teeth → l.h

chapter eighteen;

Ashton grunts as he sits down on the floor, leaning against Helena's bedroom door. He honestly doesn't know as much about Helena as he'd like to, with her being his little sister, but he does know she has some of the same self destructive tendencies and methods of deflection as he does, though.

"Lena?" Ashton asks softly. "Helena, please talk to me." He sighs. He wants more than anything to know what to do to prevent Helena from all the confusion she's dealing with right now but in reality, he's just as confused.

Luke and Helena have barely talked since they all got back from Australia, and Helena isn't taking it well. The 'I miss you's are just completely void and Luke doesn't seem to even give a fuck and Helena is so, so beyond done. "This is so stupid." Helena chuckles shakily. "He tells me he misses me and he doesn't even make an effort and-"

"You have to make an effort too." Ashton cuts her off. "I'm completely on your side because I love you, but maybe you should just text him? I doubt he was lying, he's probably just thinking the same thing you are right now."

Helena sniffles softly. "It's not like I can tell him anything I want to tell him. He has a girlfriend and I have to be a good person. Do I have to be a good person?"

"Yes." Ashton laughs. "Look- the reality is that he's with Sierra, and you're here, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. You loved and you lost, and it sucks, but it happened. Now you have to decide if you're gonna let it fuck up the best friendship you've ever had, or if you're gonna swallows your pride and text him."

"I could also just avoid it."

"Seriously? No." Ashton scoffs. "Honestly. You and Luke share one brain cell. You need to talk to him and sort shit out." Ashton can't really blame Helena though, considering that after they ended things, Ashton literally never talked to Luke about their relationship again until a few days ago.

Helena groans. "This would be so much easier if he didn't have a girlfriend." Helena doesn't really believe that; it'd be just as hard, and she knows it. She'd still hide it, she'd still avoid him, she'd still regret fucking things up with him.

"If he didn't have a girlfriend you two would still be pretending there was nothing romantic about your relationship." Ashton replies. "You decided to come to this revelation at a really inconvenient time." He mutters. Helena stays silent, and Ashton figures she's thinking of a witty comeback until the door swings open and he falls back. "Fuck." He grunts as he looks up at Helena from the floor.

"You were born at a really inconvenient time." Helena huffs as she walks by Ashton.

"At least I'm not a homewrecker!" Ashton calls out, still on the floor.

"You're just jealous I slept with Luke!" Helena yells from downstairs.

Ashton really wished that that didn't hurt. He stays silent. Ashton was absolutely jealous. He wouldn't tell her, but she kind of stole his boyfriend. Then again, they weren't really together; but neither were Helena and Luke.

"I really hope your silence wasn't telling me you actually did sleep with Luke." Helena comments once Ashton finally gets off the floor and wanders into the kitchen.

Ashton rolls his eyes. "I should, just to piss you off."

"I don't think Cal would appreciate that." Helena states. "Are we out of strawberry jam?"

"In the door." Ashton mumbles as he opens the bag of bread. "Were you really just having sex?" He obviously knows the answer to his question, but he's interested in seeing what Helena's answer is, given everything he knows.