I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Love hear your thoughts on it.
"Exactly what are we doing here?" Rebecca asks turning and looking at me.
"How long are you gonna pretend like you don't like me Becca?" I ask and she smiles.
"Who says I'm acting?" She asks, raising a brow.
"We both know the truth." I whisper, stepping closer to her. She moves back a little, bumping into a tray with medical supplies on it.
"Is this really the proper place to have this conversation?" She asks.
"I think this is the perfect place." I tell her with a smile. I can tell she's nervous, I've never seen her nervous. "Don't you think?" I ask, gesturing around us. We met in this lab, I think it's a great place to have our first kiss.
"Ashley, I can't." She shakes your head.
"You can't what?" I ask, moving impossibly closer to her. Our lips inches apart.
"You know what I'm taking about Ashley." She whispers.
"You mean this?" I ask connecting our lips, she didn't hesitate to kiss me back.
"Ashley wait..." She pushes me back a bit, both of us breathing heavily. I don't say anything, I just stare in her eyes. "I can't." She shakes her head. "You're not..."
"My age doesn't matter Beccs." I tell her, she turns her head to look away from me but I stop her. "You like me, you can't pretend like you don't. We've been playing this game for a month now." I say, taking my bottom lip between my teeth.
"Don't do that." She smiles.
"I know it drives you crazy, that's why I do it." I smile along with her.
Suddenly her face turns serious. "If your mom finds out, I could lose my internship." She tells me, I shake my head.
"I already told my mom, she's totally cool with it." I smile as her eyes go wide.
"You did what?" She questions, springing upright.
"I knew you were feeling me, I was just waiting for you to realize it." I smile and lean in to kiss her.
"I could hurt you right now." She says, pushing me back.
"But you're not going to." I shrug and move back to my previous position.
"I hate you." She says with a smile.
"I know." I nod, moving my lips closer to hers again. "I hate you too." I whisper before reconnecting our lips.
–
"Ashley...Ashley are you okay? Ashley please wake up." I hear a voice calling to me.
"Rebecca." I mumble and open my eyes just as Spencer's go wide.
Oops.
Not Rebecca.
She shakes whatever thought she was having out of her head and leans back down to me. "Are you okay?" She asks, her voice conveying what her mouth wont say. I think she just realized who Rebecca really is.
"Just a little dizzy." I answer. "Is Tim okay?" I try to sit up and look but my head immediately starts pounding.
"You need to lay still, here drink this." She says, handing me a juice box. "He's gonna be fine. Carmen finished about ten minutes ago." Spencer says after a moment.
"How long was I out?" I ask placing the juice box on the table next to me.
"An hour or so." Spencer answers, standing up. "You need to eat something, I'll be right back." She adds, I can hear the sadness in her voice. I should have just told her from the beginning.
"Spencer." I call after her. She stops in the doorway and turns around. I force myself to sit up, although my head is begging me to lay back down. "I need to tell you something." I force out, the intense throbbing in my head making it hard for me to hear myself speak. She walks back to me and sits in a chair across from me. I look over to the table Carmen was operating on and see Tim laying there, probably still out from the M99.
"What is it?" She asks, but her facial expression is telling me she already knows.
"Rebecca isn't a family friend." I force myself to say. The throbbing moving to my ears. She doesn't say anything, electing to just listen. "She was my..." I pause searching for the words. "...my...we were together before all this happened. She was my girlfriend." I finally get out. The look on her face wasn't of anger though, she didn't seem upset at all...she looked more hurt than anything. "Spencer." I call her name when she doesn't say anything.
"I don't know why you felt like you couldn't tell me. Did you think I wouldn't want you to save her because she's your ex Ashley?" She asks and I shrug, not knowing the answer. I don't know why I didn't tell her. "I'm not angry with you, I'm just hurt that you didn't feel like you could be honest with me." She says standing up. "I'm gonna go get you some food." She adds and starts to walk away, but I don't want the conversation to end like this. I need to explain myself to her.
"Spencer wait." I call after her, standing up from my chair. Big mistake. Before I even took my first step the room began to spin, and everything in my body screamed out in pain. I was on the floor before I could even say help.
–
"You're young enough to be my little sister you know." Rebecca tells me as we walk through the park together. On her lunch break, all this week since the kiss, we've been grabbing lunch from the little sandwich cart in the part and walking, talking and eating together. It's really nice actually, I didn't think I would find someone else after Jasmine broke my heart.
"Why are you so fascinated with my age, Beccs?" I stop us from walking and face her.
