drowning

15

Ashton.

I held her until she was ready to let go.

And soon, she pulled away, making eye contact with me.

"I don't know what to do, about any of this." She spoke to me.

"I know I'm asking for a lot." I told her, seeing her holding firm eye contact.

"But let me take care of this all for you. Let me set up the house to get sold, let me get everything moved into storage for you, let me help you plan your brothers funeral-" "okay." I heard her almost whisper.

"Okay" I whispered back to her.

"I need to go apartment shopping-" "we are not rushing this" I spoke calmly to her.

"You and I can go apartment shopping next week-" "ashton, I can't stay here alone" her voice panicked.

"I never said you were going to." I told her firmly.

I lead the way into my own apartment, seeing her shy body glancing around, her bag of items that I told her to collect on her shoulder.

"There's a lot of the guys stuff in the guest room that you'll have to excuse, they stay here when we get busy or-" "the guys?" She questioned as I led her into the bedroom that I wished I had more time to prepare for her.

It looked like frat boy central.

Navy blue sheets, thankfully cleaned and tucked in, but still- navy blue.
Textbooks lying around
A pair of what I immediately determined as Michael's sweatpants laying on the ground.

"Yeah- my friends. Like Michael who you met and Luke, another guy named Calum that I don't believe you've met yet." I explained to her slowly, taking the bag off of her shoulder, setting it onto the dresser for her.

"Oh" she spoke simply.

"Yeah- they all live in this complex, sometimes we just want to have slumber parties I guess," I laughed to her, seeing the smallest smile on her face.

"Thank you again, for letting me crash here-" "thank you for agreeing to, I feel better with you here." I told her.

Her and I ended up sitting on the bed, making small conversation about my work and her school.

"Hungry?" I ended up asking her after several minutes of us just looking to the tv as a random show played.

"I could snack" she shrugged out.

I felt my body panic as I remembered the lack of food in my fridge and pantry.

"How's pizza sound?"

"Great, actually"

Thank God.

I ordered pizza, getting enough for the guys just incase they stopped in tonight, which wouldn't surprise me.

Ava and I sat in the living room as we ate, her body focused to a movie I had put on.

She didn't eat much at all, but I didn't pressure it.

She was unfamiliar with the space, probably not one hundred percent comfortable and going through a lot.

I told myself to monitor it.

Soon we separated, each of us going to shower, agreeing to meet and finish the movie after.

As I got out the shower, slipping on underwear and drying my hair with the towel, my bathroom door flung open.

"Mate, this pizza is amazing" Michael's voice rang before I could even look up.

"I could've been naked, Michael." I told him firmly, hearing him laugh lightly.

"But you weren't, now hurry, the guys are on their way."

"Tonight's really probably not a good night." I told him, noticing he had a huge stack of papers that I knew he was most likely late on turning in and needed help filling out.

"We always hang out on Friday's." Be spoke firmly as I threw sweatpants and a shirt on, him following my every step.

"We hang out everyday, Michael." I told him, laughing lightly.

"Okay- exactly. Why are you trying to mess that up?" He spoke, the goofy smile on his face telling me he wasn't serious.

Just as I went to explain, the sound of water running in the guest bathroom caught his attention.

"Who the Fuck-" "remember Ava and her brother Jacob?" I interrupted him, whispering.

"Yeah, they were such cool kids, hate what happened to them-" "Jacob committed suicide and Ava almost put herself into a heart attack trying to save him." I explained slowly, seeing multiple reactions fly through his face as I spoke to him.

"So- Ava is staying with me until we can get her parents house sold and get her situated in her own apartment." I spoke calmly, seeing his eyes running all over my face.

"Mate, do you realize how many rules you just broke? You brought a patient to your house-" "it's not against the law, and she's not just a patient," I told him firmly.

"You could lose your job, she's also like almost a stranger-" "what are you going to do? Tell the chief?" I shot to him.

"No." He spoke firmly.

"If you trust her enough to bring her into your home, she's got to be a good person, I'm just pointing out the obvious." He mumbled slowly, taking all the information I told him in slowly.

"I'm here to help with anything you or her need." He spoke after a few moments, rocking back and forth on his heels as soon as I heard the water shut off, telling me she'd be out soon.

"Thanks" i exhaled to him

"We're just going to watch a movie and hopefully she gets some sleep, she hasn't slept very much the past few days." I spoke quietly.

He nodded, glancing to his paperwork.

"When's that due?" I asked, knowing it was most likely over a months span of paperwork

"Tomorrow." He spoke, no regret in his voice whatsoever.

"Fuck, Michael."