Stuck {A.I.}

three

Bayla slid across her kitchen floor, her knee high socks slipping on the tiles. She was on the phone with Michael, and had a habit of 'skating' around her house while calling her friend. 

"Can we please talk about Ashton now?" Michael whined. He'd been bothering her to talk about him all week, but she'd used the excuse that she was too busy or too tired to avoid discussing Ashton until now. 

"What's there to talk about? I saw him, it was awkward and uncomfortable, and he's still an obnoxious prick. End of story." She skidded to a stop in front of her coffee maker as it beeped to alert her that it was finished brewing. 

"Yeah but what did he say? Do you think he-are you making coffee?" Michael interrupted himself to ask about the sound of the coffee maker. 

"Hell yeah I am." Bayla laughed quietly at Michael groaning on the other end of the call as she rummaged through her cupboards to find a mug. She was glad her friend had distracted himself from the topic of her ex-boyfriend. Ashton was the last thing she wanted to think about during her relaxing Friday evening. 

"Bayla, it's nearly six pm and I know for a fact you're not going out tonight. Do you hate sleep?" He gently teased, but something he'd said made Bayla frown. 

"Wait, what time is it?" She asked, setting down the coffee pot and sliding over to the microwave to check the time. 

"Um, 5;58. Why?" 

"Huh." Bayla frowned to herself. 

"Why?" Michael reiterated. "Is something wrong?" 

"My dad and sister should have been home half an hour ago." Bayla was concerned; her dad usually called her if he was running late.

"They're probably stuck in traffic. The snow is getting pretty bad out there." This only made Bayla more concerned.

"It's snowing?" She raced over to the back door to see that it was, in fact, snowing, and snowing pretty damn hard. 

"No shit it's snowing! It's a blizzard, Bayla! Where have you been?" Michael laughed, but his words barely registered with Bayla. Now she was extremely worried about the whereabouts of her family. 

"I took a nap after school and woke up when you called me." She explained briefly. "Listen, I have to go call my dad, ok?" Bayla hung up before she could hear Michael's response. Her phone lit up with a voicemail from her dad that she must have missed while talking to Michael. 

"Hey Bayla, listen, your sister and I are fine, but we're stuck at her school. It looks like we're probably going to have to spend the night here. My phone's about to die, but I just wanted to let you know that we're both fine. Stay safe. Get a bunch of flashlights and candles together in case the power goes off. I love you." 

Bayla sat down in the living room where she'd wandered into while listening to her dad's voicemail. Even though he'd said that he and Daisy were fine, she still felt a sense of panic bubbling up in her chest. This feeling wasn't helped by the abrupt screeching noise and thud coming from right outside her house.

"Jesus!" She shrieked, jumping up off of the couch. Peering out her front door, Bayla was just able to make out a car half buried in snow bank with a large tree branch nestled in a large dent on the roof. 

The sight of a person struggling to climb out of the wreckage sent Bayla running to grab the nearest pair of boots and jacket and shove her way out of the front door that was blocked by at least two feet of snow. 

"Hey! Are you ok? Are you hurt? Do you need help?" She yelled over the howling wind, ignoring the snow stinging her exposed face. 

"I'm fine! This goddamn car just spun out on ice and this goddamn tree branch fell on me and now I'm goddamn stuck!"

Bayla froze. She recognized the voice, with its thick Australian accent, and the tall figure pulling himself out of the car. It was Ashton. 

"Of all the people to crash their car in front of my house, it had to be you." Bayla moaned, crossing her arms and scowling at the boy who was removing his snow coated clothing in her front foyer. 

"Do you think I'm happy about this?" Ashton snorted, tossing his beanie onto the towel Bayla had placed on the floor for him.

"Is there someone you can call to come get you?" Bayla asked hesitantly, knowing the answer. He raised his eyebrows at her. 

"Yeah, right. Even if I did, do you think they could get through in this weather?" He rolled his eyes and lazily draped himself across her living room couch. "Also, why the hell are you wearing spandex as pants? Are you aware how cold it is outside?"

"They're comfortable and I'm not outside," Bayla didn't move from her position in the foyer, her arms still crossed. "And I am wearing a sweater too."

"Yeah, my sweater." Ashton chuckled and crossed his arms to mimic her. 

"Is it really?" She looked down at the oversized black sweater that covered her hands, a pit of realization forming in her stomach. 

"Ash, I'm freezing." Bayla whined, giving an exaggerated shiver when her friend looked over at her.

"It's the middle of summer and we're at the beach, how the hell are you cold?" He asked, laughing at her pout.

"I just am." She shivered again.

"Aw, Taylor Beth," Ashton reluctantly tugged his sweater over his head and gently threw it at her, but she missed, sending the garment flying into the sand. "You already have a tee shirt on!"

"But it's wet." Bayla grinned at Ashton as she picked up the sweater and shook the sand off.

"I bet you only did this so you could see me shirtless." Ashton smirked, but Bayla only rolled her eyes.

"I've seen you shirtless before Ash, you were shirtless an hour ago." A mischievous smile crossed her face. "I did this to steal your sweater." 

"Ah shit." Without a second of hesitation, Bayla peeled the sweater off over her head and tossed it at Ashton. He caught it with ease and smirked at the sight of her in only a sports bra. "Are you sure you have to stay here?" 

"Yup. Looks like you're stuck with me." 

-

lets play a game called how many times i use the word stuck in this story right now we're up to three i think

my quality of writing decreases every chapter i apologize but this was just a filler chapter

thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment xx