The Love of Lies

Petty

Cori’s POV

Ashton has me interested in whatever story he wants to tell, but instead of talking, he gets up and leaves, coming back with his phone because, according to him, it's the only thing that can wake him up.

He closes the door and climbs into bed, lifting the covers because, also according to him, I look uncomfortable.

Part of me wants to say no, but I really am uncomfortable, so I lie next to the man, who uses the opportunity to rest his hand on my belly.

“You said you were going to tell me a story.”

“I am, but I want to say sorry to them first.” Ashton leans forward and kisses my stomach, creating a funny feeling that makes my belly flinch, but not because I’m afraid. “Does it tickle?”

“A little.” Again, I ask the man about the story behind his room, hoping that he wasn’t lying just to get me into bed with him.

Ashton’s POV

Cori really wants to hear about my bedroom, and while I will tell her, I’m enjoying her company, and I’m afraid she may leave after I finish telling it, so I’m delaying with anything I can think of.

My goal is to fall asleep and use the same excuse to coax her into my bed tomorrow.

“Why are you being so nosey?” Cori narrows her eyes, clearly offended by being called a snoop.

“I guess I'm just curious about if it had anything to do with you changing your name, Junior.” My face goes flat, but unlike Cori, I stopped people from calling me that because I was a pervert.

“First, my legal name is Ashton Alexander Lewis, and I stopped people from calling me Junior because my d*ck got too big.”

“Eww!” Cori nudges me away, but I’m being serious. In my fourteen-year-old mind, that name was just too synonymous with the word small, and I wasn’t. “Be serious.”

“Do you have any idea what goes on in the brain of a teenage boy?” That was a rhetorical question, I know that Cori hasn’t a clue, but she still gives it a go.

“Aren’t they worried about their height?” I simply stare at the girl, not knowing if she genuinely believes that.

“Hun, if we have a son, promise to never walk into his room without knocking.” The woman recoils her face, blinking rapidly in such an innocent way that I just want to kiss her, but I don’t want all of our tender moments to end in s*x, so I restrain myself with a peck to her shoulder instead. “Just take my word for it.”

“Sure, but are you going to tell me the story?” I’ve stalled enough, so I rest my head on Cori’s lap, looking up at her face as I do.

“So… Mom and I were getting into it a lot around that time.”

“Why?”

“Because I was an as*hole who didn’t respect the fact that she was only looking out for my best interest.”

“Oh.” Cori said it as though she completely understands, but I know it’s just because I’ve laid out the bare truth without a buffer.

“Anyway, Troy and Julia had only just started dating, so when I said I was moving into this house, he started to make plans to follow me.”

I go on to tell Cori that my mother didn’t protest to us showing off our independence and started to charge us rent effective immediately.

I had some money set aside, and Troy has always been good with investing, so we opened a joint account and saved until we could afford our own furniture.

“Julia was good friends with the daughter of a furniture store chain, and so through her connection, we were able to buy from their storage room.”

“That doesn’t explain why it's so…”

“Girly?” I ask. Cori nods guiltily, but her observation is accurate. “I was extremely busy with my university course load, and I made the mistake of telling Julia to do whatever she wanted.”

“I thought this was going to be a funny story.”

“It is. She was so excited about the project that I couldn’t bear to tell her that I hated what she was doing.”

“That's actually really sweet of you.”

“It was ‘too’ sweet according to Troy, and he started to think I was after his girl.”

“Well, were you?” I raise a brow at Cori, noting that in many ways, she really is similar to my brother, making me understand just a fraction of what he must have felt back then.

“No smart ass… I just knew how much my brother loved her, and I didn’t want to be mean by reminding her that I was a man.”

“But why keep it after all these years?”

“Because Troy punched me in the face over this room. We fought, but love wouldn’t allow me to beat him unconscious, so in order to piss him off further-”

“You didn’t change it…” Cori finishes my sentence for me, and I make a proud face, but the woman is just shaking her head. “That’s really petty.”

“That’s something you and I have in common.”

“I’m not petty, Ashton.”

“Really? because about ten minutes ago you didn’t even want to come into this room because you thought Vanessa decorated it.” Cori pushes my head away and tries to get up, but I pull her back, trying hard not to laugh, but a few chuckles keep getting away from me.

“Ashton, that’s not why.”

“Then you’re just jealous?”

“What? No, I'm not jealous either.” Cori isn’t pulling away from me, so I’m able to guide her back into bed with ease, probably because she’s not actually offended. “Ashton, that lady slapped me.”

