Ashley Gets Some Support From An Unlikely Source

Ashley had wandered around the camp ever since Zack yelled at her, it was odd but having the point of her obsession tell her everything she had done really broke through to her. She couldn't believe what she had done over the last few days, it was appalling. Add to the fact, that Ashley felt she had set up the situation for Chloe's possible ****, it made her sick. Despite all their fighting, she never wanted to hurt Chloe, especially like that.

Still, regardless of her realization, her heart hurt, she had lost her chance with Zack, and she knew it was forever. By the time Brandon had returned to the camp, Ashley had simply sat down at the firepit and stared at it, her eyes puffy from the smoke and a small amount of crying. Brandon walked past Ashley at first but stopped and glanced back, he let out a long sigh and shook his head, he honestly couldn't believe he was feeling bad for her. No, nope, not gonna happen, I am not gonna go over to her and just...support her shitty decisions. She made her bed; now she has to lie in it. Brandon internally yelled out while his body immediately betrayed him, walking over and sitting down next to her,

Brandon pursed his lips, annoyed in himself for this but he couldn't lie, he still felt something for Ashley, and he hated seeing her upset like this. Ashley, still stuck in thought, didn't say anything to him, it occurred to Brandon that she may have not even realized he was there. Brandon lightly tapped his hands on his legs, thinking of what to say before finally looking over to her, "So...Zack, huh?" Ashley blinked a few times and looked over at him, nearly curious as to why he was there at all, "I guess that's better then what I was thinking,"

Ashley took in a shaky breath and wiped her eyes, "What...what were you thinking?" She asked, attempting to distract herself, or at the very least get out of her head,

"Well, I was thinking Kurt," Brandon replied, "I don't know why, but that was my guess," He said with a weak joking smile,

Ashley shook her head and lowered it, "You were kinda right, Brandon," Ashley admitted, "I fucked him twice, but it wasn't like with Zack..."

"Wow, guess I really do know you," He said lightly shaking his head, it felt weird talking about this with Ashley, but it did seem to be helping her,

"I'm sorry," Ashley suddenly uttered to him,

"Huh?" Brandon asked, barely able to hear her,

"I said I was sorry," Ashley sincerely said again, "I treated you like shit, Brandon, I was cruel, and it wasn't fair to you in the slightest,"

"Yeah? Well, you know what they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty." Brandon muttered back to her, clearly not ready to accept her apology yet,

"I know, looking back, everything I did was crazy, hurtful, just...psychotic," Ashley said, her face tightening in irritation,

Brandon let out another sigh, "Love sometimes makes people do crazy things," Ashley looked over at him and suddenly pushed forward, locking lips with Brandon. Brandon instantly let out a surprised hum and pushed her back, "Uh, no," He softly said,

"What?" Ashley whimpered back,

"No Ashley, you aren't just gonna get a restart with me. After everything you did...I don't think I could really even do that with you again. You need a friend, I can try and do that, but we are over." Brandon calmly explained causing Ashley to lower her head in shame once again, "Sorry, but that's just the way it is,"

Ashley nodded slowly, "You move on to Heather then?" She asked peering over at him,

"Not in the way you're thinking," Brandon replied, "I'm just...I'm keeping things casual right now." Brandon explained, "Definitely not getting into another relationship."

"Oh, that's...well, I suppose that's good for you then," Ashley softly said, internally annoyed in herself for ruining not only her relationships but Brandon's faith in them.

"Yeah..." Brandon awkwardly replied while rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm gonna pack up my tent, you should do the same. Once Kurt's up, we're gonna head back to the cabin."

"Right...right," Ashley agreed as she got up, lazily walking towards her tent,

Brandon turned to leave again but once more felt a nagging in the back of his head, with a groan he turned around, "Here, let me help you at least." He called out to Ashley while lightly jogging over to her side. As much as Ashley didn't deserve it right now, he wanted to genuinely try and be her friend, for a reason he couldn't truly understand.