Addicted|n.h.|

Ashley stood in front of the most horrifying scene she could never get out of her head. Her once best friend who'd moved away to another part of the world was stood in front of her with one of Ashley's ex-boyfriends. To be precise, her just ex-boyfriend. Maybe Sarah, her best friend, didn't know about it but it still hurt. The two of them pulled apart and looked at her, shocked. What was she doing there? They were wondering. But what Ashley was wondering was more scary.

Not saying another word, she threw her bags on the floor and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. She wanted to get rid of the image, the most horrifying image, scene she'd ever seen. This was worse than being stepped out by her father. She felt tears prick her eyes but quickly blinked them away. She couldn't let this get to her. She couldn't. He was her past, but Sarah...she was her everything. Her past, present and future.

As kids, they'd imagined being together for the rest of humanity but one single incident ripped them apart. Ashley's heart ached. She couldn't believe that Jason, her ex who was with Sarah, was here, and clearly had moved on, way too fast. On nights she'd been crying herself to sleep, he was out. With Sarah. On night's when she'd wanted him most, he wasn't there. Yes, she broke up with him and she regretted it. But not anymore.

She couldn't blame herself for thinking he was the perfect one. The one for her. She had to let go of such things- of thinking that men who seem perfect are perfect, because they're not. They're just not. Men who're imperfect, who accept their flaws- are the ones who're more perfect than those who call themselves perfect. More tears threatened her, but she held them back when suddenly she bumped into someone.

"Sorry." she said, not looking up at who it was.

"We have to stop meeting like this." said a familiar accent in a sarcastic tone.

"Niall." she breathed before looking up, her eyes meeting the blue orbs of his.

He had beautiful eyes, she noted. Just like the ocean, just calmer/more calm.

"You know, you still haven't told me your name." he continued, ignoring his named being said. Why was he giving her attention? No one in school ever gave her attention, then what was so special about him?

"Give me a reason to." Ashley replied, turning up a little on the challenges.

"So i can know you better." he replied, innocently.

"Or...so you can stalk me." she said and started walking.

"Hey!" he called out to Ashley, who stopped in her tracks. "Please, tell me your name." he said, more like begged.

"You still haven't given me a reason to." she called back and resumed her walking. It'd been a long time since she'd played hard to get. Actually, two years to be exact.

" 'Cause i like you?" he said in a questioning manner, jogging up to her.

"Is that a question or a statement?" she prodded.

"Well, both." he said and Ashley giggled. There was nothing funny about it, but the guy was clearly clueless.

"Oh, i see." she said.

"Well?" he probed.

"I'm sorry. I can't." she said and started walking briskly, leaving Niall behind.

She loved this feeling. The feeling of leaving someone hanging in the air on a thread. Why hadn't she ever gone out to clubs and done this? Why had she stayed home and studied instead? The air hit her face lightly, which made her heart feel lighter. Somehow, she'd already forgotten about the incident. Walking back to the dorms, she decided on forgiving them about what'd happened, but would she be able to? She'd have to find out.

The door to her dorm room was slightly ajar and for a moment she thought that Sarah and Jason would be waiting for her there. But when she fully opened the door, no one was in the room. Settling in, she picked her bags from the floor and put them in. Opening the zips, she removed all her clothes and walked over to the closet which was half full because Sarah had kept her clothes. Keeping hers alongside hers, she put her bags on the top of the closet and decided to go through Sarah's clothes but doing so would be invading her privacy.

As she went through her clothes, three of the shirts were given by Ashley to Saran on different occasions. She couldn't believe that Sarah still wore them 'cause they were a bit faded and looked like it'd been worn many times. A voice interrupted her chain of thoughts as she stuffed the clothes back inside the closet and looked to see who the hell had disturbed her. Sarah.

"Hey." she said casually.

"Hi." Ashley replied. It'd been such a long time. All she wanted was to hug her best friend and forget all that happened. She didn't care about him and anything else as long as she had her best friend by her side, everything would be fine. Okay.

As if reading her thoughts, Sarah walked to Ashley and hugged her tight. She couldn't believe how long it'd been. So long that she'd forgotten the touch of her best friend, the voice that always felt like home, the memories she'd made were fading but she was ready to make new ones with her again. Ready to move on from her past life. She cared what her friend would say about her dating Jason. Honestly, she didn't know that they'd dated once upon a time till he told her that very day when they'd gone searching for her. That's why she'd broken up with him. She didn't want to date her best friend's ex.

Although they'd been apart for three years, getting back together was her favorite thing. She knew in her heart that one day they would meet. But not like this. She was happy and excited and was ready to spend her college years with her best friend, and not fight.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have burst out like that, i'm-"

"It's okay. I didn't know about the two of you. And well, we broke up." Sarah said, cutting Ashley short. She wouldn't let a boy get in the way of their friendship. Her friendship mattered more to her than boyfriends. Boyfriends would come and go but best friends are forever and that was her motto. She believed in it. She couldn't just let that clown get in the way of their friendship. Their fifteen years of friendship.

"What? Why? The only reason i came back here was to give my blessings to you guys."
Ashley said, and they both started laughing.

"Well, firstly, he never told me that he'd dated you. And you know my motto. I don't date my best friend's exes. That's the most gross thing anyone can possibly do. So when he told me, i slapped him hard across his cheek which left my hand's impression and it looked pretty cool.
And i told him to bugger off and never call me again." Sarah explained.

"And this happened when?" Ashley asked, confirming the time and place 'cause deep down she was really happy that her best friend had done that. 'Cause she too had done it when they'd broken up.

"When we came looking for you." she replied to her question.

"Oh." she said. All she hoped for was that, Sarah hadn't caught her talking to Niall 'cause then she would start teasing her about it.

"By the way, there's a party tonight in the frat house. Wanna come along?" she asked as she laid down on Ashley's bed.

"That's my bed and yes, i will definitely come along." Ashley said and laid down next to her best friend.

"I know it's your bed. But, if you don't remember, it's been a long time since we've done this and i really missed you." Sarah said, turning on her side.

"Me too. I missed you so freaking much. I always checked my Skype for you, hoping that someday you'd be online and i was literally online 24x7." Ashley said and turned on her side as they hugged on the bed which turned out to be very uncomfortable.

Notes