AN: Hello, friends. Again sorry for being late :( But here I am with this new unedited dose. I will be updating short chapters henceforth as my earlier chapters were too big and also it takes lot of my time and energy. So shorter update, quicker update :) And again the same promises of updating sooner and taking down the chapters for editing and believe me; I am going through the previous chapters to edit them. Now let's begin with the next chapter. Enjoy :)

Message : All the Philippines here on wattpad, hope you all are fine. Be safe.

<3 Ni

==XX==

It's better to die in the flesh of hope

than to live in the slimness of despair.

~Grace Nichols~

Chapter 17 - Comfort comes too late, but I'll be that for you

Ashline's POV

"What the hell, Ron?" My voice raised as Ron snatched the piece of pizza from my hands I was going to bite.

"Ash, I didn't rest for a single second thinking about the hours I don't remember and what you are telling me is this, sitting calmly eating this vapid, sticky pizza as if this is nothing?" Ron said, pointing at my piece of pizza in his hand with a scrunched nose.

He truly didn't do that. No one ever dared to say it. I couldn't tolerate anyone insulting my pizza and Ron knew better than this. It was my favorite pizza with toping of chicken, onion, oregano, tomato, mushroom, sausages and garlic. But then he was Ron, my best friend who just loved to annoy me with unexpected things. "Don't you dare say anything to my pizza," I growled, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I will. Your pizza stinks. Yuk!" He faked gagging, enjoying my irritation. "I will keep on saying this till you tell me the truth."

"What do you mean by 'tell me the truth'? You think I am lying, I am lying?"

"Yes, you are lying," he said, his five feet ten inch height towering over my five feet six inch.

I threw my hands in air. "Why in this entire world would I lie to you, Ron? You are being impossible."

"I am being impossible?" He snorted. "It's you who is being impossible here. Whatever you are telling is a crap. I didn't do that with her, never. Making out with Grace? No, I don't believe you." Ron brushed his hand through his hair. Disbelief was written all over his horrified face. His face evidenced the struggle between shame and defiance. I knew he was frustrated. He regretted his act of challenging Steven for drinking beer. I wasn't hurt because he had challenged Steven, but 'cause of the fact that getting drunk was not what I had expected from Ron. Once he had been into trouble because of his over drinking. I had not expected him to commit that mistake again. Though I didn't have any idea why he did that, I was sure to make him regret his deed. He had a bad temper and I, being his friend, needed to be responsible to make him understand what he was dragging himself into.

Ron was losing his temper again and to be honest, I was enjoying his splendid facial expressions and looks that he was throwing on everyone sitting around the round table in the cafeteria, having lunch. Eloise, Mac, Mitzy and Randal, all kept quite while Ron continued throwing his tantrum on us. I had told them about my plan and following it, they shut their mouth into a thin line, because the last thing I needed was Eloise to ruin the plan with his 'terrific' act.

Since it was a lunch time, cafeteria was full of students' buzz. Clattering of spoons and dishes was like background music played around. Entire room was embraced by the mixture of delicious smell of various food items. It was always hard to eavesdrop into someone's conversation in this noise, so we had a better opportunity to chasten Ron here compared to other places with less noise.

"You, you all are liars." Ron pointed at all of us.

"You can't accuse us simply like that, Ron."

"Neither can you."

"Ron, listen to me." I placed my palms on his hands and etched an innocent look. "There is no point in denying it now. We understand you didn't want us to know about it, but what will you lose in accepting it now that we know it already?"

"Yeah, dude. You said you love her. We never knew you were in relation with her," Randal said from across the table.

Ron simply glared at him, while I tried to control a chuckle which wanted to skip my lips. Ron's frustration was crystal clear. His palms clenched-unclenched into a fist at his sides, while his green eyes pleaded me to stop this and say I was joking. Anyone would think I was exaggerating too much, but no one knew Ron better than me.

Even being in this messed up situation, I couldn't help but notice the boyish face of Ron. His ash-blond hair had become a mess after being brushed with fingers for hundredth time, but it did not affect a bit to his killer playboy look. In fact, it added more sexiness, making girls drool over him. Ron's eyes were the most mesmerizing olive-green eyes that could captivate anyone. He was sporting a dark green hoodie which perfectly complemented his fair skin and athletic body.

