just ash

chapter 1

Ash yanked her suitcase up the last flight of stairs before she finally reached her apartment's landing, not even trying to quiet the banging of the luggage slamming against each individual stair.  Of course her building's elevator was conveniently broken the day she had to carry up her two suitcases and three boxes of shit up to her apartment.  She huffed and brushed back the baby hairs that had escaped her messy bun during her trek.

She had piled the boxes next to her apartment door as she took her trips carrying each item and prayed that no one would steal them.  A breath of relief whooshed out of her when she rolled her last suitcase around the corner to find all of her things still there by her apartment door.  Her randomly assigned roommate was supposed to be home, and she had both of their keys.  Ash knocked on the door and crossed her fingers that there was someone there to open it.

A few moments passed, and Ash's palms began to sweat.

Suddenly, the doorknob started to jiggle.  Ash put what she hoped was a friendly smile on her face and kept it there as she continued to wait for the door to open.  After an abnormal amount of time, she let her cheek muscles relax and scowled at the door.

The fuck?

The jiggling abruptly stopped, and the door swung open.  Ash's scowl turned into a look of bewilderment when she had to look down to see the tiny woman standing in the doorway.

"Hey! I'm Susie.  You must be Ashley.  Welcome home!"

Suddenly, Susie's tiny arms were wrapped around Ash's body, squeezing her tightly with surprising strength. Ash pressed her lips together as Susie's face pressed awkwardly into her boobs, and she held her arms hovering at her sides, not really sure how to physically respond to the sudden embrace. She slowly began to pat the girl's short, turquoise hair. 

Susie craned her face up to look at Ash and said, "Sorry that took me a while, I was trying to open the door with my feet. I'm so happy to finally meet you!"

"Uh...hey.  Nice to meet you, too," Ash squeaked. 

She tried to imagine how the hell Susie would have been able to open the door with her feet, and Susie lithely took a step back and gave Ash a once over.  Good God, she was so small.

If this program roomed me with a fucking child, I'm gonna lose it, Ashley grumbled internally.

"You are so pretty! Oh my God. I would kill for your hair color.  I would never be able to recreate it." 

Ash didn't know how to respond, so she let out an uncomfortable chuckle.  People had been commenting on her bright auburn hair, caramel skin, and striking hazel eyes since she was a child, but she was still so bad at receiving compliments about her appearance. 

"Thanks.  That's so nice.  Uh, just so you know, I go by Ash.  I hate the name Ashley."

Susie smiled brightly, her round cheeks squishing her eyes up into crescents. 

"You literally get cooler every second.  I love your name! Oh my God, let me help you with your things!"

"Wow, thank you.  You don't have to do that . . ."

Ash trailed off as Susie lifted one of her boxes like it was stuffed with Styrofoam, carrying it into the apartment's open door.  Ash was having trouble keeping up with Susie's bright energy, her long day of travel catching up with her.  Ash grabbed another box with a grunt and stepped into her new home.

As her eyes surveyed the apartment, Ash was pleasantly surprised.  It was small, but cute.  Susie had already started decorating the pre-furnished space with pillows and throw blankets, all varying shades of blue.