Alrighty! Thanks for reading, and to those of you who review!
Noodles307: yeesh! That is weird! That's actually such a ridiculous coincidence!
I have not acquired the rights to anything about South of Nowhere since the last time I posted *le sigh* anyway, enjoy (:
I'm pulled from the sweet oblivion of sleep when something on my stomach moves. I squint –it's the best I can manage at the moment- through my heavy-lidded eyes to see what's going on. I can't help my stomach from flipping when I see Ashley laying on it, her arms wrapped around my middle.
She shifts again, and I know she's waking up too. I let my eyes drift closed again, content to lay like this until she wakes up too. It's not long before she does. In a matter of minutes, she lifts her head up. My arms are pulled upwards too, and I realize, rather embarrassed, that my fingers are still tangled in her hair. I manage to pry my eyes open again, and gently manoeuvre my hands out of her curls.
"I'm so sorry," I say, letting my arms fall.
"For?" She looks genuinely confused; her tired, red-rimmed eyes big and questioning. When I don't answer right away, she keeps talking. "I should be the one apologizing, not you," I open my mouth to protest, but she holds up a finger to shush me. "Hear me out. You are the nicest, sweetest, kindest person I have ever met, and what do I do? I have a breakdown in your living room. And fell asleep on top of you. I'm sorry Spence. So sorry," she finishes softly.
"Ash, you've got nothing to apologize about," She looks like she's about to say something, but I shake my head and continue. "Not a single thing. Look, I know exactly what you're going through. I lost my brother a few years ago," I'm glad I'm done with crying, because I really don't want this day to be marred with too many tears. Ashley's tears were from fresh, painful grief and longing. I've already spent those tears of mine.
She reaches out and takes my hand. Empathy is written all over her face. I'm very glad it's not pity, because I've gotten enough of that. I squeeze her hand lightly. Neither of us speaks for a while. Then, as I'm looking out the window, I realize something: it's getting dark.
"Shit!" I jump up. "What time is it?" I ask no one in particular, seeing as I'm grabbing my phone and flipping it open as I say it. "It's eight. You don't have anywhere to be, right?" I ask her, biting my lip nervously. I don't want to be the reason Ashley was late for something important.
"Me? Nah, but I should probably go. I've wasted pretty much your whole day!" She stands, stretching. Her hair looks slightly dishevelled.
"You can stay for dinner, if you want," I offer, the words surprising me as much as her. "I mean, it's kinda late, and I'm hungry, so I'm sure you are too. I'll just make something quick," I really want her to say yes. I don't want her to go just yet.
"Really?" She looks surprised. I nod. "If you're not sick of me, then sure. Thanks," she offers me a mega-watt smile.
"Me? Sick of you? Never," I say exaggeratedly, shaking my head. I grin back at her as I make my way –the whole 6 steps (gasp)- into mine and Chelsea's tiny kitchen. It's our "art-free zone". Neither one of us wants to be eating paint of clay dust, so Chelsea keeps it out of the kitchen. "So what do you want to eat?" I ask, pulling the fridge door open.
"Anything. Surprise me."
"Well I don't know what you like! Or what you don't! Or if you're allergic to anything! You need to help me out a little!"
"Okaaaaay," she drags the word out as she thinks. "I like almost everything, and I'm not allergic to anything. I'm pretty easy to cook for."
"No you're not! That didn't help me at all!"
"Too bad," she says with a sly grin. She makes her way back to the living room and sinks into the couch.
"You're infuriating," I say, but I can't keep the smile off my face, or the laughter from bubbling up in my chest.
"I know," she replies simply.
"Hey, so you two are up!" Chelsea's voice floats down the hallway, slightly muffled. Ashley shoots upright and whirls around on the couch. I hear her footsteps, and soon enough, Chelsea's standing with me in the kitchen.
"When'd you get home?" I ask.
"A couple hours ago. You guys were asleep, so I've been reading," She holds up a thick paperback with curling pages from use for effect. "So, dinner? I'm pretty hungry."
"Yep," I answer brightly. "Just trying to think of what to make."
"Spence," she hesitates, looking at me with trepidation. "Is that really a good idea? I mean, no offence, but you're not exactly world's greatest chef."
I pout. "I know, but I'm not that bad," she looks at me sceptically. "Alright, maybe I am! But I can make like…stir-fry. I think, at least."
"How 'bout you let me cook, and you can go talk to Ashley?" She says, laughing, but subtly shooing my out of the kitchen.
"Alright," I agree, flopping onto the couch beside Ashley. "It seems I will not be making you dinner tonight," I say, smiling. "But don't worry, Chelsea's a great chef. Much better than me. You're less likely to get food poisoning this way."
She erupts into laughter. Between fits, she manages to spit out: "so…you..were…willing…to…risk…giving…me…food…poi...poisoning?" She looks like she's about to fall off the couch, she's laughing so hard. I can't help it, I'm laughing too.
I can barely breathe, my body shaking silently. I gasp for air every few seconds, and n that time, I manage a retort. "Anything to get you to stay," as soon as it's out of my mouth, we're both laughing so hard it hurts.
Suddenly the ground is falling away, and I'm met with a much harder one. I land on my side, and all the air in my lungs is forced out. There's a sharp jolt of pain through my shoulder. Ashley's stopped laughing. She's leapt off the couch and is kneeling beside me, looking concerned. The moment I catch my breath, the giggling starts again. Ashley looks relieved, and then succumbs to the strange hilarity of the situation.
