An Old Friend

Diary of Ashley Borden Matthews Ridicule Borden Matthews Macdonald




These last few weeks have been tough on me. There's been so much going on, almost too much. Hard to believe that only one short year ago, I first laid my eyes on the most handsome, kindest, gentlest, sweetest man that I've ever had the good luck to meet.

I still can't explain why or how I fell in love with Brandon. I don't think he could explain it either. How could we really? He's ten years older than me. We were both in serious relationships, with two people that, at the time, we loved so much. But that one day back in September, my life changed forever.

Too often I hear people talk about how love at first site is only a myth, that it doesn't exist. Well aren't Brandon and I proof that it has to? The love that we have for each other is as real as it can be, and it started from the moment we first saw each other. Every time I see Brandon, I think back to that day, and how it could have been so different. So many things could have led to us not meeting that day. But would we have still gotten together anyways? I feel like our love is that strong, that no matter what had happened, somehow, some way, we'd still be together today. Because that's just the way true love works.

We planned the wedding yesterday. There's still a few things we have to work out, but the main part is there. We're not sure if we're going to do it here in Miami, or on Brandon's island. I don't really mind either place, although I guess I would favour Miami a little more. I just like it here. It will always be my home. I don't know who Brandon has planned for his wedding party, and I don't even know who I'm planning on having. Well, I want Jenny to be my maid of honor. But I don't know if she'll even want to talk to me. I'm going to go see her in a few days. I'm a little scared, I don't want her to hate me. But I think she does.

----------------------------September 13th, 2011----------------------------

"So, are you ready for this?"

"Yeah, I think so. I can't believe I actually have to go to this"

Brandon was getting ready to go to his divorce hearing with Anna. He had gotten a call about it yesterday. I couldn't imagine what he's feeling, having to see her again. I know that if I saw her, I'd be pissed off. But it's something that he has to do.

"I know it sucks, but you need to do it. Otherwise we can't get married, remember?"

"I know. I just don't want to see her again"

"It was gonna happen eventually. Just control yourself. Don't say anything stupid"

I meant it. The last thing I want is to have Brandon have to deal with any more stress from Anna. I just want this whole thing to be over with, and I know he does too.

"I won't. What are your plans for the day?"

I want to go visit Jenny, and invite her to our wedding. I haven't seen her since the last one, and I miss her so much. I feel a bit scared though, because I don't know whether or not she'll want me as a friend anymore.

"I'm going to go visit Jenny. Invite her to our wedding. I'm not letting my dad do that again. I'm just hoping she'll talk to me again"

"I know how you feel. I did the same thing last year with Keagan. She was my best friend growing up, and I just abandoned her. I was so scared to go and talk to her, but she forgave me, and look at us now. Still best friends"

It isn't quite the same situation, but I'm glad that Brandon is at least trying to help me. That's why I love him so much.

"Yeah. But Keagan didn't sleep with your dad, did she?"

"Yeah, no, she didn't do that. Although she is sleeping with my brother, does that count?"

"But they're married, so it's okay"

"True. Well, Anna slept with your dad."

Brandon could be just a little slow at some times.

"Yeah, and look at you two now. Not exactly the best of pals, are you?"

"Damn, you're right again"

"I'm always right. I'm a woman remember?"

I always win arguments with Brandon. Sometimes he just doesn't think things through, and other times I think he just gives up.

"I remember, I remember"

"Anyways, I'm gonna get going. Good luck today"

I walked over to him and kissed him on the lips. I felt him grab the back of my head and pull me in closer to him. I continued to kiss him, with more passion now. Eventually I broke the kiss and just stared into his eyes for a while. I could get lost in them. I smiled at him.

"Thanks. You too babe"

"I'll see you later on"

"Love you"

"Love you too"

I waved goodbye to him and walked out the door. I was so glad that I got my drivers license over the summer. I never had the need to before, since I never had a car, and I could get a ride pretty much wherever I wanted to. But it always sucked when I had to use a taxi or something. Since Brandon has like, ten cars, I decided to get my license. I like his Mustang. It's my favourite car, and the one I always use. I pulled out of the driveway and drove to Jenny's house. When I got there, I walked up to the door and knocked on the front door. Her mom answered, and just looked at me for a minute. I could tell she was trying to recognize me. I smiled at her, and her face lit up.

"Ashley! Is it really you?!"

It really was

"Yeah, it's me. Hi Mrs. Young"

"Oh my god, I haven't seen you in years!"