"I don't know." She shrugs. "Maybe because I'm legally not allowed to like you yet." She leans in a whispers. Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention.
"Paranoid much?" I chuckle and start to walk off.
"No." She says, jogging to catch up with me. "Look Ashley," She starts as we both take a seat on a park bench. "...I like you, you know that. But maybe we should just wait until you turn eighteen."
"Eighteen!" I shout. "Nope, not happening Rebecca." I shake my head. "I'm not giving you up so someone else can come in a swoop you up."
"I'm not interested in dating anyone else, Ashley." She smiles.
"Well, I'm not about to give any one the chance. Now shut up about my age, okay." I tell her and she can't help but smile and nod. "We should get back before my mom fires you for taking an extra long lunch." I say as we stand from the bench.
"She wouldn't..." She trails off and looks at me. "No." She shakes her head and smile. "Your mom loves me. She wouldn't fire me."
"She loves me too, doesn't mean she didn't beat my ass when I was a kid." I reply and smile as we toss our garbage.
"So you still get whippings then?" She asks with a sly smile.
"Oh fuck you Beccs." I say and smile as we head back to the office.
–
"Ashley, Ashley open your eyes. Are you okay?" I open my eyes to see Carmen standing over me.
"What...what..."
"You fainted. You may have hit your head so just lay still for a second while I examine you." She tells me, taking out a small flashlight and shinning it into my eyes. The light is blindingly bright.
"What happened?" I hear Aiden's voice somewhere behind Carmen, but I can't see him.
"Where's Spencer?" I ask Carmen who continues to shine the light in my eyes.
"I'm here." Spencer tells me. I can't see her either.
"Ashley is there any pain anywhere?" Carmen asks and I shake my head. I don't feel anything.
"She gave too much blood and she passed out." Spencer tells Aiden.
"Ash." Aiden calls to me.
"I'm fine Aiden." I assure him.
"Your pupils are normal and reactive. I don't think you have a concussion." Carmen says, finally getting that bright light out of my eyes.
"Spencer." I call again and she rushes to my side. "I'm sorry." I tell her once she reaches me.
"For what?" She asks, confusion in her tone.
"Rebecca." I say and see Carmen and Aiden start to back out of the room. They both know who she is.
"It's fine Ash, I'm just glad you're okay." Spencer tries, but I can see right through it.
"It's not fine." I shake my head. "I shouldn't have kept that from you. I should have told you the moment I saw her. I don't know why I didn't tell you. It was stupid, and I'm sorry." I finish and she nods.
"Okay." She tells me. "You okay to stand now?" She asks, holding out a hand to help me up.
"I think so." I nod as she helps me up. I fall back into the chair and try to clear my head. Everything is a little fuzzy at the moment.
"You need to eat so I'm gonna go get you lunch, stay here." Spencer tells me, kissing my cheek then leaving the room. I sigh and shake my head. I don't know why all my thoughts and dreams are revolving around Rebecca right now. Maybe I feel guilty for what I did, like what happened to her is my fault. It wasn't my fault, I keep trying to tell myself but I can't help but think it was.
"Ash you okay?" Aiden peeks his head in the room and asks.
"Yeah." I smile and nod to my friend.
"Carmen said you might have a headache for a while, so I brought you some of these." He hands me a pill bottle.
"Oxycodone" I read the label and look up at him.
"We found the best stuff Ash. We hit the jackpot with that pharmacy. I guess it wasn't looted after the outbreak."
"Thanks Aide." I smile and pop one pill into my mouth, grabbing the juice box off the table next to me to wash it down.
"So Spencer knows about Rebecca huh?" He asks with a sheepish look on his face.
"Yeah." I nod and sigh. "I should have just told her from the beginning. I don't know what I was thinking."
"You were thinking that you didn't want to hurt her feelings if you didn't have to. Ashley you try to be this tough and mysterious person but I know the real you. The you that I saved that day from the warehouse. You're sweet and kind and bad ass when you need to be." He smiles and continues. "But you care about the people in your life. You never want to hurt their feelings and that's what makes you who you are. You're awesome, don't change for anyone." He finishes with a pat on my shoulder. I can already feel the medicine kicking in. "You should get some sleep. There's some things the group needs to talk about when you and Tim wake up."
"Okay." I nod and say through a yawn.
"Sweet dreams, Ash." He smiles and kisses my forehead as I drift off into the abyss.
I know you guys are thinking that Spencer took an easy on her. Don't be so quick to jump to that conclusion :)