In the kitchen, Chelsea chuckles. "You two are crazy, you know that?" already, there's a delicious aroma coming from the stove. I can't manage a reply for a few minutes. By the time the laughter's subsided though, there's no point answering. Ashley and I lay on the floor, and I can only assume how insane we looked moments ago; rolling on a paint-covered sheet on the floor, laughing like hyenas.
I sit up, leaning against the couch. My shoulder's pressed against Ashley's and neither of us moves away. It's so nice and comfortable with her. It's hard to believe I've only known her for a day. I guess it helped that we got all awkwardness over with right at the start. She fell asleep with her head on my stomach. Who cares if our shoulders are touching?
"Dinner's ready!" Chelsea calls. I leap up. Food! Finally! In my haste to get to the food, I almost forget about Ashley. Almost. I turn around and offer her a hand. She grabs it, and I pull her up. Still holding it, I drag her to the table.
"Hungry much, Spence?" Her eyes glitter with life and laughter.
"Maybe a little," I concede. "Ooh! Yum! Spaghetti!"
"Chelsea, this looks great," Ashley says politely, smiling charmingly at her. Chelsea waves away the compliment, blushing slightly. We all take our seats. I try and restrain myself a little. It's hard though. I'm starving.
As we eat, we talk idly. Chelsea and Ashley are getting along great. I was a little absent from the conversation for the first few minutes, due to the fact that my mouth was constantly full. They talked easily though, not awkwardly in the least. They made jokes at my expense, and gave each other the run-down of their lives. When I check back into the conversation, they accommodate me readily. It doesn't feel awkward, or like the conversation is going between two people, leaving one out.
It's all going great until Chelsea decides to pull out the Spencer-being-super-duper-dumb stories. I blush profusely as she describes basically every dumb/awkward/clumsy thing I have ever done. And believe me, I've done a lot. Ashley's laughing with Chelsea, and my face is getting more flushed with each story.
"Okay, okay," I hold my hands up in defeat. "We get it. I do stupid things," they nod in agreement. "I vote new topic," I say, grinning.
"Awe, no fair!" Ash mock-whines. "This was just getting good. You're such a klutz!" She thinks for a second. "Alright, fine. What about you, Chelsea? You paint, you sculpt, and you cook. Is there anything you can't do?"
A blush spreads over Chelsea's cheeks. "Well I'm terrible at anything musical, or athletic. And I'm terrible at languages!" She exclaims. "I was going to study art in Paris, but I can't speak French to save my life. Not a single word of it," she leans back in her chair.
Ashley laughed. "Neither can I! It all sounds gibberish!"
"Well Spence can speak it. I've tried to get her to teach me, but I can't pick it up."
Ashley turns to me. "You can speak French?"
"Oui," I say. "Je parle un petite peu de français," I flash a smile across the table.
"That is so sexy," she says, before clamping her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry Spence!"
"For what? Telling me I'm sexy?" I grin. Ashley's face is flushed, and Chelsea's snickering.
"It's not that I think you're sexy, the fact you can speak French is," she stammers.
"Oh, so I'm not sexy?" I tease. She looks flustered.
"You are! I mean, look at you!" She changes the subject abruptly, clearly uncomfortable. "Uhm, Chelsea, do you want some help?" Chelsea's clearing the table, a smile dancing on her features.
"Sure," she says gratefully, and I rise to help too.
"For what it's worth, I think you're pretty alright too," I say to Ashley, making her blush even more. I have no idea where this side of me came from.
When everything in the kitchen has been put away, Ashley turns to me. "I should be going now," she says. "I had a great time today. Thank you for everything," I'm dying. Her smile is actually too adorable. "Do you want to meet up again? So you can get your interview?" She looks at the ground, embarrassed.
"Definitely, sounds great," I smile. "You're gonna have to remind me how to get to your house," I say as I open the door for her.
"Oh, right, you drove. Forgot about that. Just gotta grab my guitar," she says, walking over to where she left it. She grabs it, and we leave.
The drive to her house is fairly quiet, but comfortably so. When I pull into her driveway, she turns in her seat to face me. "I just wanted to say thanks again. For everything."
"No problem," I smile. "And thank you! For agreeing to do my film, and really, I had a great day."
She leans over the console and wraps her arms around me. I return the slightly awkward hug. She pulls back and opens her door. "I'm free all day tomorrow too. Do you want to meet up then?" She bites her lip.
"Sure. I've got classes in the morning, but after one, I'm not doing anything."
"Alright. Send me a text?"
"Of course," I say, wondering if I'll ever be able to peel this smile from my face. It doesn't seem to want to come off. "See you tomorrow!"
"See you!" She smiles brilliantly at me one last time before clambering out of my car, lugging her guitar behind her. She makes her way to her door, but turns around and waves before entering her house. I pull out of her driveway, and head home. I'm buzzing with electricity. It feels as though someone's run a current through me. I don't know how I'll ever get to sleep, with Ashley's face smiling back at me every time I close my eyes.
Hey! So hope you liked it! Pretty please review? I'm not going to be one of the people who withhold unless you review, but I'd really like to get some feedback. I've got absolutely nothing against criticism either, so go ahead. :D