June 8, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Ash's House


When I rang Ash's doorbell, he answered it with a smile. Then he led me into his living room. He had moved a chair from their kitchen table into the living room, and was sitting on it. His mom and I both sat on the couch, facing him.

"Ok, it's time for me to tell you my final decision." he announced. "After thinking it through, I choose both of you."

"You can't do that! You can only choose one!" Ms. Mongolia told him.

"Well it's either both of you or none of you, because I can't choose just one." he replied.

"So you're saying that you don't love me more than her?" Ms. Mongolia asked in disbelief.

"Mom, stop victimizing yourself. I love Evalynne! And just because I love her, doesn't mean I don't love you too." he stated.

She shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. "Well you can't be with her."

"Mom, I'm eighteen years old, you have to stop babying me. You have to let me make my own decisions. And if I mess up then it will be my own fault, lesson learned."

"No, Ash! I'm your mother and you'll do as I say! Don't you trust me? I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't care about you."

Ash groaned and scowled out the window, shaking his head in anger.

"She's right, Ash." I said softly. "She's only doing this because she loves you. Maybe we should really end this."

Ms. Mongolia looked at me in astonishment. Ash's face was filled with the same expression, only his was dejected astonishment.

"Evalynne, no! I'm not goint to let this happen!" he cried.

"Well I'm not going to let you lose your own mother just for me. What if we really weren't meant to be? What if our love really was just an illusion?" I asked.

"But it's not! I know that, you know that! It's my mom who's too stubborn to see it!" he shouted.

"Ash, don't yell." Ms. Mongolia said quietly.

"Stop telling me what to do!"

"Ash, listen to your mom." I told him.

"Why? So she can tell me that she's just doing this because she cares? Yeah, right!" He turned to face her with fury in his eyes. "You're just jealous that I found someone who loves me as much as I love her."

My mouth dropped open in shock and the room fell silent. That was the cruelest, most hateful thing I'd ever heard Ash say. And by the look of pain and sorrow on Ms. Mongolia's face, I knew it hurt her.

"I will not have my son accuse me of being jealous when I'm not." she said. Then she stood up to leave.

But as she was walking out of the room, Ash said one last thing. "You know, maybe I just should've let dad kill you when he had the chance."

She came to an abrupt hault and then said without turning around, "Get out."

"What?" Ash asked in confusion.

"Get out of my house. You no longer live here anymore."

"You've got to be kidding me!" he cried.

"This is my house, not yours. So leave. Because obviously, you didn't choose both of us. You chose her."

"But mom--"

"You have twenty minutes to pack up your things and leave." Then she walked off down the hall.

Ash stood there, frozen in shock. "Ash, are you alright?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "No, Evalynne, I'm not alright. Not after my mom just kicked me out of the house because she hates me."

"Well I'm sure it's just a phase and by the end of the week, she'll let you move back in. But until then, you're more than welcome to stay at my house." I offered.

He turned to me and smiled, but I saw right through it. "Thanks," Then he walked away to go pack his things. I knew that smile was fake. I knew he wasn't really happy.

When he came back with two suitcases and a backpack, all stuffed full, we walked over to my house. My parents had gone out to dinner so we were alone. I showed him to our guestroom and left him to unpack.

About half an hour later, he knocked on my bedroom door. "Come on in," I called out to him.

He stepped inside, "Hey,"

"Hey," I replied. Then he walked over and sat down next to me on my bed.

"Evalynne, my mom's not going to let me move back. Not after what I said to her."

"Well you have to admit it was pretty harsh." I said.

"Yeah, I know. I just feel so bad about it. I got so mad and I just wanted her to feel as bad as I did. I never meant for it to go this far."

I leaned in and hugged him, kissing him gently when I pulled away. "Come on," I said, standing up.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Follow me and you'll find out." I replied.

So he stood up and we walked out the front door of my house. Then I led him to the park and over to our tree. He smiled, tracing the carving of our initials with his finger. Then he began to cry.

I held him in my arms, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be ok." I told him soothingly.

Once his tears stopped, he looked into my eyes. "Thank you." he said.

"For what?"

"For being there when I needed you the most." And then he leaned in and kissed me. And we sat there under our tree, kissing. And when we stopped, we just laid there, looking up at the stars.

It felt like a true Hallmark moment.



The next day, I woke up to find a note on my dresser.

Evalynne,

I went out to take a walk. I just needed some fresh air. I'll be back soon.


Love,



Ash


I yawned and walked downstairs. Then I poured myself a bowl of Frosted Flakes and began eating. When I was done, I rinsed out my bowl in the sink and as I did so, the front door opened.

Ash walked in with a single rose in his hand. "I saw this when I was walking and thought of you. So I picked it for you." he said, handing me the rose.

"Aw, thank you." I smiled and gave him a peck on the lips.

Then my cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to find a text on the screen. It was from Kristy, saying 'Don't forget about tonight!'

I smiled, remembering that tonight Kristy had a concert that she really didn't want me to miss. She was in choir for school, but they had a program that ran all summer long. This was her first solo and she was extremely nervous.

I texted back saying 'Can't wait!'

"Who was that?" Ash asked.

"Just Kristy, she was reminding me about her concert tonight." I replied.

"Oh,"

"Yeah, it starts at seven, do you want to come?" I asked. "You don't have to, but I just don't want to leave you here alone with my parents. It might be kind of awkward."

"Yeah, sure," he agreed. So I texted Kristy, letting her know that Ash was coming too. She texted me back with a smiley face.

The night before, I had called Kristy and explained the situation with Ash and his mom to her. She of course, just said it was even more romantic now. But I didn't think it was. I felt bad for Ash and his mom. They had already lost so much, and it was horrible that now they'd even lost each other.

But Ash was acting like nothing had even happened. Although, that could just be his way of hiding how he really feels. Because there's no way he could be so upset yesterday and perfectly fine today. Not after losing his mother.

When I told my parents about it, Dad said that it was wrong of his mom to kick him out and that they should just talk it out. But Mom said that it was probably good for them to spend some time away from each other and that his mom would come around soon enough.

I just hoped that she was right.