The Love of Lies

Past

Ashton's POV

Cori's party ended with a movie, a lot of cake, and gentle love making, but I still feel conflicted about her request.

She's fast asleep, but because I'm internally struggling to figure out if 'ignoring' the past is the right thing to do, I can't even close my eyes without feeling guilty, so I end up texting Troy at 2AM.

He's the only person who knows that Cori wasn't working, but surprisingly, he thinks that I should respect Cori's wishes.

Even so, he doesn't like the idea of pretending that nothing bad ever happened between us, but he understands that Cori must have asked for a reason.

"But you're sure she said that?"

"Positive." I was going to tell Cori that our meeting was semi-orchestrated after the twins were born, but now, I don't know what to do.

"You know that this has the potential to be bad if anyone tells her, right?" I'm not going to tell my brother this, but what he just said is why I've been keeping Cori away from her old job.

I don't mind going with her, but she admitted that she may have led 'some people' to believe that I was a stalker, and I use that as a reason for being uncomfortable about meeting any of them.

Cori isn't scheming, so she just thinks it's because she's pregnant, which won't make me look good, but the truth is that I have no idea what Syd's role was in Cori being invited to my brother's party, and based on how he treated her, I have every reason to believe that either he wanted her for himself, or he looked at her like a daughter; neither is good for me.

"Which is why I'm asking you, as my brother, who I booked a hotel room for so that you could give your then a MINOR girlfriend a 'romantic' prom night, please keep it to yourself."

Troy winces, knowing that by doing that for him back then, I could have gotten in serious trouble, especially since I provided wine for them.

"Fine, but you better not make me regret this. I really like Cori, and I don't want to see her get hurt." Those statements are the kind that make me wary of my brother, and I feel like I need to ask him about it.

"When you say that you like Cori, do you-..."

"Don't go there, eww, what? Not ever. Igh. No!" Troy is being dramatic because Cori is beautiful, even our father can admit that much, but I guess I had a similar reaction when he thought I wanted Julia.

"Look, I understand if you're tempted but-..."

"Ashton, I love you, but if you continue speaking, I'm going to hit you." I stay quiet, waiting for my brother to explain himself because I'm not satisfied with anger; it means nothing to me. "Listen, it's hard to explain, but when Julia and I met Cori, she told us that we were lucky to have found love so young. Ashton, do you know how many people we've heard that from?"

Zero: That's my best guess, and when I say it out loud, my brother nods in a way that shows how annoyed he is with having to explain that.

I can’t relate, but I know what people say to him because I've heard it. However, I didn't realize it bothered him, or even that he took notice of it.

"Imagine constantly having people close to you encourage you to 'slow down,' or 'try' other 'things.' Then imagine having a complete stranger validate that you aren't 'rushing,' you've just gotten lucky."

I understand Troy because it's similar to what happened with Chris, only our friends didn't mind his relationship. They were more concerned about him proposing to Pauline after only being together for a few months.

"Why doesn't anyone say things like that to me about Cori?" My brother tries to walk away, but I block his path, knowing that he's trying to avoid answering. "Why?"

"Ashton, don't take this the wrong way, but no one believes that your relationship with Cori will last longer than half a year."

"Even you?"

"Don't put me in this position. You've never been faithful to anyone you've dated, so I really can't answer."

It's true that I cheated on every girlfriend I've ever had, but Cori is different; she has been from the very beginning. Then again, she and I haven't been together long enough for me to feel tempted.

"Look Ash, it's possible to love a person without being in love with them. Your lifestyle doesn't invalidate your feelings." I can't even respond, so I walk away from my brother and sulk in my office where I drink entirely too much.

I don't want to cheat on Cori, and not just because of the twins, but what if Troy's right, and my feelings for her are as simple as ‘caring’ a lot?

Cori's POV

Ashton left our bedroom last night and never came back, so when I woke this morning, I was alone.

It's a Sunday, but he had to work, yet I feel uneasy, almost queasy with the thought of him leaving me.

I tried everything to take my mind off of it, but I want nothing more than to call him crying.

Sadly, I don't know if I can allow myself to turn into that woman, but if I asked Ashton to let go of the past, I have to let it go too.

Picking up my phone, I call the man who answers up on the second ring, and as soon as I hear his voice; I break down.

"Why did you leave me?"

"Babe, you know I had to work."

"But you never leave without saying goodbye."

"Are you really crying? Do you want me to come home? Where's Troy?"

