Since I couldn’t go back to sleep, I decided to go for a run. It was my release. I locked my apartment door on the way out and started jogging as I hit the street. But this morning it seemed that even the little earbuds in my ears couldn’t drown out the thoughts in my head.

The first time I had ever seen Ashley was when I moved to L.A. from Ohio in my junior year. We clicked at once, and it was good. Nothing like what I expected. Yeah, we had our ups and downs, but what relationships doesn’t. But those were the early days. Sometimes, I think those were the only days we really ever had. The early ones, back when everything was good. Back before our senior year. Back before everything changed.

Ashley had always wanted a record deal and she deserved one. She could really sing. I knew all to well the beautiful music that passed through her lips. Well, just before Christmas in our senior year and she finally got what she wanted. I knew she would, her father was legendary Raife Davies. And even if she couldn’t sing worth a flip, I was pretty sure she’d end up getting one for just sharing his last name. But the record deal is what broke us, really. It all happened so fast. The record deal, a complete album recorded and in stores, and a number one hit on the Billboard’s Top 50 all within the first month and a half. Five months later she was out of school and on the road for her first tour. 26 cities in 39 days. And just like any other rock star, the drinking and drugs followed soon after.

We had promised each other to try and make it work, and we had for two years. The last year we were together shouldn’t be considered even that. We weren’t together, we just were. Just two beings circling around waiting for the other to break first. That when she had cheated the first time. Before I came along, Emma had been Ashley’s life. They had grew up together, had a past. But Ashley had promised me they were no more than friends. That was a lie. But I forgave her.