“Ouch.” Aiden said acting out with the word. He received a sarcastic nod and that was it. He pulled the car into the nicely lit driveway of the Carlin/Davies residence. Did Amanda technically live there or was she still a guest? Oh well.

“Thanks for driving me home, Aiden. It was really sweet of you.”

“Well, I’m a sweet guy once you get to know me.” Aiden raised his eyebrows as he began to move closer to Amanda slowly. They brushed each other’s lips gently before Aiden’s cell phone began to ring. They pulled away and each let out their own version of a sigh. As Aiden dug in his pocket for the phone, the ringing continued becoming annoying. He glanced at the screen, Madison.

He had forgotten that he was with Madison. He answered the phone as he usually did, but he kept his eyes on Amanda’s disappointment. “Hey, baby.” His words came out nervous and pointless. He and Amanda both knew what was just going on. Nobody was that naïve. “Nope, just hanging out with some friends. Okay. Alright. See you then.”

And with that, Aiden hung up the phone as he watched Amanda depart his car angrily slamming the door behind her. Aiden let out a sigh of aggravation and hit his head on the steering wheel twice before resting it there, rolling it from side to side. He got himself into a bind, tough luck getting out of it.

Amanda walked into the doorway still a bit peeved and slammed the door behind her.

“Shh.” Spencer said while signaling a finger over her lips as she sat on the couch.

“Sorry.” Amanda whispered. She walked over to the couch and saw Ashley fast asleep with her head lying in Spencer’s lap. She looked peaceful for once. “She asleep?” She was always horrible at asking the obvious.

“Yeah, we had a pretty rough night.” Spencer whispered as she maneuvered her way out from under Ashley’s head. She followed Amanda to her bedroom so that they could talk without waking sleeping beauty.

It was too late. Ashley was already at the door with that tired look in her face. She sat next to Spencer on the bed as Amanda changed into her pajamas. “I really think it’s time we report Chris.” Spencer said rather bluntly.

“Okay. Why now?” Amanda asked.

“Because, if neither of you testify it will keep happening until someone does.”

“Makes sense.” Amanda said as she slipped her shirt over her head and straightened it over her torso.

Ashley was rather silent on the subject. Most likely she was still asleep and had no idea what was going on. She stared at the ground before looking up and speaking. “I can’t.” Her voice was still tired and a bit hoarse. She could use some kind of citrus, but that second wouldn’t have been the best to go grab some.

“Why not, Ashley?” Amanda asked as she ran her brush through her hair. “I need you for this. I can’t go through it alone.”

“I’m Raiffe Davies daughter. That means the second this thing would hit the courts, I’d have the paparazzi all over me. I’d rather not have the world know I was raped.” Ashley made sense. It was definitely not something you would want the world to know about by reading some lame tabloid.

“But Ashley-” Spencer was soon cut off by Amanda.

“No, Spence. It’s okay. It makes sense. For me, it will be a few people in the court systems that know, but for Ashley it would be the entire U.S. within hours.” Amanda defended Ashley. “You don’t have to testify, but will you at least come with me, to support me and everything?” How could anyone deny that? Of course they would go support their friend. When you’re stuck inside of a room with strangers talking about a violation to your body, you would want a friend there too.

“Of course I’ll be there. Spence and I will be sitting right behind you holding up foam fingers cheering you on all the way.” Ashley was always great for lightening the mood.

The group of girls all gave each other hugs and farewells for the night then soon departed to bed knowing that Spencer and Amanda had school in the morning and the police to deal with in the afternoon. It was going to be a long day.

TBC