“I know.” There's no reason to lie to the woman, who looks shocked by my admission. “Troy blurted it out the night that I dropped your cookies. Did you at least hit her back?”

“I-I didn’t. I couldn’t even move. She told me that she was your fiancé.” I hate that Cori was put in that position, and I regret bringing her to that apartment.

I should’ve taken her back to her place, although I doubt any f*cking would have happened if I knew where she lived.

I would’ve been too concerned about her environment, and I’m almost positive that I would have helped her find better accommodations.

“Cori, I’m sorry that I was an idiot.”

“On which occasion?” The woman is making light of my apology, but I’m actually being serious.

Sitting up, I repeat myself, and this time, I add that it was always my intention to ask her out on a date, but every time I built up the courage, I would stop myself, afraid that I’d ruin our friendship.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I don’t want to go to bed happy only to fight with you again later.” Cori’s face takes on several complicated expressions before she actually agrees, but still, I keep a respectable distance, not wanting her to think I have a secondary motive. “Now, can I please sleep?”

With a subtle nod as permission, I make myself comfortable, but Cori starts to shift away, confusing the hell out of me.

“Stay here.” Cori looks reluctant, but she eventually lies down, and using my phone, I turn off all the lights, plunging us into a comfortable darkness.

“I need one of those in my room,” she whispers, making me smirk in her direction despite knowing she can't see me.

“Cori, this is your room now.” I find the woman’s hand and interlock our fingers, hoping that this is the last time we go backward, because I don’t think I can go through this with her again.

Cori’s POV

Ashton’s story is believable, and our exchange is pleasant enough for me to feel relaxed. I’m also tired, so when the man asked if he could sleep, I was relieved because that meant that I could go back to my own room.

Unsurprisingly, Ashton asks me to stay, and after giving it some thought, I lie down, unsure if my feelings toward him are as simple as I pretend they are.

“Cori, this is your room now.” The man is holding my hand, leaving me unable to focus on sleeping.

Ashton on the other hand is out cold, so I take the opportunity to snoop around his room. Everything is well organized, which is no reflection on him because he doesn’t do his own cleaning.

Entering what I thought was his closet, my chest starts to feel stuffy as I realize that the room I’m in is the one Ashton suggested for us to convert into a nursery.

It’s the perfect size for two cribs, a changing table, a dresser, a nursing chair, diaper storage, and I’d still have room for a tummy time area.

Being a mother was always in my future, but I can admit that until this moment, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it.

Ashton may be a lot of things, but it’s unmistakably clear that he’s serious about being a father. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have cleared out the room so quickly, and although it still has clothing rods all around, I intuitively know that he’s already planned to take care of that as well.

I don’t know what it’s like to have a father who actually cares, nor do I understand what it means to be in a relationship, so this whole experience is new to me.

It’s true that Ashton was a jerk, and it’s also true that he said less than pleasant words in the past, but since then, he’s only ever been patient, except for when it came to me ‘leaving’ with Brandon.

I should probably make up my mind about him soon; otherwise, I may use up the last bit of patience he has and that may affect our ability to co-parent effectively.

It’s time for me to stop running away from my problems and time for me to start fixing them, starting with myself.

Ashton’s POV

The sound of my alarm came too early, and I just wanted to throw my device across the room, but the gentle nudging of Cori’s hand against my shoulder made me smile.

I half expected her to leave me in the middle of the night, but it looks like she stayed.

Although we’ve slept together before, this is only the second time that I’m waking up next to her, and I hope it becomes part of my routine.

“I already ironed and picked out something for you to wear.” Cori’s morning voice is raspy and soft, making her statement sound loving to me.

“When did you do that?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“And you ended up in the closet?” Cori chuckles, understanding how absurd her statement sounds.

“I found your suit steamer too…”

“Cori!” Again, the woman giggles, prompting me to move closer to her. “You didn’t have to do any of that.”

“I know, but it feels good to be useful.” That’s it.

That’s how Cori feels deep within, and unknowingly, I stopped her from having a ‘purpose’ by ‘firing’ her.

I don’t have to wonder where she got the notion that she needed to be actively doing something at all times to be ‘useful,’ but I’m quite sure I can guess.

“Cori, right now, you’re growing two people inside of you. I think that earns you the right to relax.”

“No need for excuses. You don’t have to wear what I pick.”

“Trust me, I wouldn’t. I just had to say that.” Cori turns to face me, but because my breath is definitely bad, I scoot back to protect her nose.

“What happened to all the clothes in the nursery?” I stroke the woman’s face with a smile, knowing that she’s planning to stay in this room going forward.

“It’s waiting for you to donate it to a good charity.”