Ashton's PoV

Damned Sirgani. That bastard. He managed to get one up on me again. I let my thoughts cloud my judgment once again and I was back in the hospital. This time worse off than before. I couldn't help but curse myself; I always let my rage take over and it always came back to bite my ass. Why didn't I ever learn? Why was I constantly reliving the same mistakes? I'd screwed up with Sirgani before, with Amber... hell this was exactly what she was talking about. She was right.
I sighed heavily as I lay in the hospital bed, observation machines beeping as they constantly measured my heart rate and blood pressure - the nurses occasionally checking in to see if the machine is reading and that the numbers look good, offering me a sorry smile as they headed straight back out again. Part of me wondered if they thought the same as Amber. Did these nurses never stay in the room because I was a rough looking guy? One who looked rude and aggressive and was likely to cause trouble? Probably. I should have listened to her. I should have listened to that text too.
My eyes darted round the room as I looked for my phone, noticing it on the bedside table. I strained over the bedside, my fingers just brushing over the edge of it. After a few seconds, I finally had it in my grip and instantly unlocked it, looking at my messages. 3 unread ones. One from Michael, one from Luke and one from Weirdo.

Michael: hey man, hope you're okay. The hospital won't let us visit. Said you weren't allowed anyone that wasn't family. Let us know if you need anything, even putting the shits up Sirgani 😏

Luke: fucking hospital man. Won't let us in. We'll find a way. Sirgani is gonna get it, just say the word and we'll pay him a visit. He needs to learn he can't fuck with us.

Weirdo: I hope you're okay Ashton. That crash looked bad. Sirgani played dirty. Your friends are pretty messed up about what happened to you, they're angry.

After finishing reading weirdo's message, I found myself smiling. Weirdo was someone who actually seemed to care about me. I scrolled back up through the previous messages and finally took note of how they were written; caring and empathetic. This was no work of Sirgani's. This was someone who actually cared about me - for some reason. By the sound of it, a girl not far off my age. Someone who I may even know but wanted to remain anonymous. I didn't bother replying to my friends, they could wait, but went straight into conversing with this secret person.

Me: thanks. I thought you were Sirgani, sorry for the message before. Should have listened then I wouldn't be here

It was risky. I'd sent an apologetic, nice message to someone who could just be doing this to screw me over and show me up to the college - but maybe they weren't. I'd always been paranoid; always thought people were out to get me when they weren't and maybe this was another example of that. I was willing to find out the hard way. Within a few minutes, the phone chimed with a response.

Weirdo: was that an apology? I'm shocked. 😉 it's alright. I get this whole thing is weird. I just want to look out for you, you don't have many people doing that.

Every message drew me in more. I was intrigued to say the least. This girl was fascinating and unconventional and I liked that. Maybe this was the breath of fresh air I needed in my life, the change I needed after Amber. Smiling again, I responded instantly.

Me: don't I? How do you know all this stuff about me? Seems a bit unfair when I don't know anything about you.

My suave persona had taken over the message and as soon as I'd sent it, I regretted it. I wasn't trying to flirt - for once - but it had come across like it. I sunk into the bed as I waited for a response, hoping she wasn't going to hate me for how the message was going to come across. There was a longer delay before the chime informed me of a response.

Weirdo: I hadn't expected the flirting to start so soon but you are Ashton Irwin. Didn't you once call yourself a God in college? Saying all girls flocked to you and you couldn't help being so attractive?

My heart sunk as I read it. Of course she'd think I was an asshole, that was my persona. There was a lot I had done over the years that I wasn't proud of, and being a womaniser was one of them. When the gang had wreaked enough havoc and gotten attention from everyone in the college, we were the most popular people there. Everyone loved us but were also weary of us because they knew we could screw them up if we needed to. All the girls suddenly wanted to be a bad boy girlfriend and we were practically having them fight over us. It felt great. We even had teachers flirting with us. However, with all the good comes the bad - the jocks and the other bad boys came for us, fighting us for top spot. It became a messy game. we all had to up our games - we had to know how to charm and flirt our way out of anything as well as using people without getting emotionally attached. All this became second nature and soon, I'd left a string of broken hearts behind me.

Me: it actually wasn't meant to sound like that but whatever. I don't care about your opinion of me.

Weirdo: well the nice Ashton didn't last long. Pretty much always the case. Feel better soon.

What the hell? I was trying to be nice and look how that turned out. This person had a bad attitude and I didn't like it. Without thinking, which was becoming habit, I typed the response and sent it.

Me: look I don't know who you are and frankly I don't care. If you were anyone interesting you wouldn't be hiding yourself away and keeping it a secret. I don't know how you know all this shit about me but keep it to yourself from now on if you're going to have an attitude about it. You know who you're talking to and you know what to fucking expect. If you can't handle it then don't waste your time. I've got a lot worse things to worry about than you.