Behind The Limelight 14: Closet Skeletons

Ashton’s mind felt muddled. His thoughts were incoherent and his throat was drying up. Why did he always feel this way when Ryker was around? It made no sense to him. Absolutely no fucking sense.

“Ryker?”

“Yeah?” Ryker’s voice was soft.

“Your hand.”

“What about it?” Ryker asked.

“It’s still in my hair,” Ashton replied.

“Oh.” The other man acknowledged, yet made no effort in removing it.

“Yeah.”

Silence fell between them again as neither of them made a move. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ryker’s gaze moved down slightly as a small smile took over his lips.

“I don’t get why you try to hide your freckles,” Ryker said.

“My freckles?” Ashton frowned in confusion.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t like them,” Ashton stated.

“I do,” Ryker spoke. “They’re cute.”

“No, they’re not,” Ashton retorted.

“Seriously, you’ve got to be blind if you don’t see yourself the way that I do,” Ryker said.

“You’re one to say that,” Ashton pressed his lips in a thin line.

“What do you mean?” Ryker asked.

“You don’t have to worry about hiding anything,” Ashton elaborated. “You’ve got the perfect everything. The perfect eyes, the perfect hair, the perfect smile…the perfect life.”

“Now that’s an exaggeration,” Ryker replied. “I don’t have everything I want. Not all in my life is perfect.”

“Like what?” Ashton challenged.

“My love life, for one,” Ryker said, making Ashton scoff lightly.

“You can have anyone that you want,” Ashton said.

“That’s not true,” Ryker denied.

“Come on,” Ashton added, “I think we’ve already established that you can have any girl that you set your eyes on. Doesn’t even matter if they’re with another guy.”

“Oh Ash…” Ryker let out a light chuckle as he finally moved his hand, trailing it down Ashton’s hair to his neck as he rubbed the side skin with his thumb. “How can you be so goddamn dense?”

“Dense? Me?” Ashton blinked.

“No. Not you. I’m talking about the other person that I’m speaking to right now in this parking lot, of course,” Ryker retorted, making Ashton sigh at the sarcasm.

“If I’m so dense then enlighten me, please smart one,” Ashton said. “Tell me what I’m missing.”

“You can’t see what’s right in front of your eyes,” Ryker spoke.

“The only thing in front of my eyes is you, you idiot,” Ashton replied. Ryker closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in before looking at Ashton again.

“Goddamnit, Ash. What would it take for you to get a hint?” Ryker muttered.

“What hint?” Ashton frowned. “Why do you always talk like this? Like there’s some great mystery that I don’t know anything about.”

“Because there is so much you know nothing about,” Ryker answered. “Things so clear and evident that I have no idea how you don’t see it.”

“Huh?”

Ashton was growing more and more confused by the second. What the hell was Ryker on about? What was this thing that Ashton seemed to be missing out on? No matter how much he tried to think, he couldn’t come up with anything.

“Ash—” Ryker paused, “—do you never wonder why I always come to you?”

“Because you despise me and love to get on my nerves?” Ashton answered in a split second, making Ryker exhale deeply.

“Nevermind,” Ryker mumbled. “I don’t know if you’re in denial or if you’re simply this blind to what’s going on.”

“Why do you keep talking like we’re in some shitty ass romance novel?” Ashton was frustrated now.

“Because we—”

“Why can’t you just tell me what I’m clearly too dumb to understand?” Ashton continued, not letting Ryker speak.

“You’re not dumb. You’re just…”

“I’m just what?”

“Okay yeah. Maybe you are a bit dumb,” Ryker muttered.

Ashton rolled his eyes, he could feel the warmth of Ryker’s touch, which he seemed to have no intent of removing. In fact, he was hyper aware of it. So much so that it felt like his skin was on fire. Ryker’s comment finally made him snap, as he pushed away his arm and took a couple of steps back, creating some distance between them.

Ryker frowned at Ashton’s action, but said nothing about it as he pushed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, facing the ground. He was looking at his shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

“Just stop talking in circles, okay? Tell me what it is that you’re constantly on about or don’t talk to me at all,” Ashton said.

“You’re the one that started this conversation, not me,” Ryker argued. “I was staying away from you just how you wanted me to.”

“You’re saying that as if staying away from me is some tough task for you,” Ashton added. “Neither of us would ever like to be in the same room as each other and you know it. So don’t act like you’re doing me a great favor because you’re not.”

“Oh yeah,” Ryker mumbled. “There’s absolutely nothing that I want more than to be away from you.”

“See?” Ashton missed the sarcasm in Ryker’s tone this time, taking his words for what they were instead. “Finally you say the truth directly.”

“The truth. Right,” Ryker nodded.

“Do you think Tabitha would be mad if I skip dinner? I don’t think I can be under the same roof as you anymore,” Ashton wondered out loud.

