Ashley opened up the door, and stepped out of her car, only to step on ice.
"Oh fuuck!~" She yelped as she flew off her feet and onto the ground, sprawling out onto the ice-covered road. She heard the other door slam, and footsteps. Then laughter.
"Oh, so you think this is funny, huh?" She called up as Zach's legs appeared in her vision.
"Yeah, actually, I kinda do!" He laughed. Ashley was about to insult him in various languages... until she noticed that he was standing on the ice...
She pushed his feet out from under him, and laughed as he yelped and slid to the asphalt.
"You pushed me!"
She grinned to him as she shifted onto her elbows. "Yep."
"I could have been hurt!" He protested, "I could have died!"
"I could have too, but you were still laughing, weren't ya?"
He went quiet as he tried to come up with a retort. The longer he took, the bigger Ashley's smirk grew, until he gave up with a huff and jumped on her back.
"You're horrible." He muttered.
Ashley hummed. "I am, but ya still love me, so I don't really give a damn- I-I mean dang. Dang. I don't give a dang."
"Ooooohh, you cursed!" He sang with a laugh, "I'm telling!"
She scoffed and muttered for him to hold on before pushing herself up, with Zach still clinging to her back. "Boy, I am nineteen-pretty much twenty years old. I'm old enough to smoke, and almost old enough to drink. I can say whatever the hey-hey I wanna say. I just choose not to curse in front of you because I'm awesome like that. Bitches better recognize..."
"You just cursed again!" He laughed.
"What?! I didn't curse!" She protested, "That isn't a bad word! It means female dog!" She paused as a thought hit her, and she added quietly, "Just... don't say that word to anyone."
"If it's not a curse, then why can't I say it?" He retorted playfully. Ashley paused mid step. Why couldn't kids say curse words? I mean, who took the time out of their day to decide what words were bad? What sorry sack of meat had such a boring, un-meaningful life, that they had to go and say, 'These words shouldn't be used!' to their kids?
Realizing that Zach was still waiting for an answer, she narrowed her eyes at him and said shortly, "Because I said you can't."
He complained lowly under his breath, but didn't test her. As she was climbing up the stairs he asked, "So... what are we doing today? Jack wants to know if we're doing anything boring; so he won't have to sit around doing nothing."
"Me thinks that Jack needs to stop stalking us." She told him dryly. Zach hit her upside the head and she yelped. "Hey! Watch it, you keep that up and I might drop ya! Kids these days, man... No respect for their elders..."
Zach gave an impatient sigh, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Now seriously, what are we doing?"
"I don't really have anything planned out," She hummed, "I guess we're gonna start out the day with some video games..."
He perked up and lightly tugged her hair. "Jack says he loves video games! Can he come in and watch?!"
Ashley groaned and dragged out a sigh as she came to a stop at her apartment door on the fourth floor. "I guess... He better not eat all my food, though." Zach cheered loudly as he slid to the ground, and turned and started talking animatedly to the air. Ashley watched for a few seconds with a small smile before turning and unlocking the door. God, that kid was gonna be the death of her...
"Alright my little alcoholic, get on in the apartment," She breathed as she opened the door. "Apologies for the mess, I would've cleaned up, except... I just really didn't want too. It's not too bad, regardless."
Zach motioned for his little imaginary buddy to get in before starting to run in. A few feet in, he stopped and turned around. "Hey- wait a minute! I'm not an alcoholic!" He protested playfully, "If anything, you're the alcoholic!"
"Well, yeah..." She admitted as she closed the door behind her, "But that's not a stage of my life that you need to know about, now is it?"
Zach froze and gaped at her. "Wait... What?!"
Ashley snorted and laughed, waving him forward. "Kidding! I was just kidding! Even if I had gone through an alcoholic stage, you'd better believe that not a word of that would pass my lips to you. Now scoot, and pick out which game you wanna play. I'm gonna make you and I some hot chocolate."
He studied at her like he was testing her for something. She must have passed, because he seemed to dub her worthy and brightened up. "Alright, ya butt!" He told her, "Oh, and make one for Jack, too!"
As he walked away, she stared at his back exasperatedly. Really?
She just shrugged it off and grumbled to herself quietly as she walked into her little kitchen. Just humor him, she decided. What would it hurt? She could just warm it up later and drink it while he was sleeping. She didn't want to just smack him in the face with reality and tell him that Jack didn't really exist, because, well... Reality kinda sucks.
