CHAPTER 5

A tragic display wasn't accurate enough to describe this day's plans for Andrew. Whatever he planned would result in a failure given that Ashley was there ruining it for them. From a simple romantic stroll to a ride on the ferris wheel would be destroyed by Ashley's interjections which were not generally meaningful. Unfortunately for Andrew the day was over before he could play any serious moves on Cassie so he decided to call it a day and as he was bidding Cassie goodbye,"I'm genuinely sorry for this day. I had a lot of plans in-store but Ashley happened and you had what,a day where you constantly bothered yourself with Ashley's needs."

"Sure this day could have gone much better but it sure was fun." Letting out a small laugh Cassie gave Andrew a kiss which he openly accepted and embraced and for Ashley not to interfere once more she was already inside doing who knows what at Cassie's. After that Andrew and Cassie bid each other goodbye then called Ashley for their departure. When they were on the road Ashley was gazing out of the window watching the sun make it's graceful descent leaving an orange and yellow hue in it's trail she suddenly burst out,"This day certainly was fun. I had fun with you and that girl you seem to fancy." "Her name is Cassie for the record." For Ashley this day wasn't really that amazing,it was the fact that she could knew and keep it to herself deep within her." Did you enjoy it, the kiss I mean?"." Were you spying on us. Seriously what is your problem." But Ashley just let out a small smile and hummed gazing outside looking at the now starry sky.

They arrived home without a hitch and were immediately greeted with news from Lucy which seemed she wanted to convey to them since she was already waiting for them at the garage. There was a worried look on her face so they quickly got out of the car and went inside and took a seat on the couch. Andrew's mother finally let it out," Ashley ah... how do I put this. Apparently the plane in which your dad was on had an accident as they were caught in a storm. Unfortunately there were no survivors. I am so sorry Ashley for your loss." She extended her arms to give Ashley a hug but she snapped her arms backing away with a horrified look. To prove her point Lucy turned on the TV and the first thing they were greeted with was news about a plane crash.

The news anchor who was a man in a black and white tied with a red tie spoke," And in more important news is about the plane crash which happened today at around 1:00 pm. There were unluckly no survivors as the plane was headed to Dubai. The plane was caught in a storm which seemed to appear out of nowhere according to the meteorologists." Before he could continue Andrew turned off the TV and asked Ashley ,"Are you okay ?" But what replied him was sheer silence. Ashley was in utter disbelief about what she just heard but it was the cruel reality right infront of her. She unknowingly started to let out tears and finally let the grief overcome her and shot upstairs straight into the guestroom prepared for her. Lucy tried to consolidate her but with no success so Andrew decided to give a crack at it.

"Ashley I know that this is hard for you but can you at least open the door so we can talk." To his surprise his call was heeded and laid his deadlocked eyes on the girl infront of him. She jumped onto him giving him a straining hug but Andrew beared it and guided her to her bed where they both sat at the edge of it. Lucy wanted to join in and offer her support but she knew that she wouldn't offer much help so she left the matters in Andrew's hands. Ashley looked at Andrew and threw herself in his arms bursting in tears Andrew trying his hardest to console her but he wasn't doing a good job but Ashley didn't mind and after a while she stopped crying then said while using her thumbs trying to forcefully make a small smile on Andrew's face ,"You should smile more."

"So says the person who's crying but don't worry, I'm here." "You don't mind me calling you Andy do you?" Given the situation Andrew decided to go along with it ,"Sure why not and I can call you ah... " While Andrew was simply browsing his brain for a name Ashley took her fingers off his face and wore a small smile interjecting ,"How about Ley or Ash. Whichever you find comfortable."

"I'm going with Ash. So do you need anything, just mention it." "Sure, your undivided attention attention." "Tall order but I can't so can you ask for anything else." "Since you are so hard to extort how about you stay here with me." Andrew found this order amusing so he agreed and lay in bed with Ashley cuddling (NOTHING HAPPENED) with Ash in Andy's embrace.

The next day and Lucy was preparing to leave for work and went to Andrew's room to find it crease less. Pondering where he could be she went to Ashley's room to find the rather awkward scene but chose not to interfere and as she left for work Andrew woke up and removed himself from the scenario. Ashley woke up to find herself all alone but put it on hold for now, prepped herself for the day and went downstairs to be welcomed by a sweet smelling aroma. She saw Andrew in the kitchen cooking something in the oven but couldn't exactly guess what it was and didn't bother herself too much and noticed something bacon and eggs. "Yes, they are yours noting that you've already stuffed your mouth." Ashley didn't mind him and continued to dig in without a care till she was done. "Since you are done we can spend kill some time waiting for my surprise for you to be ready. What do you want to do?" With a smile on his face Ashley found Andrew's behavior a little off from his regular self but who cares provided she's getting the attention she wanted.

