A week later
Omniscient
Ashly rolled her eyes as she saw Keith's name popped up on her phone for the tenth time today. At first she was going to delete the voicemail like she did before, but this time something told her to just listen to it. So she did.

Voicemail
"Hey Ash um it's me, Keith..again. Which you already know so I don't know why I said that." He let out a nervous chuckle.

"Um look I know things between us haven't been good or the same but my love is still the same. I-I don't know what to do to prove to you but I'm willing to do whatever. Out of all the chicks I've dated you were the one that always kept my heart, if I'm being honest girl you still got it. You remember in high school when you told me no other girl could compete or compare to you, whether we were dating or not. I know-"

Before he could finish he was cut off due to his time being up. Hearing him talk brought tears to her eyes because she did still love him and wanted to be with him. Truth is she's stubborn. She wants to forgive him but she doesn't want to be too easy on him. Yeah she know everyone deserves a second chance but what he did was uncalled for and he really hurt her. Another reason why she couldn't run back to him so fast was because of the skeletons she had in her closet. She was scared of his reaction and other people's reactions, especially since she made a big deal out of his skeletons. She could only imagine what type of reactions she would get.

After doing some talking to herself and praying multiple times she finally came to a conclusion. She picked up her phone and started dialing a familiar number. When her finger was over the last number she chickened out and pressed the x until everything was erased. So instead of calling she sent a text and told this person to come to her house at ten tonight. To say she was scared was understatement, more like frighten or terrified. She didn't know what to expect.

Finally 10'o clock came around and he came right at ten on the dot. Ashly was too nervous to move. Right then and there she wanted to run upstairs and lock her door until the next day but she knew she couldn't do that. She's being procrastinating for too long and now it was time for the truth to come out.

She walked over to the door and shakily gripped the door knob but before she could open the door she quickly snatched her hand back and bit her lip.

"Melissa open the door."

As if his presence wasn't already making her nervous he called out her government name which meant he was either irritated, frustrated, or was just eager to talk to her and her was tired of the games. She inhaled deeply and exhaled then opened the door. Soon as she opened it she turned on her heels to walk back to the living room and he caught her forearm before she could go far.

She turned her head and looked at him as to say let me go but her look went unnoticed. She looked up at him in his eyes and immediately her eyes adverted to the wall behind him. Instead of saying something Keith just sighed and let her arm go. When she walked to the couch he walked behind her and sat on the love seat.

"You wanted to talk so what's up." He stated after five seconds of silence.

She opened up her mouth then closed it when words wouldn't come out. Before he got here she knew what she was going to say, from the beginning to the end, but now that he was here, in her face she was speechless, literally. As always she took a deep breath and let it out as she ran her hands down her legs.

"W-what were you going to say on voicemail before it ended?"

"What you mean?"

"You said I know then it ended. So what were you going to say?"

"I know that you hate me and you have every right to  but I'm willing to fix my mistakes like a man and at least, at least be your friend."

He spoke out as he rocked his legs back and forth.

"I don't hate you. Why would you say that?"

"They say actions speak louder than words, right? Your actions towards me spoke super loud."

"I admit I was anger and frustrated at/with you Keith but I didn't and don't hate you. And to hear you say that breaks my heart."

Keith looked up from the floor and saw her wiping her eyes and heard sniffles. He got up from the love seat and walked over to where she was and engulfed her in a hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for assuming. I'm sorry for lying. I'm sorry for cheating. I'm sorry for embarrassing you. Okay? I'm just sorry for everything and I'm here right now as a man telling you how sorry I am."

"I'm sorry too." She mumbled as he continued to rock her back and forth.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm the one who started this whole thing. If  I would've been upfront with you about Renae and never would've cheated we wouldn't be right here."

Ashly shook her head and wiggle out of his hold and went upstairs into her room leaving him confused.

"Melissa how are we supposed to talk if you're always running upstairs and running away from your problems?!"

Seconds after he yelled and shook his head she came back downstairs with an envelope in her hand. She handed it to him and stood by the staircase with tears in the brim of her eyes.

He held it in his hand and turned around to look at her.

"What is this? A restraining order?"

She never did say nothing. She just stared at him and bit her bottom lip. He faced forward and took the letter out the envelope and began reading. He read everything with a straight face until he came across a certain word and then he immediately faced her and looked between her and the paper.