If I had not been his friend, I would have fallen hard for his mischievous, yet sweet smile. I was sure Ron would be amazing boyfriend and ideal husband. The girl to be part of his life would be lucky. Ron had an advantage of his charm which could bewitch girls, but he never used any girl. He was a sweetest guy I ever met. I was proud that he chose me to be his best friend. Mitzy always said, we complement each other, and we should go ahead with our relation, but I never gave it a thought and I guess neither did Ron. Anybody would fall in love with Ron for the care he showed towards his loved ones, but sometimes it takes years to realize your love for someone whereas sometimes only a glance is enough to fall in love. I flushed as the memory took me back to the time when I saw Steven for the first time, here, in this same place.

"Yeah, dude!" Eloise purred in. See, I told you; it was his way of acting. "We all saw you. Oh, you both were been hot there and Grace is a bomb. No doubt why did you go for her. With such a passion you pulled her onto the bed and-"

"I never knew you would hide something like this from me, Ron," I said interrupting Eloise before he could go into the details and ruin everything. I gathered all my skill and pulled a sad look on my face, hiding a sigh of relief and smile.

"Ash, just stop this. It cannot happen. It's all bullshit." Ron banged his fist on table, turning some of the heads around to us. But soon they turned their attention back into their work.

"Why are you still denying it, Ron?"

"Because it is impossible. Can't you see that?"

"Why is it not possible? You love her, Ron."

"I don't love her. I..." Ron trailed off, leaving me puzzled. He shifted his gaze uneasily between me, Randal and rest. That got me thinking. Why was he being so weird lately? As far as I knew, Ron had girls in his life in the past days. Can someone change suddenly? No way could Ron change!

"Ron! Are you bisexual?" The words slipped out of my mouth before I could tie them up.

Ron's eyes grew wide in horror. "No! Why did you think that? No, I- it's just- Uhm... Well, you know like- like she is not my cup of tea." Ron shrugged his shoulders. That released some invisible weight from over my chest.

"You think I am lying then, huh?" I spoke.

"No, I-"

"You think I simply created this story. Okay. Fine. Alright, if you don't believe me, then... Go ask Grace yourself. Go and ask her which brand of condom you used."

"Okay," Ron almost got off his chair when the words sunk in his brain properly. "What?" he asked shocked and equally embarrassed.

I was already on the edge of losing my control and now it was hard to hold back my laughter. Eloise, Mac, Mitzy and Randal too joined me in laughing. Ron slumped back in his chair, in attempt to hide himself.

Tears welled up in my eyes after laughing so hard. Randal clapped on Ron's back while Eloise and Mac punched him teasingly. Once done laughing they started filling their stomach with food as few minutes was left for lunch break to end. But I couldn't forget Ron's reaction. It made me laugh continuously. A pink tinge started slowly creeping up his neck.

"Did you... Did you honestly think... of asking her that?" I asked clutching my stomach.

He shook his head in amusement. "So, I was right all the way till now. I had nothing with her."

"Who said you didn't have anything with her?" I asked mockingly and as a reply, he pulled on my hair playfully.

"Oww... Alright, alright, I agree you didn't do anything." I spoke, holding my hands up in surrender. His cheeks glowed with amusement as my confirmation slaked his fear. "But you shouldn't have drunk so much, Ron. Anything would have happened. Not with Grace, then it would have been somebody else. It could bring you into unwelcomed trouble, you no. It was all just to make you understand the consequences. You should drink as much you can digest, not crossing the limit," I added.

"I know and I am really sorry for that, Ash. I also had put you in despair," Ron said, his face flaming with guilt and shame.

I let out a huge breath. Ron had that adoring face that no one could stay angry with him for much time. "Okay I forgive you, but you won't be this lucky next time. You will die hard Mr. Ronald Dobbs." We both laughed together enjoying our bitter-sweet moment. "But you need to agree that you did believe it for a second, didn't you?" I continued.

"No, I didn't."

"Oh, yes, you did, Ron," I pressed on.

"No."

"Yes, I bet you-" Ron's phone buzzed. He kept staring at the phone display for seconds, his eyebrows furrowed and then he pressed the red button to disconnect it, quickly slipping the phone inside his jeans' pocket.

"Anyways, how is your practice going on?" I asked, shrugging.

