Author's Note:

The following chapters take place immediately following the season finale of South of Nowhere, the episode "What Just Happened?"

Disclaimer:

I do not own any of the characters portrayed in this story. They belong to Tom Lynch and the people of South Of Nowhere.

Eyes open. Where am I?

I looked around at my surroundings. High ceilings; the sun was pouring in through huge bay windows; drum set. The fog slowly began to clear.

Ashley's room.

Ashley.

As I finally made my way into my conscious world, images of the previous night began to fill my head. Every muscle in my body ached with satisfied exhaustion. The night before had been the best night of my life; I could still feel every touch and tingle.

Ashley's head full of beautiful brown curls lay heavily on my chest. I could smell her shampoo and as I took a deep breath to soak it all in, her head rose gently with my breathing. I don't know what that sigh signaled for her, but she tightened her arm around my waist and nuzzled her nose into my neck as she still slept. She was so cute, it was almost too much. I giggled quietly and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Hmmm…good morning."

"Yeah, awesome morning," I replied as I kissed her forehead.

Ashley smiled again, her nose wrinkling up in that irresistible way that it does. She lifted herself up above me, straddling me with her arms. She lowered herself to as if to kiss me, but stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

"Morning breath. We're not ready for that yet," she said as she jumped out of bed and ran naked into the bathroom.

I laughed after her. "That's a good point," I said as I rolled out of bed and grabbed her spare bathrobe. "But I didn't bring anything with me; I don't have my toothbrush."

Ashley reappeared in the bathroom doorway clothed in pajamas, brushing her teeth and smiling as she twirled an unopened toothbrush in the other hand.

"What? Did you KNOW last night was going to happen? The fact that you prepared kinda takes some of the romance out of it," I teased.

She disappeared to spit out her toothpaste, then came back and handed me the brush.

"As a matter of fact, no, I just had this. Now go get rid of that nasty breath. I wanna get back into bed and you breathing in my face with that breath won't turn me on."

"Turn you on? You want more? Three times wasn't enough for you last night? I'm TIRED," I said as I began brushing.

As I watched myself in the mirror, the vivid pictures of last night began to flash through my head again. It had been amazing. Ashley had brought me back to her place, holding my hand through the whole drive over. We hadn't said a word to each other the whole way, but I could feel the electricity surging between us.

When we got to her house, she led me up to her room, gently brushed my hair out of my face, letting her fingers linger on my cheek. Then she kissed me. It kind of took me by surprise because it happened so quickly. It was intense. And beautiful. It was the best kiss I had ever had, and it meant so much more because it was with her. With Ashley.

Somehow we ended up on the bed – I honestly don't remember how. I was so caught up in her soft lips and the smell of her skin that the next thing that I noticed was the weight of Ashley's body on top of me. From that point on, things were no longer a blur. Every kiss, every touch, the feel of her hair as it fell around my face – it all etched itself into my brain. She moved slowly and gently. It was the sweetest experience of my life.

Afterward, we fell asleep in each other's arms only to wake up in the dark searching for each other again. And again. Twice more we made love, real love, and the last image I remember before finally falling asleep for good was Ashley's face below me outlined by the soft light of the rising sun outside the windows.

Now the sun was completely up, it was the middle of the day, and all either one of us wanted to do was get back into bed and hold each other.

"You might be tired, but you know you want some more of this," Ashley teased as she walked up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. She smiled at me in the mirror and began to gently nibble on my neck.

I turned around to face her and took her face between my hands. "Ash, I'd love to spend the rest of the day with you, and I will. But you know I have to go home sometime."

Her face fell. Then she looked back at me. "I know. But let's just pretend for a while that we're not walking into the biggest, ugliest mess of our lives. Let's pretend that it's just you and me forever, and we never have to deal with all the idiot assholes out there. Or your parents," her voice cracked. "Just for a while. Please."

"Ok," I smiled and grabbed her hand. "Let's go back to bed. Just for a while."