University Roommates (Restart)

Ashton:

“It was work,” I said and kissed her again quickly. “Do you want a drink?” I asked her with my arms still wound snuggly around her waist. The club was loud enough that I had to lean in to talk to her. I had the early shift, so I got off first. My partner was still at the door letting in latecomers.

Emily:
I smiled and nodded. "Sure, if you feel like staying for a bit, I'll have something fruity" I told him. The bar was more crowded that it usually was when I came at the end of his shifts. Mostly because I was used to him working that later times.

Ashton:

I grinned. “Something fruity coming right up,” I chuckled and waved a bartender over. It wasn’t Alicia, I knew Emily disliked her, without reason, so I tried to make her feel comfortable. She deserved it. I ordered gin and tonic. It was light, and I would be safe to drive if she decided she wanted to go sooner rather than later. “What did you do tonight?” I asked once our drinks arrived.

Emily:
"I went shopping," I told him, taking a sip of my drink. "And I bought you something," I said, with a giggle. I had bought him a pair of boxers with donuts all over them because I thought they were cute. "And I bought myself some stuff," I said.

Ashton:

“So descriptive,” I said, grinning. I was curious as to what she got me, but I found I wanted to know what she got herself even more. “Maybe you can show off for me when we get home?” I asked, but before she could answer, we were interrupted.

“Ash? Ashton?” The voice was sickeningly familiar. A blond girl in a skin tight red dress stumbled over to us. She was drunk- no. She was high.

“Wow, crazy seeing you here,” She said. Bright eyes looking over me like she had hit the jack pot.

I was frozen in my chair. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. It was like a nightmare where I couldn’t scream or get away from the monster. I just stared at her. How could she be here, grinning like a wolf, when I had nothing in my eyes but pure hate? Could her drug addled mind not see that?

And then there was Emily, right next to me. Walls started crumbling down. From the beginning I had a feeling that something would come along to ruin my new life. Now here it was, in a cherry red dress that advertised a lack of underwear.

I swiveled around in my bar chair, back to the girl and muttered, "fuck."

Emily:
I looked confused between the two. The girl looked drunk and Ash looked completely out of it. I took a closer look at the girl and realized I knew the look in her eyes. It was the same look I remembered in Ash's eyes after he came home high on meth.

She wasnt drunk at all. "Ash? Maybe we should just go." I said, standing up.

Ashton:

“Yeah,” I said. I nearly downed my drink, but that would only make things worse. “Yeah, we should.” I stood up and took her hand, not even looking at the other girl.

“Ash? Ash!” She was louder now when we moved away. “Seriously? You’re going to walk away from me? After all we’ve been through?” She shouted now that we were a few paces away.

Her words rattled like hot pennies in my head. At this point I was letting Emily lead me by the hand through the club and to the parking lot. My vision was blurry.

Emily:
I navigated through the throngs of people until we got to the parking lot. I kept going until I got to the car. I didn't get in. "Ash, who was that?" I asked, shaky. 

He looked out of it, like he wasn't even listening to me. I grabbed his face and made him look at me. "Whats going on?" I whispered. "Who is that girl?"

Ashton:

I focused on her and took in a deep breath. “She’s my ex,” I said flatly. I really, really didn’t want to talk about it with her. None of it. I had come all this way without having to tell her much of my past. I didn’t want it all spilled out now.

Emily:
"Okay. But why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" I asked, concerned about the look on his face. "Baby, youre kind of scaring me here,"

Ashton:

I sighed. “I’m sorry, Em. It’s just, I wasn’t expecting to see her here, or really ever again. She was part of my live before rehab. I don’t want to drudge all that stuff up again,” I said then hugged her to me and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go home. I just want to me with you.”

Emily:
"Okay, lets go," I said, letting him go. I still didn't fully understand, but I got in the car anyway and buckled my seat belt, looking back towards the bar to make sure there wasnt any site of that girl.

Ashton:

I drove back to our place in silence. My mind was swirling around the incident. I couldn’t let it get to me. I couldn’t let it ruin what I had now. Even as I thought it to myself, it was eating away at me.

When we got home I went to the kitchen and grabbed the whiskey bottle. “Do you want a drink?” I asked her dully. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish ours earlier.”

Emily:
I frowned at him. Having a drink at the bar and grabbing a full whiskey bottle after being upset, was not the same thing. I walked over to him and wrapped my hands around the bottle. "Ash, lets not drink right now..." I mumbled. I used my other hand to push his hair away from his face. "Come on, lets just go lay down or something," I said.

Ashton:

I let go of the bottle. “I need to take a shower before bed,” I said. I was shutting down in an effort to not think of the past. I was starting to not feel anything again. Whiskey would have helped, but I wouldn’t push the issue.

Emily:
I took the bottle when he didn't put up a fight and set it on the counter behind him. I bit my lip. He wasnt acting like himself. He was reminding me a lot of the guy that would sulk in his room and act rude and push me away. "Shower later," I said, not wanting him to go off alone. I moved forward and pressed my lips to his, hoping for any kind of reaction.

Ashton:

I was slow to respond to her kiss. I very nearly pulled away after a second. But this was itself a distraction. I kissed her back, softly at first then hungrily. I moved my hands around her waist to hold her to me.

Emily:
The kiss picked up rather quickly and I wasnt totally sure I was doing the right thing, but even I got a little dizzy at the way he was kissing me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

Ashton:

I drowned my thoughts out by kissing her. It probably wasn’t fair. I would almost certainly feel guilty later. Right now I didn’t care. I kissed her deeply and after a couple minutes I moved my hands down her waist then picked her up and set her on the countertop so I could have better access

Emily:
I gasped when he lifted me and almost forgot why ai had started this in the first place. I started undoing the buttons on his workshirt and pushed it off his shoulders

Ashton:

I kissed down her jawline to her throat and nibbled at her collar bone. I pressed my mouth to her skin and sucked, leaving a nice dark mark. All the while my hands moved around her body, feeling, caressing, squeezing.


((Skip?))

Emily:
I cant remember getting into my bed, but thats where i laid, panting when it was over. I turned onto my side and looked at him with a sigh. "Are you okqy?" I asked, moving closer to place a kiss on his chest.

Ashton:

I smoothed my hand over her back. “Well I definitely feel better now,” I said and leaned forward to kiss her gently. I did feel guilty for using her as a distraction. Because all my problems were still there, and if she suspected that was what I did it would only make her feel bad.

Emily:
"But you're not okay," I mumbled. I knew he wasn't. Seeing that girl had had an impact on him that I didn't know what to do about. "Talk to me," I said, concerned. I was glad he wasn't still reaching for bottles of liquor, but it meant nothing if the second I left him alone, he grabbed for something like that.

Ashton:

I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to groan. “Em, I don’t need to talk about it. I’d rather just not think about things. I just want to forget it,” I said with a sigh.