"I wanna know what you have going over there." Pointing at the oven Ashley was curious as the scent only got stronger the more time passes." You'll know that later but for now focus on something else. Do you wanna play a game or just wait outside in knowing the neighborhood a little better."  She went with the latter but before they left Andrew set a timer. The cold but refreshing morning hit their faces as they took their stroll. Ashley was unlike her usual self walking with her dainty arms around Andrew's just not generally listening to his explanation of his personal guided tour. It would seem that she was seemingly drowning in her own world oblivious to the one around her and Andrew noting this ,"Uhm Ashley are you listen cause it looks like you've been in a daze for the past ten minutes." Ashley finally bouncing back ,"Oh I'm so sorry Andy I was just thinking about something." Andrew understanding what she was going through didn't look to much into it and they continued with their walk round the neighborhood until a projectile headed for Ashley flying through the air was stopped momentarily by Andrew's quick reaction catching Ashley off guard was shocked before she regained her composure.

After looking around for the perpetrator Andrew found two kids around six years old playing with nervous expressions on their faces and one of them asked feverishly ,"Ah I'm so sorry for the ball almost hitting your girlfriend sir. If it wouldn't be a trouble to you could you please send it back." Andrew was about to correct these kids that Ashley wasn't his girlfriend but Ashley suddenly broke free from their link and kicked the ball back to the kids ,"It's absolutely fine. No harm done." It seemed that it put her in a good mood which Andrew was elated to find out. She came back with a smile on her face which strangely made Andrew feel better though not sure why but he did and linked back. The kids thanked Ashley and Andrew before they resumed their game.

"With that cold personality of yours I doubt that you are good with kids, Andy." Ashley teased as they were walking back home but Andrew just ignored her and continued walking but not before long ,"I actually called a friend over so as to celebrate this day with you seeing how the both of you got so close to each other from your earlier interactions."

"Who did you call Andy since my memory isn't serving me well remembering who I've associated with no problems. Most of the people I usually meet just tend to ignore me." Andrew took a mental note and before they realized they were back home and as if on cue. Andrew suddenly increased his pace when he was entering the door and Ashley continued to observe Andrew as he went straight into the kitchen and out of the oven he pulled out a single layer cake which was dowsed in dark marks all over it probably chocolate and Andrew quickly made himself busy by placing the icing on it.

Given a few moments later he was done and the cake surely looked like a treat to eat but Ashley commented,"How did you know it's my birthday. Did your mother tell you ?" "Accurate guess. When you were still sleeping actually, sleepyhead."

"Since the cake is ready let's dig in." Andrew blocked Ashley from getting to it by standing right infront of it ,"No, not yet I still have to put the candles and we have to wait for the guest to arrive." With a defeated look," Fine,but hurry up." Andrew got he candles,placed it on the cake and they both started to wait for the unknown guest before Andrew got a text which read

*I'm running a little late so just start without me.* Andrew lit the candles and asked Ashley to make a wish in which was something Andrew wasn't expecting to hear," I wish that my big brother would lose everyone around him save his mom to focus more on me. His cute little sister, hehehe." Then blew out the candles.

"Okay." And they started to cut the cake and the mystery guest was finally revealed to be Cassie," Since you had fun yesterday I thought maybe you two should get to know each other better." Cassie took a seat next to Ashley after putting her present down while Andrew left the house to get something for Ashley. The mood between Cassie and Ashley eased up after they got a conversation going talking about various subjects in their life and in around an hour Andrew came back with his gift to be greeted with a perculiar scene.

He found both of them weirdly in his borrowed sedan but what made the picture to be off was with Cassie. She was looking as if she was perfectly still while Ashley on the other hand was trying to start the car." What are you guys doing here ? " But his question went ignored so he asked again approaching the car ,"Excuse me what are you guys doing here ?" Startled Ashley coming up with a poor excuse ,"Oh ah... Andrew what a nice surprise. We were just out to get some party arrangements." Andrew looked at Ashley then darted over to Cassie ,"Is this true even though I told you that the party arrangements were in the attic." Still no response from Cassie tempted Andrew to come and open the door since it was unlikely of her to ignore him without a valid reason. As he opened the door her body fell on the pavement with a thud. Andrew started to shake Cassie but she continued to lay motionless on the ground. It was then that it hit him ," Is she dead ?"Ashley just looked at him nonchalantly ,"No Andy,she's just sleeping."

To actually think that what kept him smiling most of his days was laying at his feet with white streaks emerging from her mouth dead and gone forever whilst the cause of this was a young girl who looked at the body without a care." So you gonna keep looking t her corpse or you need a moment." Andrew was internally mortified but he picked up the body and put it at the backseat and took the driver seat Ashley taking shotgun and left the premises.