He had on his Martin James hair, and of course the contacts. Lucy felt her heart go out to him just a little bit, before tightening. He grabbed the first microphone handy, and a hush filled the crowd.
“Right, this is the truth, whether you want to believe it or not,” He told the crowd, as he rubbed a hand along the back of his neck, looking increasingly uncomfortable. “I need to say this for only one person, and she knows who she is. Nothing happened. She turned up at my door early this morning, and I answered thinking something was wrong. Nothing happened, Belle, I swear.” He said earnestly, before handing the microphone back, getting into the car, and driving off.
“I am going to kill him.” Lucy muttered through clenched teeth, as her emotions hit overdrive. All her feelings tumbled together anxiously. She was unsure, confused, for some silly reason relieved, but mostly angry.
“Okay, who are you out to get?” Ren asked seriously. “I’ve seen that face earlier this week, right before you punched me.”
“Ash is in so much more trouble than you could ever imagine.” Lucy hissed out, and the guys looked at her strangely.
“I thought you said he was at home, what brought this on?” Col asked, as she forcefully pushed her milkshake away from her, and looked a little green.
“Okay, just ignore me for a minute.” She told them as calmly as she could.
She quickly grabbed her mobile from her bag. She deliberately pressed the green call button this time with no hesitation. She needed to speak to him, and it definitely could not wait. It rang continuously which only grated more on her nerves. Her friends could only stare at her in utter confusion, and wonder at what was going on.
“Belle, can you please just give me a little while longer.” Ash said abruptly, without even a greeting, that Lucy hung up the phone. She wanted to crush the offending item in her hands, she was that furious. Instead, she clenched it so tightly that her hands started to ache.
“Why do you keep letting this guy ruin our Sunday lunch?” Ren grumbled, and Lucy let out a sigh, forcing her anger back down.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to let it bug me.”
Lucy pressed a hand to her forehead, determined not to start gnashing her teeth. She hated not being aware of things, as much as she had little patience for secrets. Sure, the guy had just apologised on national television, seeming sincere. This helped to calm her down, until she remembered what he had just told her, and his stupid text messages.
“You know what? We should get the gang together, and have a game of footy.” Lucy told them, almost desperate for a distraction.
The guys looked at her excitedly, and then they started ringing around. A few hours later, Lucy felt a lot better. Racing around and trying to win a football game, far outweighed worrying about a stupid celebrity. Even though she was quite possibly in love with stupid celebrity. With a grunt, she kicked the ball too hard, and it went sailing onto the nearby clubhouse roof.
“Aw, crap! Sorry guys,” she shouted out.
“You owe me a new football now,” she heard one of the guys say grumpily.
“No, I’ll get it down, just give me a minute.” Lucy told them.
She walked over to the side of the building, where a water tank stood on a stand. She boosted herself up onto the stand, and then climbed the rungs on the tank with her back to the wall for support. With a triumphant grin, she pulled herself onto the top of the tank, and then up onto the roof.
“Wow, you should see how much stuff there is up here. Score!” She called down to them, as she threw down their football along with a few tennis balls, a Frisbee, a soccer ball and another slightly grubby football. The guys exclaimed over their prizes, as she grinned down at them.
“Belle, why are you on the roof?” Ash’s worried voice drifted up to her, and her good mood went flying, as she turned to face him.
She hated that she was so happy to see him that a smile wanted to bloom on her face. She forced it down, reminding herself that she only felt fury towards him.
“Don’t you dare scowl at me!” Lucy shouted out to him. “You had better have the explanation of a damn lifetime coming out of your mouth, right now,” she glared at him, with her hands on her hips defiantly.
“Get yourself down here, and instead of an explanation, I’ll give you the truth,” Ash told her earnestly.
“Fine!” She huffed furiously.
She scurried down the tank stand. She had a desperate need to hear him say the words, ‘I didn’t spend the night with Mindy Taylor’. When her feet touched the bottom rung of the tank, she realised that Ash was standing on the edge of the tank stand waiting for her. He engulfed her in a hug, which she pushed away from, before jumping down to the ground.
