Delaney

To say that Ashlynn was acting odd would be an understatement. Although I wasn’t being much better myself, she was still hiding something and being a little too skittish about it. I knew that the lunch date would be horribly awkward and confrontational, but something seemed to really strike a nerve in Ash, leaving her to act awkward even after we went home.

As soon as we went inside, I knew that a run was exactly what I needed to clear my mind. Without a word, we each waltzed right into our bedrooms and shut the door behind us. I heard Ashlynn grunt and flop onto her bed through the closed doors and I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle before I mounted my iPhone onto the dock that was sitting on my dresser, immediately turning the volume up to listen to whatever music started playing.

As I dug through the drawers of my dresser to look for some workout clothes, I couldn’t help but wonder about Eli. Elijah was always the cutest kid - he was the youngest boy in the family, and because of that we always picked on him and teased him, but only out of love, of course. He was so opinionated - much like his sister - and was known for going through different phases. They would always be such odd phases, though. Not really like a “goth” phase or “scene” phase, but much more specific phases. I laughed as I remembered the time he went through what we called the “Alien Phase”. For a month straight he would pick a daily fact about aliens or proof that there was life on other planets, and he would find a way to bring it up in every conversation. After that he had his long-hair phase, and his hoodie-phase, and so many others that I could hardly even keep up with them. After a while, I just learned to not question anything, because I knew it was just another one of his phases.

I missed Elijah. It was kind of interesting how he had just disappeared not too long ago. And although Ashlynn did the same thing, it was different, because he even disappeared from conversations. We would always try to ask about him, but someone would always shut us down and change the subject. So after a while, we just stopped asking about him. The interesting thing, though, was that Ashlynn still had contact with him. Why would she lie and say that she didn’t back when her mother had asked? Things just weren’t adding up.

I pulled my cell phone off of the dock and strapped it up to my armband, plugging in my headphones as I walked out of my bedroom. I decided that I would ask Ash to join me on my run - maybe it would help clear whatever was on her mind, too. As soon as I stepped out of my room, Ashlynn was exiting hers. If I had taken a step further, we would have bumped right into each other. I looked her over and noticed that she still had her shoes on and her purse hanging off of her shoulder.

“Hey, where you going?” I asked, tilting my head at the slightest. I pulled my left earbud out of my ear so I could hear her response, but I really didn’t think it mattered. Her body language gave her away, and I knew that no matter what she said...it wasn’t going to be the truth.

She tensed up a bit and paused for just a second longer than she should have. I could see her furrow her eyebrows ever so slightly. She was trying to cover something up.

“I, uh, I was-,” she stammered. Her words were choppy and her breathing uneven.

I didn’t take those Psychology classes for nothin’, I thought to myself as I continued to watch her under pressure.

“I’m uh, I’m going to the grocery store. I found this new recipe on Pinterest that I wanted to try out.” Her words came out too quickly, like she was too eager to get out whatever excuse she had just made up.

I furrowed my eyebrows, but decided that she had been through enough interrogation for the day, and instead just shrugged it off and headed towards the front door. “It better be good!” I said from over my shoulder, going along with her excuse.

I had never seen Ashlynn so secretive before. I watched her for a moment as she seemed to be lost in her thoughts. What had changed with her? I thought back to her mother’s comment about Ashlynn sleeping with her co-workers. Then I thought about Elijah again. And then I remembered how strangely she was acting before we left to my mother’s house - using code-names for her contacts, not wanting me to go on instagram. Did she have some secret life that I knew nothing about?

I decided to pull her from my thoughts. Your mind could be like a sauna - spend too much time in there and you could burn yourself out. I knew about that from first-hand experience. Both from spending too much time in my mind…and the sauna. “You coming or what?” I called out, through the open door.

She shook her head very subtly and walked through the door as I made my way down the steps. I waited to hear the sound of the door lock and close before I turned on my music, immediately feeling the song that was playing motivate me. I jogged across the parking lot, turning right and following the side-walk down to the corner where the stop sign was. I turned to my side, expecting to see Ashlynn driving up behind me at any minute, but her jeep wasn’t in sight. I pulled out my left earbud once again and turned around just in time to see her turning left out of the parking lot. She headed down the street, making a left at the stoplight off in the distance.

I looked ahead of myself, making sure that I wasn’t the one twisted around. Why would she had gone left when the shopping center was a right from the parking lot? The only grocery store on this side of town was just down the street from where I was standing, but she turned toward Downtown San Diego, instead of remaining around the parameters of the University side of the city.