"Are you serious Ashly? Did you want to hurt me that bad that you purposely lied about our child? You said you miscarry in this letter I don't see nothing about that."

"I'm sorry. I really am. I was hurt and I just wanted-"

"You wanted. What did you want? You could've lied about anything else Ash. You could've lied about loving me, wanting to be my friend or that you forgive me, but a child. A child Melissa."

He shook his head and got up to leave. Before he walked out he stood in front of her.

"You know that trust you wanted so bad, it goes both ways."

"Keith I'm sorry." She pleaded out.

Once he got away from her house he drove into an empty parking lot, put it in park, shut it off and then he got out, paced the ground and screamed to the top of his lungs.

No matter what he did or tried to do he was always getting knocked down. No matter how hard he tried life just wouldn't let up.

Is everything that happened between them a sign saying that they shouldn't be together? Are they too toxic for each other? Instead of helping each other are they hurting each other?

If the answer is no to all of those questions well then it sure felt like the opposite to Keith. It seem like every time he tried to make things right with her something bad always popped up. When they were friends and when they were together, so the number one question that ha been popping up in his head every since this bs started, is all of this even worth it?

____
"Yes it's worth it. Honey relationships aren't always peaches and cream."

"But ma she lied about my child, our child."

"I heard you the first time you said it Keith and yes she is wrong for what she did. Not telling you, doing what she did and waiting so long to tell the truth but baby nobody is perfect and everyone has skeletons in their closet but if you love her like you say you do and vice versa then you can get through this. If the love is strong you can get through anything."

"But how do you know if the love is still there?"

"No matter what happened you still want to love her. You forgive and forget and the only thing you want to do is love her, hold her and be there for her."

After talking with his mom he went over to his one of  his friends house and decided to get their opinion on the topic.

"Man hell no I wouldn't take her back. You can lie about anything else but once you lie about my child uh uh you dead to me."

One of his friends, Tyrell stated and his other friend Raheem agreed.

"I agree with Ty. Lie about anything else but don't lie about my child."

"But they both did dirt though."

"Chris, her dirt is more worse than his dirt. He just cheated and lied about it, that's normal but she lied about their child. Didn't lie about having one but lied about how she got rid of it."

Tyrell told Chris as he slapped his hands together.

"Wrong is wrong and right is right if you want her to forgive you for what you did then it's only right that you forgive and then y'all talk it out."

Raheem sucked his teeth and pointed at Chris as he looked at Tyrell.

"Look at this nig trying to be Dr. Phill or in this case captain save a ho."

Tyrell and Raheem started laughing until Keith cut them off.

"I came over here to get y'all opinion not for y'all to go calling my girl out of her name. I don't disrespect y'all ladies so don't disrespect mine."

"Aye man I'm just calling it like I see. I mean that is the most logical reason on why she would get rid of it . She didn't know who the daddy was because she was too busy riding around."

Keith got up and was about to charge towards him until Chris stood up and told him they weren't worth it. Chris knew about his career and he didn't want him to jeopardize it by fighting them.

He thought coming over here would be good. You know see some old friends and get some of their opinions but as he could see Ty and Raheem were still on that high school bs. Treating a girl bad multiple times but soon as she do it to you cut her off with the snap of a finger while Chris was just like him. After walking away and going to his car Chris walked behind him and gave him his opinion.

"Two wrongs don't make a right but when love someone and the love is there and it's real sometimes love can make anything right. But it's up to you and her to determine if it's worth it. I remember you and lil Ashly in high school, when you saw one you always saw the other one not too far behind."

They shared a laugh.

"You guys went through a lot of stuff when you were just friends so of course you're going to go through a lot more when get together then break up. But like I said it's up to you and her to determine if it's really worth it. You love her and I know she love you so don't be so quick to end things unless you really ready to end it all and if not then y'all better sit down and talk it out like the two adults y'all are."

Keith nodded his head and told him he heard him then slapped hands and he got in his car.

While driving home he had a lot of time to think and the only thing came up was is it worth? Is it really worth it?

••••
Is it worth it y'all? Is it really worth it?

Tried to make it long but as y'all can see that didn't work out ☹️

I don't know how but watching the lil clip of the next episode of Famous In Love, the one were Jordan has to confess about what he did when he was younger, gave me this idea to post because at first my mind was blank.