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Ashley walked back into the Condo a short while later kicking off her sandals and dropping her bag at the door. She walked into the living room where she found Denise sitting with AJ and Marcus.

“Hi.” She smiled at Denise a little as she walked into the room.

“Did you have fun at the beach?” Denise smiled inviting her to sit down next to her. “You look nice and tan.”

“Yea. It’s so nice over there, do you mind if I take a quick shower though? I feel all sandy and gross.” She made a face laughing.

“Just be really quick. I have someone coming over that I want you to meet and I have a few places I need to run to today.”

“I’ll be quick.” She said as she made her way to her room.

“I don’t think she’s gonna like this very much.” AJ said once she was out of earshot. Denise had already filled him in on who Kathy was and why she was coming over.

“Well she has no choice.” Denise said firmly. “This isn’t just about the problems the two of you have been having, it’s about her attitude in general. I don’t like all the things she’s been getting into, being brought home by the cops for drinking at fourteen is unacceptable. If she won’t talk to either of us about what’s going on maybe bringing in someone will work.”

“You didn’t tell me that she got brought home by the cops.” AJ raised an eyebrow in concern. ”When did that happen?”

“A couple of weeks before you went into rehab.” She sighed. “You were so stressed out on the road I didn’t want you to have anything else to worry about.”

“This is all my fault.” He sighed holding in the tears that were threatening to fall. “None of this crap started until I messed up that weekend I was supposed to watch her.”

“Alex, none of this is your fault.” Denise reassured him. “I’ll tell you exactly what I told her, she is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. She chose to drink because everyone else was doing it and they were bored. It has nothing to do with you, so don’t blame yourself.”

“I guess you’re right.” He sighed but Denise could see the doubt in his eyes. She placed a reassuring hand on top of his and smiled at him.

“Things will get better.” She said as the doorbell rang. She stood and answered the door letting Kathy in. She greeted her and led her into the living room introducing her to AJ and Marcus.

“Alex here is more then willing to be open and talk with you, Ashley on the other hand might be a little more trouble. I haven’t exactly told her you were coming yet.” Denise confided.

“And believe me she won’t be happy.” AJ chimed in.

“Well all I want to do is talk to her and see how she’s feeling.” Kathy smiled.

“Talk to me about what?” Ashley said from the doorway. Everyone turned around to find her standing there with her arms crossed.

“Why don’t you come sit over here. I have someone I want to introduce you to.” Denise smiled at her hoping she wouldn’t catch an attitude.

Ashley sighed and walked over plopping herself down on the couch.

“Ashley this is a good friend of mine, Kathy Pierce.” Denise introduced her. “Kathy this is my little fire cracker of a daughter, Ashley.”

Ashley smiled fakely at her and shook her extended hand. She looked at Denise wondering what this was all about.

“Ashley, Kathy is a family psychiatrist and I asked her to come here today to talk with you and Alex about the problems you’ve been having.” Ashley went to speak but Denise stopped her. “I know there are some things that you don’t want me to know about and that’s fine, for that reason I won’t be here while you three talk. Anything you speak to Kathy about is confidential I will have no knowledge of what is said here today.”

“What if I don’t wanna talk?” Ashley asked her smile quickly fading.

“Then you can sit here quietly and listen to what Alex has to say.” Kathy said.

Ashley sat back and crossed her arms her lips pursed as she just stared at the wall. She didn’t want to have to talk to him, especially not around some stranger but she knew she had no choice, especially if she wanted to get out of the house tonight.

Kathy followed Denise to the door as she was leaving.

“Kathy thank you so much for coming in here today, good luck with Ashley, I know she can be hardheaded but she’s just hurting.”

“I’m sure I’ll figure out a way to get threw to her. Believe me I’ve dealt with worse.” She reassured her.

“Marcus is upstairs if anything gets too out of hand, but I’m sure you have everything under control.” She grabbed her purse from the door. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”



“You know this little brat act that you have going on is getting old.” AJ said as soon as Kathy and Denise exited the room.

Ashley glared at him giving him the finger. He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Kathy re entered the room and smiled over at Ashley who in turn rolled her eyes and looked in the opposite direction.

“Alex, would you mind sitting on the couch with Ashley this way I can speak openly with both of you?” she asked.

“No problem.” He smiled and took a seat on the other end of the couch.

“So Alex, since Ashley doesn’t seem to want to be here we’ll just pretend like she’s not.” Kathy said and AJ nodded in agreement.