“Nothing happened, Belle. Absolutely nothing.” He said determinedly, as he also jumped down, and followed her.
“Then what was with the message of ‘I’ve done something stupid’? What was that all about if you claim that nothing happened?” Lucy yelled furiously, as she glared at him. She forgot that her friends were nearby watching them curiously, and wondering what they were talking about.
“I mentioned your name! That was the stupid thing I did, okay.”
He shoved a hand through his hair in frustration, and Lucy felt herself soften. If the thing that he was most worried about was mentioning his nickname for her, then obviously nothing else had happened. She felt herself calm down, as she considered his words.
“Okay, so she didn’t stay over?” She asked him seriously, and his grimace at the thought of it told her the answer.
“Ugh, no, we even went there in separate cars,” he told her truthfully.
“Then explain how she ended up at your door?” Lucy mused, as she stared at him. She remembered the huge locked gates, and fences that surrounded his apartment complex.
“I really don’t know. I was sleeping, and the intercom buzzed. I answered it, and when she sounded frantic, I invited her in. I will admit that she threw herself at me, but I told her no. I still can’t believe that she actually tried anything.” Ash finished, looking rather puzzled.
“Why?”
“All I did last night when I was stuck with her was to talk about you. It drove her nuts.” Ash answered, and Lucy let go of her anger completely.
“This is going to be news isn’t it?” She asked him softly, looking up at his tawny eyes.
“As long as you don’t believe it, I couldn’t give a damn what they say.” Ash replied honestly.
“Alright, but next time don’t send me such daft messages. You had me completely freaking out about something that wasn’t even an issue.” She emphasised each word by poking him in the chest.
“Uh, are you guys ever going to tell us what you’re talking about?” A voice said from behind them.
Lucy turned and let out a groan. All her friends had heard that conversation, and they were watching with interest to hear more. They stood around, looking on with curious eyes, but Lucy determinedly shook her head.
“Nope, sorry, not going to happen.” Lucy told them sternly.
“Did he go out with someone else?” Ren asked, pointing his finger angrily at Ash.
“Not really, but I wasn’t allowed to go out with him this weekend. Some idiot that I know made me punch him in the head, instead.” Lucy turned to glare at Ren, who backed quickly away from her.
“I said I was sorry about that,” Ren answered defensively.
“Just let it go okay,” Lucy insisted, and her friends reluctantly nodded. “I think I’ll go home. Did you want to come over for dinner?” She asked, turning to Ash, who nodded eagerly.
“Does that fit in with your grounding?” Ash asked, as they walked together over to where their cars sat.
“I don’t really care, but knowing that you didn’t sleep with Mindy Taylor makes the grounding completely null and void.” She told him firmly, and Ash let out a shudder.
“Please, don’t ever mention her name again. Why would you think I slept with her?” Ash ask
ed with such a sickly, horrid look on his face, that Lucy let out a splutter of laughter.
“You do know that a picture can be pretty incriminating, right? She was wearing hardly any clothes, and leaving your building.” Lucy told him, and he winced.
He quickly pulled her to a stop, and turned her to face him. For a moment, he just stared into her eyes, getting lost in their sky blue depths. He had felt terrible being away from her for this long, even worse when the Mindy thing had happened.
He felt his world tear away from him when he had seen the news. He couldn’t leave things alone, and wait to talk to her. Instead, he had made a complete fool out of himself on national television.
Only one good thing had come from this weekend, and that was getting the track finished, ready for release. He even had the cover mostly sorted. Then again, the second best thing was that Lucy had listened to him, and forgave him for his stupidity.
“Nothing happened, and I will say it a million times if I have to,” Ash told her gently with a serious look in his eyes.
“I know. It’s just, she’s so perfect looking, and you keep choosing me. It’s a bit of a mystery sometimes,” she told him, with a perplexed look on her face.
