My Best Friend Got Rich

My best friend made a fortune off the same man twice.
First, her debut novel, a thinly veiled account of her high school crush, became a bestseller. Then, it was adapted into a movie.
On premiere night, I dragged my fianc, Ashton Hayes, to the theater to show my support. During the Q&A, a fan asked the question on everyones mind.
"To the screenwriter: did you and the real-life inspiration for the story ever get together?"
My friend, Stella, lit up, her smile radiant. "Persistence pays off," she said cryptically. "What was lost has been found."
The crowd erupted in cheers. I leaned over to Ashton, whispering, "Looks like Stellas decade-long crush finally got a happy ending."
Ashton said nothing, but I saw a flicker of something in his eyes.
I figured he wasn't interested and let it drop.
It wasn't until later, backstage, that I heard Ashton's voice, tight with a restraint Id never heard before.
"Stella," he said, "we've wasted too much time."

1
Stella's laugh was bittersweet. "Ashton, I can finally stand beside you as an equal. I hope it's not too late."
I froze.
So, the man Stella had been secretly in love with for years was Ashton.
"What was the meaning of that little speech you gave in front of Ava?" he asked.
Stella rose on her toes, her hands winding around his arm. "Ashton, Ava Brooks isn't right for you. She's a spoiled princess who only knows how to spend money and have fun. Does she really understand you?"
Ashton's warning tone, which had started so sharp, softened into silence.
A long moment passed.
I lowered my eyes, a bitter smile on my lips.
Ashton and I were childhood friends, but our personalities were worlds apart. I was born with congenital insensitivity to pain, a rare condition that made me physically fragile. My family catered to my every whim, and in our social circle, everyone knew not to cross Ava Brooks.
Ashton, on the other hand, was the sole heir to the Hayes fortune. Raised with strict discipline, he was always cool, reserved, a man of few words and fewer desires.
Only with me did his guard come down. He was my gentle, protective "Ash."
After a serious illness in my childhood, my memory became spotty. No matter how hard I studied, Id blank out during exams. People whispered that I was an airhead. I grew to hate school, especially math and physics, subjects I could never grasp.
Ashton was different. He was a physics prodigy with a near-fanatical obsession with astronomy. He'd gone abroad for college, studying at a top university.
He came back to get engaged to me.
The day of our engagement party, I invited Stella, who had just returned from a research project. After getting her doctorate, she'd become a university lecturer.
I was clinging to Ashton's arm, excited to introduce them.
Stella just stared, speechless.
Ashton stiffened beside me. He looked Stella up and down, his expression as cool and indifferent as ever.
The silence was awkward. I forced a laugh. "Stella, I messaged you a few days ago! I wanted you guys to meet for dinner. Don't mind Ashton, he was born with that grumpy face."
A flicker of sadness crossed Stella's eyes, but she quickly masked it, pinching my cheek affectionately. "It's fine. I was out in the field, no signal. I just never pictured our Ava ending up with someone so serious."
At the time, I was completely oblivious to the undercurrents between them.
Now, as Ashtons footsteps approached from behind, he saw me standing in the drafty corridor and draped his coat over my shoulders. My sense of temperature was always off, but he was always the first to notice. The faint, bitter scent of oud wood from his coat enveloped me. I stared at the floor, my vision blurring.
"Ava, it's windy here. Let's go home."
I pulled away from his outstretched hand. "I'm going to my parents' house."
He stopped, his hand hovering in mid-air. He didn't ask why. He just drove me home, as he always did.
The car was silent. Normally, I would have been chattering away. I had always relied on Ashton, always felt safe to be myself around him, knowing he would indulge me. He could read my moods better than anyone.
But tonight, I could feel his distraction.
"Ash," I said, breaking the silence, "what are you thinking about?"
He murmured a name, almost unconsciously. "Stella"
Then he quickly corrected himself. "the movie. I was thinking about the movie."
A sharp pain lanced through my chest. I tried to clench my fists, to transfer the emotional agony into a physical sensation, but I forgotI couldn't feel it.
Ashton, in the story, the two protagonists were soulmates, destined for each other. And I was just the villain who stole him away, the one who broke them apart.
I swallowed the pain. "Do you also think it was a shame the hero didn't see the heroine at the airport when he left the country?"
The car screeched to a halt.
My heart jumped. I turned to look at him and found myself staring into his dark, unreadable eyes.

