playing daddy ||a.i.||

[2] PUZZLE PIECES

Using someone else's shower for the first time is always a struggle and Ashton was glad that both Mellony and Neo were asleep while he tried to figure out the knobs.

He ended up having to take a lukewarm shower since he didn't have time to balance the temperature between cold and hot.

As he gives himself a look over in the bathroom mirror, he thinks that he should let Mellony know where he's going.

He doesn't want to wake her up, of course, but he wouldn't want her to assume that he just took off and that she could throw away his clothes or something.

Ashton makes his way to the kitchen, to the refrigerator, where he noticed Mellony kept a notepad.

He gives a half smile to the pictures of her and Neo and a few of Neo's drawings that surround the notepad.

If Ashton's honest, during dinner last night, he was reminded of how it felt to sit at the table with his family back home.

He enjoyed Mellony's spaghetti and her warm smile when he complemented her on it and he enjoyed having a brief noodle slurping contest with Neo and he just really enjoys being here.

He shakes his head at himself and grabs a pen from the top of the notepad. Ashton writes that he's going to work and what time he should be home.

Pausing, he wonders if he should leave his number, and then writes it below his message. Finishing the note with a quick smiley face, Ashton sets the pen back down and heads out the door.

He jogs down the stairs to the ground floor and hastily gets into his car. It's a 2007 Honda Civic that his parents chipped in for when he first came to America, and he's proud to announce that he's taken good care of the car.

Ashton drives to work, the same way he does every day he has to go to work: fast and with loud music.

Once he gets there, feeling something reminiscent of a regular family man in the back of his mind, he locks his doors and walks into Target. He dusts off his red shirt as he walks towards the back of the store and clocks in.

The whole time Ashton's been working here--which has been about three years--he's only made one friend. That one friend strolls up to him in all of his tan glory, smiling, per usual.

"Mornin', mate." His friend, Calum, softly punches Ashton on the arm.

Ashton grins and reciprocates the action, placing his time card back in its spot. "Hey, man. What's up?"

"I'm going on a date tonight, with that girl I told you about." Calum says, taking his lower lip between his teeth and popping his brows.

Ashton remembers hearing about the girl. She's also a brown beauty, like Mellony.

"Nice, Cal." Ashton congratulates his friend, tailing him out to the front of the store. There aren't many people in the place, so they have time to just talk.

"What about you?" Calum asks, idly fixing the sunglasses display next to him. "You found a girl yet?"

Ashton rolls his eyes and readjusts one of the glasses that Calum just did. "You say that like I've been trying to get a girl for weeks."

"I'm just asking." Calum says, shrugging. Ashton didn't take any real offense to Calum's question, he was just a tad bitter that he, in fact, hasn't found a girl.

He hasn't been looking, necessarily, but now that Calum's having success in his love life, he feels a weird pressure to catch skirts instead of chase them.

"I found a girl but she's not my girl." Ashton tells him.

A toddler accidentally knocks a few handbags off of a rack near them, catching both boys' attention. Calum sucks his teeth, gesturing for Ashton to follow him towards the mess.