Run. Just Run.

Chapter 39

Ashley opens her eyes and beams. James was laying right beside her, looking into her eyes, running his hands through her hair. It was pretty great waking up this way. Then she remembers everything that's happened the day before, and she puts her hands on James' chest and pushes away.

"Why are you so close to me?" She says irritatedly. "I don't want to even touch you you..." She trails off as James puts a finger on her mouth.

"I woke up and you were snuggled against me." He says with a smirk.

Ashley's eyes widen and she blushes a tiny bit. "I was not! I mean, I didn....." James shushes her again.

"Just hear me out, Ash." He says soothingly. "I want to say I'm sorry for how stupid I was acting."

Ashley smirks. He was being stupid. At least he admits it.

"Just... After I said what I did in the store, and you didn't say it back, I got worried, and then..." He trails off. "I saw you with....with....Danny." He manages to choke out. Ashley's eyes widen. "And you told him you loved him."

Suddenly Ashley understands why James was acting the weird way he was. He wasn't leading her on, he wasn't playing with her feelings! He was hurt! Then her chest tightens. She had hurt him, and accidentally.

"And I don't know who he is, but with me telling you I love you, and then you saying the same thing to him not thirty minutes later, and then..." James trails off. "Kissing him on the cheek... It just seemed like you didn't care about me like I do about you." He ends, with a sad face. "So?" He asks, and sticks his bottom lip out.

Ashley suddenly realizes she's got her hands holding onto James chest, still resting there from when she was trying to push away. She blushes. Then she grabs James' shirt, and pulls herself back close to him. She begins to tear up.

"I thought.....I thought..... I thought you were just playing with me." She says as she starts sobbing. "I thought his whole time you hadn't meant everything you did and said. when you started acting so mean, I didn't know what to think..." She trails off.

James wraps his arms around her and rubs his hands up and down her back soothingly. He hated to see her crying.

"Oh, but about Danny." Ashley says. "He's my cousin."

Suddenly James understands. The I love you, the kiss, they were family. It made so much sense. How hadn't he thought of that? How stupid is he?

"I told him about your parents." Ashley said numbly. "He said he could help us. We can go over to his house sometime and talk about it. His dad apparently just got elected the sheriff here."

"I'm sorry Ash, I just wasn't thinking." James says slowly. "I was just being stupid."

Ashley realizes that while James is holding her close, her hands are still trapped between their chests. She slides them up and over his shoulders, and wraps them around his neck.

"It's okay, Jay." She says with tear-filled eyes. "I should've explained. And there's something else I should've said." She adds after a second.

She looks straight into James eyes, and he's staring back into hers, blue eyes staring down into hazel ones, only inches apart.

"I love you too, James Austin Browning."