“Belle, she is utterly boring. She only ever talks about how she looks. Last night, she criticised what people were wearing, and how she would look better in their outfit. Then she bored me with her exercise routine, how she gets her skin so perfect, and don’t forget how every guy in the world is lusting after her. She spends every minute she can staring at herself in any available mirror and…”
“Okay, I get it.” Lucy quickly put a hand over his mouth, with a chuckle. He smiled against her hand, glad to have his message across to her. He kissed her sweet smelling palm, and she pulled her hand back slowly.
“You two need to get a room,” Col let out a snort, as he walked past them.
“You’re just jealous.” Lucy teased, as she moved away from Ash, and shoved Col playfully in the shoulder.
“You bet! You had better be treating her right. I don’t like to see her that mad.” Col turned to Ash with a frown.
“Ugh, it was a misunderstanding.” Lucy insisted, which made Col raise his eyebrows.
“Seeing that you said you wanted to kill him, it made me think otherwise.” Col said loftily.
“Great, now I have a death threat to my name, just great.” Ash teased, as he reached out, and tugged gently on her ponytail.
“Humph! Between you three I’m never going to get any peace, am I?” Lucy grumbled, as Ren came up to them.
“Nope!” The three guys answered with a laugh, making her grouch even louder.
“Three against one, that’s not really fair.” She pouted at them.
“Ah, Lou, all you have to do is cry, and we wouldn’t be able to cope with that at all.” Ren informed her.
“I’ll have to remember that.” She muttered to herself.
“Yeah, but we know your fake cry, so you couldn’t use that.” Col told her with a chortle.
“Damn!” She muttered, which just made the other guys laugh again. “Alright, enough of this nonsense, I’m going home.”
“We’ll leave you be… for now.” Col let out an evil little chuckle, as the brothers walked over to their cars.
Lucy smiled; she was so glad that things had returned to normal between them. Sometimes, she caught them looking at her strangely, but she tried not to let that bother her too much. She felt Ash’s arm around her shoulders, and glanced up to meet his glorious eyes.
“I’m not looking forward to what your family is going to say about the stupid Mindy debacle,” Ash admitted to her, as they walked to her car.
“If I can forgive you, then so can they. Plus, you pretty much told the entire world that nothing had happened, so I’m sure they will understand.” Lucy told him, with a reassuring smile.
“I hope so,” he whispered, as they stopped at her car.
“Look, with my family, the sooner you face them, and get it over with, the better they will see it.” Lucy told him, as she turned to give him a hug.
“Okay.” He mumbled, still not feeling terribly reassured.
“See you at about six thirty, okay?” She asked, while getting in the car and winding down the window.
“Yep.” He answered, before leaning in the window to give her a quick kiss.
Lucy drove home feeling a little apprehensive. What she had told Ash was the truth, but it didn’t mean that she was looking forward to explaining to her family what had happened. Sometimes it would have been easier if they only knew him as Ash.
The look on her father’s face when she walked through the door did not bode well. Anger suffused his eyes, as he stood tall and intimidating. Belinda looked utterly furious, and Daz was ropable. Lucy let out a sigh, glad that she would be able to talk to them before Ash arrived, and maybe calm things down.
“He’s coming over for dinner to explain, but I believe him that nothing happened.” Lucy told them determinedly, before marching inside. She groaned when she heard Penny’s music blaring from upstairs. Her sister came dancing down to greet her in a short, sequined mini skirt, with a barely there top, and Lucy frowned at her.
“Are you going to a party?” Lucy asked her sternly.
“No, the party is coming here. All my friends should be here soon. It’s Lindsay’s birthday, so we wanted to have a sleep over.” Penny squealed with excitement, and Lucy let out a groan.
Instead of one Martin James fan in the house, it seemed there would be at least a dozen. She instantly tensed up, how were they going to work this out? Soon the house was full of fifteen year olds running amok, and making enough noise that Lucy could hardly think.
