Rooming With Ash

Rooming With Ash: Chapter 5

We all ended up ordering pizza because it seemed like the quickest and most convenient way to get everybody fed so that people could go off and do God-knows-what.

I had gone back into my room after leaving Phoebe and Asia's room so that I could finish unpacking and I was expecting to find Ash inside so that I could be further overwhelmed, but he was nowhere to be seen. And even now as we all ate in the living room, Ash wasn't around either. I had no idea where he'd gone, but I didn't have a good feeling about it. Although, to be fair, none of the feelings that I had when it came to Ash were particularly 'good.'

Mackenzie, Marissa, Jack, Phoebe, and Jaime were all playing a (fairly intense) game of Uno while Asia and Tonya had their eyes glued to the Project Runway finale that was currently airing. I was sitting beside the two of them since I figured it would be easier to pretend to watch the TV show than to feign being interested in a game of Uno. What was really on my mind was where Ash was, and how exactly I was supposed to explain to Riley that I was living in the same bedroom as him for the next two months. That would surely be enough to push her over the edge, and I definitely did not want to do that.

"Hey, you."

Brian walked up beside me holding a glass of water in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other.

I smiled up at him. "Hey. Care to join me?" I asked, patting the space on the ground next to me.

He grinned and sat down cross-legged, squinting up at the TV in front of us. "What is this?" he asked. "America's Next Top Model?"

"Project Runway, actually."

"Oooh." He took a bite of his pizza. "Even better," he said sarcastically.

I laughed as he tried to talk with his mouth half full. "Be careful," I warned him. "You could choke on that you know."

"Ah, but see if I choked, then I wouldn't have to keep watching this," he said, raising his glass with a wink. "Win-win."

I rolled my eyes and he just laughed in return, taking another big bite of his pizza. I looked up at his face and saw that his dirty blonde hair was slicked back in one wet swoop over the back of his head. He must have just taken a shower.

I wouldn't ever have told him, but the water that was dripping from his hair paired with the surprising amount of transparency his skin seemed to have at the moment made him look kind of like Senator Kelly from the first X-Men movie. Right before he burst into a puddle of water.

It was interesting to look at. I knew that the comparison was only so stark because of the recent shower Brian had taken, but I still found it funny.

"Why are you smiling?" Brian asked, cocking his head to the side as a curious smirk played at his lips.

I grinned at him, wide-toothed and closed-eyes. "No reason," I said.

"Mhm, right."

I laughed. "Trust me," I said. "You don't want to know about the kind of things that go on in my head."

"Don't I though?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you?" I asked, even though I had no intention of actually telling him about my newfound discovery.

Turning so that he was facing me full on, Brian gave me a purposeful look as he nodded. "Hit me," he said.

"Okay." I took a breath, adding to the dramatic effect of my next words. "I was just smiling because I was thinking about how devilishly handsome you are, and how lucky Hawaii is to have your presence even grace its beaches. Happy?"