. I didn't think me being with her would change anything because I thought you didn't have feelings for me." He finishes.

It stays quiet between us before I speak.

"That day at the the garage, I left because I was scared. I was scared of that feeling I had in my stomach. When I finally realized my true feelings for you, I was gonna tell you but that was the day that you got with Zara. That day at the library, when I said I had to talk to my teachers, I just didn't want to be there with you and Zara. Next thing I know, I was crying." I tell him.

He looks up at me with sad eyes.

"That's why I started hanging out with Shawn more. That day, he helped me smile. At that time, I never thought of him as more than friends. Until recently, I've gotten-"

"Feelings for him." He finishes my sentence.

I nod.

"I don't want this to ruin our friendship. I still love you like a brother, Ryan. I miss my best friend." I tell him.

"I miss you too." He tells me.

"So, are we good now?" I ask.

He stands up and opens his arms, signaling me to hug him. I embrace him in a hug.

"We're good." He whispers.

We stay there for a while. Then, I pull away.

"There's one more thing we need to talk about." I tell him.

He nods.

"Can you please give Shawn a chance? Please?" I ask.

He rolls his eyes.

"Ashley, he fought me in the garage." He tells me.

"A fight that you started." I say.

He sighs.

"Fine. I'll give him a chance. I'm not promising that I'm gonna like him though." He says.

I smile.

"But if he breaks your heart, I'm breaking his face." He says.

I laugh and nod. He puts his arm around my shoulders. We walk out to the living room area.

"You guys cool now?" Mason asks.

We both nod our heads. I look at Shawn and he's smiling at us. I nudge Ryan in the ribs and he looks at me. I nod towards Shawn and Ryan rolls his eyes. He lets me go and walks towards him.

"Look, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting towards you. We cool?" He says.

Shawn takes out his hand for Ryan to shake and he takes it.

"We're cool." Shawn says.

I smile. They let go of each other then Shawn looks at me. He walks over to me, goes behind me and wraps his arms around my waist while putting his head on my shoulder.

"Are you ready to tell them?" He asks.

"No but they're bound to find out sooner or later." I tell him.

"You know we can hear you, right?" Liz says.

I laugh.

"Alright, everyone sit on the couch." I yell.

They all go to the couch with me and Shawn behind them. We sit in the seats across from them. I start shaking my leg but calm down once Shawn holds my hand. I look at him and give him a small smile. I look back at the guys.

"I have to tell you guys something." I start.

"Oh my gosh. You and Shawn got together!" Liz yells.

Ryan's eyes go wide.

"No. We're not together. It's something else that's really important." I tell them.

Ryan's eyes go down along with Liz's excitement.

"This is gonna be a tough story. Prepare yourselves."

________________________
A/N

Ryan and Ashley finally fixed their friendship.

Thank god.

Now comes the hard part of telling them her story.

Hope you enjoy.

Please vote and comment what you think!

xx