I felt bad when she said that. I used to see her all the time, but then once I was adopted by Dad, I never came back. There were a lot of bad memories around here, and it was hard for me to overcome them.

"Yeah...I'm sorry I never called or anything"

Mrs. Young smiled brightly at me as she gave me a big hug

"Don't worry at all dear, I'm just glad to see you again!"

"Thanks. That means a lot"

It did mean a lot. I didn't expect her to be so understanding, so forgiving. But I guess this is what real mothers acted like. I wouldn't know, I've never had one. Aside from the few times I had met Brandon's mom.

"So, I'm guessing you came to see Jennifer?"

Mrs. Young snapped me back into reality. I looked up at her and smiled.

"Yeah. Is she home?"

"Jennifer doesn't actually live here anymore. She rents an apartment down near her school. Oh, you've all grown up so fast"

Wow. I was surprised. Not that Jenny was living on her own, or that she was going to school, but that she had never told me. Or that I had never found out. I guess I shouldn't really have been surprised. If you don't talk to someone for over a year, chances are they aren't going to call you just to tell you that they moved.

"Oh wow. Do you think she'd mind if I dropped by?"

"I'm sure she'd love it! She misses you a lot. She told me something happened at your wedding, but wouldn't tell me what. I hope it was nothing serious"

I smiled slightly. I would never tell Jenny's mom what happened.

"No, it wasn't too bad. My life has just been sort of complicated recently. I'm trying to sort it all out, and I needed to talk to Jenny"

"Of course. Here, her address"

I watched Mrs. Young pull a piece of paper out of her pocket. I pulled a pen out of my purse and handed it to her, as she wrote down Jenny's address for me. I thanked her and gave her one last big hug, before I walked back to my car and drove off towards Jenny's apartment. Good thing I had a GPS in the car, otherwise I'd have been completely lost. When I got to the apartment buildings, I was lucky enough that someone let me in, so I didn't have to buzz Jenny. I knocked on her door, and I could hear her moving around inside.

"Just a second!"

I stood at the doorway, praying that she didn't freak out and slam the door in my face when she saw me. I could hear the door being unlocked from the inside. I took a deep breath. This was it. The door opened, and Jenny was standing right there in front of me. We just stared at each other for a moment, neither of us moving. Until...

"OH MY GOD!!!!"

I was basically tackled by Jenny, in the biggest hug that I have ever been given. And I mean that. Bigger than daddy, bigger than Nick, way bigger than awkward Chad, and bigger than Brandon. I almost got the wind knocked out of me, that's how big a hug it was. I gently hugged her back, and eventually, she released me from her death grip.

"Ashley....I....what...."

I smiled as she tried to put words together

"Hi Jenny. It's good to see you"

"Come in!"

Jenny waved me inside her apartment. I followed her in through the doorway, and looked around. It was pretty big, especially since she was there alone. But it was really nice. I liked it.

"Why...why are you hear Ash?"

I turned to see Jenny looking at me. I sat down on the couch and looked across the room at her. I tried to put words together, but nothing would come out. Eventually, I managed to choke my way through a sentence

"I'm so sorry Jenny"

It takes all that I have to not burst out crying right then and there. I feel so stupid for everything that I've done. I never called, I never talked to her. She probably hated me. What was I doing there? Why did I come here?

"For what?"

I looked up at her. Was she serious? What hadn't I done, that was the real question.

"For never calling you. For not talking to you at all after my wedding with Nick. For everything that that I didn't do that I should have. You were my best friend Jenny, and I forgot it. Never again"

I cover my mouth as a tear began to roll down my cheek. I buried my head in my hands. God, why was I such a wreck. It was embarrassing, especially in front of my former best friend.

"Ashley, stop! Why are you crying over this?"

I looked up from my hands. Jenny was standing in front of me. She ran her hand through my hair and sat down beside me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

"Stop crying. You have no reason to!"

"B-b-but...I never t-talk to you. Y-you aren't mad at m-me?"

Jenny laughed and hugged me tightly. I smiled as she let me go and I looked back up at her.

"Ash, how could I be mad at you? You're my best friend!"

"Yeah, but I h-haven't talked to you in a-a year. I thought you'd hate me"

"Ashley, come on! I could never hate you! If anyone should hate someone, you should hate me"

I looked at her, confused. Why should I hate her?

"Why would I, hate you?"

