chapter one

I THOUGHT MY BEST FRIEND was completely drunk when I smashed my lips onto hers. I figured she'd kiss me back and confess her un-defying love for me, but the only thing I received was a smack across the face and a threat from her boyfriend.

Since the event a few months ago, I've stayed away from her - and let me tell you, it's not easy at all.    

Watching her laugh and smile from afar are the things that remind me of her slap and betrayal. I wish I could apologize and pretend none of that ever happened, but she knows I was sober at the party. She knows it wasn't a drunk mistake.

The least I'm asking for is forgiveness. I don't know how many times I've apologized to her, and every time I do she ignores me even further than before.

"Hey, babe. Ready to go?" I felt a light peck on my cheek.

I half-heartedly smiled as I watched my ex best friend, Julia, kiss her hunky boyfriend. I turned to face Mason and plastered a big smile on my face just for him.

"Yeah."

I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his. They were warm and welcoming, almost as if they were telling me that I shouldn't think about Julia the way I do. I should think about Mason instead.

I pulled away and smiled. Mason smiled as well and put his arm around me as we walked down the school hall together.

When we approached Julia and Chad (her hunky boyfriend), I couldn't help but wish that she'd see Mason and I and realize that I am a real person in a real relationship. But she paid no attention to us at all as we walked by, breaking my heart just a little bit more.

"Okay, I have our whole day planned. You ready for this?" Mason looked at me as if I were a golden ticket.

"Shoot," I chuckled.

We opened the doors to the main entry way and stepped out on to the many stairs leading up to the school. Mason spun around so he faced me and held his hands out in front of him as I braced myself for what's to come.

"We're going to bake those amazing cookies you always make -"

"-you mean I'm going to bake the cookies alone while you search for something to watch on Netflix?" I smirked.

This was our usual routine. He always says that he's planned something amazing, but it's always the same in the end.

"No, you goof. I'll help you this time, I swear." He chuckled as he put his hands up to surrender.    

"Good," I smiled, "but I'm going to need to buy a few ingredients because I ran out of a lot of things."    

"Okay, well-"

"Hey!" Someone called from afar, "Mason!"

I peered over his shoulder as he turned around to see who was calling him. It was Frank, a good friend of Mason's. They're both on the soccer team and are star players (according to the school newspaper - I honestly don't think Mason's that good and he just earned the title because of his looks, but I'm not the one writing the paper so I can't complain).

"Aye, Frank!" They do a manly shake and top it off with a manly hug.Everything is always so manly with Mason, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing yet.

"What's up man?" Mason focuses all his attention on Frank.

I awkwardly cross my arms and fade away in the background; trying not to interrupt or become involved. I hear a few things about a birthday party, but I'm not too intrigued.

Just as I was about to pitch in and force Mason to carry on with the conversation and hurry things up, Julia walked out of the school doors right next to me. Her fingers are intertwined with Chad's and she's throwing her head back, laughing at something as if it's the funniest thing in the world. I swear she's just doing this to torture me. She knows I loved her, more than a best friend, and now she's trying to show me that she's obviously not interested.

Well, Julia, it's working. I've just realized how much of a bitch you are.

"Hey, Ashley," Mason caught my attention, "I have to go to some soccer thing. It's coach's birthday."    

"Oh, that's fine." I smile. It may look like I'm upset at him, but really I'm just angry at Julia.

"I'm sorry babe, I'll make it up to you." He grabbed my hands into his. We were standing so close to each other that I could feel his breath. He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. We pulled away shortly before Frank and all his other friends started calling for him.

"Yeah, Mason, get it!"

We laughed.

"If you're still up for it, we can bake cookies and watch dumb movies tonight. Sound good?" His hands tucked my hair behind both ears.

"Sounds perfect." I smile and kiss him one more time before he joins his friends. As I watched him walk away, I couldn't help but realize that no matter how many times I kiss him, I can't get the thought of Julia out of my mind.

And that really scares me.

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Without thinking if Mason would actually be able to hang out tonight or not, I figured I should still go to the grocery store and buy some ingredients. I'm really craving some cookies right now, and the only ones I like are the ones I bake. I can't eat store bought cookies; even if they were the last thing on earth I wouldn't even touch them.