Before I could get sucked into my suspicions about Ashlynn’s behavior, my phone started to ring from my armband. I clicked the controls that were connected to my headphones and continued jogging down the street.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey,” Mike said into the phone. His voice was low. He sounded...upset.

“Hey Mikey-Boy,” I said as cheerfully as possibly. It came out as annoying though, and I spoke up again before he call me a freak for talking that way. “What’s going on?”

“Are you free tonight? Wanna grab a drink...or seven?” he let out a casual chuckle after he spoke.

I shook my head, my breathing getting hitched in my throat before I could answer. “Yeah, sure! I’ll call you when I get back from my run.”

“Oh, you’re out on your run? Are you wearing those tight little spandex shorts?”

“I swear to God, Mike, you’re such a fucking pig.”

“Oink oink,” he said in a low voice.

“Okay, I’m hanging up now! Bye!” I pressed the button on my headphones, shaking my head as I continued on down the street.

I took the longer route - not to push myself because I had been neglecting my “daily” runs, but because I had more than usual to clear from my head. I took in the scenery, the smells, the people and allowed my mind to think about how beautiful San Diego really was. Some parts could be scummy as hell, and I passed some of said places while out, but the weather and the colors were always so beautiful. Not every part of San Diego was near the beach - in fact, the closest beach was about forty minutes away from where I lived - but every now and then my hair would get caught in a salty breeze that had made its way over to the more industrial side of the city.

With my newfound mental clarity, the jog back home was smooth and almost enjoyable. I marched up the steps, took a shower, and got ready in a breeze. For me, getting ready consisted of yoga pants, a white t-shirt, and some slippers. I tossed my messy hair up into a careless bun, twisting my fringe back so it wouldn’t fall in my face. My phone started to ring from across the room, and I ran over to it, missing it by a half of a second.

Missed Call: Mikey

I slapped my hand onto my forehead. I had totally forgotten that Mike wanted to go out for drinks. I was way too comfortable to get ready and head out to a bar, and plus, I didn’t even have enough gas to get me there.
I shot him a quick text, inviting him over to the apartment so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting ready, and he replied with a bunch of beer emojis and a thumbs up.

I applied a quick layer of mascara just so I didn’t look too bummy, and waited for Mike’s arrival.

-

“So tell me,” Mike began, waving his hands in the air as he spoke. “What’s been tickling your pickle?”

“Tickling my pickle?” I repeated, giggles escaping my lips as I watched Mike take a hit of the joint he had started. “What does that even mean?” I asked.

“No fucking idea,” he laughed as he blew out the smoke. He handed the joint over to me and I took a small hit, not wanting to get too faded. We had already surpassed Mike’s previous plan of having seven drinks. Each of us had consumed enough alcohol to cater to an entire high school party. But we were no amateurs - we could handle our alcohol. Mike could definitely handle it much better than I could since he was so used to touring, but I was pretty far up there. I had to keep up with the boys when they were home from touring. So really, touring had indirectly coached me up on my drinking tolerance.

“What the fuck are you saying?” Mike asked, his head practically spinning. “Are you talking out loud? I think those thoughts were supposed to say inside your brain.”

“Ah fuck,” I cursed, frowning as I handed the joint back over to him. “You fucked me up, dammit,” I scolded, pointing to one of the bottles of alcohol that was sitting beside Mike. “Anyway, you’re the one who called me. I think you have more that’s tickling your pickle...or whatever.”

Mike chuckled and then let out a sigh. “Yeah, I do,” he said simply. I waited for him to say more, but nothing happened.

“Mike?” I asked.

“Huh?” He looked over to me, his eyes droopy and his face clueless. “Oh! Right.” He opened his eyes just a bit wider and pursed his lips as he tried to think. “Well...you remember Frenchi, right?”

I rolled my eyes at his question. “Of course, dummy. I’m the one who set you two up. I met her at work...are you sure you even remember her right now?”

Mike let out a growl and shook his head. “Shut up,” he mumbled. “Well, you know how I cheated on her?”

“Mike, yes, I know, stop asking me questions and get to the point.” Mike and Frenchi were together for quite some time, all of us were certain that she would be the one girl to tie Michael Fuentes down. He was so different with her. He was such a good boy. Well, as good as Mike could really get, given his habits. “Are you guys talking again?” I asked, excitement a little too evident in my voice. Frenchi was a friend of mine before I introduced her to Mike. We both worked in film production and were assigned to a set together. After only a week of knowing the girl, I knew that she would be perfect for Mike. And I was right.

