Lullabies

twenty seven

"Well, that's a ... reaction," Emily started.

After last night's fiasco, I'd decided to crash at Emily's house. It seemed stupid for Bash to drop us off at different locations. Somehow, we had made it up the stairs at night and had just woken up a few hours ago. I'd finally come clean to Emily about everything, the tutoring, the arrangement, the sleeping with each other, Maria, and showed her the multiple texts he'd sent me yesterday.

"Really? A reaction? I didn't ask him to drink and drive. I didn't ask him to go looking for me. I didn't ask him to do anything. He chose to sleep with someone else and then sulk and then chase me around. I admit I was mad at him last night, but now that my system has a lot less alcohol in it and I don't have the constant urge to throw up, I shouldn't have been mad at him. He's not my boyfriend and literally owes me nothing."

Ashton was cute; yes, I had developed a tiny crush on him. But I'd also developed a tiny crush on Sebastian. I was obviously not in love with either of them.

It's not like I had favorites.

But I probably wouldn't have had the meltdown if Sebastian slept with someone.

But Ashton had a lot of things to deal with and I definitely, did not want to add to that. I was going to tutor him,  make sure he did well in high school, and that was it. Maybe, help him with therapists? Because as sentimental and lovable as the idea of sleeping together is, he had bigger issues he had to deal with. I was not capable of taking care of any of that.

"Yes, but I think it's cute. Like, he actually wanted to check if you were okay," Emily sighed, lying back down on the bed. She was scrolling on her phone when she paused to show me a few photos she had taken throughout the night.

"But I didn't want him to. Plus, I deserved the space."

"Yeah, but you were drunk, not appropriately dressed and with some guy, Ashton has never met before. You realize why he freaked right?"

"Yeah, and he was drunk and naked in some other girl's bed less than 6 hours after our date."

Yep, definitely nothing more than a little crush.

We drifted into mindless scrolling and I must have passed out because when I opened my eyes again, it was dark out and Emily wasn't there. I quickly got my things and booked a cab home.

***

My parents weren't home when I reached. I'm assuming they picked up an evening shift at the hospital. I checked the fridge to find some neatly labeled leftovers but before I could even consider eating, I needed a shower. The clothes were sticking to my sweat-soaked skin.

I stripped off the bralette and black jeans and stepped under the warm water. I stayed right there until my fingers pruned. Sometime during the shower, I'd sat down, and the water droplets hitting my head seemed to just engrave each thought about Ashton deeper into my brain.

He was not my person. I did not know him well enough for him to mean anything to me.

So, we kissed a few times and fell asleep under the stars, and I bandaged his hand when he was stupid enough to put it through a wall. Rational human beings don't put their hands through walls. Rational human beings also don't invite a strange boy into their bed because he can't sleep.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself before standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom. It was a little fogged but I could still make out my face. My hair was wet and fell limp below my shoulders. My face was pale and my eyes had sunken in. I was just so tired.

I needed to curl up into my bed, play a new season of some Netflix show, and get done with my fucking homework. I was going to complete that first thing tomorrow. Tonight, I was going to curl up in bed and watch something.

I walked out of the shower and entered my closet to pick out a cozy outfit.

Just as I was about to drop my towel, I heard a voice.

"I don't think you want to do that. Although, I would certainly enjoy it."

I shrieked, just a horrible high-pitched sound left my throat as I turned around. There was a dark figure sprawled out on my bed, with something that looked suspiciously like a tail?

My suspicions were confirmed when I turned on the bedside lamp and found Malibu in my bed, and a leather-clad arm resting on his fur.

Malibu barked when the lights turned on, almost in protest as he snuggled further into Ashton's body.

You're supposed to bark when there are strange men in my room, not when I turn on the lights, dumbass. The douchebag had managed to charm my dog as well.

Brilliant.

"Why are you in my room?" I was fuming. I had just spent well over an hour in the shower, getting over a guy who was currently in my bed, cuddling my dog, looking absolutely drool-worthy.

I was fucking pathetic.

"Why don't we have this conversation once you're dressed?" he was still lying down on my bed.

I entered the closet and quickly changed into the first set of pajamas I could find. Once I was changed, I took a few deep breaths to trick my brain into a parasynthetic response and entered my bedroom again. Ashton had gotten up and Malibu had left my bedroom.

"Please tell me you have a logical explanation for breaking and entering."

"Yep, I just wanted to make sure you weren't murdered by the psycho stalker you were following around last night," Ashton looked smug. I wanted to kiss the smirk off his lips.

Nope.

"Get out." I climbed onto my bed, purposefully pushing him a little before picking up my laptop off my nightstand and turning it on.

"Nope, I think I'm good."

"Seriously, get out or I'll scream."

Something in Ashton flipped as his eyes narrowed. He leaned across from where he was sitting on my bed so that his face was close to mine. He smelt like cologne, mixed with liquor. He was drunk, of course. And because I was currently functioning on one single brain cell, I leaned into him. His smirk returned before his lips met mine.

***

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