CHAPTER FOURTEEN

            Ashley’s house was amazing.  I mean beyond amazing. Astonishing…Fascinating…Unbelievable.  I kept on spinning in circles trying to see as much of everything as I possibly could.  I wondered why she would even want to settle at the dorms at school when she had a place like this.  USD had just as good of a music program as UCLA and it was much closer to her house.  She could have gone there and still been able to live home.  But then again, her mom didn’t seem very friendly.  I mean, she greeted us nicely enough, but I could definitely read pass her cold eyes as she took a sip from her wine glass and quickly walked away.  Ashley and her mother looked alike, which the same mocha eyes and dark hair, but Ashley lacked all the bitterness that seemed to seep through her mother’s pores.  Just being in the same room with her mother gave me chills.  But she finally walked away after saying that someone was here to see Ashley.

            Then, almost a minute later, someone came running in, crashing into Ashley and grasping her arms around Ashley neck.  I recognized her almost instantly.  She had the same mahogany hair, same warm eyes; good looks ran in the family. This was Ashley’s younger sister, Kyla.  She mentioned her a couple of times when we spoke; said that she was backpacking through Europe some place.  The girl was so excited to see her older sister that she didn’t even notice me standing there, so she rattled off questions to Ashley, including one about Jessica.  I didn’t have any bad feelings towards Jess, but I suddenly felt a twinge of jealously course through my body.  I cleared my throat and Ashley introduced Kyla to me.  She seemed to know things about me already and once Ashley’s face started to flush red, I realized that she must have talked to Kyla a lot more than she spoke to me about Kyla.  I grinned at the thought and teased Ashley once Kyla was pushed toward and up the winding staircase. 

            Ashley was about to continue showing me around the house, having lead me to the 2nd landing, but before we got to look at anything, Kyla came rushing out of her room asking if we were going to stay.  I grimaced at the thought of spending a weekend with the Davies sister’s mother; Ashley seemed to feel the same way, stating her mother as the reason she was declining.  But Kyla said that she convinced Mrs. Davies to spend a weekend at her own apartment, so we agreed.  Kyla said they had plenty of room for me, but was certain it didn’t matter either way, seeing that I was obviously going to sleep in Ashley’s room.  And with that, Kyla went back into her room and continued the unpacking that she had started.