University Roommates (Restart)

Ashton:

I smirked. "Good to know." I finished my beer and a minute later Alicia slid another over. I had only thought to have a couple, but now I was on my third. Who was I to say no to free beer?

"How was the burger?" I asked, picking a spare fry left on her plate.

Emily:
I was in the middle of my second beer and the burger was long gone. "It was really good. For a club, they actually have good food here," I said, taking another swig of my drink. I turned my chair away from the bar and looked out at the people dancing. I was still a little hung up about the gay thing. I could have sworn he had been looking at my ass when we got here. Maybe thats why he was talking to the bouncer? Maybe he likes him?

Ashton:

I watched her wondering what she was thinking about. Whatever it was, it bothered her. I got distracted when the club manager walked in behind the bar. I nodded to him but he didn't seem to recognize me. I didn't care, I wasn't a huge fan of the guy. I wasn't particularly fond of any of my coworkers, which was probably why they thought I was gay.

"You alright?" I asked Emily who was still looking off at the dancefloor.

Emily:
I turned to look at him when he spoke and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Did you want to talk to any of your other coworkers? Alicia seemed excited to see you," I said. I was waiting for his response when a shadow appeared from my other side. I turned at the feeling that someone was standing way too close to me and looked up into the eyes of a man about my age or slightly older.
"I couldn't help but notice you've been sitting here all night. Do you want to dance?" He asked me. I opened my mouth in shock but no words came out. I've never been asked to dance before. "Uh..." I said, looking over to Ash. "Would you mind if I left you for a minute?" I asked him.

Ashton:

I glanced over the guy then to Emily and gave a small shrug. I couldn't that I didn't want her to go off with some guy, but that wasn't my place. "Go for it," I said, turning back to the bar and picking another fry from her plate, it was mostly soggy now. I wasn't going to dance with her, so she might as well go off on her own.

Emily:
I bit my lip and gave the guy a small smile and followed him out to the dance floor. On the way, I found out his name was Mike. When we found a spot in the middle of the sea of people dancing, his hands found my hips and I tried to not be so stiff and awkward. After a song or two, I think I even manger to laugh once or twice.
That is, until his hands started wandering. The first time he brushed my ass, I wrote it off as as accident, but after the sixth time, I started pulling away, only for him to pull me right back in. I suddenly didn't want to dance anymore but he his grip was tight on my waist. "You know, I think my friend is waiting for me..." I tried to politely excuse myself. He wasn't having it. His hands were now full on grabbing my backside and was shoving him off me. "Get off!"

Ashton:

I tried not to watch her on the dancefloor but my eyes occasionally wandered. I didn't like the way she was letting him touch her. Something twisted in my stomach, so I forced myself to look away. Alicia brought distraction in the form of a mixed drink that had been messed up. It was strong and I drank it a little too quickly.

"Hey, your roommate seems to be having issues," Alicia nodded as she passed by me. I turned to see her being grouped by the guy she was dancing with and attempting to push him away. I cursed mentally as I strode over to intervene.

Emily:
I grabbed his wrist, which was currently attached to the hand that was grabbing my ass and tried to pry it away from me. No one around even seemed to notice that he wouldn't let go and with another shove, I suddenly found myself on the ground when his grip on me loosened enough for me to pull away. But being on the ground wasn't really any better as everyone's feet were moving wildly, kicking. I hauled myself up and in an effort to get away from Crazy Mike, I ran straight into another person. "Ash?" I asked, looking back to where I had seen him sitting not a minute ago. The spot was obviously vacant.

Ashton:

I caught her when she ran into me and held her close. It took everything I had not to go after the guy and hit him. I held onto her as a form of restraining myself. "What the fuck?" I glared daggers at the guy. "Are you alright?" I asked her without relinquishing my hold.

Emily:
"I'm fine!" I said, even though my butt was a little sore from the squeezing and the hard ground. I didn't even look at Mike again, just focused on making sure Ash didn't get involved. He looked about ready to hit someone and this was where he worked. If he got fired over me, I would't forgive myself. I looped my fingers in his belt loops and took a few steps forward, making him take a few steps backwards, back towards the bar. "Lets go back to the bar," I suggested, hoping beyond hope that Mike wasn't still standing behind me.

Ashton:

There was a moment where I fantasized what I could do to the guy and how my fist would feel connecting with his flesh. If I hadn't been touching Emily, I would have gone for it. My stomach was in knots and my body felt heavy but I let her steer me back to the bar.

