And Then There Was Vince

Chapter 19: An Almost Apology

"Hey," She opened the call nonchalantly, as if it were a typical Friday night. "Whatcha up to?"

"Uh," I stammered, unsure of what she wanted to hear in that moment. "I just got back from a party."

"A party?" She inquired. "And you didn't invite me? I've been sitting here bored all night. Mandy and Corrine flaked on me because they got strep."

For the second time that night I wondered what in the hell was happening.

"It wasn't really your type of crowd," I said, feeling anger and annoyance bubble up inside of me. "Plus, in case you've forgotten, we've hardly spoken for a good month and a half, and when we did, it was just you being a bitch to me."

She actually laughed from the other side of the line.

"Right, I forgot you've been hanging out with the freak crowd. What's that about anyway?"

So she was going to completely ignore the second half of my statement.

"They're actually really great people," I lamely defended, before throwing in, "better than some I've chosen to be friends with."

"Ok listen," she sighed, already over any type of conversation that criticized her. "That was real shitty of me, but you have to understand. I've had a thing for Alex since 9th grade. It was really bitchy of you to try and take him from me."

I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself down.

"I didn't do anything like that," I growled. "I've shown you, told you, and told him over and over again that I wasn't interested. I rejected him. We never did anything, and you know that."

"Well that's not what it felt like," she threw back.

"Well I'm sorry you aren't mature enough to handle someone not liking you," I snapped. "I'm hanging up now."

"No wait," she said, voice cracking. Was Ashley crying?

"Why?" I asked, tone a bit softer this time. "Have something else you need to blame me for?"

"No," she finally said. "I just think it's time we move on from this. Alex finally agreed to go to Snowflake with me today, and there's no more reason for us to be mad at each other."

I think I actually saw red.

"I was never mad at you in the first place!" I shouted. "But I am mad now. Call me back when you learn how to apologize!"

I hung up before she had a chance to protest, and ignored every phone call that came through after. I immediately grabbed my headphones and threw on every single angry song I could think of.

Ashley really was a raging bitch. It was as if she had come so close to admitting she was wrong only to act as if we had both been offending parties. She really was so used to getting what she wanted that she didn't think she needed to apologize.