When Ash arrived right on time, Lucy ran out to meet him. She had tried explaining things to her family, but they insisted on hearing it from Ash first. She led him into the kitchen, which only contained Bill, Belinda, and Daz, with none of the other girls.
“Sit,” Bill pointed them to chairs, and they quickly obeyed. “Explain,” he pointed to Ash, who flinched from his angry tone.
He concisely told them everything that had occurred from the moment he had first left their sleepy town of Icra Falls. He insisted that they call his agent, and even his bodyguard, Sam, who had been with him until late last night. Her family sat back and considered things for a while, which only made Lucy more worried.
The apparent anxiety Ash had for them to understand what happened, seemed to soften them a little. He held Lucy’s hand tightly, as her family talked together. He cursed Martin James under his breath for about the hundredth time that day, as he awaited an answer. Just as they all sat back around the table, Penny raced into the room excitedly.
“You will never believe it! Martin James is dating Mindy Taylor!” Penny screamed out.
“Yeah, when hell freezes over,” Ash muttered, and was surprised when most of the table started laughing.
“Yep, that’s so news to us.” Lucy said dryly.
“She’s telling everyone that they have been dating in secret for ages. Isn’t that awesome?” Penny let out another little squeal, not hearing what anyone else said. She went through the pantry for snacks to take back to her friends, before rushing from the room.
“Not too late, Penny. You still have school tomorrow.” Belinda called out to her retreating daughter.
“Yeah, Mum, I know.” Penny answered faintly.
Ash hit his palm to his forehead knowing that he would have to go into damage control, “I’m going to have to ring George again,” He cursed under his breath.
“No, don’t,” the most unlikely person in the room answered, and they all turned to Daz “Don’t you see? If the world thinks that you're dating her, then you and Lucy can relax a bit. You can just be you, while Martin dates her,” Daz explained, and Ash contemplated the idea.
“I hate to think of the rumours that will get spread around by Mindy herself, but I can see your point,” Ash mused.
“As lo
ng as you’re not really dating her, I don’t care,” Lucy told him, as she looked over to him.
“Ugh, I can’t stand her, and I’m dating you,” he said firmly. “You are my girlfriend, not some underdressed, pampered beast of a girl. I want to be with you.” She smiled at his determined tone, and a warm feeling swept over her.
“I know, just checking,” she teased him, leaning over to give him a sideways hug. Her family looked on rather amused, which Lucy noticed and raised her eyebrows. “So, we have this all worked out, right?” She asked, looking pointedly at her family, who all nodded.
“Yes, I guess we do.” Bill answered, and Lucy was immensely happy to see the humour back in his eyes.
“Good, then we are out of here.” Lucy quickly tugged on Ash’s hand, stood up, and pulled him from the room.
She sighed with relief when they made it out of the house. She walked away from there needing some peace from the craziness inside. Things had worked out, no matter how insane the day had been. She still had Ash, which was more important than anything else in her life was.
Chapter 16 – Past explanations
Before she knew it, another few weeks had passed. She had a blissful time spending as much of it with Ash, as she could. Martin James was still dating Mindy Taylor, and the rumours abounding made Ash gnash his teeth, while Lucy laughed with abandon.
Today, Ash finally had a Sunday free to go riding with her. To appease Ren and Col, she had lunch with them the day before, knowing that Ash was busy. Martin James seemed to take up every weekend, but Lucy knew she had to adapt to it, after all that was who Ash was.
She was saddling the horses when she first heard a car pull up. With intense excitement, she dropped what she was doing, and ran out of the stable. He beamed at her, as she threw herself at him. He had been away since Friday afternoon, and she had missed him. Phone calls were never enough. She needed to feel his arms around her, his sweet kisses, and every ounce of affection that he gave her.
“Ash!” She let out a cry, as he picked her up, and spun her around.
“I’ve missed you,” he told her, as he kissed her.
I Met Her On the Balcony Page 16