4. Playing house?
1745 Words
"The frick!" was all Ashton had to say upon laying his eyes on the baby.
I sent him a pointed glare. He really had no filter on his mouth. How could he even think about swearing in front of a little, adorable baby? A baby who was crying, might I add.
I leaned down and picked up the little bundle of joy in my arms. Sure, it was not my bundle of joy, but, was a baby nonetheless. Who could ever resist babies, their innocence, their cute, adorable eyes and everything about them...?
"What are you doing?" Ashton hissed, cutting off my thoughts.
Never mind...I knew who.
I gave him the stink eye. "Are you blind or what? I am trying to make her stop crying. And, you, mister, are not helping at all," I scolded him quietly, so as not to startle the baby but I made sure to convey my anger to him through my eyes.
"Her? How do you it's a 'her'?" he asked, eyeing the baby as if it would explode any second.
I rolled my eyes. "You really are blind." I stated and pointed to the bow on the baby's head and her clothes.
The baby had stopped crying by now and was gazing at us with its curious big brown eyes, which were red and puffy from all the crying.
"Aww. Cutie." I cooed at her, unable to control myself. She blinked her big brown eyes at me.
All the while, Ashton was staring at us quietly. Too quietly. Then, suddenly, he perked up.
"Whatever. I am out of here." He announced and started walking away.
What the hell? He had got to be kidding me. But, his receding back told me otherwise. I couldn't believe this guy.
I ran up after him with the baby still in my arms.
"Ashton, wait!" I yelled after him.
He turned around with a bored expression on his face. "What?"
I looked at him incredulously and walked up to stand in front of him, shifting the baby so that she was carefully balanced with the help of my right hand. Then, I used the forefinger of my left hand to poke at Ashton's hard chest.
"How dare you, Ashton Sylvester? How dare you leave me alone to deal with this? What am I supposed to do with this baby?" I questioned him, my tone laced with bitterness for him.
"Well, drop the act, Millie," he deadpanned.
I gave him a bewildered look. What was he talking about? And, did he just call me by my name? Wow, he must have been serious.
"What are you talking about, Ashton?" I asked.
He rolled his eyes. "Seeing how cozy you are with this baby, she is clearly yours. I get it. You needed to push her responsibility on someone and that's why you planned out this whole thing, this whole prank. But, I am not falling for it. So, you can stop pretending."
I was speechless. I didn't know what to say or think. I didn't know what to do with the baby who was still curiously gazing at us, sucking at her thumb.
"Are you retarded?" I screamed at him. It was like a dam of fury had broken inside me.
He flinched back, seeing my reaction.
And, then, suddenly, everything clicked. It all made sense...
"I can't believe, I didn't see it until now. This whole time..." I muttered.
"What are you saying?" Ashton asked in confusion.
"What I am saying is, you, Ashton Sylvester, are a monster. She is your daughter and you tried to get rid of her. You also tried to blame it on me. You set this whole thing up. I can't believe, I was so ignorant till now."
"Are you crazy? She is your daughter. Look, how cozy she is with you."
"Just because she has warmed up to me doesn't change the fact that she is yours." I retorted.
"She clearly recognizes you. She is yours." He threw back.
I scoffed. "Not that it's any of your business, but, FYI, I am a virgin."
Ashton's jaw dropped to the floor.
I nodded at him. "That's right. You are the one who sleeps around. She is the product of one of those nights."
"I use protection," he protested, meekly.
"But, that clearly didn't work, did it?"
He peeked at the baby. "She looks nothing like me." he said.
I shrugged. "Maybe, she looks like her mother."
Just as Ashton was about to say something, our phones pinged.
I narrowed my eyes at Ashton while he did the same with me.
I fished out my phone and opened the message.
Enough, you two. It was entertaining while it lasted, but, it's time to end the freak show and get to the real deal.
My eyes flew to Ashton's and in that moment, a sense of relief and an understanding passed between us. So, someone really was messing with us. The baby didn't belong to either of us.
"We should report this to the school authority and hand over the baby to them." I said.