2
"Why are you suddenly asking about that?"
I turned away, avoiding his gaze. "You just seemed really interested in the movie."
He seemed to relax, a faint, wry smile on his lips. "Weren't you the one who insisted I come with you? You know I never watch these teen romance films."
I didn't answer.
He finally noticed something was wrong. He reached out and stroked my hair, his touch familiar and gentle. "Ava, are you still upset that I can't make it to your art exhibit?"
I shook my head. I knew he had a conference to attend out of town.
As I got out of the car, he hesitated. "Ava, don't be mad. When I get back, I'll take you skiing."
I had been begging him to take me skiing in Switzerland for ages, but he was always worried about my health.
My memory was poor, but he was always patient, willing to teach me the same thing over and over.
I forced a smile. "You promise, Ash. No backing out."
Stellas movie was a critical and commercial success. The clip of her interview went viral, racking up millions of views. The internet was abuzz.
"Does this mean she got her man?"
"The hero was definitely in love with her in high school too!"
"OMG, you guys have to see Stella's old private blog. It's the sweetest thing."
I found the blog the fans had unearthed.
For ten years, it had been a diary of a teenage girls secret love. After Ashton went abroad, the entries became a once-a-year affair.
I scrolled through, reading until I reached the most recent post.
It was from the day of my engagement party.
The moment we met again, my heart knew it had been waiting. But it's too late. Someone else is by your side now.
My hands trembled as I kept scrolling.
After that, the updates became more frequent. She chronicled their "reunion." A chance meeting at the university that led to dinner. A rainy night when he drove her home. And finally, the premiere, where she used the movie to confess her feelings.
She mentioned me several times.
She called her beloved's fiance a "bimbo with a big chest and no brain," an arrogant bully who used her family's power to get her way, someone completely unworthy of Ashton.
She claimed I repeatedly interrupted her "dates" with him.
I stared at the screen for a long time.
Stella was my college roommate. I knew her family was poor. A mother who played favorites, an alcoholic father. But she had fought her way out of that life.
Early in our freshman year, I'd spiked a high fever in the middle of the night. It was Stella who got me to the hospital. We became close after that. I helped her out, both openly and behind the scenes, more times than I could count.
When someone stole her scholarship spot, I was the one who stormed into the dean's office and got it back for her.
In her version of the story, I was "using my family's power."
When she took an internship in another city, I let her stay in one of our family's empty apartments, rent-free.
She saw it as me "showing off my wealth."
When she wanted to write a novel, I was the one who connected her with a publisher. I even secretly pre-ordered a thousand copies to boost her sales.
I thought we were best friends. In her eyes, I was just a stupid, spoiled brat.
My misplaced trust felt like a cruel joke.
Her name flashed on my phone screen. I rejected the call, my hand shaking.
A text message popped up immediately.

3
"Ava, why did you leave so early? Weren't you coming to my after-party?"
I fought back the urge to scream at her, replying with a cold, detached message. "Not feeling well. Let's catch up tomorrow."
She replied instantly. "I have a business trip tomorrow. I'll call you when I'm back."
The next day, I dressed up and went to my gallery exhibit. The opening was a success. Near the end, Ashton appeared, holding a bouquet of flowers.
My heart fluttered. He had made it back after all.
He smiled, leaning in to playfully tap the tip of my nose. "You're so calm. That's not like you, Ava."
A wave of revulsion washed over me. I said nothing.
He was back to his usual attentive self. The strange mood in the car the other night felt like a distant dream. He even kept his promise about the ski trip.
I adjusted my goggles, looking out at the snowy slopes with excitement. My parents, ever-protective, had forbidden me from skiing. But somehow, Ashton had convinced them.
"Ash, where should we start?" I asked, eager to learn the new turning technique he'd promised to teach me.
But he didn't move.
He was looking at his phone, a complex email chain on the screen. A rare look of joy lit up his usually cool features.
He didn't answer my question. "Ava," he said slowly, "our plans for today might have to change."
A knot of dread tightened in my stomach. My smile faltered. "We're not going to the mountaintop restaurant tonight? Is the chef sick or something?"
"It's the observatory here. Stella just told me my application was approved. I can use their new telescope tonight. The viewing window is only three hours"
My excitement vanished, doused by a bucket of ice water.
"Ashton," I interrupted, "you promised you would spend the day with me. Are you going to ditch me now?"
He finally turned to look at me, a hint of exasperation in his eyes. "We can ski anytime. This viewing window is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Ava, you have to understand."
The emotions I had been suppressing finally broke through. My voice was sharp, piercing. "I don't understand! Ashton, you applied for this without telling me, but you told Stella? She understands you, so why don't you just go with her!"
He flinched, his brow furrowing. "Stella is just a colleague. Ava, don't take your anger out on an innocent person."
I scoffed. "Innocent? Aren't you two kindred spirits, vibrating on the same frequency? Your precious stars are a higher calling, and my plans, my feelings, are just cheap, meaningless things you can buy and discard?"
He tried to explain, but his voice was cold now, laced with the assumption that I was being irrational. "This isn't about value. Stella and I are both passionate about astronomy. This is about exploration, about understanding the very nature of our existence"
I couldn't take it anymore. I booked a flight and flew back home that night.
And just as I expected, Stella's next blog post was geotagged in Switzerland.
You said your orbit needed another star to resonate with. Am I that star for you?