“No,” he said softly, “no, we’re not talking again. I’m just thinking about it all because I think I found another girl that I really like, and I don’t know...I just really hope I don’t fuck up again. Frenchi was so amazing. We were so happy together, but I just couldn’t keep my dick in my pants. I don’t want the same thing to happen.”

“Mike, as much as I loved Frenchi, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. You can blame yourself all you want, and yeah it was your fault that you broke up, but maybe the fact that you couldn’t remain faithful was a sign. Obviously you were subconsciously unhappy with your relationship so you had to look somewhere else to fill that void.” My words trailed off as I spoke, realizing that the conversation was striking a little too close to home for my liking. I decided to stop my talking before I got too carried away.

“Fuck,” Mike said with an exaggerated emphasis. “How can you think like that right now? I honestly don’t think I heard a single thing you just said, but I’m pretty sure you just fucking wrote a book on how to justify cheating in a relationship.”

I laughed at his words, pushing his shoulder lightly and muttering a fuck you before I continued on with talking. “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m just a fucking genius, I guess.”

“Hey now, don’t push it,” Mike said with a laugh. “I think you’re totally right though. But how do I know that this time won’t be the same thing? I can’t go through that guilt again. And knowing that I hurt her so bad just eats at me, constantly. I don’t want to hurt anyone like that ever again.”

I didn’t have an answer for Mike. I just let him sit with his thoughts for a moment while I allowed myself to fall backwards so I was now laying down on the carpet. I pushed an empty bottle of Jack out of my way as I got comfortable and just stared at the bottom of the TV tray was folded up and resting by the side of the kitchen. My mind was thinking about random things - like the universe, and how my muscles worked, and all kinds of other random, high thoughts.

Mike cleared his throat, causing me to jump a bit. I let out a chuckle to myself before I heard him speak up. “So, what about you?” he asked.

I looked straight ahead and saw that he was laying down like I was. He was staring under the couch, though. I wondered what he thought about when he was high, but dismissed the thought when I remembered that Mike was always high.

“What’s on your mind, Delly?” he asked again.

“Everything,” I muttered.

“C’mon now...you have to tell me. That’s how this works. You would think that by now you’d understand that. We’ve been having our Faded Fortnight for years now. You do this every time! Just spill, woman.”

I couldn’t help but crack up at the title that Mike had given our little tradition. “Why did you name it that again?” I asked, laughing uncontrollably.

Mike groaned, but a chuckle escaped his lips as he started talking. “You should know this, too!” he exclaimed. “Because we get so fucked up that you’re going to be faded for a whole fortnight!”

“Mike, you do realize that a fortnight is fourteen days, right?” I asked, practically rolling around the living room from laughing so hard.

Mike stopped laughing for a second and thought. “Fuck, I thought it was like four days,” he mumbled. “Whatever, I’m going with it! Fuck you and your knowledge. Now, spill!”

It took me a while to get the laughter out of my system. As soon as I thought I was done laughing, I would look up and see Mike’s face and immediately just start right back up with my laughter. He didn’t say anything though, he just let me get it out of my system.

“Okay, okay,” I breathed out, smoothing out my t-shirt as I calmed myself down. “Where do I even start?” I said with a small giggle. I wasn’t laughing because I was high anymore, I was laughing because my mind was so fucked up that I didn’t know what to bring up first. “Here, let me start with this. I don’t have enough money to go back to school in the fall.”

Mike was silent.

“No? Okay, how about this one. My cousin that dropped off the face of the earth just waltzed right back into my life like it was nothing,” I rambled. There was no stopping me now. “My own sister hates me. I haven’t talked to my father in over a year. I’m pretty sure Jaime is still in love with me. And I don’t have a job until the school matches me up with another set that I could work on, and only God knows how long that’ll be.”

Mike was silent for only a second this time. “...what about Nathan?” His words came out so softly that I almost didn’t even hear him.

“Don’t worry, I couldn’t forget about him even if I fucking wanted to.”

“Where is he, Delly? Don’t feed me any bullshit. Give me the truth.”

The truth? I didn’t even know the truth. The truth was that I had been ignoring his calls and texts because I was afraid of him telling me that he had found someone else while he was vacationing in wherever the fuck he was. “He’s traveling the world with his brother. Why that required him to take the ring back? I don’t fucking know.” My anger was evident and I was honestly surprised that I hadn’t even started to cry yet.