I don't know why or how it happened, but Julia seemed to creep into my mind as I reached for the flour on the top shelf.

We used to be best friends. I'd invite her to my place for Thanksgiving and we'd spend Christmas morning together at her house. We had sleepovers every weekend and we watched Disney movies on repeat.

I wish it never had stopped.

I don't know why I thought it was a smart idea to steal a kiss from her when I thought she wasn't aware of her surroundings. It was dumb to take advantage like that and I'll never forgive myself for it.

I plopped the bag of flour into my shopping cart and pushed down the aisle as I looked for chocolate chips.

Whenever I bought ingredients with Julia, she'd always throw the Hershey's chocolate chips in the shopping cart. I'd always laugh and tell her that Nestle was better, but she'd never listen. We always ended up getting both because I couldn't fight with her. She got away with a lot around me; I loved her.

Just as I began to reach for a bag of Hershey's chocolate chips (only because I missed Julia's favorite and thought it'd be disrespectful to buy Nestle), I felt a cold liquid pour all over my arm, down my leg, and onto my foot of my entire right side of my body.

I immediately jumped back and looked down at myself - completely shocked. I was covered in a white substance that I quickly recognized as milk.

"Oh, my God!" Someone yelled very close to me. "Are you okay? Wow, I'm so sorry. Oh, my God. Um, I'm gonna go get a mop and some napkins, Uh.. stay right here!"

Right, like I'll be going anywhere like this soon.

I looked up to see who was apologizing to me, but I only caught a glimpse of a person running before they turned out of the aisle. However, I did see many other people in the aisle that were staring at me as if I were an alien.

They were the same stares I received after I kissed Julia.

I flicked some milk off of my right arm as I stood there like an idiot, waiting for this person to come back and help me. I wanted to get out of here as fast as I could and escape from the stares.

All of this felt way too familiar - the stares, the whispers.

"Hey! I got some napkins!"

I looked up and saw a girl running towards me with about a billion compostable napkins in her hands.

My breath caught in my throat as she came closer to me. Her hair was blonde and tossed up into a bun that looked like a birds nest, but she pulled it off perfectly. She was wearing high waisted shorts and a black crop top. It's a common outfit that I always see people wear, but she made it look different. A really good kind of different.

"Hi, I got napkins." She extended her arm out towards me.

I completely forgot that I was covered in milk when I saw her.

"Oh, yeah." I laughed nervously. "Thanks."

I took them and awkwardly wiped my right arm. The milk was getting all over the floor now, but there's not really anything I can do about that.

"Here, let me help you." She offered and bent down as she started wiping my right leg.     I could've had a heart attack right there.

I couldn't even open my mouth to thank her I was so nervous. We both wiped the milk off of my body for a good minute before people stopped staring at us and moved on with their life.

"So, what's your name?" She asked.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Ashley." I cleared my throat, "Ashley James."

She looked up at me and smiled really big; showcasing a huge dimple on the right side of her mouth.

"Well, Ashley James," she began, "I'm really sorry for pouring milk all over you. Don't ask me how it happened, because I don't even know." She laughed. Her laugh was like a lullaby. "I just tripped over my own feet and you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

I laughed. I forgave her the second I saw her running towards me. She didn't have any reason to apologize to me.

"What's your name?" I asked as she began to wipe my leg again.

"May Parker."

May Parker. I smirked.

"Ashley James, why are you looking at me like that?"

I quickly shook my head and took a deep breath. Why was I looking at her in such a way that she had to ask me that question? I really need to pull myself together. I have a boyfriend. And I love him. Very, very much.

"Sorry." I apologized and continued to wipe my arm as May Parker cleaned milk off of my leg.

I'm going to need to take a long shower tonight.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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Wow I just love this story it's like my baby and I'll never let my baby go.

(like actually though this is supposed to be a side project but I'm just so invested now that I don't know what to do with myself anymore)

What do you guys think so far? Be honest! I want to improve as much as I can!

I LOVE COMMENTS so please comment.

Dedication to my sister, WonderFilledStories, because she's amazing and I love her and today is her birthday so go wish her a happy birthday <3

***Quick question: should I alternate between Ashley and May's POV's, or should I just write from Ashley's POV? ***