Page 9 of Ash
“Am not!” He almost sounds genuinely offended by my words. I glance up, looking him over.
“Ash, you’re a label-whore,” I chuckle dryly. “I mean, go for it. It’s your money, but paramedics aren’t known for their salaries, so yeah, it’s hard for me to believe you ever did a job that would have caused you to have to budget.” His nearly permanent smile disappears, and I watch his clean-shaven jaw flex.
“I didn’t always have things like this,” he mutters, standing up. “I gotta go. If you need help moving in, just ask. I left my number over there on the counter, since you probably threw the note away.”
“Ash,” I go to apologize, but he walks out of the apartment, shutting the door behind him with a little more force than necessary, causing me to flinch. I sit in silence, chewing on my bottom lip as I feel guilt creeping up on me. Maybe‘label-whore’wasn’t the best term. Though it is certainly better than:“And what’s your name?”
I grumble to no one as I stand from the couch and grab my phone to text my girlfriends.
Me: I moved into the apartment next door to fucking Ash.
Janie: Yesssssss *fire emoji*
Ren: OMG the forced proximity trope! It’s got the best heat!
Me: Ren… you’ve been narrating romance books too long. Put down the smut.
Ren: I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.
Stevie: Okay, I’ll be the normal one. Sunday, how does that make you feel?
Me: THANK YOU STEVIE!
Me: It pisses me off. If I had known he lived here, I would’ve looked somewhere else.
Me: But then I tried talking to him and I don’t know, it got weird
Janie: We like weird
Ren: We LOVE weird
Me: NOT THAT KIND OF WEIRD. Jesus, how is it that the two women with dicks on demand are the horniest of our group?
Janie: I can’t say anything on Ren and Atlas but, Fox is a fucking freak and you can’t just get one hit of that.
Janie: You taste it and you want it ALL. THE. TIME.
Janie: We did it on the beach the other night and while it’s not as comfortable as you might think, that ocean air hitting your naked body–all hot and slick…
“Oh my god, Janie. Really?” I groan while shaking my head.
Me: are you two just, without a bedroom now? What is it with ya’ll and the outdoor fucking?
Janie: Winston looks at me weird after the act. I’ve even tried putting him in his room with the tv on and he still knows what’s happening.
Ren: Janie, babe no *crying laughing emoji*
Stevie: Nope, dead… this isn’t real life.
Me: You fuck in public so that your CAT won’t know you’re fucking?
Janie: Noooo so my SON doesn’t witness his father attacking his mother, or hear it and mistake our cries of ecstasy as distress. I can’t be quiet, Fox is massive in EVERY sense of the word.
Me: I am SO happy I texted y’all to talk about MY problem just so we can ONCE AGAIN hear how weird Janie is.
Janie: rude
Ren: Okay, what is the problem?