"Well, I slept with your dad. And I felt bad because it sort of ruined your wedding"

I laughed. Jenny stared at me, looking sort of offended, but also smiling a bit. I just couldn't stop laughing. I don't know why, it wasn't even funny. I think it's just a build-up of emotions, all coming out in laugher. Finally, I calm myself enough to stop

"Jenny, you didn't ruin anything! My dad ruined it. Look, I never should have sent him down to give you that invitation. I knew you thought he was hot, so I wasn't surprised that you went for him. I was pissed off that he let you. Ew, I can't believe I just talked about that"

I laughed nervously, looking over at Jenny, who smiled and giggled a little bit.

"I just thought you hated me for it. I mean, it was your dad, and, well, it was your wedding"

"Look, can we just drop it? I'd rather not talk about it if we don't have to"

Jenny smiled at me

"Sure. Wow, I still can't believe that you're here"

"I was so scared to come here. I thought you hated me!"

"I thought YOU hated ME!"

Jenny and I both burst out laughing. It wasn't really that funny, but for two friends who hadn't seen each other for so long, it seemed that way.

"I could never hate you. I was just mad that day. It was a hard day"

"And I could never hate you! You're my best friend Ashley!"

I smiled at her

"Forever and ever, right?"

"Forever and ever"

I hugged Jenny as tight as I could. It seemed to last forever. I wasn't complaining though. I wished that it could last forever. After all the bad things going on in my life, finally, something went right for a chance. It was a good feeling.

"So, I hear that you're not with Nick anymore?"

I shook my head

"No, we split up a long, long time ago. It was really complicated. But I'm glad I did, because I realized that I hated Nick"

"I'm sorry Ash. That must have been hard"

"Yeah, it was pretty hard. But I made it through"

"Yeah, it actually doesn't surprise me that you broke up with him, after seeing him that one time"

I looked at her, confused. She had seen Nick recently? That didn't sound good. I hoped to god it wasn't the same kind of visit that my dad paid to her way back when.

"You saw Nick?"

"Not like you're thinking! He came to my apartment. I don't know how he knew where I lived, or even how he got into the building"

"What did he want?"

She looked at me, and I could tell that it wasn't a good thing. I had heard that Nick had really let himself go after he finished in the IWF, but I didn't think it would be that bad.

"He was high or something. Like, really really high. He kept rambling on about nothing. I didn't let him in or anything, I just stood with him at the doorway. He scared me, because he started to get angry, so I slammed the door and locked it. But he kept banging on it, yelling crazy things at me. Eventually he left, I think security came to get him. It was really scary"

It was my turn to wrap my arm around Jenny, who was starting to look upset. I imagine it would be hard to talk about that. Thank god he hadn't gotten into her room, who knows what would have happened? Suddenly Jenny started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, just something he said. He kept telling me that you wanted us to have a threesome together. It was really awkward"

"Ewwwww, what the fuck?"

I liked Jenny, but never ever like that. Girls aren't for me

"I know right! He was really high or something. But that made me laugh"

"Eww, Jenny, I love you as a best friend, but never like that. I don't think I could ever...ewww, it just grosses me out to think about it"

Jenny laughed

"Don't worry Ashley. I'd be a little concerned if you liked me any more than a friend."

"Yeah, don't worry. Never like that"

"Good. Anyways, subject change. How have you been doing? How's the single life treating you?"

I giggled to myself a bit. Jenny must have heard me, because she suddenly looked at me with a demanding look in her face

"What?"

"Jenny, I'm not single"

"Oh really? Who's the boyfriend?"

I held up my hand, and for the first time, Jenny saw the amazing ring on my finger. Brandon really went all out in choosing that ring. It was so nice, and so amazing.

"Oh. My. GOD!!!!!"

Jenny jumped on me and flattened me onto the couch, with another one of her gigantic hugs. I laughed and patted her on the back. Eventually, she let go of me and looked up.

"Again?! With who?!"

I laughed. Jenny was really excited. But to be fair, I'd probably be this excited if Jenny told me she was engaged.

"Brandon Macdonald. He worked with me in NLWF and now in the IWF"

"Come on woman! Details, details! Is he a good guy?"

"Yes Jenny, he's amazing. I love him. I've never felt this way about a guy before in my life. Not any of my old boyfriends, not Nick, not anyone. He's perfect. Oh yeah, he's also twenty nine"

Jenny gasped

"Ashley! Going for the older guys are we? Well, I guess that's good for you, he has the experience factor"

"Yeah, there was no learning curve like there was with Nick. He was ready to go from the beginning"

Jenny clapped and jumped in her seat.

"So, tell me! When's the wedding?! Where is it?!"

