The Get-Go [Ashton Irwin]

Epilogue: Wynter

~w.w.~

   "Now this takes me back." Ashton giggles to himself, buckling his seatbelt across his chest. According to the display on Wes's touchscreen, it's 03:12 in the morning. In spite of that, the both of us are wide awake - it's just after 17:00 in Australia, after all.

   The situation takes me back, too; Ash, sitting in my passenger seat, the pair of us on our way to the Lakeshore Café, because neither one of us can sleep. Even the radio station is the same, although instead of playing MxPx, the radio host announces a song called 'Torrid Sex in East Berlin', and I nearly wreck the car from laughing too hard.

   "That should be our wedding song," I tease, once we're seated in my usual booth. "I bet our mothers would love that."

   "Wedding song?" Belle – remember Belle? Pretty, blonde, college girl? Served Ash and I on our second date in this exact café? That's the one – appears, seemingly out of thin air.

   "Don’t tell me you brought him back here to tell me you two are getting married," she continues, giggling quietly to herself. "That's just too funny."

   "Too funny?" Ash repeats, not even bothering to dispel the notion of our engagement. He smiles politely at Belle, but his eyes reflect that he’s every bit as confused as me.

   “You know, because of Wynter’s mom and Bill.”

   “Bill?”

   Belle finally notices my puzzlement, and promptly claps her hand over her mouth. “Oh, shit.”

   “Belle, who’s Bill?” I ask softly. I know that Belle’s mom has been friends with my mom for years - she owns the diner, and my mom and I have been coming since I was little - but the thought that Belle might know things about my mom that I didn’t had never crossed my mind.

   She sighs, still with her hands covering her face. When she pulls them away, her face is bright red, and she looks like she just handed the proverbial cat the canary on a silver platter. “Can I talk to you alone, Wynter?”

   “No.” The word falls out of my mouth before I can give it much thought. Actually, there’s only one thought on my mind, and it’s that no matter what this is about, I want Ashton with me. He seems to read my mind, because even as I say it, his large hand is already on my knee under the table, leaving a reassuring squeeze on it.

   Belle looks more distraught, but doesn’t actually say anything against it. Instead, she suggests that I move to Ashton’s side of the booth, so that she can sit down opposite us. If there was any doubt in my mind that whatever she has to say is big, it’s gone now.

   Ash lifts his arm as I slide in next to him, allowing me to cuddle into his side. As soon as I have, his arm settles down to rest on my shoulders, and we both look at Belle expectantly. She sighs, resting her face in her hands for a moment, with a nervous smile on her face. “Okay, I’m not even supposed to know this, let alone tell you.”

   “Tell me what?”

   The blonde girl across from us sighs again, and lifts her head from her hands. She looks me right in the eyes, and tells me something I’ve sort of known since she first mentioned him. “Bill’s your dad, kid. He was an Aussie that used to work at the hotel. I guess your mom and him were together, then she got pregnant, and refused to marry him.”

   ‘Stunned’ is probably the best word to describe me right now. I am stunned. Judging by the awkward silence that’s fallen over the table, Ash is, too. Belle stares off into space, but comes back with a weak smile. “That’s why I thought it was funny that you two might be engaged… you know? Like, your mom was with an Aussie… and then you’re with an Aussie.”

    It’s like that scene in The Little Mermaid. You know, the one where Ariel trades her voice in order to be human? Except instead of getting legs, I’m getting information on one half of my gene pool in exchange for the gift of speech.

    My entire life, all my mother’s told me any time I asked about my father, her only answer has been to tell me that I shouldn’t waste my time on him. That he hasn’t been around, hasn’t wanted to be around, and won’t ever be around. The important thing, she always says, is that she loves me, and that I should focus on the future, and not the past.

    I stopped asking years ago, assuming I never really would get an answer. But here’s Belle, a girl I’ve known and looked up to for pretty much my entire life, giving me answers. Answers that I don’t know that I necessarily want to know. I’ve been just fine up until this point, really, not knowing anything about my father - Bill, I guess - or anything about where I came from.

    As always, Ash picks up on my distress; notices the way my brain is running eight hundred different directions at once, trying to process the information Belle’s tossed out there. He leans in to murmur in my ear, stroking my hair gently with one hand. “Wynny, do you want her to stop?”

    I nod slowly, suddenly feeling extremely tired. It could be the day catching up to me - prepping for Prom, Jesse’s pre-Prom, actual Prom, having sex after Prom - but the more likely option is that my brain is just completely overwhelmed by the bomb Belle just dropped. My brain is off in that weird state; incapable of thinking, really, just operating off my wants and needs.

    “Okay, Snowflake,” he replies in a low, soothing voice. “Go get the car started and sit in the passenger side and wait. I’ll just settle the check and I’ll be right out. Then we can go home.”

    No. I don’t want to go home. I shake my head violently, still unable to speak.

    “Okay, okay. We won’t go home. I’ll take you somewhere safe.” Ashton’s long, thin fingers are in the pocket of my jeans, pulling my keys out to place them in my hand. “Just go wait in the car. I’ll be right out.”

~w.w.~

A/N so this epilogue is two parts... this one is from Wynter's perspective, and the next bit is from Ashton's!