After Ashley said that then I couldn’t believe it. “Are you serious?” I ask sitting up.

“Yeah I know. I was pretty taken aback. I mean, I’ve never had anyone tell me that, or really care about me as much as he did so it was really special that he told me that. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same way though. I mean, through the two years we knew each other up to that point then he’s stuck with me and helped me through a lot of shit. So we had a good run for almost a year. Even more inseparable than before, I even took him to go meet my dad, which never happens and probably won’t again. But anyway, it seemed like nothing and no one could touch us. We were the ‘it’ couple of King High, lame I know. But then things began to change; he began to change.” She looks down and tries to fight back tears.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” I say as I take her hand in mine.

“No.” Ashley says as she wipes a tear from her eye. “It’s fine.”

“Are you sure? Because I don’t want to upset you by talking about this.”

“No, seriously, it’s fine.”

“Okay. Just know that if it gets to be too much, then you can stop.” I say as I see the sadness in her eyes.

“Okay, but like I said, he began to change. It was like after he met my dad then I wasn’t a priority to him. After I invited him to go out to dinner with me and my dad then all he could talk about was how he couldn’t wait to see him again. Okay, yeah I know it’s exciting and all but when all your boyfriend wants to do anymore is hang out with your dad then it gets kind of annoying. He stopped making an effort. I was the one who had to call him, make plans, and go out of my way to see him when he wouldn’t ever return the favor. He just became a different person.” Ashley takes a long breath before she starts again. “And that’s when the rumors started. I began to hear that the only reason he was dating me was to get to my dad and that was the only reason why he started dating me in the first place. Of course I didn’t believe it at first and replayed the night of the party; the first time he told me he loved me. I felt like such a fool, I couldn’t believe I was so naive. So after hearing these rumors I confronted Aiden about it but he just blew up on me and denied it which then tore us apart even more. I kept hearing the rumors and Aiden became less and less available, but of course if I mentioned meeting my dad then he jumped at the opportunity.”