Chapter 13
Ashley
I woke up staring at my own alarm clock. 8:00 flashed red in my face as just stared at the digital clock. The last couple days have just seemed like a blur. Wanting Spencer, telling Spencer, watching her with the doctor, getting Spencer. What have we come to? In what twisted world do I only get to be with the person I love only half way? It sucks. But it's out of my control.
8:11
I'm still staring at the clock. Maybe it's time to get up. It's not like I'm going to be able to go back to sleep. Not with thoughts of Spencer running through my head. I whip the sheets off my bed and walk out of my bedroom into the cool morning air of the silent apartment. Trying to make as little noise as possible I hop over to Spencer's bedroom on the tips of my toes to see if she's awake. We agreed no sleeping together. Apparently 'sleeping' not only means no sex, but also no actually sleeping together. Because let's be honest here, sleeping would probably lead to sex. I quietly push the door open and lean my body up against the doorframe.
Her crazy blonde hair is whipped all over her face and her body half sprawled out in the bed. God, I probably couldn't sleep with her even if I wanted to, she looks like she'd kick me out of bed in her sleep. Crazy bitch.
I slip into the room anyways; she's worth the risk. I tip toe over to the other side of the mattress and slide beneath the covers beside her. Leaning myself up against one elbow I use my other hand to move her hair from her face. I see her face scrunch at the touch and her hand unconsciously moves up and hits me in the face. I pause, slightly in shock. I look at her face and she's still asleep. She's lucky she's asleep; I don't let anyone slap me. I shake it off and pick up her hand in mine, kissing just inside of her palm. I watch as she slightly shifts in her sleep and it makes me smile. I start kissing up her arm now.
Her palm.
Her wrist.
Her forearm.
Her shoulder.
"well good morning" her raspy voice lets out. I look to her face and she's just got this huge smile so big she can barely control it. And just like that my heart starts beating painfully fast again. It's amazing how a little time can change how you feel about someone. And how someone can make you feel.
I try to convince my body to say 'good morning' back, but it's not quite getting the message.
"what are you smiling at?" she asks. And I didn't even realize I was smiling back at her. I probably look like a fool with a smile just as big as hers.
"Morning" Wow. Delayed much? She just chuckles at me as she turns her body over, draping an arm over my hip.
"did you sneak into my room after I fell asleep last night?" she asks, not too angry. Well if I had known she'd be this calm about it maybe I would have tried it.
"no, I was under the impression that wasn't allowed when you warned me 'no sleeping together!'" I give my best impression of Spencer, which just consists of my voice going so much higher than normal pitch. "I just came in a few minutes ago."
"and what exactly were you hoping for when you decided to come in here?" she asks in a fun way, not a flirty way, just fun.
"well Spencer there is only one reason I would come to you this early in the morning, and I think you know exactly what I want…" I say flirtatiously as I lean in closer and closer to her face.
I see her fun smile turn into a flirty smirk within seconds.
"I think I do know what you want…" she whispers back and she starts to lean up bring her lips up so that they're almost on mine.
"whoa, whoa, whoa…" I say out loud as I quickly pull back from her. "I was talking about breakfast…what were you talking about?" I ask and she can't help but burst out in laughter. I whip the covers off of both of us and jump out of bed. "come on, my pancakes won't make themselves!" I tell her, pointing to the kitchen to make me some food.
"if you think I'm making you breakfast after pulling that stunt, you're crazy" she tells me as she shits up in bed, swinging her legs over the side.
"fine…I guess I'll just settle for a kiss then" I sigh disappointingly.
I watch as she walks toward me, closer and closer, keeping her eyes locked on mine. With every step she walks closer and closer and farther and farther.
"whoa, where are you going?" I ask as I notice she walked right past me and kept on walking.
"you had your chance" she says as she turns around to start walking backwards and shrugs at me. "I'm going for a shower" that's just mean.
"well hey…you know if you need some company…"
"you know that's not-"
"-allowed?" I roll my eyes. One day. "I know, I know…"
"but I wouldn't be opposed to some breakfast when I come out" she says and closes the door behind her. Bitch. She knows I'll make her breakfast too.
Fine. Two can play this game
….
Spencer
I step out of my bedroom finally just finished blow-drying my hair, the smell of fresh pancakes hitting my nose.
