________________________________________

I HATE YOU
::  xviii. | jay, platonic love of my life

[ 2 WEEKS LATER ]

It was the day of the funeral, jay's funeral. Barley even a month ago the shooting happened and now he was dead. No one could believe it . . . especially Ashely. She felt as if her world was falling apart but she was grateful to have two people with her who knew exactly what she was going through — her brother and her good friend, Chad and Alexa.

Ashely had on her black dress with her black heels. Her hair was out, laying on her shoulders as she looked in the mirror. She couldn't believe this was real. She wondered why he did it or if it was intentional. She wasn't sure about anything anymore.

As she continued to stare in the mirror, there was a light knock on her door before it slowly creaked open. Chad stood there, leaning on the doorframe. His arms were crossed over his chest.

"You ready?" He spoke softly.

She stayed staring in the mirror, "Alexa's meeting us?"

Chad nodded, "Yeah. Rachel's outside. I know you shut down and push people away during dark times like this." He deeply sighed, "She just wants to be there for you."

Ashely turned around and faced her brother. She looked at him briefly before walking passed him out her room and then heading down the stairs. He closed her door for her before beginning to head down as well.

Ashely was already out the house, approaching Rachel when she heard the front door open and close behind her. She didn't care to turn around. Her arms were crossed over her chest when she stopped in front of Rachel.

"I didn't ask you to come." Ashely was quite stern with her words.

Rachel shrugged, "Well im here and you need me."

Ashely just scoffed and got in Rachel's car on the passenger side. Rachel took that as an alright and that maybe Ashely wasn't pushing her away. But she knew today was going to be a weird day as she got in on the driver's side. She looked at the blonde who was staring out the window before starting the car and heading to the church.

Everyone was just standing around, waiting for the service to start. They were all chatting and giving their condolences to jay's mother. Ashely preferred to stand by herself with Rachel but at a close distance. She was completely closed off, slowly shutting down and she couldn't save herself from what was bound to come because she didn't know what was going to come. She never felt or experienced anything like this before.

They continued to stand there and not say a word to each other. Rachel didn't want to say anything that could be in the wrong way, so that's why she kept quiet. Soon enough Chad approached the two, his put his hand on his sister's arm.

"They're starting." He looked from Ashely to Rachel, the two glanced at each other as well.

• • •

Ashely sucked a deep breath in, "Jay was the best. He was the platonic love of my life. He always encouraged me to unapologetically be myself and he would tell you like it is because you rather have a brutally honest friend than someone who's going to lie to your face." Ashely continued, "It was always me, Alexa, Jay and Chad. The four musketeers. We were better together and now without Jay . . . I don't know." She concluded, "I'm going to miss him forever. He was a great one."

Ashely stepped down from the stage and went to sit next to Alexa. She leaned her head on her friend's shoulder as Chad took on the stage. At first he was going to write something but he decided speaking from the heart is better than reading from a paper.

As expected, Chad's speech made everyone ball. After Chad, went Alexa, then jay's mom. After her, that's when everything began to come to a close. Soon everyone was moved to the graveyard, where they were going to lower the casket down.

Everyone stood around, watching as the casket was being placed on this thing to lower it. Ashely was holding on tight to Chad and as she watch his casket go under, she couldn't help but think that she could've prevented this. She could've spoke out and wasn't strong enough to tell him no.

One by one everyone was now leaving the funeral. He was under ground now but Ashely still felt like he was there. She stared down into the hole as the workers poured dirt over it. For one moment, she looked up and saw jay's mom talking to someone. She wanted to tell the truth about what happened or what she thought was the cause.

She walked on over and tapped her shoulder. They both shared a hug, then Ashely pulled away.

"I have to tell you something." Ashely began.

She told Ms. Chestnut everything. Jay's mom sobbed then out of nowhere, a big clap was heard. The mother slapped Ashely across her face. All heads were turned in their direction. Just before anyone could make their way over, jay's mom had already began walking to her car.

Ashely couldn't say she didn't see it coming. She couldn't say that she blamed Ms. Chestnut. Hell, Ashely would've slapped herself too if she was the mom. Alexa, Chad, and Rachel made their way over as quickly as possible.

"What the hell happened?" Rachel wrapped her arms around Ashely's waist.

Ashely's chin rested on Rachel's shoulder as she mumbled with a slight whisper, "I told the truth."

Chad and Alexa both shared a look, then looked back at Ashely. They wondered just like Rachel what the hell ashely meant.

a/n:
this act is almost over )):

PLSSS COMMENT
UR FEEDBACK OF
THIS CHAPTER OR
THOUGHTS