She knew the best way to deal with her would be to not push her into talking but let her start on her own. The only way to catch her attention was to ignore her just as she was pretending to ignore them.

“So why don’t you tell me how this all began. The arguing that is.” Kathy asked.

“Well I think it all starts back when I moved out to California about a year and a half ago. I kind of just made that decision without talking to anyone about it. Ashley lost her mom a few months before and she was scared of loosing me too. As much as I promised her things wouldn’t change once I moved out here I got involved with some of the wrong people and started pulling myself more and more away from my family. I was making the conscious decision to do it because I didn’t want to have to deal with the pressure of being there for everyone but I wasn’t realizing how much it was hurting everyone else.” He looked at Ashley from the corner of his eye and saw the hurt that she was trying to cover by anger.

“Ok well now let’s fast forward a little, when was the first time you guys really fought.” Denise had filled Kathy in on a few things before she came in so she wanted to try and get to the main source of all the anger.

“It was in December. I had missed out on a lot of things since I moved out to California and Ashley had been bugging me for weeks about coming to see her in her school play. I made it all the way out there and was getting ready to go and everything but I got sidetracked…” he trailed off not really wanting to say why he didn’t show up.

‘How do I explain that one.’ He thought to himself. He knew if it was just drugs or alcohol it would sound better then ‘hey I had the opportunity to sleep with three girls and I couldn’t give it up.’ He knew it wasn’t a good excuse but he also knew that he couldn’t lie to Ashley.

He took a deep breath and continued. “I’m not gonna say I’m proud of this but I was high at the time and the girl I was sleeping with offered to invite over some friends if I would stay. Needless to say I missed her play and Ashley was very upset that I didn’t show up. When she confronted me I said some things that I really didn’t mean.”

Ashley couldn’t help but scoff at this comment shaking her head. Kathy looked at him urging him to continue and ignore her.

“She didn’t talk to me for a while and then I was supposed to baby sit her while my mom went out of town for a few days. She thought it would be a good way for us to try and set things straight but I thought it was just a hassle.” He said honestly. “Her friend was there too and I didn’t want to waste my time watching two teenage girls when I had just been surrounded by them on tour.”

“Then why did you agree to do it?” Kathy asked.

“In all honesty mom had been questioning me on my behaviors so I figured if things went well she would stay off my back for a while.”

“And how did it go?”

“Those few days were when everything really exploded.” He sighed rubbing his head as he continued. “Ashley decided to skip school with her friends and I came home early. Instead of being a responsible adult and punishing her I decided to use it to my advantage and I blackmailed her into staying with a friend for the week so I could have the house to myself to party.”

Kathy glanced over at Ashley who was now tapping her foot on the nearby table. She could tell she was reaching her breaking point so she urged AJ to continue.

“My mom decided to come home early and I again blackmailed Ashley into cleaning up the house, that’s when she found some of my drugs. When she confronted me about it I didn’t know what to do and I flipped out on her, again a lot was said that I didn’t mean but I was angry at her for snooping in my room and butting in. I know she was only doing it because she cared but at that moment I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I guess what I said really upset her because the next day she came home with a major hangover.”

Ashley shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She didn’t like the fact that they were talking about her but she knew they were waiting for her to jump in and defend herself and she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of getting to her.

“So it sounds like you’ve said a lot of things that you regret…do you remember what those things were?” Kathy asked.

“In all honesty, no.” he sighed

Ashley could feel herself becoming more and more angry with every word he spoke. How could he not forget all the hurtful things he had said to her? She couldn’t take it anymore.

“How could you not remember?” she yelled her voice starling him at first. “How’s about I jog your memory for you a little.”

He looked at her and saw the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Kathy kept quiet knowing Ashley needed to let all her emotions out.

“How’s about I got a life and incase you haven’t realized it doesn’t revolve around you…or what about the time you called me an ungrateful bitch who only cared about your money…or that you didn’t need me…or the millions times you told me to stay out of your life, or the time you ignored me the whole three days I was at your house and tried to convince mom that I wasn’t good enough for the Academy oh wait and here’s my favorite…you’re dead to me.” She stared him in the eyes emotionless, making him uncomfortable. He looked away from her tears now threatening his eyes. He hadn’t realized all the hurtful things he had said to her and that she remembered them word for word.

“I’m sorry.” Was all he could manage to say, still not having the guts to face her dark eyes that were filled with pain.