"smells good" I tell her as I run a comb through my hair, but I'm only wearing jeans and a bra at this point. I know it's mean, but torturing her is some of the most fun I've had in a while. With the new promotion I've got a lot more responsibility so I have to get my kicks somewhere.
She glances to me about to reply when she realizes what I'm wearing. I try to play it cool and not laugh but it's so hard as I watch her struggle. She almost accidentally drops the bowl full of pancake batter and curses quietly to herself.
"okay, so not fair. That should be against the rules" she says pointing to…all of me.
I roll my eyes, even though I was expecting just that sort of reaction, but I hop back into my room for a second, grabbing a t-shirt I already had waiting for me on the dresser. I walk over to the kitchen where she's still flipping a few pancakes. I pull out the orange juice, waiting for her to say something to me or do something but instead she just keeps her eyes on the pancakes.
"what kind are you making?" I break the silence.
"banana" she replies simply, but trying her best to conceal a smirk.
"I hate banana pancakes" I tell her honestly, shouldn't she know that by now?
"I know" oh, wait, never mind. She does know. "did you think I wasn't aware your favourite pancakes were chocolate chip?"
"then where are my delicious home-made Ashley chocolate chip pancakes?" I ask. "I'm hungry, bitch!" I yell and she only giggles at me.
"maybe if you asked me politely I would make you some…" she suggests. We both know that politely doesn't actually mean politely here. It means something completely different.
I take a step to stand behind her, closer than ever, pressing our bodies together as I wrap my arms around her stomach and lean my head into her shoulder and into the crook of her neck.
"please?" is all I whisper before I start lightly kissing her neck. She freezes in flipping the pancakes, much too distracted by me. This really isn't all that much different from how we would act before this whole thing happened, but I mean all that's different is the neck kissing. I'm used to her being all touchy-feely around me. Which is maybe why it's all so comfortable for us.
I reach my arm up and turn her chin to face me. She's so close and she knows I'm about to kiss her. She pauses for a second, reveling in the close proximity. And I can practically hear her thoughts telling her to try her best to resist kissing me. I don't even know why she tries anymore. Just as I'm about to lean in and finally kiss her this morning we're interrupted by a knock at the door. I quickly jump back in complete surprise, as if we almost were just caught in the act. Ashley smirks and continues to flip the banana pancakes before her.
"it's open!" she shouts and glances back quickly to get a look at my reaction. "your pancakes are on the table by the way" she points to my chocolate chip pancakes already waiting for me. The door finally opens and Lacey enters the apartment.
"hey" I say a little surprised as to why she's here, and how she knew how to find us upstairs.
"I was told there would be banana pancakes" Lacey says confusedly, as if there weren't banana pancakes she would probably turn around and walk right back out that door. At least now I know why Ashley was making banana pancakes.
"oh, I borrowed your phone and invited Lacey over for breakfast" Ashley quickly clarifies. And here I was thinking we'd at least be alone for the morning. Which now I'm starting to think she's just going to tempt me all morning and afternoon. Ashley slides the banana pancakes she's making onto a plate and hands it over to Lacey as she settles in and takes a seat at the table just opposite of me.
"I figured since we're all driving down for lunch later we might as well all just hang out this morning" Ashley tells me as she steals a pancake from my plate and sits in the seat at the table perpendicular to mine.
"doesn't matter to me as long as I have my pancakes" I tell them both taking a huge bite out of the stack in front of me.
"funny, that's freakishly similar to what Lacey told me on the phone" Ashley says as we turn to Lacey who is shoveling an equally large, if not larger, mouthful of pancakes into her mouth. "sexy" Ashley sarcastically tells Lacey as she struggles to chew the amount of food in her mouth.
Lacey of course only replies with a wink, forcing Ashley and I to laugh out loud. Lacey brings her A-game everywhere. Ash shakes her head at the nonsense and looks over to me and she just subtly smiles at me. I take a very brief second to pause and smile back at her, only because her smiles are contagious. I look back down at my pancakes, trying my best not to keep smiling but I can't help it.
Before I can take another bite out of my breakfast I hear a gasp from across the table.
"you two are totally doing the deed!" Lacey accuses us immediately.
"what?" Ashley and I both yell at the same time. There's no way in hell Lacey could tell that Ash and I are hooking up. Like come on. This girl has a sex radar like no other.
