just ash

chapter 8

Ash groaned as she rolled over in bed the next morning, swallowing hard against her dry mouth and throat and glaring at her phone as it buzzed incessantly on her nightstand. She refrained from chucking it across the room and looked at the caller ID, groaning again when she saw that it was Drew. Her thumb hovered over the button to accept the call, but her phone stopped ringing before she could decide whether to answer it or not.

Once the call screen disappeared, her eyebrows rose when she saw how many notifications her phone had. Most of them were from Drew, from late the previous night and early that morning, but many were from her group chat from her college girlfriends – and Namjoon. She scrolled through her friends' conversation and nearly opened Namjoon's next, but decided it was in her best interest to call her boyfriend back before he threw a bitch fit.

He answered on the first ring.

"Ash, Jesus fucking Christ I thought you had gotten kidnapped, raped, murdered, and skinned."

"Good morning to you, too, Mr. Dramatic," Ash scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, babe. Suz and I went clubbing last night, so I wasn't checking my phone that much."

Well, she had been checking a certain someone's messages, but that was beside the point. She was partially telling the truth. Right?

"Well you could have told me that, honestly would have been really nice to know. I don't like not knowing where you are-"

"Drew," Ash interrupted. "I. Am. Fine. Please just take a breath, I'm an adult, I can take care of myself. Okay?"

There was silence on the other end, and Ash could just see Drew closing his eyes with his forehead scrunched up, doing his best to not blow a gasket. He exhaled harshly and then finally responded.

"Okay. I know you're not stupid. I'm sorry. I just am always thinking about you, missing you, worrying about you, but I guess you can't relate."

Ash could hear the hurt in his voice, and she sighed.

"Of course I miss you, too, Drew," she murmured under her breath, then swallowed her pride. "I'm sorry, too. I should have let you know I wasn't going to be answering your texts."

"It's okay, I forgive you...ya jerk."

Ash giggled and then asked him about his day. As they began chatting, Ash's bedroom door cracked open, and she saw Susie peek her head in, eyes puffy and blue hair sticking up in every direction. Ash let Drew continue on about his day and waved Suz into the room. Her tiny roommate bounded in, clad in a matching pajama set adorned with a weird, blue, horse-looking character. Ash couldn't help but smile; Susie had never looked more like a child than she did at that moment.

If I didn't know she offered to suck a stranger's dick last night, I would think she was an innocent little angel baby child.

The reminder of their adventures the previous night had Ash's mind wandering to long legs and dimples, and she didn't notice that Drew had asked her a question.

"Babe? Hello? Is the connection bad? Did you hear me?"

"Ah, uh, sorry babe. Susie just came into my room, she is really hungover and needs an adult so I better go."

Susie raised her head up to shoot Ash a heated glare, opening her mouth to undoubtedly retort she was not that hungover, but Ash raised her index finger to her mouth, urging her to keep her mouth shut.

"Oh, okay. I guess I will talk to you some other time?"

"Yeah! I'll call you. I don't know what we are doing today, but I promise I won't ignore your messages. Sleep well, babe, I love you, bye!"