"I don't want Troy. You left last night and never came back." The line is silent, and because I don't know what to expect as far as responses go, I hang up.

Not even a full minute goes by before Julia and Troy are knocking on the bedroom door, but because I don't want to be seen crying like this, I ignore them.

"Cori, please open the door. It's just me now." I don't know if that makes me feel any better because Jules can't possibly know how I feel right now. "Fine, I'll just go get Mom."

I haven't moved so fast in a long time, but I'm able to get to the door just as the woman was about to walk away.

"Ashton asked us to check on you. He said you were upset." I explain what happened, and the woman just nods at me.

I'm glad she didn't offer any advice and simply listened, but as I answered her questions, it suddenly occurred to me that I may have put too much pressure on Ashton yesterday.

The past plays a significant role in where we are now, and maybe he thinks I want to pretend everything's perfect, but all I meant was that I don't want to bring it up in conversation, not erase it from our history.

"Can you give me a minute alone? I need to call Ashton again." Julia leaves the room, but since I want to ensure my conversation is private, I go into the still empty nursery.

"Babe? Before you speak, just know that I didn't come back to bed because when I was finally ready to sleep, it was nearly time to go, so I caught a ride with my father."

"You could have said something."

"I just didn't want to wake you. Listen, I can't leave the office right now, but I can talk to you for as long as you'd like. Just please don't scare me like this."

"Ashton, you know what I meant when I said I didn't want to look back, right?" The man is quiet, making me sigh. "I think how we met outside of Syd's is beautiful, and I'd never change that."

"But what if-..."

"No," I interject. "I don't want to think about the what ifs. I'm happy, and I just want things to stay this way for as long as possible."

"I love you, Cori."

"I-I love you too, and that's why I'm asking you not to make me feel like you could disappear at any moment."

"Okay... I won't do that again, and babe, thank you for telling me how you feel."

Ashton's POV

I honestly wasn't thinking when I left, but now that I think about what my father was saying in the car, it was a mistake to leave my pregnant girlfriend in bed alone all night, then leave without so much as a kiss in the morning.

Truthfully, I didn't want to wake her, but like my father said, some things in relationships don't make sense, and I guess wanting her to rest was me over thinking.

Cori's home most of the day, so she can nap anytime. What I did was more for myself, but other than making her cry, I have no regrets because…

"Cori just told me she loves me." I had to tell someone, and since my father is the only person around right now, he gets to hear it first.

"Congratulations, you forced your pregnant girlfriend to say something she wasn't ready to say on her own." Troy has a big damn mouth because my father couldn't have known that she didn't just say it unless someone told him.

"I didn't force her, she just assumed that I was overwhelmed by something she said."

"Were you?"

"I felt like she asked me for a kidney." My father chuckles, but it's not mocking.

He actually found my words funny, probably even relatable.

Soon, I'm listening to him talk about his relationship with my mother when she carried me, and I can't imagine going to the doctor as often as they did for things like heartburn.

However, that might be because I have a pregnant nurse at home, not a businesswoman.

Cori always monitors herself, writing down symptoms she's having in a journal that she keeps near our bed. She still sees the doctor every two weeks, so we take it to the woman, who explains and highlights anything we need to keep an eye on.

Cori's headaches are one of those things, but so far, we can't find any trigger other than stress.

Her blood sugar is fine, her blood pressure is good, cholesterol levels are better than mine, and her diet is very well balanced.

"Dad, if mom asked you to forget the past, would you be able to do it?"

"No, but my past with your mother isn't dark at all. We were acquaintances for a long time, started dating when we realized we had a lot in common, and things slowly fell into place from there." I slump in my chair because my father's words set me backward.

"Is it healthy to pretend that nothing bad ever happened?" The man laughs loudly, making me look at him in shock.

"Ashton, don't read too much into simple things. If Cori asked you to forget the past, she wasn't being literal you fool; she just wants to move past it. You owe it to her to at least try."

I hope that's all it is, but as soon as my father stops speaking, he starts packing.

"You're leaving already?"

"We haven't gotten anything done all day. We can't f*ck up tomorrow's meeting, so it's best to just pack up and work from home." Technically, my father is my boss, so whatever he says goes. "Also, stop making Cori cry. It makes your mother angry, and then by default, I'm angry, then I have to come after you."

"Yes sir," I reply, making my father shake his head.

I feel more confident about 'letting go' right now. I just hope it doesn’t backfire on me.