The First of Five Calls

Leaving Madison to finish getting dressed, Ashley set about the next part of the plan: finding Brandon. The petite, blonde cheerleader had still been sleeping when Brandon left, by Madison’s words, ‘**** for a piss’. So, of course, the first place Ashley thought to look was the bathroom between the lakeside bedroom and one of two double bedrooms in the cabin. The door was locked, but from outside she could hear the water running, which left her at a bit of a conundrum. Possibly Brandon had followed up his morning relief with a quick shower, after all the exertion from last night Ashley wouldn’t have said no to one herself. However, if whoever was inside had been there earlier, perhaps Brandon had went looking for another bowl to water.

There was no way for Ashley to know which outcome had actually happened. Knocking on the bathroom received no response, likely unheard over the sound of the shower. The truth was that Chloe was too busy enjoying filling herself with Mr. Mueller, her own moans disguised by the running water, to hear anything happening outside that bathroom. But, without that knowledge, Ashley was reduced to checking the ensuite in the master bedroom to, at least, rule it out. And if anyone else was awake, she could ask if they’d seen Brandon.

Unfortunately, as the blonde padded through the cabin in her sleeveless, silk, black and white polka dot print top, tucked into a short, red pleated tennis skirt, she found the cabin eerily deserted. It was still morning, so perhaps everyone was sleeping in, but it wasn’t that early anymore and to find no one in the halls or in the living room left Ashley uneasy. After all the noise and drama over the last few days, the silence just didn’t feel right.

She remembered mocking the stupid bitches in horror movies who called out, obviously alerting anyone nearby to their location, and yet, alone and a little scared, she couldn’t help herself. “Hello?”

“In here.” A voice, comfortingly feminine and familiar, shouted back.

“Vicky?” Ashley popped her head around the corner into the kitchen and saw her blonde friend, possibly still best, leaning over the breakfast counter in hushed conversation with the older brunette, Kendra McKenzie. A discussion that came to a quick end when Ashley entered. “What’s going on?”

“Just breakfast.” She indicated towards the empty plates before them, before nodding in the direction of the hot plate. “There’s still some coffee if you want it.”

“Nah, I’m just looking for Brandon.” Ashley folded her arms across her chest as she stepped inside the kitchen proper, eyeing the other two girls carefully. Given how Victoria had spiraled out after encountering Shawn, the lies and the games, Ashley had trouble trusting her at her word completely. “Actually, where is everyone?”

“Kurt and Chloe are taking a shower. Separately, of course,” Victoria added quickly, noticing Ashley’s eyebrow beginning to rise. “Gavin and Trent went jogging a while ago, so they should be back soon.”

“Gavin? Went running?” Ashley couldn’t hide her surprise. First at Gavin running, since he’d shown zero interest in athletics, and secondly at Trent helping him. The black teen wasn’t known for his altruism, unless he was getting something in return.

“That’s what happened,” Victoria said with a shrug. “Trent came in here to fill a bottle of water before they left and told us where they were going.” Then, seemingly thinking the same thing that Ashley was, noted, “He seemed quite upbeat about it, so I don’t think Gavin was forcing him to help or anything.”

“Weird. But, thanks, that actually does help,” Ashley admitted. If Brandon wasn’t in one of the bathrooms, since those were occupied by Chloe and Kurt, then he was likely in one of the bedrooms.

“I’m surprised you don’t know where Brandon is,” Victoria remarked, making Ashley pause as she pivoted towards the kitchen door. “It looked like you, Brandon and Madison had a rather action-packed evening last night.”

Ashley remained frozen. She was facing away from the other two girls so there was no way they could see her face, but her silence was damning enough. All their clothes were still lying around the living room, so that was probably how they figured it out, Ashley rightly assumed. But it was still no less embarrassing to have the public knowledge that she hooked up with her ex-boyfriend and his sister mentioned aloud.

“Y-yeah, so?” Ashley finally replied, acting tough.

“Oh, I’m not judging you. I’ve heard of make-up sex, so why not a make-up threesome?” Victoria teased, flashing a toothy grin. “And I can’t complain. Thanks to you, I’m $200 richer.”

“$200? What?”

Rolling her eyes, but smiling along, Kendra explained, “When we got back, we noticed all your clothes in the living room. We made a game out of guessing who hooked up and, well, neither Kurt nor I expected that you’d be involved with Brandon or Madison given that he could barely stand to be in the room with you guys earlier in the day. But Victoria guessed correct. Of course, to get proof, we had to sneak around the cabin and look in the window…”

The mortified blonde cheerleader wheeled around to face them. “You…you saw?”

“Yup.” She widened her eyes. “Everything.” Relaxing her face, she conceded one point, “But if it was half as hot being in there as it was watching, I can’t really blame you for wanting to get between the twins.”

