XXXIII
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Crystal's POV ***

        Ashton and I spent the day together. He told me about everything, and I listened, and of course we did so over ice cream. He also told me about how his ice cream obsession came from his dad, which explained a lot.

It was really nice. But alas, everything comes to an end. So here we were back at the warehouse, where I was supposed to be dropping him off at his car that he had left there. But being as childish as he was cute, he was refusing to get out of my car.

"She definitely hates me now," he commented, referring to Layla.

"Ash, I'm almost positive that none of the people you think hate you actually do," I rolled my eyes. I had shut off my car so that I wasn't wasting gas.

"I don't wanna go," he said stubbornly, sitting back farther in the passenger seat.

"Brat," I muttered, leaning back in mine as well.

"Meanie," he replied, and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Since when did you age backwards 15 years?" I said, and he sighed.

"Can we get more ice cream first?" He whined, and I chuckled.

"No, Ash," I looked over at him.

"What if I pay you for it?" He said with feigned innocence, leaning over the center console and lingering his lips in front of mine. I simply grinned and held back an eye roll.

"Not gonna work. You need this," I didn't move back an inch, though I knew it was dangerous for me to be testing my restraint like this.

"Are you sure?" He pressed further, reaching over and feeling up my inner thigh with his hand. I tried not to show my breath hitch, but narrowed my eyes at the small smirk that had appeared on his face when he did in fact notice this reaction of mine.

"Very. Why don't you just get some some and bring it back to Layla and Jake?" I suggested, and he pulled away with a sigh, sitting back in his seat.

"Damn you and your good ideas," he grunted, and I grinned. "Alright fine. I'll go."

I had take my seatbelt off earlier when I first parked, so he reached over and successfully pulled me onto him for a hug. I let out a laugh as he looped his arms around me and squeezed me into him. I hugged him back, breathing in his scent.

"Why can't you go to the same college as me?" He complained into my hair.

"Because I'm smarter than you," I replied, smirking against him. A soft laugh sounded from his chest.

"Don't lie to yourself. You're just richer than me," he countered, and now it was my turn to laugh. I pulled away from the hug and ruffled his hair, which he scrunched his face in disapproval at.

"We're both broke, hate to break it to ya," I said and he brought me in for one last hug before helping me back into the drivers seat and opening his door.

"I love you," he said once he was out.

"And I love you," I replied, and once he started his car, I drove off.

• • •

Layla's POV ***

        Jake was in his room doing homework, and I was sprawled out on the living room floor trying to do homework when I heard a car pull into the driveway. I glanced out the window to see it was Ashton's, and my heart slowed down and sped up at the same time.

When he came through the front door, I hopped up and walked over to him. He looked a little nervous and what looked to be guilt, or shame, lined his features. I had been so scared that he would get home and be so mad at me. It had been making me anxious for two days. But as I looked at him now, all I saw was guilt and underlying sadness.

I knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to, so I closed the space between us and brought him in for a hug. His arms immediately engulfed me, and I could tell that he had been wanting to hug me for a while. We never really hugged too often, so this was nice. I didn't dare break it for another few minutes.

"I'm sorry," he spoke when we did pull away. He was looking at the floor, not quite able to meet my gaze.

"Well, I'm sorry," I replied as we walked to the kitchen.

"What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong," He asked as he sat down and I got us some lemonade from the fridge.

"I don't know," I replied, and realized for the first time then that I actually hadn't done anything that wrong. "Screwing your best friend, I guess," I joked, but quickly stifled my laugh when I realized he probably didn't find it that funny.

"Sorry- you know I'm bad at not making a joke of things," I awkwardly sat down across from him at the table.

"Yeah, I know," he replied and shook off his grossed-out expression. "You know I'm not mad at you, right?" He tried to reassure me, but it did anything but that. The way he said it clearly meant he was mad at Eli.

"You shouldn't be mad at him, either," I looked down at the table.

"Pretty sure I should be," he countered.

"Okay, for what he said to you, yes. I'm mad at him for that also. But not for falling for me- I mean I'm pretty damn irresistible if I do say so myself," I reasoned. "You clearly wouldn't have been able to get Crystal if you didn't have some sort of seductive skills, and as your sister I naturally also have these skills," he scrunched his face in disgust again.

"You're twelve. Stop talking like that," he took a sip of his lemonade, and I rolled my eyes.

"First of all, I'm not twelve, I'm an adult. And second of all, that was such an annoying-older-brother thing to say," I said.

"You're not an adult," he countered, and I glared at him, "you still have a few months before you're eighteen. So technically you two are illegal, anyway," he added.

"It's a year and a half age gap- it's not weird. And you already continuously ruin my love-life by being my brother, I don't need you to be a prosecutor, too," I mused.

"How have I ever ruined your love-life? That's absurd," he took another sip, and I shot him an incredulous look.

"Um, I'm sorry- how many times did u threaten Justin? I lost count." I posed the rhetorical question.

"Well he ended up being a prick anyway, so you're welcome."

"We didn't know that, though," I rebutted.

"I did- you just didn't want to believe me," he claimed, and I shook my head.