"no, we are not" I clearly say. Trying to get my racing heart under control. The fear of being caught really gets to you sometimes. Ashley just remains silent going along with what I said.
"oh come on, the side stares, the subtle smirks, the snide-"
"-okay, thank you, that's enough alliteration for one day" Ashley cuts her off. "we're not sleeping together" she adds. I'm glad she's at least keeping it a secret. We discussed boundaries between us, I guess you could say, but we never established what we would tell others.
"you're not…" Lacey says in confusion, still under the impression we are sleeping together. "are you sure? Because I can keep a secret, I'm great at keeping secrets! Like Spencer, remember that time our parents went to that family wedding and everyone left the kids at Aunt Wilma's place and you peed the bed? I never told anyone!"
Oh my god, and now I'm embarrassed. Can we just go back to her revealing the secret about Ashley and I hooking up?
Ashley's head immediately whips to look at me incredulously and she's doing her best to hold in her laughter.
"don't you dare laugh" I warn her seriously. Her hand covers her mouth to control her smile, but her eyes give it away anyways.
"this is why I don't tell you secrets! You can't keep them!" I yell at Lacey in all honestly. Clearly she can't. Ashley is never going to let me live this one down.
Lacey pauses and quickly realizes that she actually just gave away my secret to my best friend.
"okay, well this is different, I can keep relationship secrets" she argues, still trying to get it out of us.
"there's no secret to keep" I tell her and Ashley is doing the smart thing and remaining silent.
"so you're not together" Lacey says.
"nope" I confirm, going back to my pancakes.
"So you wouldn't ….get jealous if I did this…?" She asks and pushes her chair out so she can stand up. She takes a seat on Ashley's lap at the breakfast table and puts an arm around Ashley. I watch as Ashley just lets Lacey sit on her, she turns her head and raises and eyebrow at me wondering just how far I'm willing to let this go before I finally confess to Lacey.
"Who Ashley lets sit on her lap is her own business" I shrug with a challenging posture as I lean back in my chair, not caring.
Or at least pretending to not care.
"what if I did this?" Lacey says and takes it a step further by positioning herself now so that she's not just sitting on Ashley's lap, but she's actually straddling her in the chair. By instinct Ashley's hands move to Lacey's hips to make sure she doesn't slide off.
If she keeps this up there's going to be one less Carlin and family lunch today.
I simply just shrug back at her to show her it doesn't affect me. If I opened my mouth to say something I'm not so sure I could control myself. Ashley on the other hand wouldn't be able to say anything even if she did open her mouth. She's in a very compromising situation between two girls who seemingly want her.
"Good." Lacey says. "then you won't mind… if I do… this" Lacey becomes quieter with every word as she lifts her hands to Ashley's jaw to bring her mouth closer to hers.
"okay, stop!" I finally yell just as my cousin is about to kiss my best friend. I shut my eyes, I can't believe I'm going to do this. "Fine. Ashley and I have been hooking up" and it's all I can say without defining our actual relationship. Truth be told, I don't even know how to define our relationship anymore.
With a smirk, Lacey subtly slides off of Ashley and back into her seat without so much as a kiss.
"I knew it" she smirks, oh what I wouldn't give to wipe that smirk off of her face. I glance to Ashley who's still in a daze from her seductress.
"hey" I start snapping my fingers in her face. "you still in there?" she finally snaps back to reality and gives me a goofy smile. The things that girl would do for some action.
"don't mind me" Ashley says with her smile as she stands up. "I'm…going to go take a shower" she says with a pause and puts some of the pans she used to make breakfast into the sink. "a cold one" she mutters to herself as she heads to the bathroom.
"hey" I say as I grab her hand from my seat as she walks behind me. I gently pull her back and down. I bring her lips to mine for our first kiss of the day, and I'm sure it wont be our last kiss of the day either. She freezes against my lips, not entirely sure how to react to our kiss with Lacey sitting just a few feet away. She pulls back and without another word she heads straight for the bathroom for her shower.
"so I take it Maggie doesn't know?" Lacey asks as we both go back to eating our pancakes. I glance to her making eye contact, then back down to my food. A look is all I need to communicate in order to tell her 'no'. "Well she at least knows that you and her aren't exclusive, right?" and this time instead of giving her a glance I just sort of stop what I'm doing.
