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It was eight-thirty when they heard the car Everyone stood expectantly, fearful of what they would see walking in the door And then Ashley cah the back door

She wasin her puffy eyes and pink cheeks Her beautiful red hair was flat and slack and her clothes wrinkled, but otherwise she looked normal Except for the expression on her face, which was one of pure agony

"I had to do it, I had to go to State," she said "I sent hinored, so I went to face him I’m sorry I lied and took your Jeep I proain"

Carrie took a step toward her "I made you some soup, honey"

"Thanks, Gra Now that you’re hoo, Mac," Ashley said "I’ to bed"

"We need to talk, Ashley," Gina said

"There’s nothing to say," she said, walking through the house toward her roo her backpack behind her

"Ashley," Gina said, following her "Ash, I really want to talk to you Please"

She turned sharply to face Gina "He doesn’t wantin her eyes "I gave hiuy I saw today? I don’t even know that guy That was not my Downy" Then she went into her room and closed the door

Gina turned back to face Mac and hershe could think of "Thank God there were no cell phones whenripped out"

Ashley laid down on her bed in her clothes In fact, she laid there for a while before sitting up and throwing off her jacket

She was probably about six years old when she first noticed Crawford Downy Junior Everyone had always called him Downy; only his mother called hier brother Frank There was a third brother two years younger than Frank--Lee

That was back when Ashley’s randmother wrestled her naturally curly red hair into braids in theDowny called her twerp or carrot top or pesky pants She alternately crushed on hiiant turd She liked his like, "Good catch, CT," instead of carrot top She hated hi to let down her hair!" and put out his arer than the Goodyear Blilets and thick glasses Frank had thick glasses, too, so Downy never teased her about the glasses Then when she’d barely figured out how to control her wild hair, she had braces "When you getting the tin out of your mouth, CT?" he’d ask her

Ashley and Eve McCainteenclothes, makeup and hairstyles Eve was always naturally beautiful with thick dark hair, bright blue eyes, but she also had braces It was one of the first things that had bonded thele parents and neither had much money to spend on clothes--so they irade, Ashley ler, the circular brush, a blow dryer Her thick crazy hair becae of her youth was replaced by a darker, copper-red The braces caot contacts and shesquad And one day in the spring of her sopho her short, pleated cheerleader skirt, Downy said, "Hey, Ashley" He actually used her name!

And she said, "Hey, Downy"

He was a senior then and the toast of Thunder Point athletics He played football, hockey and baseball Frank wasto be taken seriously

And Downy said to her, "We should go out sohed and said, "You know On a date"

"Oh"

"Oh?" he repeated "Is that a yes or a no?"

She nearly died But before she died she said yes But she was fifteen and Gina would only let her go if they double-dated He took her to awith two other couples But the other couples went in one car and she was alone with Downy so all the way there they talked and laughed After the movie they went to a pizza place She was the only sophomore--the rest of them were all seniors After pizza they went to a pretty secluded outlook facing the ocean and et under her shirt and she kept slapping his hand away At so with a fifteen-year-old You’re just too young"

She said, "Fine We won’t go out again But don’t think you’re all that and I’ood at sports and kinda cute"

He grinned and said, "You think I’m cute?"

"Not that cute," she said

But he walked her to every class, held her hand, leaned into her at her locker to kiss her, asked her repeatedly if she’d be at his gaether, texted all day until Downy had his phone confiscated by a teacher for teeks Then, at assembly, his full ride scholarship to State was announced At the end of suone to football camp and then to school, three hours away "I suppose you’ll just break up with me now," she said

With a look of serious ure out how to take you with me I think I love you"

So she let him touch her breasts And said, "I think I love you, too"

Before suly, college had not seemed to be the barrier Ashley had feared They talked and texted constantly, Downy came home to Thunder Point as often as possible if he didn’t have a football game or practice and since he was a freshh he practiced hard all week "And by the tiether," he told her