Fifteen Days ~ afi | au

One.

Carmen woke up from what felt like a very deep sleep. It was still dark in the room, but she could tell it was morning because of the sunlight that was seeping in through the curtains. Her surroundings were unfamiliar though. It looked like she was in a tiny apartment. There was a kitchen and a small living room that was really part of the bedroom, but the only door there was the entrance and exit into the apartment. She'd never been there before.

She started to sit up in bed when she realized an arm was draped over her. She looked to her side and saw an all too familiar face sound asleep next to her. He wasn't wearing a shirt and Carmen could see that he was very comfortable laying next to her. She was all the more confused. Was she dreaming?

"Ashton..." she said to herself, but he seemed to hear her.

Without opening his eyes, he replied groggily, his raspy morning voice very prominent, "Up for work already? What time is it?" Carmen smiled at the sound of his voice. She never really heard him sound like that before, and she liked it.

But what made her all the more confused was that he asked if she was going to work. As far as she was concerned, she didn't have a job.

"Work?" she asked.

"Yeah, with your nursing stuff at the hospital," he said as he sat up in bed and leaned against her. Carmen visibly tensed up because she wasn't used to it, and unfortunately, Ashton noticed. "Hey, are you okay?"

First of all, Carmen didn't know what the hell was going on. Second of all, this had to be a dream, but it didn't feel like a dream; it felt real. Maybe she was dead and this was what the afterlife was like. Out of habit of nervousness she started to fidget around with her fingers, only to notice there was something on one of them. She looked down and saw a beautiful diamond ring on her left ring finger. Was she married? She couldn't be. Not to Ashton.

"Carmen?" he asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"What?" she said softly.

"I asked if you're okay. Do you need anything? Please, tell me what's wrong," he said and planted a soft kiss on her shoulder. "I wanna help you."

Carmen froze, stunned that he kissed her. Although it wasn't on the lips, she was still unable to move because he'd never done that to her before. Not her Ashton. She needed to figure out what was going on.

"I need to use the bathroom," she said without looking at him and ran into the washroom, locking the door behind her.

Staring at herself in the mirror, she closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them she would wake up; she couldn't believe this was real. But when she did, it didn't work, so she splashed her face with cold water, and still, she was standing in the bathroom of what seemed to be her and her 'husband's' house. That's what it seemed like in this weird dream she was in. Or was it a simulation?

So, she decided to do what she thought was best and play along to whatever this game was in her weird dream. It's not like she had never dreamed of Ashton before, but this was on a whole other level. She needed to act like nothing was wrong; that they were a happy couple, probably newly wed, and that she was really out of it that morning, and now she was better. Hopefully Ashton wouldn't think much of it.

She opened the door to see Ashton talking on the phone to someone. His eyes lit up when he saw her and Carmen smiled as to not make herself look suspicious. This isn't the Ashton she grew up with. She wasn't used to this.

"Yeah, she's right here," he spoke into the phone, then mouthed to her 'It's for you.' He handed the phone to her and she answered.

"Hello?" Carmen answered.