I never actually thought about that. I mean, by no means are Maggie and I exclusively together, but I never confirmed with her that we weren't.
"Spencer, you have to at least tell her that you're not exclusive!" Lacey points out as she notices my lack of response. Surprisingly, Lacey's not judgmental about me dating more than one person at a time; she's more concerned about how I do it.
"look, Lace, I can handle it. I'm 23, I'm not fresh out of high school like you are, things are different" I say.
"it's not an age thing Spencer" she tells me, clearly annoyed at playing the age card on her. "this is just a relationship thing"
I ignore her, not actually replying. I don't know what to tell her at this point, I have so much to sort out before I can begin explaining it to other people. My thoughts are only interrupted by Lacey snickering to herself.
"what?" I ask.
"nothing…" she shrugs. "it's just… I can't believe golden child Spencer is sleeping with two girls" she smirks.
"I'm not sleeping with two girls!" I yell incredulously. "I told you before Ashley and I aren't having sex. And I've only known Maggie for a week"
"a week is a lifetime at my age" she tells me. "so you're really not like…sleeping with either of them?" she asks trying to wrap her head around idea of dating someone without sex.
"believe it or not I don't go to bars to pick up women and have one night stands with them, I actually like relationships" I tell her honestly. That's always been Ashley's game and I never saw the point of it. Yeah I mean sex is great and all but I guess it means more to some people than it does to others. And I think that's part of my attraction to Maggie. I know she's very similar to me in that way. She's not constantly seeking a one-night romance with someone; she's looking for something long term. And even then she's not looking for anything, she lets it come to her. Ashley on the other hand is the complete opposite. From what I see, Lacey is pretty much the same as Ashley. So it's hard to explain to her just how I feel about both girls.
"wait" Lacey pauses with a blank stare on her face. "what's a ree-lay-shun-ship?" she asks jokingly as she sounds out the word in slow motion. I can't help but laugh at her joke.
"exactly" I chuckle.
"you know Spencer, when we were younger and I would follow you around and imitate you and try to be like you, it was for a reason" she tells me seriously.
"what 12 year old doesn't want to be like their cooler older cousin?" I shrug, not expecting a response. It's always been like that. I remember even when I was younger I always thought Glen and his friends were cool. But then I quickly came to terms with my sanity.
"I know, I know, it's just even at 18 and living on my own in a new city with a new life, I'm still a little jealous of your life. You know you have a job and a best friend and two girls chasing you. You live above a bar! Right now I would give anything to be in your shoes" even now she's still envious of me. I don't think she quite understands the inner turmoil I go through with choosing a romantic relationship between Maggie and Ashley.
"trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be" I tell her. "your life is pretty enticing as I see it" which is true, girl is young and free to do whatever she wants.
"you're right, sex is fun" she smirks, not what I meant, but yeah I guess that's part of it.
"it's not that I don't have the option to sleep with one or both of them" I tell her honestly, which is very true. I'm sure I could walk into the bathroom now and join Ashley in the shower and she wouldn't even think twice about it. "it's just a choice. I like monogamy, I like when sex is meaningful"
"you really are the golden child, aren't you?"
….
"Lacey!" I hear my mother shout from across the room as we finally enter the house. She comes in and sweeps her into a big hug.
"hi Aunt Paula" Lacey says between gasps for breaths of air from the tight hug. "where's Uncle Arthur?"
"oh he's out back at the barbeque" she smiles and points in the general direction of the backyard.
"oh hey Glen" Lacey says with a smile as she passes him on the way to the backyard
"Lacey…!" he says, caught off guard as he and Lacey share a quick hug. While hugging her we seem him mouth a "WHAT?" to us and we just smile. Ashley mouths back an "I know!" to him. It's just incredibly hard to believe how different she looks sometimes.
"hi girls" my mom says sweetly to us, giving us each a kiss on the cheek hello. "lunch is almost ready so why don't you go sit down"
"um, who was that?" Glen mutters to us as we walk with him down the hallway. "because I know that wasn't Lackluster Lacey"
"Glen!" I bite back at him. "don't call her that" I warn him.