"You even ruined my chances with Cousin-Parker, and you weren't even there!"

"Cousin-Parker?" He questioned. Not knowing who I was talking about.

"You know, Alex."

"Alex Parker?! You had chances with Alex Parker?" He gaped at me, his older-brotherness coming out again.

"He's pretty cute," I shrugged, and he scoffed.

"He's even worse than Eli."

"Well then maybe I missed out on some fun," I wiggled my eyebrows, knowing it would get to him. He grunted.

"Ew, gross. You're not helping your case," he rolled his eyes.

"Listen. I get that I didn't know Eli while he was in high school, but I do know him now, and he's not like that anymore. He's not going to treat me like that. And worst case, you get to say 'I told you so' and I'll even let you laugh in my face if you want," I spoke, and he met my eyes again. I continued.

"You two said a lot to each other that clearly had nothing to do with me, and you guys'll work that own on your own- because neither of you meant any of it- but in terms of you being mad at him for seeing me... don't." I added, and he tried to interject, but I didn't let him as I kept talking, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"There are things that have been done to me that I.. that you don't know and I haven't told you," I said and his brows scrunched together in slight concern, but I looked back down at the table, "and even though I joke about everything and never take shit seriously, I'm usually really goddamn sad under it all- I've just taught myself to completely ignore this sub-level of my emotions," I could feel myself getting a little choked up, and I tried to suppress this as I continued.

"In my life, people have done nothing but betray me and disapprove of me and leave me, Ash. And then when Tim did what he did, a part of me shut down. It shut down and remained just dead inside of me like an extra weight left as a reminder of who I used to be-"

"Who's Tim?" He asked, and I felt unwanted tears starting to form in my eyes. I fought to keep them from forming.

"He was the son of one of my foster families."

"What did he do?" He asked carefully, and when my haunted eyes looked up to meet his, he immediately knew what I couldn't bring myself to say. His eyes widened and I looked back down before I could see him get at all emotional, knowing I wouldn't be able to hold myself together if I did.

"I was never the same. I never have been the same. But for some reason, and trust me when I tell you that I'm not fucking saying this lightly, Eli makes me feel more myself again. My feelings for him are the one thing I have been able to take seriously in myself for years. And I've conditioned you to not take me seriously, but I really need you to about this. He's helping me heal. And it's.. he's really important to me. And I'm really important to him," I paused for a moment.

"So please just put aside your overbearing protectiveness this time. Because everything you're trying to protect me from is nothing compared to what I've been through, and I need you to trust me with myself when I tell you that this is good for me. Okay?" I finished, and finally looked back up at him. I tried not to notice the intensely sad emotions in his eyes.

"Okay," was all he said. And I let myself smile a little at him, letting him know I appreciated him for listening and understanding.

"Now can you please come help me with my goddamn biology homework? I can't figure it out for the life of me," I changed the subject, wiping my face and letting out a chuckle. I wasn't covering up any sadness with this chuckle, though. And it felt really nice.

"Sure thing," he got up, and I did too. He slung his arm over my shoulders as we walked to the living room. "I was top of my bio class, if you didn't know."

"That's funny," I commented with a grin when he sat down on the floor next to me, looking down at what I had been working on.

"What?" He questioned.

"Crystal said the same thing about herself a few weeks ago," I replied, and he laughed. After a few moments, he spoke.

"Yeah, if I didn't have her, I don't even want to think about where I'd be," he stated. "If I held you back from what we have- even if it's with my jackass 'best friend'- then I would probably be madder at myself than you would be," he finished, and he didn't see me smile at him as he picked up one of the pieces of paper to read it.

"Thanks big bro," I said to him, and he shrugged it off with a small smile of his own.

"Whatever- you might hate sad shit, but I hate cheesy shit. So let's talk about something else now," I could still see the smile remaining in his eyes even as his face returned to his typical unimpressed expression.

"You mean like genomes??" I said with sarcastic excitement, referencing my bio homework as I also picked up one of the papers. He chuckled.

He told me that he had forgotten to get us ice cream on his way home, but I reminded him that we had a ridiculous amount in the freezer. As I was getting us some, Jake came out of his room and ran over to him. He apparently hadn't realized Ashton was back until that moment, somehow.

"Hey buddy," I heard Ashton greet him and I smiled to myself as I scooped. He really was an amazing big brother. Angsty as hell or not.

I knew him and Eli would work everything out. They had to. Even if I had to tie them to chairs and leave them in a room together, they would work it out. And with how emotionally distant Ashton could get, this was something I was open to trying- if need be.

It would be okay. I hadn't talked with Eli since he left here that night, but I planned on reaching out in the morning. And it would be okay.

I walked back to the living room, three bowls of ice cream in hand.

• • •

Hey everyone!!

Hope you're doing well :) if not then here's a hug- **virtual hug**

QOTD: what is your favorite flavor of ice cream??

>>> I can't believe I haven't asked this yet omg.. I love cookies n cream and coffee the most I think.

Be safe, be you, and get some sleep.

Stay beautiful,
Briella <3