Chapter 11: Androgyny
Ashley's POV
Beep!
Beep!
BEEEEP!
"Ughh….shut it off!"
I feel her body shift a little as she reaches up and hits the alarm clock with her free hand.
Rolling over, she presses her naked body to mine and I pull her into my chest. I give her forehead a few wet kisses before slinking a hand down and resting on the small of her back.
"What time is it?" I ask through a dramatic yawn as I watch her eyelids flutter a few times before opening fully, revealing her big, beautiful blue eyes to me.
"6:30," she declares before burying her face in my neck.
"I am NOT going to like this," I proclaim, pulling her more tightly and desperately to my body.
She begins to pull away from me, and I moan in protest as she sits up, dangling her legs off the side of the bed, revealing her flawless back to me.
"Speeenceee…" I whine, clawing weakly at her back in an attempt to latch on and pull her back to me.
She giggles softly and turns to meet my pout.
"Baby, I have to get up. I have class at 8:05 and I am still not sure where the building is." She tilts her head lovingly as my lower lip juts out more profoundly. My face is half buried in the pillow and I open one eye to her, pointlessly clawing at the air between us in another effort to coax her back to bed.
"Just a few more minutes," I beg, allowing my one eye to display my need for some more morning cuddling.
She leans back on her side, resting down to give me a soft kiss on the corner of my still pouting lips. "Drive me to school today?" She gives me a hopeful look, and I know I cannot deny her, even though I would like nothing more than to stay right where I am, warm and snuggly in our bed.
"Get in the shower…I'll make us some coffee," I offer, trying to push my selfish thoughts to the far outer reaches of my selfish mind.
"I can skip the coffee…come shower with me," she responds huskily.
And…I'm up…
…
"God, I need some coffee…"
I laugh out loud as I pull my Porsche onto the freeway, giving her a knowing sideways glance.
"I offered…" I remind her, eliciting a groan of acknowledgement. "Do you want me to stop at a Starbucks?" I offer sweetly, taking her hand in mine and kissing her knuckles.
"No, babe, we don't have time," she informs me as I press on the gas. "Uh…Ash…"
"We have time," I assure her as I begin to weave in and out of traffic, laughing inwardly as I feel her grip tighten on my hand.
"No…really….it's okay," she assures me. "I'm awake."
…
"I'm gonna miss you…" I whisper, cupping her face in mine and kissing her softly.
"Aw, baby, I'm gonna miss you too, but I will be done before you know it." She smiles lovingly at me before kissing me again. "Can you pick me up at 3:30 at the Broad Art Center? I think it's just right over there…" She points in the general direction of a large building before turning back to me, nervousness overtaking her face.
"Of course I will. I'll figure out where it is," I promise her. "Hey…" I take both of her hands firmly into my own. "You're going to be great…better than great, okay?" I nod my head at her a few times, giving her a nose-crinkling smile for good measure.
I watch her take a long, unsteady breath before gathering her backpack and purse. She opens the passenger door slowly and starts to climb out before being yanked back into the seat.
She turns to me, and I can sense she is shaking a little.
"Babe, even thought UCLA is not ready for you, you are more than ready for UCLA." I smile again, pulling her to my face by the back of her neck. "I love you."
I feel her body relax a little as she rests her forehead against mine and nods. She gives me one more goodbye kiss, and I hold it as long as she will let me. "I love you, too. See you this afternoon."
"3:30 sharp."
I let her go, a bit reluctantly, and watch as she descends onto the court yard. She turns back towards me and flashes a gorgeous smile before practically disappearing into the mass of students.
There goes my baby…
Ughhh…why do I feel so wretched?
I watch her for a few moments and realize why I feel so wretched.
Yep…in the five minutes it took her to reach the building where her first class is to be, I see about five heads whip around…three boys, and two girls.
Why does she have to be so damn hot?
…
It's 3:25 and I am pulling up in front of the arts school. I had done a little MapQuest to figure out where exactly to pick her up..
On my Blackberry in the middle of Madison and Ethan droning on and on about how 'Break the Silence' was a 'good concept' but not 'poppy' enough for Madison's album.
Whatever.
I put my car into park and wait impatiently for Spencer to emerge from the building.
Ahhh…there she is…
And who dat bitch?
Spencer is walking towards my car, but her eyes are not searching me out the way I just was her.
No, they are fixed on the tall, decently cute girl she is walking with, and they are laughing, somewhat enthusiastically as they move closer to me.
I climb out of my car and lean against the side, watching intently as Spencer finally pulls her gaze from this stranger and meets my eyes. I force a smile before averting my eyes to the girl who is, oh, I'd say five inches taller than Spencer, nowhere near as beautiful, but not unattractive by any stretch.
"Babe, hey!" Spencer calls out to me as they stop a few feet from my car.