"it's not like the name fits anymore" Ashley quietly adds. We all take a seat at the table while we watch Lacey catch up with my parents over preparing lunch. "more like Luscious Lacey" Ashley smirks.
"gross, that's our cousin" I point out. "Lovely Lacey?"
"too boring" Ashley says, which is true, Lacey isn't exactly someone you would call lovely. Not that she can't be.
"Lucky Lacey?" Glen suggests.
"Lively Lacey?" Ashley suggests.
"Little Lacey?" I suggest. She is our little cousin after all.
"there is nothing little about that girl" Ashley says making a motion with her hands referring to the size of Lacey's boobs. Both Glen and I take a second to scrunch our faces in disgust.
"Limelight Lacey?" Glen suggests noticing Lacey's ability to steal our parent's attention so easily.
"Limelight Lacey…" Ashley mulls it over. "I think we have a winner" and it's true. Ever since Lacey has arrived in L.A. she seems to be the centre of attention, for more than just her physical beauty too. It's amazing how much someone can change.
"agreed" I tell them both as my parents and Lacey finally come and take a seat.
"Spencer, Lacey was just telling me that she got to meet Maggie last night" my mom of course starts. That woman is obsessed with her.
"yeah…? She also met Ashley last night" I say as if it's not a big deal. Which it really shouldn't be.
"when are you going to bring Maggie to meet us?" my mom asks.
"Mom" I scold her. "first of all, despite telling you otherwise you just happened to be at the hospital when she was working her shift last week, and second, we've only been seeing each other for a week"
"the point is I think you should invite her to lunch next week" My mom tells me.
"she's probably working" god, I hope she's working. The longer I can keep her away from my family, the better.
"oh, well then maybe we should do Sunday dinner instead… or even Saturday works for us" my mom says looking at my dad. She is pushing this so hard.
"okay fine, I'll talk to her" I concede.
"hey ash, you up for a butt kicking in basketball today?" Glen challenges Ashley. And thank god for the change in subject.
"you wish!" Ashley immediately bites back. "good thing your mommy's here for when I beat you so bad you start crying" she taunts him and the rest of us can't help but roll our eyes. Every week there's some sort of new challenge and it never gets old. Though it does become predictable.
Ashley and Glen battle it out for an hour, Ashley comes close to beating Glen, Glen throws Ashley over his shoulder and wins at the last second. We all know that's how it goes down, even Ashley anticipates Glen cheating, but it's just something they do every week.
"in your dreams, Davies" he teases right back.
"oh please, I bet I could beat you even if Spencer was on my team" Ashley says.
Um, I think I was just insulted.
"hey!" I throw in there.
"you're on!" he challenges her before any of us can take it back. How did I get thrown into this? "two on two. You and Spencer versus me and Limelight Lacey!"
"who the hell is Limelight Lacey?" Lacey asks in confusion. Oh, I guess that nickname is out of the bag. "it sounds like a stripper's name"
"you are so going down" Ashley says once again, effectively ignoring Lacey and her comments. She always gets so competitive with Glen.
…..
We're all standing out in the driveway, my parents are watching from the sidelines ready for amusement, and I think my mom brought out the first aid kit just in case. I don't blame her really. Someone is bound to end up injured.
Glen is talking to Lacey, most likely establishing some sort of game plan. Meanwhile Ashley pulls me aside to make up her own game plan. Or at least pretend like it.
"okay, I'll cover Glen, you cover Lacey. You're about the same height as her so you can probably take her, do you know if she has ever played basketball? You know what, it doesn't matter. Glen's the only threat here" wow, she is actually so serious about this game. I cant help but roll my eyes at her, she is so competitive sometimes. "all you have to do is pass me the ball when you get it and I'll take care of the rest. But listen carefully because near the end of the game Glen will probably cheat and throw me over his shoulders at which point you'll have to take the shot"
"wait, what?" I stop and listen finally. "that wasn't apart of our deal!"
"Spence come on, it's just one shot" she argues. "playing two on two is the only way we'll ever be able to actually beat Glen. Do this for me and I'll make it worth your while tonight" she wiggles her eyebrows.
"you're using your sexual attraction to bribe me?" I ask her, a little stunned. She's never done that before. Well she's never been able to do that before.
"is it working?" she asks hopefully.
"you cover Glen, I'll cover Lacey" I sigh and walk over to start the game.