Ron flinched a little at my question. He didn't reply me. Instead, he took bite of the pizza he had grabbed from me. "I don't understand why you love this pizza so much," he said, while munching on the piece. I narrowed my eyes at him, but I knew he was exactly aiming for that. He wanted to divert my mind from my question to the most sensitive topic for me, my pizza.

Nice attempt it was, but I did not want him to change the cards. I could clearly see his tense muscles even though he tried to act cool. I did not understand why he would ignore this question. Swimming had been his passion and everyone knew how excited he was for the upcoming championship which was in this week on Friday. He had been practicing hard for hours. He always had been a confident, sporty leader. There was not a single day when he didn't mention about his practice and every time when he recited about his new record in swimming, breaking his own previous ones, I felt proud and happy for him. His face always lightened up with enthusiasm whenever anyone asked him about swimming. And not to forget that everyone in the school had their hopes high for him as he never failed to add a trophy in school's treasure.

I knew how much he was looking forward to this tournament. His dream was to become an international swimming champion. But today as I looked at him, I saw no trace of that excitement in his eyes. Behind that boyish grin, there was a sadness which was not hidden from me. He may have tried a lot to wrap it up, but didn't succeed. Was there something bothering him? He never seemed as lost as he seemed now. Was he suddenly feeling nervous about the event?

Ron's nervousness on the context of event being four days ahead was undesirable.

"What? I just stated the fact," Ron stated and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, averting my gaze. That was definitely not Ron. I shook my head.

"Ron, you didn't answer me something. What's wrong? Erm... is there any problem with coach?"

"No! Why would you think that? My practice is... well, it's going good." His phone buzzed again. He took it out of the pocket and glancing once at the caller id, he disconnected it. I frowned at his lack of interest in receiving the call, but I ignored it.

"Ron, please tell me what's wrong," I asked him calmly, but my insides were bursting with concern.

"It's nothing, Ash. I am just... tired." He dropped his gaze down on the table and placed the half-eaten piece of pizza back in the plate in which he seemed least interested. His shoulders were stooped like the rocks over the hiking path.

My heart crushed seeing Ron's wearied face. His melancholy was killing me inside. Placing my palms on his hand-resting on the table- I gave him a smile in the hope that it would deliver my words to him, but I needed to say it aloud too.

"Ron, this is definitely not you," I started looking into his eyes. "You always have been confident on yourself. You have practiced hard for the day. I am sure you will make it to the gold medal with the best record till now. You will win. I believe in you, everyone does, but nothing will matter if you don't believe in yourself. Even if you do not make it-which is a rare case- you won't be loosing anything or anyone. We all will love you the way we do now. And you also need to pay me back for abandoning me all the time for your swimming practice." I laughed before adding, "You can do it."

Ron looked up at me. His eyes held something different today. I couldn't decode it. He smiled back, creasing his face briefly in the process. "I hope I will get through it, Ash," he said, his voice sounding distant.

"You will," I assured him. I felt a different edge of meaning to the words he said, but blaming my psychedelic mind, I hoped he meant what my conscious mind thought. "And also, one day you are going to accept that my pizza is the best pizza in the world."

Ron let out a low chuckle. Again his phone ringed, causing his frown grow deeper with each passing second, his phone buzzed in his hand.

"Just receive the damn call, Ron! Who is so desperate on talking to you?" I spoke impatiently. Who was the person calling him again and again? I was curious now. Whoever the person was, it was clear that Ron was avoiding talking to that person. May be, that person was the reason of his jitteriness.

Ron again cut the call and within a minute it buzzed again. Before Ron could press the red button of the phone, I snatched it from him. My eyes knitted together in confusion when I saw who was calling. "Ron..." I trailed off, shifting my gaze from the phone's screen to Ron and back to the phone. Confusion robbed me of speech. Why would he do that? "Ron, it is your father's call. Why are you not-" Ron seized phone from my hands before I could finish my sentence. He gritted his teeth, pressed the receive button and held it near his ear, all in fury.

AN: So, what do you think now? You have successfully finished reading this chapter ;)

What do you think happened between Ron and his father to make Ron so furious? Isn't The relation between Ron and Ash so sweet? A sweet and bitter moment? Do leave your comments and as usual waiting for your tremendous love. Last two chapters were a bit low with votes. Don't know the reason :( Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Will be back with another chapter very soon.

The next update will be of 'Something Like... Love?" So stay tuned, take care and may God bless you all.

Love you all.

<3