Chapter Twenty-Three
After rejecting him twice and so insistently the day before, Ashleigh wasn’t expecting to hear anything from Rico for a while. In fact, when she woke up the next day, she lay awake in bed, worrying about how she’d treated him, worrying that she may have scared him away for good; her first day of being his girlfriend and she’d pushed him out, rejected him, wouldn’t talk to him about anything. She sighed in frustration, the tears threatening to well up again even though she’d already cried so much yesterday. Just when she’d thought things were going so well in her life, everything had started to go wrong again. This is just typical, she thought to herself with a shaky sigh.
She reached for her phone and turned it on, ignoring the missed calls and texts from Rico, and instead going through her phone book and finding her old friends’ numbers from back home. She’d barely been in touch at all since she arrived, except once, just to let people know she’d gotten there safe. She’d been too busy, enjoying herself too much. It was exactly as Trina had suspected – she’d left her old life behind for the glitz of Hollywood and practically forgotten all about them. She felt pretty bad for that too, and so took the time to send Trina a text, asking her how she was and how things were going at the gym. She was still scared, and she didn’t want to lose contact, especially since at this point, it seemed as though she was probably going to end up going back home after the shoot had finished. There was no way Francis was going to hire here after what had happened, and she’d probably never see Rico again outside of the set. He’d only just found it in himself to commit to being a boyfriend and now she was giving him such a difficult time. That wasn’t exactly going to encourage him further, was it?
She hit send on her text and waited for a reply before realizing she probably wasn’t going to get one, not with the slight time difference. Trina would still be in bed.
She sighed and put the phone down, rolling onto her back again and staring up at the ceiling.
There was a knock on her door.
Frowning a bit, she got up out of bed. She definitely wasn’t expecting anyone, and although a part of her hoped it might be Rico showing up to bother her again, she knew that was unlikely after yesterday.
She twisted the handle and pulled the door back a bit, then released a soft gasp.
It was Rico!
What on earth was he doing here?
She opened up the door fully, standing there in her pyjamas while he stood there in his shirt and pants looking all smart and handsome.
She’d been intending to spend the day in her room alone and cry, but now he was here, and it was throwing her off, confusing her. Why was he here?
“R-Rico…please go away,” she croaked out, almost on instinct after last night, except she didn’t sound as convincing. Did she really want him to go away? If he’d just come to tell her that she was dumped and he wanted nothing more to do with her, then yes. Why else would he come? Surely, it couldn’t be for–
“No,” he answered firmly. “I’m not going to be sent away this time.”
And with that, he produced a bouquet of flowers from behind his back, and offered it out to her with a small smile, but still a most serious expression on his face as he continued talking.
“I know I’m new to being someone’s boyfriend, but as far as I understand it, it’s my job to care for you, and make sure you’re okay. And if I keep leaving every time you ask me to, then I’m not doing my job. So…I’m sorry…but this time, I’m not leaving. I’m here to comfort you, and that’s what I’m going to do. You don’t have to tell me anything, but I can see you’ve been crying, so at least let me hold you. I’ll wait as long as it takes for you to be ready to talk, and I won’t push you. I promise.”
He stood there expectantly, still holding the flowers out.
How could she refuse them after a speech like that?
Her heart melted and her body almost collapsed into his, the tears welling in her eyes quickly. She wiped them in a hurry and took the flowers, then turned and walked back into the room.
“You can come in,” she mumbled, placing the flowers on the table carefully. She needed to go and buy a vase for them or something later. “They’re beautiful. Thank you. You didn’t have to.”
“I know I didn’t have to,” he replied, sliding both his arms around her waist from behind. “But I wanted to.”
She turned in his arms and leaned against his chest.
He hugged her gently, and together they swayed left and right, just standing there in the middle of the room for a moment.
“Come…come and sit down…” he murmured after a while, pulling back and taking her by the hand, gently leading her to the bed.
They sat together, side by side, and suddenly, Ashleigh realized she couldn’t hold back any longer.
Rico was being so nice to her; so gentle and kind, and he deserved so much more than what she was giving him. Besides that, she needed to tell someone; she needed to get this off her chest, it was crushing her.
She broke down and began to cry, and through her sobs, Rico held her close to his chest, as she explained everything, right from the beginning; from the filthy looks and inappropriate comments to the undoing of his pants and the suggestion that she should trade sexual favors for movie parts.
It was difficult at first, to say those things out loud, but the more she spoke, the more came out, and it actually felt pretty good to get everything out in the open. It was cathartic and cleansing; and afterwards she just curled up in Rico’s arms, on his lap, while he held her gently and stroked her hair, taking in the enormity of what she’d told him.