4
She had attached a photo. It was the observatory Ashton had mentioned.
I zoomed in. In the reflection of the glass, I could see the silhouette of a tall, slender man.
I was like a drowning person, desperately searching for anything to cling to.
Ashton had never lied to me.
But in that moment, all my trust shattered.
I should have laughed, but instead, tears streamed down my face.
I blocked Ashton's number.
But our world was small. It was inevitable that I would run into him at a party.
He was with his date. Stella.
When he saw me, his expression was cold. After our fight, he'd tried to see me a few times, but I'd sent him away. The golden boy of the Hayes family wasn't used to being rejected. He still thought I was overreacting, being unreasonable.
Stella was as friendly as ever, showing no sign of guilt.
I brushed her hand away and started up the stairs. She followed me, surprised by my coldness, chattering on about why I hadn't been returning her calls.
I couldn't stand the pretense any longer. "Stella," I said, my voice cutting through her monologue, "are you in love with Ashton?"
She stopped on the landing, silent, her eyes locked on mine.
In the dead quiet, I tore our years of friendship to shreds. "Stop acting, Stella. Did you really think you could get away with seducing my fianc behind my back?"
The color drained from her face, but she looked away. "Ava, you and Ashton are from different worlds."
I reached out and fingered the sapphire necklace she was wearing. I sneered. "No, Stella. You're the one who doesn't belong. That's my necklace you're wearing. And I'm guessing that's a designer dress Ashton bought for you."
"Take those things away, and what right do you have to be here?"
I ripped the necklace, my gift to her, from her neck.
"Because of your sappy teen romance novel? Your self-proclaimed talent? Do you think your book would have ever been published if it wasn't for me?"
Her face flushed with anger, her voice sharp. "You don't understand, Ava! That book is about my memories with Ashton! When he and I were discussing the universe, you were living in a gilded cage, so protected you couldn't even feel pain without someone telling you it was there. How could you possibly understand his world?"
My expression darkened. "Stella, even a stray dog has more self-respect."
She was right. I didn't understand.
I didn't understand why my best friend had betrayed me.
And I didn't understand why Ashton, the boy who had always been on my side, was now standing opposite me.
Dressed in black, his face was a cold mask as he stared at me, his voice dripping with disappointment.
"Ava, that's enough."
"How long are you going to keep this up?"
I was rooted to the spot.
A crowd was gathering. I could hear their whispers.
"Did Ashton just yell at Ava Brooks?"
"Is he really turning on her for another woman? I've never seen her look so lost."
Ashton took Stella's arm. "Ava," he said, his voice cold, "it seems I've spoiled you. You should learn to behave."
Then they pushed through the crowd and left.
I was shaking with rage, the air in the gallery suddenly too thin to breathe.
Then I heard my name.
It was Ryan Cole, Ashton's junior colleague from his university days abroad.
He handed me my coat, his gaze steady.
I had only met Ryan a few times. He was the heir to a Hong Kong business empire, and he seemed to have a problem with me. Whenever Ashton took me to gatherings and people teased us, Ryan would let out a small, derisive laugh.
I'd mentioned it to Ashton once. He'd dismissed my concerns, turning it back on me. "When did you become so sensitive?"
I never brought it up again.
But tonight, Ryan was different. He had stepped in to help me, and now he was driving me home.
When we arrived, I handed his coat back, thanking him.
He glanced in the rearview mirror, his words pointed. "You and Ashton aren't a good match. You should break up with him."
I pursed my lips, offended. But I didn't deny it. "I'll consider it," I said quietly.
He raised an eyebrow, a knowing look in his eyes as he glanced behind me.
Ashton, who had left the party, was standing there. He looked worried, anxious.
"Ava, why didn't you answer my calls? I went back to get you, but you were gone."
I crossed my arms, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "You seemed pretty determined when you left me there."
He flinched.
Ryan spoke up. "I'll be going now. See you around."
His dark eyes lingered on me for a moment.
I nodded. The silver sports car disappeared into the night.
Ashton was still there, a flicker of guilt in his eyes. "Stella told me. You know about the book."
"No wonder you were so angry with her. Ava, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you."
I looked up at him, at the familiar tenderness that had returned to his eyes.
"Ashton," I said, my voice like ice, "I don't accept your apology."

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