My Roommate

Chapter 34

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Ashley's POV—

"Rebecca, thanks so much for dinner. It was good, as usual," I hear Evan say to mom as they walk into the kitchen with some dishes that need to be cleaned.

Evan didn't want to do much for her birthday today, and didn't plan anything either—party wise. So we spent the day just hanging out. She got to try out some of her new games—and even managed to pry the new VR headset away from Mathew.

I got to try it, too.

It was definitely interesting.

And since her birthday is so close to Christmas, I guess this year she asked everyone to give her her gifts on Christmas. I guess I could see why—since her birthday is literally a few days after Christmas. So, because she was persistent on that, she didn't get any additional gifts.

But, even though she didn't want to do much, mom insisted on making her whatever she wanted for dinner—because there was no way Evan was getting out of having a birthday dinner. So we had roast beef with garlic potatoes and some salad.

And of course—cake and ice cream.

Well, cheesecake because Evan's not that big on cake.

"You don't have to wash those. Go," mom says as I walk into the kitchen with some dirty dishes myself.

"It's fine. Besides, it is my night to do the dishes," Evan insists as she tries to get around mom to get to the sink. But mom refuses to let her get anywhere near the sink full of dishes that need to be done. When she notices me, she lights up a bit.

"Ashley, can you please drag Evan away? It's her birthday, she shouldn't have to do the dishes," mom tells me.

"I gotcha," is all I say as I put down the dishes near the sink before I grab Evan's hand. I pull her away from the kitchen and towards the door leading to the basement. Evan does nothing to fight against me and just follows.

I had expected her to follow.

I don't think she really wanted to do the dishes anyway.

She was probably just being considerate.

It's honestly really nice to think about, and see, how much she's changed within the past few weeks or so. She's putting more of an effort into her school work, she's not arguing and getting into fights with her siblings as much, and she's not as distant with my mom or brother anymore.

I still don't expect her to be referring to my mom as her mom any time soon, though.

But she's more respectful of her, at least.

"Wanna continue watching The 100?" Evan asks me as we get down into the basement.

"Sure, sounds good to me," I respond as we both head for the couch.

When we sit down, I find myself automatically leaning into her. A warm feeling spreads through my body as she drapes her arm over my shoulder—pulling me closer to her as she goes onto Netflix to find the series we started watching earlier into our holiday break.

It's a pretty interesting series.

Definitely becoming one of my favorites—our favorites.

There's 7 seasons, I think, and we're already on the second one.

A nice, comforting atmosphere fills the room as we watch The 100 together, briefly talking to give our input on certain scenes in the episode we're watching. Every now and then, I turn my head to look at her. Each time I do it, I manage to grab her attention. And each and every time, she smiles back and quickly kisses me before we both return our attention to the tv.