The next morning, Ashley awoke and stretched. He ran his hands threw his hair and got out of bed. He walked to the mirror where he smirked at his reflection. He was pleased with the wings and his new hair color. He had a new sense of self and if the others didn’t like it well, that was their problem. He picked up his brush and ran it through his hair a few times before, grabbing some boxers and socks out of a drawer and heading into his bathroom to take a shower.
About forty-five minutes later, Ashley entered the kitchen to find the other guys already seated at the counter, eating cereal. He rolled his eyes; he didn’t really understand why they all loved cereal so much. He figured they had just gotten lazy. No one looked up as he came in but that was alright for him. He really was going to get a kick out of revealing his new self to the guys.
He walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a bowl. He bent over it to hide his hair. He had retracted his wings so they wouldn’t be noticeable. He really wanted to surprise the others when they did look up. He grabbed his box of cereal from the cabinet and poured it into the bowl. Then, he went to the fridge and took out the milk. He quickly poured some in his cereal, put it back, and grabbed a spoon from the drawer.
Ashley was just about sit down with his cereal when Jacob stood up to put his empty bowl in the sink. When he saw Ashley, the bowl slipped out of his hands and smashed to the floor. The other three looked up at him, failing to see what had caused him to drop the bowl.
“Damnit Jacob! Be careful!” cried Dan, “Those bowls are expensive you know!” Jacob didn’t respond. He wasn’t even looking at Dan. He still stared at Ashley in disbelief. Dan got up and walked to where he was standing in front of Jacob. “Jacob, hello, did you hear me?” He waved a hand in front of Jacob’s face.
Jacob didn’t say anything. He merely pointed and Dan spun around to see what he was pointing at. When he saw Ashley, his eyes became very wide and he too was rendered speechless. Trevor and Erik glanced at each other and followed Dan and Jacob’s gaze. Trevor, who had his spoon halfway to his mouth, froze mid-bite, staring at Ashley. Erik, who had just finished his cereal, dropped his spoon into the bowl with a loud clatter.
“Ash, what happened to you?” Trevor managed to get out. Ashley gave them all a devilish look.
“No more angel for O-town to play with,” he said in a dark voice. The other four looked at each. They looked worried and Ashley smirked. He loved making them look like that. “I’m not going to take any shit from anyone, is that clear?!” he commanded. Jacob stumbled backwards and Erik fell off his stool. “What?”
“Ash, man,” said Erik, “You just said shit!”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“Dude,” said Trevor, “You don’t curse. You never have. You’ve always been the innocent polite one of the group. Except for the fact that you’re a heartbreaker, you’re totally pure.”
“Yeah well, I decided that that was getting a little old and it was time for a new me. This is the new me and if you don’t like it, that’s your problem.” He walked over to the stool Jacob had vacated and sat down.
“We didn’t say we didn’t like it,” began Dan, “We are just very surprised. What happened to you last night?” A smile spread across Ashley’s face.
“A friend helped me out. He released me. Now I feel so much more better, so much more happier. I want to be this way. You don’t get anywhere by acting innocent. Besides, most people like the bad boy type.”
“But Ash,” Jacob said, “The fans love you the way you are. How do you think they’re going to react when they find out they don’t have their sweet precious Ashley anymore?”
“Like I said to you guys, if they don’t like it, that’s their problem. They will have to deal. Besides, I don’t think they’ll have much of a problem with my change. People are always expecting us to reinvent ourselves anyway.”
“He’s got a point Jacob,” Dan said. Jacob shrugged and sighed, admitting defeat. He took a seat at the kitchen table and began tracing the pattern with his finger.
“So, are you guys really okay with the new me?”
“Are you kidding?” Erik said. “I love it!” Trevor and Dan nodded. Jacob just smiled.
“Good, because I’m not going to change back. There is no way that that can happen.” He ate the rest of his breakfast without another word and deep in thought. It was going to take some getting used to but he was going to love this.
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O-town Fan Fic
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