"so wait, is that a yes?" she shouts and I just ignore her.
We spent the next half hour playing the most exhausting game of basketball of my life. Dad spent the game cheering Ashley and I on, while mom was cheering Glen and Lacey, just to make things even. But I have to tell you this has been the worst basketball game of my life. I never realized just how many rules Ashley and Glen break whenever they play their games. There is travelling and shouting and so much trash talk that this would never fly in an actually refereed game. Think less basketball and more a game of figuring out the best ways to trick your opponent. Apparently the number one rule of the game is the dirtier your play, the better.
"Hey Paula, you better get the tissues out, looks like Glen's just one basket away from crying" Ashley taunts Glen as she dribbles the basketball as Glen guards her. We're tied 10 for 10, game by ones until eleven. Usually any longer than that and Glen and Ashley pass out from exhaustion, I have to admit it's a lot of running around. But that's only because it's mostly Ashley running with the ball and Glen chasing her. But Ashley's not that bad of a basketball player, she can still make the shots just as good as Glen.
I have my arms up and waving around to make it look like I'm pretending to play, and Lacey is more or less pretending to guard me. We're not half as interested in this game as Ashley and Glen are.
"are you forgetting about my special move?" Glen asks with a smirk.
"don't you dare" Ashley warns him as she starts trying to fake him out. First she goes left, then she goes right, but just as I think she's about to get by him, he grabs her by the waist from behind lifting her up into mid air. Lacey turns around and watches in awe at the manhandling and I take this time to run behind her and grab the basketball.
"shoot, Spence!"
"no!" Glen shouts almost in slow motion, dropping Ashley to the cement driveway and throwing is body to try and block my shot. I toss the ball, granny styled up in the air, closing my eyes in fear Glen would actually tackle me.
"it went in!" I hear Ashley shout from the ground and open my eyes to see Glen hang his head in shame, giving Lacey a dirty look for not covering me properly. He is such a sore loser. Ashley jumps up from her spot on the ground and throws her arms around me, picking me up. I'm still sort of frozen in shock that the ball actually went in the hoop. That was probably a one in a million chance for me.
"Ashley, put me down" I squeal and she slides me down quickly and I grab onto her arms for safety.
"ow" Ashley winces as my arms slide down her arms. She takes a look at the far side of her elbow and notice it's scraped. "oh, would you look at that" Ashley says more surprised than in pain. "must have been when Glen dropped me"
"GLEN!" me and both of my parents all yell at the same time.
"sorry! It was an accident" he apologizes though he's really not all that sorry. "it's not my fault Ashley doesn't know how to fall gracefully"
"it's fine, really." Ashley says looking at her arm. "it's a battle wound form our victory" she rubs into Glen's face. Glen looks like he's about to come push Ashley back down to the ground again but before he can my mom steps in.
"and this is why I brought out the first aid kit" my mom says as she walks over to Ashley's side to look at the scrape. "it's not too bad, Ashley why don't you go inside and wash it first then we'll put a bandage on it" she says, clearly slipping into her Dr. Mom mode.
"come on, Ash, I'll help you" I tell her as I take her good arm and lead her into the house, giving Glen a dirty look on our way. I lead her up the stairs and into the connecting bathroom in my old room. "sit down" I tell her and she hops up on the counter just to the right of the sink waiting for me to get a cloth out.
"does it hurt?"
"no, not rea-OW!" she shouts just as I place the warm cloth on her arm. "yes, yes it does" she corrects herself.
"…baby" I chide her.
"Yes, sweetie?" she retaliates. Ugh and I practically cringe, pet names aren't really my thing. And she knows that too. "So…since I have you alone for a few minutes…." She starts and I pause to raise an eyebrow at her. "I just wanted to talk" she emphasizes and I nod for her to continue.
"this thing…" she starts and I already know she's talking about our thing. The thing between us. The thing we don't know how to define so we're forced to call it a 'thing'.
"mm?" I urge her on. The less I say about it the better. Therefore I have less chances of saying something hurtful or wrong or stupid, or all of the above.
"we discussed rules, like no sex, no sleeping together…but we never really talked about what we would say to other people…" she says hesitantly. "and obviously earlier today I know you seemed pretty for keeping it on the down low, but…"
"clearly that didn't work out as well as I thought" I add seeing as Lacey was able to get it out of us within a matter of minutes. Though I think Lacey has a special sixth sense for that kind of stuff, especially when it comes to lesbians.