"It's on October 25th. We're not sure where we want it. Either on his island in Belize, or somewhere here in Miami"

"He's got an island in Belize?! You sure know how to pick em Ash, don't ya?"

Jenny winked at me, and I gave her a playful shove. It was true that Brandon was pretty rich, but he could have been homeless for all I cared. The money wasn't what was important.

"Anyways, Jenny, that's why I came. Since I'm getting married again, well, I'm going to need my maid of honor"

I sat there looking at Jenny, while she stared at me, processing what I had just said. I close my eyes and waited for it. Sure enough, after what felt like ten minutes, but was probably closer to ten seconds, I heard a loud shriek, and was again tackled into the couch.

"Ohmygod, of course I will Ashley! I would be so honored!"

I smiled and stood up. She followed me to her feet as well. I pulled out an invitation from my pocket, that I had made before I came over.

"Here. It's not really an official invitation, but it's better than nothing, right?"

"Oh wow, Ashley, I can't believe this is happening"

"Believe it. Hey, wanna go meet Brandon?"

"Uhhh, duh, of course I do! He has to pass the best friend test!"

I laughed as we walked over to the door. The entire way to my car, Jenny was just talking about how excited she was, and how much fun it was going to be, and how happy she was for me. I was pretty happy for myself right now too. I couldn't wait for her to meet Brandon.

"Is this your car?"

I looked at Jenny, who was staring at Brandon and mine's car.

"Yeah, Brandon and I share cars. This is one of them"

"Oh wow. I'm gonna marry a rich guy now"

"Oh, come on Jenny, I'm not just marrying him for his money"

I really wasn't. I knew Jenny was kidding around, but it still hurt when she said it. Just because I didn't want Jenny to joke around with anyone else, in case they thought she was serious.

"I know, relax Ash. I bet he's awesome. And hot"

"He is. Hey, are you hungry? I kind of feel like some food"

I had just realized how hungry I was. I hadn't eaten much for breakfast. I was way too worried about going to see Jenny. And now it was catching up to me.

"There's a Burger Shack a few blocks away, if you feel like some burgers and fries"

"That sounds perfect"

I love burgers. They're definitely one of my guilty pleasures. We drove to the Burger Shack, and passed through the drive thru.

"Hi and welcome to Burger Shack, with burgers so good they'll break your back, the fries so mighty that they'll cause a frighty, and with the prices so low, they'll have you screaming whoa!"

That had to be one of the dumbest slogan's I had ever heard in my entire life. Like seriously, who thought of that? They deserved to be fired, immediately. I couldn't help but notice that the voice on the other end of the speaker sounded familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it though.

"Do they make you say that every time you answer the drive-thru?"

"No, I just love my job so much that I go above and beyond what is necessary here at the Burger Shack."

I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.

"Okay, well can we get two single cheeseburgers, two regular fries, and...two pepsi's?"

Pepsi was my favorite drink.

"Sure. So, that'll be....ten dollars and fifty nine cents. Please drive to the next window, and thank you for choosing the Shack, better than Santa's sack, it's the Burger Shack!"

I drove away as he finished the stupid slogan. When we got to the window, I grabbed some money from my purse, and handed it to the man. As he leaned out the window, I realized why his voice sounded so familiar. He looked a lot bigger, like he had gained a lot of weight. But there's one thing that I'd always recognize, no matter how long, sloppy, and unkept it looked. The red mohawk.

"Nick?!"

Nick Ridicule looked down at me and just stared. He had obviously recognized me.

"Uhhhhhhhh........"

Suddenly, he turned around and just walked away, turning the corner inside the store, and out of my site. I was still holding my money out of the car window. I was in a bit of shock. Was that really just Nick Ridicule, taking my order at the Burger Shack? Suddenly, I was shaken from my thoughts when a lady leaned out the window to collect my money.

"Hey, is that man with the red hair, that's Nick Ridicule isn't it?"

"Oh, you recognize him? Yeah, he's always been telling us that he used to be some crazy famous guy that everyone knows. But to tell you the truth, I think he's a bit crazy. But he's a great burger flipper! So we all love him down here at the Shack"

The lady handed me our food, and took my money. I started to laugh when I rolled up the window, and looked over at Jenny, who had apparently heard and seen all of that, because she was laughing so hard in her seat. We just sat in our car laughing our heads off, until I heard a honk behind me. I wiped a tear of laughter from my eye and began to drive out of the drive-thru

"Oh my god, as if that just happened"

"Wow, I have to tell Brandon about this. He'll die!"

