Run. Just Run.

Chapter 12

Ashley wakes up with a bump as the train lurches and makes her body bounce against the wall. She opens her eyes, and realized it's not the wall she bumped, but James! All the bumping the train is doing, and even when her body got pressed up against his like it was now, he still slept through it all. She remembered sleeping always made her feel better when she was doing a lot of crying when she had lost her parents.

She reaches up and softly runs the backs of her fingers against the face that is inches from her own. She loves waking up before James, just seeing him asleep made her feel all warm and happy. Plus she could stare at him as long as she wants without worrying about him catching her! She stares at her best friend quite a bit, she just doesn't want him to find out that she does.

Ashley is suddenly curious where the train has taken them, so she slowly gets up, trying not to wake up James. When she's finally standing, she walks over to the door and looks out. She sees farm after farm pass by, fields of corn about to be harvested and groves of Apple trees, waiting to be picked. She's suddenly very hungry. She remembers they haven't eaten since that morning, and by now it must be 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

James wakes up, and as his mind clears, he remembers where he is. He looks around, and Ashley is nowhere to be seen!

"Ashley!" James yells, worried about where she is.

Ashley jumps up and runs back to the back corner of the rail car, worried something's wrong.

"What? Are you okay?" Ashley asks hurriedly.

James sighs out of relief. "Yeah. I'm fine. I just woke up and you weren't around, so I got worried."

Ashley gets a sly grin on her face. "Did you miss me?" And after a second, she adds: "You were scared, weren't you?

James feels his cheeks getting red. "Uhhh, yeah. I couldn't see you anywhere!" He stammered.

"You didn't answer my question." Ashley says with a smile as she takes a step closer. "Did you miss me?"

James suddenly lunges forward, picks Ashley up, spins her around and sets her down so she's sitting on a big hay bale.

"Yes. I missed you! And I was scared! Scared that something had happened to you!" James says with a smile, completely blushing now. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you!"

Ashley's cheeks turn bright red. She leans toward James and hugs him, tighter than ever before, and she feels him wrap his arms around her.

"You're the best, you know that?" Ashley says as she lays her head on his shoulder. "You're the best."