“And now we can finally answer the age-old question,” Victoria posited, leaning over the counter with rapt attention. “Which Cole is better in bed? Brandon or Madison? The Quarterback or the cheerleader?”

“Enough.” Ashley stamped her foot, silencing the pair. She knew they were only joking and teasing. If this were the Dark Victoria, she probably would have kept the information to herself until the most opportune moment. But her old friend, her best friend, would never have teased her like this at all. The Victoria she knew blushed and withdrew at the mere mention of sex. Of course, it was better than the full-on slut mode she’d enabled while under Shawn’s control, but Ashley still felt that Kendra was a bad influence too.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. Maybe that was bit far,” Victoria waved her hands to calm down the petite blonde. “If you’re looking for Brandon, check Chloe’s room. Some of his stuff got thrown in there during the shuffling of the rooms.”

“Thanks,” Ashley gave a curt reply, and took her leave.

She didn’t make it every far though. As she walked through the living room the phone in her hand rang, bringing her to a stop as she looked at the number on the screen. There was no name accompanying the number, so it wasn’t anyone that Ashley knew. Staring at the vibrating device in her hand, she hurriedly considered the possibilities. Most likely it was some cold caller, having bought her number from some website or another that was a little loose with their data. It had happened to her before, so it wasn’t unprecedented.

However, there was also the possibility of it being something more serious. Considering she hadn’t seen Zack in days, since the Gala, or Heather, since yesterday afternoon after their excursion to their high school, she had no idea what trouble they could be in. After finding out that Zack wasn’t Robert’s son yesterday, she imagined them driving him out to the desert and leaving him there, without a phone. Walking all night, he’d finally found a house and used their phone to call her, never mind the facts that there wasn’t a desert anywhere near Azure Rocks, or that his first call probably wouldn’t be to his ex-girlfriend.

Then there was Hannah, her runaway sister. More than anything she could imagine, if there was one person who might be trying to contact her through a burner, it was her sister. Which only begged the question of what she could possibly want. Was she on the cusp of being caught and wanted one final chance at a goodbye? Ashley stared down at her phone while it continued to ring. Time was running out. She either needed to answer, or let it go to voicemail.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Ashley took a chance and answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hello? Is that Ashley Woodsen?”

She recognized the voice, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“This is she. Who’s asking?”

“Sorry, this is Ms. Griffin, your math teacher,” she paused, giving time for Ashley to interject or protest. When no response came, she continued, “There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. Would you be able to meet with me today?”

Still, Ashley didn’t respond, reeling from the unexpected news. The only reason she could think that the teacher would want to meet with her was because of their trip to the school yesterday. It had been illegal, trespassing on the grounds when school wasn’t in session, but Ashley wasn’t even aware that anyone knew she was there besides Ms. Moreau and Mr. Ward, and neither of those two were going to say a word. She had to find out what Ms. Griffin knew, so she agreed to the meeting.

“Should I meet you at the school?” she inquired.

“No. I’d rather not having anyone else hearing about this until after we’ve talked,” the teacher replied cryptically, leaving Ashley even more baffled about the purpose behind the call. “Would you mind meeting me at my home? I can go in late, so we can keep the conversation private.”

“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Ashley agreed, after getting the address and some general directions.

Ending the phone call, Ashley first concern was how to get there. She was going to have to borrow someone’s car. Heather’s car probably made the most sense, after she’d taken Madison’s to her family manor. Before that though, she was going to have to find Brandon and let him know about his sister’s surprise. As luck would have it, something finally going her way, the much sought-after twin wandered into the living room, redressed in a pair of jeans and a plain, forest green t-shirt, his face a little flushed, almost as if he’d just been exercising.

“Finally, there you are,” admonishing him as if it were his fault he didn’t know she was looking for him. She eyed his rosy cheeks, a sight she was far too familiar with. “Wait, were you masturbating?”

Even when they were dating, Brandon would sometimes resort to using his own two hands. She’d caught him herself, once or twice, in the bathroom when she slept over, but Madison had told her about some of the other times she’d stumbled upon his self-relief as well. It happened regularly enough, that she began to recognize the tell-tale signs of a flushed face, the smell of fresh sweat, and a mellowed, sleepy demeanor.

“What? No! I mean, okay, maybe a little, but, I…” He hesitated, unsure if Chloe would want him spreading the fact that she showed him topless pictures of herself and flashed her tits at him. Instead, he went on the offensive. “What business is it of yours anyway? We just had some fun last night. We’re not dating. And even if we were, you’ve done a lot worse.”

Swallowing the urge to slap him, she asked the ceiling, “god, why are boys so dumb? It’s not about me, idiot, Madison is-”

She wasn’t that fortunate though. The opening of the cabin door caused both teens to turn their heads in the direction of the sound, searching for the source, the noise of the three arrivals completely drowning out the end of Ashley’s sentence.