“Why are you even with him?” he asked, his voice more confident and aggressive. “Like, really? Wake up and see what’s right in front of you, Del.”

“Okay, and what is that, Mike?” I asked, anger seething from my tongue. I was so glad that we were still both laying down, not facing each other, or else he would see the sadness that was hidden behind the anger written all over my face.

“Not him, that’s for damn sure.”

I grumbled at his words. I knew they were true, but hearing them from another person really hurt. Who else had noticed the problems in my relationship with Nathan? I shook my head - that was a stupid question to ask myself. It was pretty clear that everybody knew about my problems. Especially when both Nathan and my engagement ring were across the world without me.

“Hey, where’s Ash?” Mike asked, breaking the silence and bringing me back to real time.

I wasn’t sure about how much time had passed, but I knew that it was getting late, and Ashlynn still wasn’t home. She hadn’t been home all day and night. Did she really think that I would believe that she was at the grocery store for this long?

“The grocery store,” I said, putting air-quotes around her location.

“Is everything good with you guys?” he asked. “Like, I know it’s kind of weird, but you don’t like hate her or anything, right?”

I sighed. “No, I could never hate her. I just feel like there’s a lot that she’s hiding from me. She got all weird when her mom asked her questions about her life and shit.”

“What about her life?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Her love life, her brother, her job. Just normal shit that parents ask about, I guess.”

“How did she get weird?” he asked.

“I don’t know, she just got all… Wait, why do you care so much?” I asked. “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to get into my cousin’s pants.” I sat up, giving him the evil eye.

“No!” He sat up, also, holding his hands out in front of him to surrender. “No, I mean, she’s hot, but nah. You’re the only woman for me.” He set his arms down and made kissy faces at me, to which I responded by putting my entire palm on his face and pushing him away. “I’m joking! I’m joking!”

“Sure. I’m watching you, Baby Fuentes.”

“Ugh, don’t call me that!” he groaned with a slight chuckle. “But I’m serious, about Ashlynn, I mean. How much do you really know about her?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He fidgeted around on the carpet, rubbing his hands over his knees and shrugging his shoulders. He licked over his lips before he gave me a pout with his eyebrows raised and his shoulders pulled up as he held his hands out beside him in an over exaggerated shrug. “I dunno.”

“Do you know something?” I asked. I was certain that Mike was hiding something. And as my high slowly began to fade, I was certain that I was right. My judgement wasn’t tricking me anymore, and even though I was still fairly drunk, I knew that Mike was hiding something.

“No,” he lied.

“Faded Fortnight, Mikey. You gotta spill,” I said, using a version of his own words against him.

“Well, I mean,” he caved in, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Ah-ha! I knew it! Spill!”

“I mean, it’s probably nothing, but like, haven’t you noticed that she’s been kind of buddy buddy with...Tony?”

I stopped for a moment. I was definitely not expecting him to say that. “Tony? What?” I asked, shaking my head, slightly. “No, I haven’t noticed that.” Ashlynn and Tony weren’t acting much different than she acted with any of the other boys, at least from what I could see. There was the time where her and Tony were alone in the kitchen, but only for a moment. And the time where he whispered something in her ear while the boys were leaving, but that wasn’t anything too out of character. It definitely wasn’t enough for me to suspect that she had something going on with Tony.

“Where’s Ashlynn tonight, again?” he asked.

“Well, she told me she was going to the grocery store, but that was hours ago,” I said.

“Yeah, and Tony said he couldn’t hang out earlier because he was going to Guitar Center. He said he would call when he got home.”

“I’m guessing he never called?” I asked, catching on to what Mike was saying.

“Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’ as he stared right into my eyes. He had one eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his face.

“No way,” I said, shaking my head. “It has to be coincidence. They don’t even know each other.”

“I don’t know, I mean, on instagram I saw-”

Mike stopped talking and our eyes darted over to the front door when the sound of a key fumbling with the lock broke the silence that was surrounding our conversation. We both watched as the doorknob turned and the door slowly opened, a creak echoing throughout the living room.

Ashlynn stepped in slowly and turned to shut the door behind her. She was obviously trying to be quiet because she probably thought that I was asleep.

