Not Going Anywhere

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured on South of Nowhere, and only own the few that I created.

This is my first SON/TV series Fanfic, so please comment with anything! Thoughts, criticisms, advice, whatever. Thanks!

Chapter 1- Ashley, Ashley, Ashley…Avery?

The sun dances across her bronze face, illuminating the reddish highlights in that curly mess of brown hair that hangs perfectly around her flawlessly sculpted cheekbones. Her thin lips are pressed into a line, but not out of stress, I don't think. It almost looks as if she's stifling a smile. Of course, it would be inappropriate to smile now, in this intense moment of defining oneself. At least that's what my mind tells me, as it, too, fights to suppress a smile. Why do I want to smile? I just told my best friend that I like girls. We're walking along the beach in a deafening silence. This is huge. No laughing matter. Before I can stop it escaping my lips, one of my biggest questions pierces the quiet,

"How do you know if you're gay?" Silence. It threatens to shatter my eardrums.

"How do you know if you're straight?" She finally replies, momentarily unleashing that quivering hint of a smile. She quickly subdues it once more, but my eyes aren't on her perfect face for once; they are on her hand. I want so badly to hold it – to just touch it. Should I? What will she do? Shakily, I reach for it.

We touch. There is a jolt of something. The world around us has changed. Now we are in her bedroom. Her hand is in mine, gently pulling me towards the bed. She wants me like I want her. The suspense is rising. My stomach is soaring. Our faces draw nearer, and her lips graze mine so softly. She smiles freely now. I feel myself smiling too. Without much thought, I close the distance between our faces once more, and this time when our lips meet, there is movement, intensity. I take her lower lip in mine and I savor it for a moment. I'm hers. She's mine.

There's another jolt, and we're not in her bedroom anymore. We're at prom. An ominous and nauseated sensation replaces the flitting butterflies that were in my stomach just moments ago. I know what's going to happen. Why can't I stop it?

"Just decide!" I hear myself scream, but I do not feel connected to my mouth. My mind is elsewhere, and my vision blackens around the edges. Betrayal. Fear. Foreboding. Tragedy. Why are these words running through my head?

A shot sounds, overwhelming my senses. First a pop, then silence. The jolt happens again, but I barely feel it this time. Now I'm in my room. I'm alone. I want to look around – has anything changed? A searing pain tears through my chest and mind. Loss. What's going on? I try to avert my gaze, but I cannot. My eyes are locked on my phone. Ring I mentally command. Please, ring. Where is she? Why won't she call? There is still no sound.

A final jolt- but this one is less… jolty. It was smoother, softer: like the gentle pull of a hand versus the jerk of an arm. I feel a breath cross my face. She's back. She wants me back. My eyes are closed and I can envision her face. The familiar visage that became the center of my world, forever.

"Ash…" I exhaled.

"What?" Laughed a voice: a nice voice, but a different one. It wasn't laced with velvet. My eyes shot open, and at first were shocked at the sight of auburn all around me. Seeing my expression, she took her hand and swept her long hair back over her shoulder. Avery. Oh god, had I just said 'Ash'? Oh god, she was going to kill me.

My eyes met hers, and I knew I was wrong. "What did you say?" She laughed again, seeing the shocked look on my face.

"I said Gosh. As in, gosh, what time is it?" I lied. I had to. If she knew I was still dreaming about Ashley it would kill her. I stared up into her innocent doe eyes, feeling quite like a deer in the headlights myself.

"Almost 11 am", she smiled sweetly. She then quickly closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose in that endearing way and pecked my unsuspecting mouth quickly before removing herself from her position of straddling me. I watched her as she turned from me and stood, shaking her scarlet head of hair as she raised herself. I admired the curve of her body – her tiny waist, descending so gracefully into beautiful hips. Seconds later, she slipped her robe over that eerily attractive pale skin. She turned one of her big brown eyes to me and caught my lust filled gaze. "Well, its cold! Unless I crawl back in bed and you want to be my space heater then --"

"I can't" I interrupted. Her sprightly face sank a little, "but don't tempt me! I really need to get my day started. I have to work in 25 minutes!" I said, eyeing the clock which read 11:05. She was 5 minutes off.

I stood up and began wrestling wrinkled jeans onto my legs. Today's outfit consisted of my floor's contents, I decided, because I knew that going into my closet would start an entirely new problem. I was extremely indecisive about outfit choice ever since Ashley came into my life – crap. I was thinking about Ashley again. I racked my brain for other thoughts or images. Something. Anything. Cabbage. Ballerinas. The Titanic.

Avery's fingers began to trace my shoulders and the back of my neck, sending euphoric chills up my spine. Avery. She was great. She really was. She was so into me, and was so good to me. So why was the only face on my mind not hers?