"Hey you," I respond as I bridge the distance and pull her, a little possessively to me, kissing her roughly before pulling back and casting a dull expression on Sarah, Plain and Tall.
Ok, she's not really plain, but she is tall.
Like WNBA tall.
WTF?
Who is this chick?
"Babe, this is Jordan. We have Intro to Photography together!"
EXCLAMATION POINT!
"Hey," I respond with a lack of enthusiasm that I assume is lost on no one, including pretty much anyone who is within a mile radius of where we are standing.
"Hi, Ashley. It's nice to meet you!"
EXCLAMATION POINT!
This cordial greeting is met with a half-nod before I turn to Spencer, taking her hand to pull her towards the car.
"Spencer has told me so much about you," she continues and I roll my eyes before turning back towards her.
"Really? You guys paid a lot of attention in class then, eh?"
"Ashley, Jesus. It's the first day of class. They hand out syllabuses and go through it. What's there to pay attention to?" Spencer informs me, almost haughtily as she forces me to stop my movement towards the car.
Okay, she wasn't really being 'haughty' per se, but give me a break. She just met this girl and this girl thinks she, like, 'knows' so much about me?
"Yeah," SPAT agrees, as she and Spencer share a little chuckle. "You could pretty much skip the first day altogether, save getting the syllabus. Total snooze of a day, huh Spencer?"
Oh, by the way…SPAT is my new nickname for Jordan. Short for Sarah, Plant and Tall. And I kind of like it. Just thought of it on a whim, and I am quite sure it's gonna stick.
And before I get too lost in my nick-naming fog, I am pulled out violently as I hear them both laughing and going on about some professor who apparently has a weird stutter and an even weirder taste in bow-ties.
"Alright, well we need to be going, Spencer," I interrupt as I yank on her hand again, this time with a little more fervor.
"Okay, okay, Jeez. So Jordan, I will see you on Wednesday. Save me a seat," Spencer coos as Jordan flashes her a huge smile.
"For sure! (EXCLAMATION POINT!) Nice to meet you Ashley. See ya later, Spence."
Oh.
No.
She.
DIDN'T.
…
"So, it was hilarious because when she introduced herself, we realized we both had androgynous names…"
"Um," I interrupt snottily. "I don't really think that because both your names can be boys or girls names, that makes them androgynous." I yank my hand from hers and pretend to find the value in the 10 and 2 position for the first time since I learned to drive all those years ago.
"Uh…isn't that the definition of androgynous? Mixing masculine and feminine?"
"Oh, so you go off to college for a day and all the sudden you're, like, what, the authority figure on vocabulary?"
I don't even know what I am saying at this point, and I am pretty sure my attempt to sound all smart…well, just made me sound kinda stupid.
"Ashley, what's your problem?"
She's a little angry at this point, and frankly so am I.
"Nothing, SPENCE…" I retort, doing that whole 'stress the name thing' for emphasis of which I am not sure the goal. "If you and SPAT want to me all androgynous in your cool college photography class, that's cool. Maybe I'll change my name to Dick so I can be part of the cool club."
Yep, that sentence just came out of my mouth.
"First of all, who the FUCK is SPAT?" she…well, spats.
I open my mouth to explain the nickname, but before I have a chance, she breaks my groove.
"Seriously, Ashley, is this the way its gonna be? Cause if so, I do think Dick is a pretty fitting name for you."
I whip my head around and find two fiery blue eyes glaring at me from across the console.
I feel my own face grow hot with anger.
"Perfect. Dick it is. We'll be like the three androgynous stooges, or the three androgynous amigos. Cooool…"
I really am a dick.
I pull the car into our parking spot at the loft and barely have the key out of the ignition before I hear the passenger door slam loudly.
I exit the car hastily and chase after her.
Yep, Ms. Cool has all the sudden realized the error of her ways.
"Spencer…hey, wait a second." I leap into the elevator and practically lose an arm before landing safely inside. "Spence…"
"You don't want me to make friends? Is that is, Ashley? You want me to roam the campus alone and miserable?"
She's crying, and I no longer feel like Dick.
No.
I feel like a complete dickhead.
"No, baby, that's not it…at all." I move so I am standing right in front of her as the elevator makes it way the ten stories up to our floor. "I'm sorry, Spencer. I don't know what came over me."
I watch her body convulse through her tears and begin to feel truly wretched.
"Spence…baby look at me."
She lifts her huge blue pools to me, and by pools I mean normally mean amazingly big blue eyes…
But currently I mean amazingly big blue eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry. I am jealous."
This is the honest to God truth, and I am sure my expression can only prove this emotion.
"You're jealous?"
I nod.
"You're JEALOUS?"
I nod again, this time more timidly as I note my explanation is not doing me any favors.
"YOU'RE JEALOUS?"
AND…EXCLAMATION POINT!
This is going to be a long, LONG, night.
I am such a dick!
EXCLAMATION POINT.
