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It was a short distance between work and home, so Ashlee decided that then would not be a good time to tell AJ what her tattoo was for. She came up with little things to talk about to distract him from the topic. They talked about everything from him being on the road all the time, her being in school and the similarities between their mothers.

They arrived to her house about 15 minutes later.

“Now, my house is kind of smaller then what you guys are use to, but no worries! You all will fit!” Ashlee said to AJ as they were getting out of her car.

“I don’t mind.” He said smiling back.

They waited for all the other guys, Baylee and Leighanne before they went into the house. Once they went inside they were greeted by the welcoming smells of Ashlee’s mother’s cooking.

“Hey Ash!” Rhonda, her mother said smiling, “Oh! And hello to you boys..and lady.”

“Hello!” came from all seven guests.

“Mom, this is Brian, Nick, Howie, Kevin, AJ, Leighanne, and Baylee. Guys, this is my mommy, Rhonda”

They all gave Rhonda welcoming hugs and said thank you for letting them come over.

“So, do we get a tour or what??” Nick said walking over to Ashlee.

“Um, sure. Who ever wants to come, can!”

Ashlee led them all through her small, three bedroom house. One room was her mother’s, one was used for a computer room and the last one at the back of the house was hers. They all got excited when they came into her room because everything she had going on. It was a big, but odd shaped room. It was exactly like a rectangle and every part of wall, besides for the ceiling was covered in some sort of theme. One of the smaller walls was a collection of Harry Potter items. At the other end, was an assortment of Broadway shows, school events and Wizard of Oz. On one of the big walls was practically her entire high school life. And on one half of the other long wall was all the concerts she had been to and the other half was a collection of Backstreet Boys memorabilia. Everyone chuckled at this part. Ashlee just turned a nice shade of magenta.

“So, you’re a fan huh?” Howie said.

“Um, yea.”

“Well, you handled yourself pretty well back at your work!” Kevin told her.

“Any other girl would have screamed in our face and passed out!” Howie said laughing.

Ashlee wasn’t too amused by this because even though she didn’t scream, she thought she was gonna pass out when she first saw them.

“Haha, yea. Funny,” she said with a fake laugh. “Well, do you all wanna go back to living room and have something to drink while we wait to eat? And if you don’t mind, I would like to take a quick shower. I’m not a huge fan of smelling like pizza.”

They all laughed and said that that was fine. Ashlee escorted them out to the living room, got them all drinks and set them up with a movie.


About twenty minutes later, Ashlee came back out in her sweat pants and a KISS t-shirt, drying her long hair with a towel. AJ couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked, even in her pajamas..

“Well, someone certainly dressed up for the occasion,” he said jokingly.

“Yea, yea. If you don’t like it, don’t look!” Ashlee said with a smile.

They chuckled at this and were interrupted with Rhonda telling them that dinner was ready.

“Alright! I getta have foood! I getta have foood!” Nick sang as he walked to the kitchen.

Ashlee laughed and followed after AJ, which was the last boy to get into the kitchen.


Once everyone ate and was full, they all just sat around talking about everything and nothing. Ashlee excused herself to her room. She was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed with the fact that there was a large amount of people in her house. AJ also excused himself a few moments later and lightly knocked on her door.

“Come in,” he heard her say softy.

Ashlee was sitting on her bed cross legged, hands folded in her lap.

“Did I interrupt anything?”

“No,” she said with a slight smile. She looked down at her hands as AJ sat down right next to her.

“You doing okay, there? You seem..quiet.”

She sighed, “Yea. Just..thinking”

“Oh,” he nodded and looked around her room. He then looked down at his hands and began picking at his fingernails. “Um, so..what exactly is your tattoo for?” he asked after a few moments of silence.

Ashlee sighed and scooted her self to the head of the bed and leaned back on the wall. She patted next to her for AJ to do the same.

“You might as well make yourself comfortable.”

AJ moved next to her and looked at her with extreme curiosity.

Ashlee sighed and took a couple seconds to gather her thoughts. She rested her head on the wall and shut her eyes. Eyes still closed she lowered head and sighed once more.

“All my life, I’d never really had any troubles or hard times. Both of my parents had great jobs, I was an only child, could pretty much do anything when it came to school. Senior class president, lead role in the musical, good grades, no sex, drugs or alcohol. Loved Jesus, the whole nine yards.” She paused for a few seconds.

“Then last October, I was at school rehearsing for the upcoming musical when my mom called me and told me that..that my dad had been in a car accident..and didn’t make it.

“I didn’t know what to do. My only outlet was my boyfriend of nine months, Jacob. Crying hysterically, I left school and drove to his house. Not even knocking I walked in and found him and the captain of the cheerleading squad having sex on his couch.”

AJ sat up and turned toward Ashlee as she wiped away her tears.

“My entire world was crashing beneath me. I ran out the door and got into my car and started driving. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I just wanted out. I grabbed my phone and called up this girl that I knew from my English class. She was well into drugs and I knew that she would be able to fix my pain, so I thought. After that day, my life went down hill. I started with just marijuana, but eventually went into crank, meth, ecstasy..anything to rid my pain. I was going out every Friday and Saturday night, getting high and drinking away my problems. I stopped going to school and church and eventually ran away from home and for about a month, I was living on the streets. I was sleeping under bridges, eating out of garbage cans and selling myself so that I could buy drugs to forget everything.”

Tears were streaming down Ashlee’s face and AJ was fighting back the tears from falling down his. He placed his hand on her hands. Ashlee closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Three months after the day that my world had crashed, I was walking down Main Street and I ran into the pastor from my church. He took one look at me and just pulled me close. ‘Ashlee. I’ve been praying that I would find you.’

“He took me to his house and from there I began to get better. By April, I was back at my own house, living with my mother, rebuilding the bridge that I had burned with her. I went back to school to get my GED and there, I met my friend Mia. She had gone through just as much as I had in the past six months and we instantly clicked. I graduated June 13, the day that I was five months clean. I was back to loving Christ again and my life and taken a complete 180 and I wanted something to symbolized my new beginning, so..I got this tattoo.”

She looked AJ in the eyes, “My tattoo represents my new life. I have spread my wings and flown away from the nasty road I went down.”

She gave AJ a weak smile and looked back down at her hands and his. He squeezed her hands and with his free hand lifted her face to his and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“I know exactly how you are feeling and I am very proud that you came out of where you were.”

He pulled her in close. Ashlee let her self go. She hadn’t felt so welcome is another man’s arms since the day her father died and her boyfriend betrayed her. Her new life was becoming new once more.