As the water was heating, she heard him talking excitedly to "Jack" and she couldn't help but smile. Fake or not, it was good that Zach had a friend. He just was not good with other kids for some reason. When he was with her, he could talk to anybody. But when she or her dad, or his mom wasn't there... She figured he just got scared. She used to have problems opening up around other people when she was young, too, so she could get what he was dealing with.
She made the hot chocolate and walked into the room, seeing the 'Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood' start-up screen on her TV, and she cocked her head to the side. "That a uh... That's a one player game, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know." He assured her, "Me and Jack wanna watch you play! You're really funny when you play!"
She sat down in the spot he patted for her, and set the mugs on the table. "How am I funny when I play?"
"You talk to it!" Zach laughed, "And you get really mad and say stuff about Ezio's mother a lot when you mess up!"
She raised an eyebrow. "Wha...? No I don't..." Zach just shook her head and motioned for her to play. The game started (slowly) loading, and Zach snuggled into Ashley's side, shivering.
She frowned. "Cold, little bud?"
"Yeah," he answered, "How come you're not?"
Ashley scoffed. "Being cold is for squares. I don't get cold."
"Never?"
"Pssh, naw," She snorted, "I'm like a mobile heater. I radiate heat, all the time."
"But you shiver!" He protested, "I felt you do it at the football game!"
She patted his shoulder. "Yeah... That's a natural bodily reaction. Same thing with goosebumps. It doesn't mean you're cold, though. It just means that your body is, get this, reacting."
The game loaded, and she started off in the middle of a town. She hadn't even moved when four guards spotted Ezio and quickly surrounded him.
"God dang it, Ezio! Why do you always have to look so suspicious to people, dude?!" She cried out in frustration without even realizing it, as she made him sprint to a horse, "Your mother is ashamed of you, you stupid!"
Zach laughed loudly, and once again, she swore she heard the faintest echo of a laugh. It was really weird... but, she shrugged it off. She was probably just going crazy... How could she not, hanging out with her little bro as much as she did?
Why was Ashley sitting in her car which was on the side of the road, in the middle of the night, when she could be sleeping? Her little brother, that's why. It was two in the morning, when the little bugger had decided he wanted to go hunting for a Yeti.
Heck, she loved her brother just as much as the next guy- maybe more, but did he have to be so hyper this late?! All she wanted a bit of sleep, but nooo...She just can not get that. Ugh...
"Do you see one yet?" Ashley groaned as she hit her head against the top of her wheel. "I wanna sleep..."
"Not yet," Zach told her as he looked through his binoculars, "But I'll keep looking! Once I see him, I swear we can go back, and you won't have to worry about Slenderman or anything!""
She groaned, "Yay..."
She sat up and rubbed her eyes tiredly as she watched the road in front of her. After a few minutes, she gave up trying to be attentive, and let her head fall back.
"If Slenderman gets us, I'm using you as bait while I run." She muttered.
Zach laughed as he glanced over at at her. "No you won't," He replied knowingly, "If anything, you'll use yourself as bait so I can get away."
Ashley grunted, but didn't retort because, well... she knew he was right. "Just... promise not to leave the car."
"Will do, cap'n!"
Everything was going fine. Ashley was catching up on some z's, while Zach was watching the forest for any signs of his yeti, until he noticed something in the road that worried him...
"Hey... Hey, Ash! Wake up!" He said, elbowing her side. She shot up, pulling a large machete out from under her seat in a tired daze.
"Wha...? Who's it...?" She mumbled.
"Ashley, wake up!" Zach ordered, "Something's not right!" Fear laced his voice and definitely woke her up.
She shook her head as if to clear her head, and looked at the road, only to flinch and cover her eyes.
The headlights of a car swerved across the road and got ever closer to Bumblebee. The realization of what was going to happen hit her. She wouldn't be able to avoid it. It was too late to do anything, and she knew it.
"Get down!" Ashley roared as she leaped at Zach and shielded him as best she could from the incoming car.
Author's note~
Cliffhanger! I was originally gonna keep the next part and this one together, but then that would take me too long to update...
So, um, let me start this off and say thank you so, so much to all the people who had reviewed, favorited, followed, and read my lame little... whatever it is. I opened up yahoo, and fell out of my chair screaming. God, am I glad no one was home when I did that...
As always, let me know if I made any mistakes, and thanks for reading. I hope you get a few laughs out reading my goofy little story!
,BlueAsh666