Kathy took a deep breath before speaking. “How did you feel when he said all of that to you?”

“I didn’t feel anything. I don’t care what he says and I don’t care what he does.” She lied.

“Ashley you’re never going to feel better if you don’t get this off of your chest. Even if you don’t want to talk to him afterwards you deserve to tell him how you feel.”

“It really hurt.” She said quietly. “And I was really scared.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t care that what he was doing could kill him. I lost my mom I didn’t wanna loose my best friend too.” She quickly wiped the tears that were falling from her eyes.

“Did you tell him how you felt?” Kathy asked.

“He didn’t care, he only cares about himself.” She stopped wiping away the tears and just let them fall freely. “I can’t care anymore.”

“I’m so sorry… I didn’t realize how much I was hurting you.” He reached out to hug her.

“Don’t touch me.” She said coldly pushing him away from her. “Just because I’m talking to her doesn’t mean that I’m forgiving you. I’m doing this for myself.”

“Ok…I’m…I’m sorry.” He sighed looking down in front of him.

“Can we be done now?” she asked seeing how hurt he was. She didn’t want to be so mean to him but she couldn’t help it.

“Yes. We can be done now.” Kathy said as she looked over at AJ who was visibly on the verge of tears. She looked back at Ashley and saw the sorrow in her eyes. Ashley looked at him a moment longer before getting up and retreating to her room.

“She’ll come around.” Kathy smiled at AJ a little. “She said how she was feeling and that’s a big step. She wants to reconnect with you, I can see it in her eyes, I just don’t think she knows how to trust you just yet. You need to figure out a way to show her that you’re sorry rather then just saying it.”

“How do I do that?” he asked looking up with tear filled eyes. “I’d do anything to make things right again.”

“That I can’t tell you.” Kathy sighed. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After speaking with AJ for a little longer Kathy was on her way. She called Denise letting her know that she was finished, not getting into detail of the accounts of the afternoon. Ashley was un-packing clothes looking for something to wear later on. She was hoping she could convince Denise to let her go out tonight.

She heard Denise come home and walked out into the living room making sure to put on a fake smile.

“Hi mom.” She said taking a seat next to her on the couch.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Good.” She smiled knowing she was just going to have to go for it. “Do we have anything to do tonight?”

“I was hoping we would all have dinner together. I know things aren’t perfect but Alex is leaving tomorrow night and it will be a while until we see him again.” Denise smiled at her.

“I guess one dinner wouldn’t kill me.” She sighed.

“That was a little too easy…what are you after?” Denise was onto her.

“I was hoping I could maybe go somewhere tonight. I met this kid at the beach and he goes to my school and he invited me to a party.” She said timidly.

“I don’t know how I feel about that. Where exactly is this party?” Denise asked.

“Some place called Rocky Point. He said he would pick me up and bring me home and I’d meet a lot of kids from my school.” She tried to sway her before she could say no.

“Ashley, I’m glad you’re trying to make friends quickly but we just moved her. I don’t know the area and I can’t just let you go off with some boy in a car alone. You don’t know anything about him, what kind of driver he is, or who’s going to be at this party. I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She said.

“That’s not fair!” she pouted crossing her arms huffing in anger.

“You can’t expect me to just let you go off like that when we’ve only been here for a few days. Maybe after I have a chance to meet this boy, but not tonight.” Denise tried to make her point.

“I never get to do anything!” she whined.

“Dinner’s in twenty minutes.” Denise ignored her giving her a look letting her know she better cut out her attitude

“I’m not hungry.” she just sighed and retreated to her room making sure to slam the door shut. If she wasn't getting her way there was no way she was playing nice and sitting down to dinner with everyone.

Ashley threw herself down on her bed frustrated that Denise kept treating her like a child. She turned over and grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand finding Derek’s number in her phone book. She hit dial and waited for him to pick up.

“Hello?” he said after a few rings.

“Derek? This is Ashley…from the beach earlier.”

“I thought so. What’s going on…you coming out with me tonight?”

“As long as you don’t mind leaving a little late. I have to wait for my mom to go to bed. She’s usually out around 10.” She said hoping he wouldn’t mind.

“Party doesn’t really hit it off until 11 anyway…how’s about I come scoop you up around 10:30?”

“Sounds good to me…I’m at the condos on Woodbury. I’ll be down by the front so we don’t have to worry about the gate.”

“See you then sweetie.” He said and hung up.