Before I could say anything, Mike crawled over to the kitchen, his knees thumping against the carpet, giving our presence away. Ashlynn stopped being so sneaky and relaxed, peering her eyes so she could try to see through the darkness.

“Delly?” she asked in a whisper. Her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness yet, while Mike and I had been sitting in the dark this entire time, so we could see perfectly. She sniffed the air for a second and then fanned her hand in front of her face before letting out a phew at the smell. She flicked the light on and I immediately clasped my hands over my eyes and fell over - the change in brightness burning my eyes.

I heard Mike scream from the kitchen and then a loud thud - I assumed he must’ve fallen over. “Oh, the agony!” he groaned. “Turn it off! Turn it off!”

“What the hell?” Ashlynn asked with a laugh. I heard her walking across the living room, gently kicking the glass bottles out of her way as she made her way toward her bedroom. “It fucking reeks in here!” she exclaimed, coughing a bit as she neared the kitchen. “Oh, I should have known. Mike is here.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her words. I opened my eyes slowly to allow them to adjust to the light, blinking a few times before the burning finally went away. I looked around the room and took note of the mess that we had made. Chip bags and pizza boxes were sitting on the coffee table while several bottles of alcohol were littering the floor. Not to mention the paper plate sitting in front of me with some remnants of weed and Mike’s pack of rolling papers. “Mike, you’re cleaning this up,” I commented as I stood up. It was quite a task, but I managed to get on my feet the first try. Although I was stumbling while trying to stand still. But hey, at least I didn’t fall.

Mike crawled back over to the living room and began pushing the bottles into a pile while I took the time to look Ashlynn over. She was wearing the exact same thing as earlier and her hair was still styled in a perfect mess. I looked down at her hands. “Where are the groceries?” I asked. I didn’t originally plan on being so blunt, but she was the one who had to go and use the grocery store as her excuse. “You could have told me where you were really going.”

“I’m going to bed,” she said, hiking her thumb over her shoulder to point at her bedroom door. “Um...goodnight.”

“Goodnight Ashlynn!” Mike called from the floor behind me. “I”ll see you in the morning.”

“Oh, you’re spending the night?” she asked.

Mike nodded. “Yeah, I tried calling Tony to come pick me up, but he didn’t answer.”

I had to try so hard not to let out a sigh. Mike was being far too obvious. He might as well had just asked her straight up if she was with Tony.

“Oh,” she said through a breath. “Okay then,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. I studied her appearance, but nothing really gave her away. She gave me a small smile before turning to head into her bedroom. I waited until I heard the door click before I turned around to see Mike laying on the sofa.

I hit him on the shoulder. “You’re so fucking stupid!” I whisper-yelled.

“What? You saw the way she got all awkward, right?” he asked.

“No! She didn’t,” I growled. “She kind of just looked at you like you were fucking stupid. Because you are!” I hit him on the shoulder again.

“Do you think she heard us?” he asked, his voice a bit too loud.

“Shh,” I shushed him before turning to look at her bedroom door. I looked back over at Mike. “No, I don’t think she heard us.”

“I think she did, so she knew I was going to bring it up,” he whispered with a yawn. “She’s no rookie,” he added before turning over and snuggling into the sofa. Before I could ask him what he meant, I heard his breathing hitch in his throat before a few snores escaped, the sound slightly muffled by the couch cushions.

I let out a sigh before I headed into my own bedroom, crawling under the blankets without bothering to even take off my slippers.

She’s no rookie.I repeated in my head. What did that even mean? I thought back to what her mother had said about her sleeping with her coworkers.

I just hope that you aren’t sleeping around with your coworkers again.

Wasn’t it against the rules to sleep with your coworkers in a professional environment, such as a bank? Maybe that was what Mike was trying to get at. Even though he didn’t know about what my Aunt Danette had said, he was still right. Maybe Ashlynn wasn’t a rookie. Maybe she was up to something.

Notes

Delaney's Lazy Outfit

Hey guys, Elise here! Here's another update for you all, I hope you enjoy it. Sorry it took a while to get it up. We both got really busy with work and school and such. But we're back at writing! Things have finally calmed down a bit in our lives. We love writing so much, but sometimes we have to take a break from it so we can sort out everything else. Priorities, man. They suck!

Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. What do you think about Mike and Delaney's friendship? What about Delaney's problems? Why is she so hesitant to discuss everything? And how close is Ashlynn to getting found out?

Thank you guys for reading! Love you!

xoxo,
gossip girl

PS- jk, it's just me. Elise.