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The Next Day
Ashley felt a little better about herself as she returned home. She had just had her physical therapy session for her healing wrist, and she hadn't received any strange text messages from friends like she had the previous day.
She stepped into the house, keys clutched in her bad hand. Her little dog, a terrier-mix named Tobey, barked and jumped up and down excitedly, happy his mistress was back home.
She dropped her keys on the table in the kitchen, shrugging out of her jacket. Once it was off, she placed the garment on the back of one of the two chairs there and then stooped down to pick up Tobey. She'd thought it ironic that he'd been given to her by Matt, of all people.
The blonde entered her living room and turned on the computer. She supposed she was a glutton for punishment for doing that, but she couldn't help it. She was definitely addicted to the internet.
She placed the dog down on the couch and sat to kick off her shoes, sighing. After that, she stood back up and returned to the kitchen. It was a little after noon and she was hungry. She decided she might as well make some lunch.
It wasn't long before Ashley had a tuna sandwich made, and she carried it on a plate, along with a bottle of cranberry juice, to the living room. She sat before her PC and began surfing. As she logged onto her MySpace, she groaned at the realization that something was up. Apparently, Matt had run his mouth yet again. Shaking her head, she noticed that a fan had made mention to his newest blog. Oh, so he'd explained himself?
Ashley instantly clicked onto her ex-boyfriend's MySpace. Sure enough, he had made a new blog.
"Oh, this oughta be interesting," she muttered to herself. Didn't he have anything better to do than talk trash about other people? She should have listened to her friends when they'd warned her against getting involved with him in the first place. She knew he'd had a very bitter breakup with Amy Dumas, whom he'd dated for a long time, before he'd had a short relationship with that Lori chick she'd briefly heard about. Although she'd denied it to herself, Ashley knew Matt had really never gotten past the incident. He definitely had problems with moving on.
Her blue eyes widened as she read the blog. According to what Matt said in this one, he had never been referring to Jeff and herself after all! But as she continued reading - re-reading specific parts - she knew he was lying. It seemed that everything he'd had to tell people lately was nothing but lies. She felt her blood boiling as she clicked out of his page.
Pushing aside her half-eaten sandwich, Ashley picked up her cell phone and flipped it open. She decided it was time she had words with Matt. She dialed his number and pressed her lips tightly together as she held the device up to her ear, listening to it ring on the other end. It didn't take long for him to answer.
"Hello?"
"Matt..." she said, forgoing a hello. "... What's up? I read your blog yesterday. Then I come home from PT not even an hour ago and see your new one. You can't honestly tell me you weren't talking about me in the first one. Me and your brother."
She was angry, and that feeling increased as she heard laughter coming from him. What a lot of nerve he had!
"I fail to see what you find so hilarious."
Somehow, that comment prompted yet more laughter out of the man.
"Ash... Didn't you even read my new blog?" Hardy questioned. It was rhetorical, so he plundered on rather than allowing her a chance to respond. "It's not about you guys at all! It was about-"
"I'm sorry, but that's bullshit, Matt! You know it, I know it, and the entire internet knows it!" Ashley snapped. "Since when are you concerned about Adam Copeland?"
"I'm not."
"Well, then, you've just proven that your new blog is a huge lie!" she shouted. "Because in the first one, you claim to be 'concerned' for these two people!"
"Ashley-"
But she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of explaining himself at that very moment... Not while she was on a roll, and damn it, she had to get all of this out.
"How could you, Matt?" she cried, thoroughly hurt. "I thought things were okay between us when we broke up. I thought we were friends." She hated the fact that she could feel the tears burning behind her eyelids. She didn't want him to hear her break down, especially now. "You knew I was rehabbing my wrist, nothing more. How could say such awful things about me?" While it was true that she had gotten totally shitfaced drunk after her last RAW appearance, when she'd returned following her stint doing Survivor China it had been a one-time thing.
"How can you sit there at your computer while your brother is going through a rough time and needs help?" she shot. "Why don't you physically be there for him and try to help instead of taking potshots at him?
Matt tried to get a word in edgewise, but Ashley wasn't having any of it. She was mere seconds away from a breakdown, and that was it. She was done.
"Goodbye, Matt." She ended the call and flung her cell phone onto the nearby couch, then sobbed into her hands.