Forever & Always || Redlyn

New Years Eve

The following day was January 31th. Big Red and Ashlyn were only an hour away from Salt Lake City, and they were going in town to see all their friends. Ricky and Nini were still together, both each other's soon to be life partner, as Ricky had proposed months before. Carlos and Seb were as strong as ever. The others were currently single, but it didn't bother any of them, besides EJ occasionally.

Ashlyn walked into their shared hotel room, unlocking the door. She spotted Big Red, who was talking on the phone. She waved at him, who seemed startled and changed the subject he was discussing on the phone. He then waved back.

A minute later, Big Red had hung up the phone. "When should we leave?" He asked Ashlyn.

"Probably a little under two hours." She informed him with a smile.

"Great. I can't wait to see them all."

"Me neither." Ashlyn agreed. Ashlyn and Big Red went to college 45 minutes away from Salt Lake City. They didn't attend the same school, but their schools were very close to each other. Nini and Gina went to the same school hours away. EJ had graduated college the year before. Carlos, Seb, and Kourtney went to college in Salt Lake City.

Because of the holiday break, they had all seen each other recently. In fact, everyone was in Salt Lake besides Big Red and Ashlyn, who had only been gone a few days now.

Hours later, Big Red and Ashlyn arrived at Ashlyn's house. It had quickly become tradition that nearly every party was hosted at her house, and it had stayed that way. This year's Christmas had been there as well.

Neither of her parents were home when they got there. Ashlyn flopped onto the couch, lying down. Despite it being a break, she was exhausted. Big Red sat next to her, and she quickly readjusted her head to be on his lap, smiling.

"I love you." They said in unison, chuckling after. This had happened once, years ago, and whenever there was a comfortable silence, it was often said in exactly this way.

Ashlyn drifted to sleep, having had a short night's sleep the night before. The panic that night definitely hadn't helped, but Ashlyn always struggled to sleep in hotels. Maybe it was people walking by in the night, or a unfamiliar bed, but Ashlyn didn't like it.

Big Red scrolled on his phone, gently playing with Ashlyn's hair, neither of them noticing. A few minutes later, he looked back at Ashlyn, and threw a blanket over her, before resuming the scrolling on his phone.

Ashlyn woke up an hour later, now feeling Big Red playing with her hair. She loved it when he did this, she thought of it as a subconscious sign of love. She hoped he wouldn't stop when she spoke.

"What time is it?"

"7." Big Red told her. "Oh, you're up." He smiled, putting his phone in his pocket and moving his hand away from her hair.

"Thanks."

"Party's at 7:30, right?"

"Yeah." Ashlyn nodded. She adjusted herself, getting more comfortable while simultaneously trying to get Big Red to continue messing with her hair. It didn't feel the same way when she asked him to. It didn't necessarily feel any better than usual for him to play with it if she asked, because it made her feel better, not her head.

The two of them chatted for awhile, before guests started arriving. An eager Seb practically pulled Carlos inside, the two of them holding hands. Nini and Ricky arrived together, followed by Gina, EJ, and Kourtney separately.

They played games, caught up, and watched a movie before it was 11:30. At that time, Ashlyn put on the count down to midnight. She walked into the kitchen to pour sparkling grape juice (a drink her family served every New Years) for everyone. Nini followed her in.

"Hey Ash." Nini waved, helping her pour more glasses. "How are you?"

"Pretty good, you?"

"Same. How are you and Big Red doing?" Nini asked Ashlyn, which slightly confused her.

"Um, great." Ashlyn replied.

"I'm sure you two are." Nini couldn't help but wink (baffling Ashlyn further) before going back to the rest of the party, soon followed by Ashlyn.