Forgotten Temptations

Chapter 8: Consumed Thoughts

Cheryl POV:

Seeing Toni at Pops made my heart flutter in all the wrong ways. Here I am with the girl I'm supposed to love, yet one look from Toni made me feel as if I'm doing something wrong. She looked disappointed when she saw us together, but this was what she wanted. She made it known it was a one time thing, to finally let each other go. If it was up to me I would have never left that room but I knew that would complicate things even more.

After pops, I had went to my usual visit with Nana Rose, this time with Ashley. It always made me happy when Ashley came with me, since Nana Rose made it known she wasn't fond of her. She always pretended she didn't know who she was, and had Ashley convinced it was part of the dementia.

As we walked through the complex to the gardens I saw Nana Rose from a distance squeezing one of the workers arm muscles.

"You're very strong, young man" she said with a sly smile.

"Alright now, Rose. You have some visitors." He said with a smile slowly pulling his arm back.

"Hi nana! I brought a visitor today" I said hoping she would be a bit more kind towards her.

"Oh.. what happened to Toni. I want to see Toni, not her!" She said with a grumpy look on her face.

My heart sank as Ashley gave me a confused look. "Oh nana! Toni and I dated in high school." I said as calmly as I could. I whispered to Ashley "the dementia must have her confused. She probably thinks I'm 17 again".

"Right. I get it." Ashley said with a kind smile towards the woman. "Hi nana Rose, it's great to see you again".

"It would be great to see Toni, not you" she said as rude as she could.

"NANA! Toni isn't here. Ashley is. You need to be nicer to her". Cheryl said trying to hold back any anger in voice.

"Ashley.. who's Ashley?" Nana rose said. I know she was lying. She loved to make Ashley feel like she didn't matter. And I know how much she loved Toni.

"It's okay. She's clearly confused" she whispered with a forced smile.

At this point I figured it was best if I made the visit short. Last thing I needed was for nana Rose to say how Toni was just here. I'm not sure if I could keep convincing Ashley that she was just a confused old woman.

We hopped into the car and began to ride home.

"That woman sure hates me" Ashley said while staring down the road.

"No! She's just confused!" I said trying to defend the woman.

"Sure. Whatever you say. That old wanna is a pain in my ass" she said as she rolled her eyes and turned up the radio.

I instantly turned it down. "Seriously!? She's an old woman. Stop being a bitch towards her!" I said. Regardless of how awful nana treated her, I couldn't stand anyone disrespecting her.

"Honestly Cheryl, I don't even know why I try. She'll never like me. This isn't the first time she's brought up the oh so great Toni. It's just super annoying" she said while clenching her fists.

"Keep Toni's name out of your mouth. Why are you even bringing her up. Nana is confused. Leave it alone!" I said as sternly as I could.

"Why are you defending the girl that abandoned you? You said it yourself she broke you!" Ashley shouted.

"Stop!" I yelled back.

"Because of her it took you forever to trust me. To know I wouldn't just walk away like she did." Ashley continued.