There were some people that, after I stopped seeing them for whatever reason, that I truly wanted to see do well. There were some who I really wanted to see happy. But Nick was not one of those. After all the shit I went through thanks to him, nothing could've pleased me more than seeing him flipping burgers, not even half a year after being one of the biggest names in the country. He truly got what was coming to him.

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Seriously?!

I have to team up with Corey Casey this week?

Corey fucking Casey?!

If you were to walk up to me and ask me, "Hey Ashley. Who is your least favourite wrestler and/or person in the entire world?" Ten times out of ten, I would say...

Corey Casey

Corey, you and me have never, and I mean never ever, seen eye to eye. And we probably never will. I don't care that you might be my uncle soon, and that you'll be part of the family. I will always and forever hate you. If I were to have my way, I wouldn't even be near you for our match this week.

But there are bigger fish to fry, and Brandon has asked that I come out and at least watch, make sure that bitch across the ring doesn't try anything stupid. Yeah, that's right Anna, I'm talking to you.

Anna, I don't think we've been properly introduced before. I'm Ashley Macdonald, the future wife of your ex-husband. The girl that he was cheating on while married to you. The reason you had to try to bounce back, and get some revenge on him. And so, of course, to the surprise of no one, you get that revenge through my stepfather, the great Chuck Matthews. I mean, really? That was your way to get back at Brandon? You wanna get back at him, here's some advice hun, go fuck someone Brandon actually cares about. You know what would have pissed Brandon off? If you had fucked Nick Ridicule. Or Corey Casey. Hell, even if you went over to the dark side and got some brown chocolate right up in there with James Shark. That's how you make him jealous. You don't go and sleep with the guy who Brandon doesn't even care about, and you especially don't go to the guy who's fucked like, a million girls.

But look at you now. The big bad girlfriend beside my dad. Can I ask you something Anna? Why are you still with him? If your goal was to just make Brandon jealous, then why keep dating my dad? If you wanted to make him jealous, or get some sort of revenge, all you had to do was fuck him once or twice.

Unless.......you actually have feelings for my dad. I really hope that you don't Anna. Girl to girl here, even though I don't like you, I'm giving you some advice. Never develop feelings for Chuck Matthews. Because as soon as his need for you is gone, he'll drop you like you never even existed. And he won't even think twice about it. This leads to a lot of broken hearts from girls just like you. So I'm sorry if that happens to you, but don't say that I didn't warn you. Sorry, let me rephrase that. The question isn't "if". The question is "when".

And you, dad, Charlie, Mr. Matthews, whatever other names you've gone by before. I don't have much to say to you. Oh, I'm sure you have all the things in the world to say about me. You'll call me a slut over and over again. Really dad? Last time I checked, I've only ever slept with two guys. Brandon and Nick. I don't count Chad, because "sleeping together" implies that both of us were involved. That was not the case with Chad. Two guys does not make me a slut. Yeah, I've dated a fair amount, but dating does not, a slut, make. You'll talk about how I hate you, and how I always came crying back to you when I had problems in my life. You never understood why, and I can tell that you still don't. I'll be the first to admit, that yes, whenever I had a problem in my life, I came back to you, sometimes crying, sometimes upset. And maybe that was a bit much for you to deal with. But then again, you knew what you were getting into when you adopted me. So who's fault is that?

I don't care if you hate me or not. I could never truly hate the man who saved my life. But know that this week, I'm solely on the side of Brandon and Corey. Whoa, I can't believe I just said that. Well, I'm for sure on the side of Brandon. I don't know about Corey yet. But I'm with Brandon, and you're on the opposite side. And I'm going to do all that I can to make sure that he wins. If that means having to drop your little bitch Anna on her head, then so be it. If that means that I have to do anything to you, so be it as well. I'm here to win, even if it's against my own dad. And, as history shows, Brandon is always the one with his hand raised against Chuck Matthews. So I'm going to go ahead and pick him once more. When you've got the two of us, we're incredible. When you add in the IWF Champion, as big an douche as he is, he's a good wrestler. The three of us cannot lose, and we certainly won't even come close against you two.

Oh shit, I forgot about Vinnie. Uhhhh.....alright, well, last time you fought Brandon in a tag match Vinnie, you got knocked out what, like, twenty seven times? Something like that. Anyways, I don't really care about you, since you've got The Lord or whatever that makeup wearing, dress loving douchebag calls himself to deal with. Good luck with that. I'll see you out there boys.

Oh, and one last thing for you Anna. It wouldn't be an Ashley Macdonald shoot if I didn't have at least one of these.



See you in the ring sweetie