The Right Girl

JOHN’S POV
I was on cloud nine after I dropped off Ashton at her house after brunch that day. I had baseball practice, then a concert with my band that night, and she had some girl’s party to go to that night, so we had to leave each other. I was glad I had been able to spend at least a little bit more of time with her, and I learned a lot about her, such as that her favorite color was green, she knew sports and cars, and she felt distanced from her parents.

I pulled up to baseball practice, getting out of my car and getting into the dugout as I put on my cleats and stretched my muscles. Connor walked up to me, putting his hand on my back as a sign that he wanted to talk to me. I stood up and looked at him curiously, and he gave me a teasing smile. “I heard that you were at Java’s with that Ashton chick earlier. Putting on the O’Callaghan charms, eh?”

I smirked at him. “You’re just jealous because I have a beautiful girl on my arm, and you’ve got nothing.”

“Touche,” he said, shrugging. “You should hook me up with her cute friend.”

“Cora?” I asked him, laughing. “She’s not really your type, bro. She seems like the kind of chick who would call you asinine.”

“Call me what?” Connor asked confusedly. I laughed again and shook my head, strapping up my gloves as I left the dugout and left Connor with no answer. I went to the batting cages and began swinging, doing some other drills as my coach instructed me to do. Soon enough, baseball practice was over as I went home real quick, jumping in the shower before turning around and going to the venue for that night to meet up with my band and practice a bit before the crowds starting arriving.

“Where were you last night, Romeo?” My band’s manager, Tim, asked me teasingly as I walked in. It seemed like everybody else except for me was already there, and that they had been waiting for a while. That’s when I realized a little too late that last night, we had our weekly XBox convention at bassist’s, Garrett’s, house. I had totally blanked due to the fact that Ashton and I were going out.

“Oh, dammit, sorry. I took Ashton out to the cliff,” I said, sitting down on one of the bar stools. All the guys looked at me, with either appraising eyes or shocked eyes.

“The private school chick?” My best friend and favorite ginger, Jared, asked with both eyebrows raised. I nodded in response, and he put out his fist. I bumped with my own as he nodded in approval and commented, “Nice choice, buddy.”

The members of my band and crew said their individual compliments about me finally getting together with Ashton before we jumped into our band meeting and practice. After we were done with that, people started trickling in as I made my way towards the bar to chill before the show.

Little did I know of what was about to go down.

ASHTON’S POV
I smiled at my reflection in the mirror, internally complimenting how hot I looked. Instead of going to the party I had been invited to that night, I decided to surprise John at the bar where he and his band were playing.

It was a short drive to the bar, and I walked in with no issue. That was, until I looked at my surroundings.

At first, I saw some girl all over John. He laughed at something she said, not even bothering to inch away or push her off. I watched as she leant down, their lips crashing down on each other. I just glared until John pulled away from the girl, looking behind her and finding me. Now he gently pushed the girl off of his lap, running over to me. I didn’t try to run away-- I wanted to confront him.

“Who the hell is that?” I asked him, spitting out the venomous words.

“Nobody important, really,” he insisted. I looked at him, tipping my head.

“Who’re you trying to persuade- me, or you?” I asked him. His mouth flopped open and closed as he searched for an answer, as I laughed harshly and nodded my head. “That’s what I thought. Well, don’t bother calling me when you get home. We’re done here.”

I went to walk away, but John pulled me back. He shook his head, searching my face for any sign of forgiveness. He said, “I can explain.”

I snapped.

“You told me that I was different. You told me that all of this, that all of you building up your rep was so that we could be on the same level and you could get to know me. Well, you’ve gotten to known me, gotten to known me better probably better than anybody except maybe Cora has before. I don’t know what your true intentions were, but if it was anything along the lines of making me feel betrayed, you definitely accomplished your goals. Congrats,” I said to him.

“Ashton...” He began, but some boy with obviously dyed red hair walked up to him.

“Man, we gotta get on stage,” the boy said. He looked over at me and asked, “Who’re you?”

I looked up at John, mocking him as I said, “Nobody important.”

And I walked away, John unable to run after me.

You had me hanging on your last word
And now I'm feeling a little less than trusting
You had me wishing we were something
But left me here with a whole lot of nothing now

This is the end of you and me
And everything I used to be
Back then it meant something
But you're living a lie, you just can't hide from me