"is this something that you want to hide?" she asks. If I say no, then she'll think that we can tell everyone and things will be okay. If I say yes, then she'll think I'm ashamed of her. I sound like a horrible person.
"I don't know" I honestly say. I really don't. I'm still unsure as to where this will lead our friendship.
"well what do you know?" she asks, but not in a rude way.
"I think maybe for now…we'll keep it to ourselves, but if our friends find out then I don't want to lie to them"
"…and your parents?" it's even tougher to say with them. Because they're like parents to both of us.
"I don't usually tell my parents about a relationship unless it's a serious one" I tell her simply, and it's true. I hardly bring girls home to meet my parents because I haven't been in a serious relationship in a while. And this thing with Ashley is far from serious.
I think.
"you told them about the doctor" she points out.
"no, you told them about the doctor" I clarify. And I watch as she laughs to herself quietly.
"oh yeah…" I cant help but smile at her laugh.
"speaking of…the doctor" she loves to emphasize that little nickname. "you're going to tell her at least, right?"
"I think I have to" and it's like all of a sudden I switched back into best friend mode. Sharing things with her I usually wouldn't share with a romantic partner. The thing with Ashley is not only is she my best friend she's also someone I'm dating, and sometimes it requires her to be one or the other, never both at the same time. Because if she's both at the same time lines become blurred. "I think I owe it to her to be honest and everything, you know…?"
"how do you think she'll take it?" she asks me.
"well we've only been seeing each other just over a week, and it's not like I'm breaking up with her. I'm just telling her right now I'm keeping my dating life open"
"so you're not going to mention that it's me you're being open with?"
"should I?" and once again I'm asking her as a best friend.
She shrugs at me and watches as I carefully put a few band aids over her cuts. She doesn't need a big bandage or anything. "I don't think it'll be too hard to figure out…"
"she didn't figure it out last night" I remind her. And I know it's a bit of a double standard when it comes to Maggie. I'm much more open about being with Maggie than I am with Ashley and if anything it makes Ashley seem more and more like a secret.
"you're all done" I say putting the last of the band aids on her and tossing the wrappers in the trash under counter.
"kiss it better?" she asks with a cute smile that I can't resist. I roll my eyes at the cheesy question and bring her arm up to my lips giving it a soft kiss.
"better?" I ask.
"well my cheeks hurt a little bit too from smiling so much" she smirks. "probably from smiling in amazement that you actually made that last shot and we beat Glen" she taps her cheek waiting for me to kiss it better.
"you're lucky I'm in a good mood from winning" I say as I cave in and give her a kiss on her cheek. "anywhere else that hurts?" I ask and now she knows she has me.
"uh yeah…." She says quietly. "my lips are kind of hurting too"
"oh yeah, I bet they are" I smirk and start kissing my way from her cheek all the way over to her lips. I end up standing between her legs that hang off of the counter, letting my hands rest on her thighs as I continue to kiss her. In one swift moment I grab her hips and pull them until they slam against mine. She lets out a hard moan and I'm instantly wet. She presses harder into the kiss and wraps her legs around my waist as tightly as possible. Fuck, why did I tell her no sex again?
I'm never going to be able to last. But I'm not about to give in, especially not at my parents' house, someone could walk in at any second.
Her hands slide down from my neck an grab my ass. Oh god. It wouldn't be too awful if we did it in my parents' house right?
Right?
I start rocking back and forth in my spot, rubbing myself up against her and I know it's driving her as crazy as it is me.
"Ash, take off y-"
"-BUSTED!" someone yells from the bathroom door. I literally jump back…or at least I think I do. Either I jumped back or Ashley pushed me away. The point is I'm practically on the other side of the bathroom, heart beating out of my chest.
"I knew you two wouldn't be able to resist being alone" Lacey says with a smirk. "you're lucky I was the one to volunteer to see if you guys were okay"
"you're lucky you came when you did" Ashley says as she wipes her mouth a little and hops off the counter. "a few more minutes and you might have seen your cousin in a very naked, compromising position" Ashley says as she pats her on the back and walks right out the door.
And she wasn't lying.