When we sat back down, Alicia had called over the bouncer on duty to escort the guy out of the building. It was our policy to not allow that kind of behavior here.

Emily:
I sat down on my stool and took a sip of the drink that Alicia had set out for me before calling over the bouncer. I kept my eyes on Ash. He still looked mad and I didn't know if it was at me. It seemed like he kept having to save me... "Are you okay?" I asked him, softly.

Ashton:

I drank the rest of my drink before answering. "Yeah, let's get out of here, though," I said with hand on my head. It seemed she was always getting into trouble because of situations I put her in. I felt guilty. At what point would she realize she was better off not associating with me?

Emily:
I nodded and stood up, looking at the ground. At what point was he gonna realize that I ruined every decent night we had together. First, I knock myself out with a baseball, then I let creepy men hit on me... I would be annoyed with me too. I grabbed my purse and set some money on the bar for Alicia as a tip. I know the drinks were free, but she was still nice to me. "I'll be outside if you wanna say goodbye to your friends," I said, quietly as I gathered the rest of my things and headed for the door.

Ashton:

Alicia came over to say goodbye when she saw we were leaving, she was too late to catch Emily. She gave me her number to give to her in case she needed to talk. She also told me to make sure Emily drove us home since I had twice as much to drink as she had. I agreed and assured her I would give up the keys as soon as I got to Emily. I went out the back door, nodding to the other staff who knew me.

Emily:
When he came out, I wrapped my arms around myself. I wasn't exactly dressed for nighttime. "Are you ready?" I asked, bouncing a little in my heels.

Ashton:

"You should probably take these," I told her as I handed over the car keys and went immediately to the passenger side. I climbed in a leaned my seat back halfway. "I'm sorry about tonight," I said ruefully when she got in.

Emily:
I climbed in the car when he handed my the keys and frowned. "Why are you sorry?" I asked, putting the keys in the ignition. "I'm the one whose always ruining things," I mumbled.

Ashton:

I turned my head to look at her. "You get in these situations because of me. I brought you here tonight. I took you batting. I got you upset before you went to that bar. It's because of me these things happen to you. I'm toxic." I sighed and looked at the roof of the car.

Emily:
I had just put the car into drive but I quickly slammed it back into park. "What?" I asked, incredulously, searching his face even though he wasn't looking at me. "How can you even say that?" I asked, angry. "Yeah I was upset when I went to the bar...but were you there, shoving drinks down my throat? Did you throw the ball at my head? Were YOU grabbing my ass on the dance floor?" I asked, almost yelling. "No! You didn't do any of those things. But did you come pick me up when I called you? Did you bring me to the hospital, even when I didn't wanna go?" I asked, gentler. "Did you storm onto the dance floor, looking ready to kick someones ass when I needed you?" I mumbled. "Yeah...you did all that."

Ashton:

"Don't make me out to be something I'm not. I did all that because I got you there in the first place. I'm not a good guy," I said, rubbing at my eyes. "I'm a bad guy. You wouldn't argue if you knew the sort of things I've done. I'll only ever get you into trouble."

Emily:
I felt my face heat up in anger. "Stop saying that," I told him. "You haven't done anything wrong. If I thought you did, I wouldn't be hanging out with you. Give me a little credit," I said. "Believe it or not, I actually like being around you. Stop pushing me away"

Ashton:

My heart beat sped up. I looked her in the eyes. Some sick part of me wanted to lay it all out, to tell her everything and see the look on her face. The other part of me knew that would destroy any chance of being close to her. I was a selfish bastard.

"There's a reason why I had to come live with my sister, did you ever ask her? She probably wouldn't have said... You didn't know me before I came here. You wouldn't have wanted to know me. I got out of rehab, that's why I didn't have anywhere to stay." I sighed in frustration, looking away from her and out the window.

Emily:
I had asked Tasha why her brother was coming to stay with us the day she told me the news. But she had never answered me. I frowned at him, the anger replaced with sadness. "You have a drug problem?" I asked, softly. It didnt change the way i felt about him. I touched his arm gently and bit my lip. "I still dont see why cant be friends now," i said. "Youre not in rehab anymore. You're been my best friend next to Tasha" 8 told him. "I still like who you are."

Ashton:


"Fuck." I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. "I didn't have a drug problem, I had a problem with my whole life. I was a loser in every way." I clenched my fist. "You only hang onto me because you're a magnet for danger."