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In Pieces
Chapter 25

Joey sighed to herself as she walked up the stairs to Ashleigh’s room. They had been back home for just about a month now, and Ashleigh had been less than social. She had only gone to school because her mother was forcing her to, saying that too much was spent on tuition for it to be thrown away. However, Ashleigh hardly cared about school. She was completely and utterly heartbroken.

Joey knocked on Ashleigh’s bedroom door, and she could faintly hear the sound of music playing. Ashleigh didn’t answer. Joey knocked again, still there was no answer.

Reluctantly, she opened the door a crack. She could hear the music louder now, Ashleigh was listening to Backstreet Boys. Millennium to be exact. She was laying face down on her bed, her head buried in her pillow. She didn’t seem to notice the door open, and if she did, she didn’t say anything.

Joey looked around the room. The walls that had once been plastered with pictures of smiling pop stars were now back to their pale green colour. A couple of stray pieces of tape and sticky tac still adorned them, but that was all that was left of the once decorated wall space. In the corner of the room was a disheveled pile of pictures, some torn, but mostly just scattered about. It looked as though they had been taken down in a haste.

“Ash…” Joey started, closing the door and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“I know what this song is about now.” Ashleigh muttered, not taking her head off the pillow. She was referring to track two off the Millennium album – I Want It That Way.

Joey didn’t really know what to say to that. “Oh?”

“It’s a conversation between two people. One of them wants to break up, the other one doesn’t. It’s a really sad song if you listen to it carefully.” Ashleigh explained, peeking up a little. Her face was red and tear stained.

“I think it’s up to your own interpretation.” Joey said, not wanting to upset Ashleigh further.

Ashleigh shook her head, and as the song ended she put her head back down. “This is such a depressing CD.”

Joey had to agree with her there. It must have been double heart wrenching for Ashleigh, considering the reason she was so upset. “Yes, it is.” She said, standing up to stop the music. “Luckily I brought something better.” She grinned, knowing what could cheer her friend up.

Ashleigh sat up upon hearing the familiar voices of the rival boyband. She even laughed a little “I guess they aren’t so bad.”

Joey grinned and sat back down beside Ashleigh. “Nothing, huh?”

Ashleigh shook her head. “Nothing.” She said bitterly. “Not a call, or a letter or anything. I tried calling his phone a few times, but I only got voicemail.” She said sadly.

“I’m sorry Ash.” Joey said sincerely. Part of her wanted to say “I told you so.” But Joey didn’t have the heart to do that.

“Whatever.” Ashleigh said quietly. “How could he do this to me, Joe?”

Joey shook her head, she wished she knew. “I don’t know.”

Ashleigh sighed, flopping back onto the bed, this time facing upwards. “It’s like, did I not even fucking matter to him at all? Was I just some dumb girl that really thought he loved me? Fuck.”

Joey bit her lip. Again, she knew better than to agree with what Ashleigh was saying.

Ashleigh continued to rant. “I was so stupid! I actually thought that he felt something for me too. He’s probably been with dozens of other girls since I’ve been gone, I bet he doesn’t even remember my name!”

“I’m sure he remembers your name, Ash.” Joey said, though it didn’t help any.

“Bullshit! Nick fucking Carter is too good to remember names of groupies. Screw him, I’m changing my favourite Backstreet Boy. It’s Howie now. Howie and I will get married, and Nick will come to the wedding, and he’ll realize what he lost, but it’ll be too late. Sorry buddy, I’m married to Howie now.” Ashleigh said bitterly, though she had a humorous tone to her voice. It was obvious she wasn’t serious about any of this.

Joey was glad to see that her friend’s dramatic sense of humour hadn’t faded through all of this. “You probably shouldn’t get married to Howie just to get back at Nick.” She advised.

Ashleigh smiled a little and glanced at her CD player. “You’re right. I’ll marry Justin Timberlake instead. That’ll really piss him off.”

Joey laughed. “Yeah…but then you’re married to Justin Timberlake.”

Ashleigh wrinkled her nose. “That is true.” She giggled, but quickly she turned serious again. “I’m sorry, Joe.”

“For what?” Joey asked, it shouldn’t be Ashleigh apologizing.

“For being such a horrible person. I totally ditched you all summer long, and for what? For some jerk that didn’t even give me a second thought once I was gone.” Ashleigh said. In the many hours she’d spent holed up in her room, she’d done a lot of thinking. She’d genuinely began to feel bad about how she’d treated her best friend all summer.

“It’s okay.” Joey said with a light smile. “I mean, I was kind of annoyed at first, but hey, you were with Nick Carter. I understood. Besides, I got to hang out with AJ and Howie while you guys were shacking up.”

Ashleigh smiled. “Thanks, Joe.” She said, sitting up a little more and giving her friend a tight hug. “It just really upsets me. I guess a part of me always thought I was going to meet Nick, and we were going to fall in love…and that would be it. That fantasy’s kind of ruined now.”

Joey nodded. “I know. But now maybe you can start to get over him.”

Ashleigh scoffed. “It was you who put those ideas in my head you know.”

Joey gave Ashleigh a strange look. Every crazy antic that Ashleigh had pulled during the tour had been her own idea. “What?”

Ashleigh laughed. “Remember when we were watching them on TRL? And I said ‘I wish I could marry him’ and you’re like ‘Well, someone has to marry him Ash. Why can’t it be you?’ Then from then on I always thought to myself, ‘Yeah! Why can’t it be me?’ Thanks a lot Joe.” She joked.

Joey cringed. She did remember saying that to Ashleigh. “Okay, you’ve got me there. But that was when we thought Nick was cool. Now we know he totally sucks.”

Ashleigh smiled at her friend. What would she have done without someone like that in her life? “Totally.” She said, agreeing with her. Nick really did suck. As much as Ashleigh was still heartbroken, she was beginning to feel as though she could move on with her life. Nick had hurt her terribly, but in the end she’d learned a valuable lesson – things aren’t always what they seem and people aren’t always what you perceive them to be. If Nick had been any other guy Ashleigh would have probably just rolled her eyes whenever she thought of him and called him a dick.

That was what she now planned to do from here on out. Nick Carter to her was now nothing more than some jerk that had taken her for granted and not given her the love she deserved.