"My god, she's going to kill me." He mutters throwing his head back into his seat as he covers his face with his hands releasing a groan.
"You? What about me? I'm her best friend!"
"Yeah well I'm her boyfriend who isn't supposed to get her best fr...
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TWENTY-FOUR
"I'm sorry to show up unannounced," Ashlee said taking the empty rocking chair beside Ava placing her purse on her lap. "I've actually was going to stop by sooner but Grayson said that it wouldn't be a good idea." She finished with an awkward laugh.
Ava tried her best not to tense up when Ashlee mentioned Grayson's name which thankfully looked like a shiver from the cold. "Oh, you're fine. Did he tell you why it wasn't a good time? He never mentioned anything about you wanting to visit."
Ashlee rolled her eyes crossing one leg over the other and shook her head. "That boy gave so many excuses that it was hard to keep up. Honestly, I'm surprised you've lasted this long with him."
Ava laughed shaking her head shrugging her shoulders not really sure what to say to her comment. She didn't want to say something that gave away her current thoughts on Grayson because she didn't want to offend Ashlee in any way because at the end of the day Grayson was her son and she didn't want to make a bad impression on their first meeting. She wanted Ashlee like her because as of right now they were family.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you here?" Ava asked biting her lip hoping that Ashlee didn't think that she sounded like a bitch.
"Please don't take this offensive or anything, but I needed to see if you were telling the truth about your pregnancy," Ashlee said shaking her head, Ava opened her mouth to speak but Ashlee held her hand up stopping her from doing so. "Corey actually lied about being pregnant right before they started dating so I guess you could understand where I was coming from, though I am not comparing you into that wrench."
Corey lied about being pregnant? What?
"Corey lied? What do you mean?"
Ashlee sighs heavily her breath puffing out in a cloud as she stares down at her folded hands with a frown. "Before Grayson and Corey started dating, Corey told Grayson that she was pregnant." Ashlee started off shaking her head. "Of course we didn't ask for any proof at that time and we just gave her the support that she needed."
Ava nodded her head listening closely to what Ashlee was saying. Her mind honestly couldn't wrap around the fact that Corey had the dignity to lie about being pregnant with Grayson's baby. That doesn't seem like something that Corey would do, yet cyberbullying Ava on Facebook didn't seem like something that Corey would do either.
"It was probably two months in her so-called pregnancy that Grayson's father and I actually caught on to what Corey was playing at," Ashlee said glaring at the snow that was slowly beginning to fall. Ava rubbed her stomach gently when a kick to her stomach was felt, Ava wanted to smile but the moment was serious and she didn't want Ashlee to think she was smiling at something that was horrible as this was.
"How did you find out?"
Ashlee scoffed: "It was quite funny actually. Harold, Grayson's father, decided to take me out to the new Olive Garden that opened up that first week in January and while we were walking to our table, we saw Corey there but she wasn't alone." Ashlee said hissing in distaste, the memory of seeing her son's girlfriend still rotting her mind like mold. "She was with her mother and she was drinking some wine, something that you should never do with a baby."
Ava shook her head at how dumb Corey sounded, not only was she drinking alcohol out in public where anyone could see especially if she was claiming that she was pregnant. Ava used to think that Corey was smart, hell she got into NYU and that was one hard school to get into.
"We approached Corey obviously and when she saw us approaching she looked like she just saw a ghost!" Ashlee said laughing shaking her, her laugh was contagious for Ava was trying her hardest to keep her own laughter in. "We asked her how the baby was doing and her mother looked at her with a death glare and Corey confessed clean that she lied about being pregnant because she was afraid."
"Afraid?"
Ashlee nods her head shaking her head. Ava scoots closer into her chair, her hand going into the basket next to her and pulls out a blanket. She offers one to Ashlee who denies but thanks her anyway. As Ava wraps herself in the blanket, she watches Ashlee who still had a frown on her face as she sighed heavily.
"Yes," Ashlee began once more turning towards Ava giving her sad eyes. "She was afraid that you were going to get your chance with Grayson after all because he was going to ask you out the day they started dating."
"Which was when Corey told him she was pregnant," Ava whispered as Ashlee nodded her head taking ahold of her hand and giving it a squeeze. Ava's blood runs cold as realization dawns upon her.
She didn't know how to comprehend this new found information. Of course, Corey was crazy, but she wouldn't have ruined Ava's chances of finding love with someone she really liked. Corey always encouraged Ava to go and talk to Grayson before they started dating. She always put words of encouragement in her mind and now that Ava has learned that she faked a pregnancy so that none of that would happen, it made everything that has happened for the past two, almost three years seem like an utter lie.
She knew that jealousy was an ugly color on Corey, but she didn't know that the girl had been wearing it for some quite some time now.
"I know it may have seemed like Grayson loved Corey Ava, but his heart has always belonged to you," Ashlee whispers telling her the truth whether Ava knew it or not.