Ashton was facing away, and didn’t notice the look of hurt that flashed through Ryker’s face, though the dark haired man covered it up pretty quickly as he hummed in response.

“She probably would be,” Ryker said softly. “She really wants us to meet Lee.”

“Maybe I can meet them separately for lunch tomorrow,” Ashton suggested.

“You really hate me that much, huh?” Ryker let out a bitter laugh as he kicked a rock.

“No shit, Sherlock. You finally figuring it out now and not after the million times I’ve said it already?” Ashton retorted.

“I just… I just never thought it would come to this,” Ryker said.

“What do you mean?” Ashton asked.

“I don’t know,” Ryker answered. “This whole hatred thing. I never thought it’d be this serious.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Maybe I should’ve figured it out after you punched me,” Ryker added. Ashton narrowed his eyes as he glared at the other man.

“I shouldn’t have done that. Not that you didn’t deserve it, because you did, but I still shouldn’t have done that,” Ashton said.

“How the fuck did I deserve it?” Ryker furrowed his brows as he looked up at Ashton. “What did I do? What have I ever done to you to deserve all this…all this fucking hate?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” Ashton rose a questioning brow. “Are you forgetting about Mari—”

“No,” Ryker cut him off. “This was before her. This was before any girl came between us. One day we were best friends and the next… the next you couldn’t stand me. Why? What changed all of a sudden?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t see it coming,” Ashton grumbled. And Ryker was calling him dense.

“No, I really didn’t,” Ryker replied.

“So what? You’re saying that you don’t know why I hate you?” Ashton questioned.

“I don’t have a single clue,” Ryker answered.

“Wow.”

“Well? Are you going to tell me or not?” Ryker asked once again.

Ashton said nothing as he stared back up at the sky. Where should he even begin? There was so much, so many underlying feelings and he had idea how to form them into coherent sentences. There wasn’t just one reason for why he started hating Ryker, there were multiple. And he always assumed that Ryker was aware of them.

“Remember when—”

“Sorry I’m late!” Tabitha called out from a distance as she walked towards the two men, making them effectively end their conversation. Ashton breathed out in relief, for once he was grateful for the interruption.

“We’ll continue this later,” Ryker muttered as he opened the door to the driver’s seat.

“Sure,” Ashton said, though he didn’t really mean it. The last thing he wanted was to delve into the past and bring out old skeletons from their closet. He would much rather just keep them in and not have this conversation with the other man.

Ashton walked around the car as Tabitha neared them, he was about to get into the passenger seat, his hand was on the handle, when he decided against it and got into the backseat as well. He wanted to be as far away Ryker as possible. The backseat still wasn’t far enough, but it would have to do given the circumstances.

Tabitha got in the car, the seatbelts were on, and just like that they were on their way. She informed them about the restaurant she had booked where Lee would be meeting them, before thanking Ashton once again for coming.

“So what were you guys talking about before I came?” Tabitha asked out of the blue. “It seemed pretty intense from afar.” 

“Nothing.”

“A lot.”

Ashton and Ryker answered at the same time, respectively. Tabitha chuckled at the different responses as she lightly shook her head.

“Alright then,” She said, a smirk on her face. “Keep your secrets.”

“There are no secrets!” Ashton exclaimed.

“Uh huh,” Tabitha wasn’t believing a word that he was saying, and it was evident from her tone.

“What about you, Ryker?” Tabby questioned. “No secrets?”

“Absolutely none at all,” Ryker muttered.

Tabitha hummed as she nodded, deciding not to push the matter as she changed the topic of conversation. She was great at getting both of them to speak, even though the air between the two men was strained, she would never pay it any mind and always managed to engage both of them equally when they were together.

“You’ve got to take a left from here,” Tabitha instructed. Taking a brief pause before speaking up again. “I’m so excited for you both to meet Lee. Last time they were on set I couldn’t get a hold of either of you.”

Ashton gulped. That was the time when Ryker and him were running lines together. No wonder she couldn’t find them.

“Oh,” Ryker replied, his voice nonchalant. “I can’t recall what I was doing. Probably just taking a nap between shots.”

“Damn, I don’t blame you,” Tabitha said, understanding where Ryker was coming from. “I’m guilty of a lot of mid-take power naps. I’m sure we all are. Right, Ash?”

“Right.”

“We’re here,” Ryker announcement once they reached their destination.

“Awesome! I’ve booked a private booth and Lee knows the owner so we don’t have to worry about paps. We just need to enter from the backdoor,” Tabitha informed.

“Thank god,” Ashton sighed in relief. As much as he liked attention, sometimes he just wanted to go out in public without being bombarded by people and reporters and have a peaceful time.

“Here’s to a fun night!” Tabitha exclaimed. “It’s only the start.”

***

Double update! Don’t forget to read chapter 13 before this!

What are your guesses on why Ash started hating Ryker?