Ashton nodded, releasing a sigh of relief. "For a while there, you had me convinced that she really was a product of one of those nights."
I snorted. "I am pretty good at convincing. But, this time, I really did believe it so, I was more persuasive."
Just then, my phone rang. I checked it to find, to my astonishment, that it was the unknown number calling.
I glanced at Ashton to see that he was already looking at the screen and frowning.
I shifted the baby, who was now sleeping, to my other arm. My right hand was starting to become numb from holding her for so long.
Seeing this, Ashton had the decency to take the phone from my hand but he still won't touch the baby.
"Stupid bad boy." I muttered.
"What? I have baby phobia." he defended.
Was that even a thing? How can someone even be afraid of babies? They were such sweet, little cuddly things.
But, now was not the time to argue with him. I gestured for him to accept the call.
He nodded and put the phone on speaker.
There was a shuffling noise from the other side, then, a man's voice came:
"Hello freaks."
Ashton glared at the phone. I motioned for him to stay quiet. We didn't know what we were dealing with here, so, it was better to tread carefully.
"Who are you? And, what do you want from us? And, whose baby is this? And, how dare you leave her like that behind the bushes?" I blurted in a rush of anxiety.
Okay, so, maybe, I was not so calm myself.
"You are quite the speaker, Millie Blaire. Nice to see, that you already care for Stella. You have made my job easy."
"So, her name is Stella. Give us her full name and we will find her parents." Ashton said.
"Ah, Ashton Sylvester. Trying to get rid of her already?" the man asked, in a fake disappointed tone.
"You son of a-" Ashton started but I cut him off.
"What do you want? Cut the crap and get to the point." I demanded.
The man sighed heavily. "Fine." He drawled, as if he was dealing with children.
"So, here's the thing. Both of you, Millie Blaire and Ashton Sylvester, have a task to perform. Listen to me very carefully. You are supposed to look after Stella and take care of her-"
"What?" Ashton and I exclaimed at the same time.
"Is this some kind of joke to you?" I asked in disbelief.
"You asshole. She is someone's daughter and in case you didn't know, we are teenagers, we have a life and are not that dumb to walk right into your trap or whatever it is." Ashton growled.
"I am well aware of that, kids. But, it is what it is. Everything happens for a reason. Think of it as playing house for a long period of time." The man interjected with a chuckle.
"And, you think, we won't tell anyone? We'll inform our parents, the police, the authorities, everyone and-" I started but was cut off by the unknown pisser.
"Oh, you will do none of that, trust me."
Ashton scoffed. "Well, since, you are so much of a coward to hide your face, we will have to do just that, otherwise, my fist would have been enough."
"Well, I didn't want it to come to this, but, the two of you have left me with no other option."
I narrowed my eyes at the phone. Was he trying to threaten us?
"Now, listen, kids," suddenly, his voice was serious, "don't make me repeat myself. I am a man of resources. Do as a say or your loved ones will suffer the consequences. If you don't believe me, see for yourself."
With that he hung up. What the hell? What did he mean?
Ashton snarled and was about to send my phone to its early death, but, thankfully, I snatched it from his hands in time.
I rolled my eyes at him and checked my phone for any new messages. Sure enough, there was a media file from the unknown number.
I opened it and what I saw, had my blood running cold.
It was a picture of my father, who was currently in London for a month long conference. The picture was taken while he was making a presentation.
Now, I understood, what that man meant. He was threatening to kill my father. My heart lurched, just at the thought.
Ashton must have seen my ghostly pale face because he gently took the phone from my hands and checked the message. He didn't waste any time in checking his own phone after that.
Next I knew, he was swearing loudly and had really killed my phone this time, by throwing it against the wall of shame.
The PG version of Ashton's words:
"That son of a biscuit. He is threatening my sister's life. If I ever get my hands on him, I am going to...*beep beep*"
The rest of his words were out of my range of translation.
"Where is your sister?" I asked him, after getting over my shock.
"She is a graduate student in NYU."
I nodded. That unknown pisser was really a man of resources.
"It looks like we have no choice, Ashton." I said, grimly.
- Writer
