Saving Lotte Sullivan | Collingwood/Carlton

10: The Ticket

'Why are we just standing here waiting? This is so creepy, Ashlyn. Go and knock on the girl's door or something. It's obviously her day off and she's trying to sleep in' Nick said tiredly, as he checked the time on his phone and groaned. He was really dragged out of bed at 6:30 in the morning, on HIS day off, for this?

'Just trust me. She'll come out soon, she always goes somewhere at 7:45am. That's the time she always leaves' Ashlyn said, as she pushed herself up against the wall near the staircase.

'It's scary that you know this, when you don't live here and she doesn't tell you' Nick said, looking down at his girlfriend and wondering if he should be concerned.

'Do you want to find out if what we think is happening between your brother and her is real? I told you, babe, if we plan an outing with her, it'll give her time to prepare whatever excuse she could come up with. An ambush is ALWAYS better on Lotte. I think' Ashlyn explained, staring at door 14 as she hugged her jacket around her body. Melbourne's winter was, once again, so freezing it physically hurt her bones.

'I don't think she's the sort anyone would want to ambush, I mean, Josh accidentally stood too close to her and she attacked him with a potential lethal weapon! And also, given everything she's going through with the death of her son's father, we should probably just leave her alone' Nick said, a little fed up with his girlfriend's disregard for her best friend's boundaries, but whatever, she'd apparently know best. Ashlyn quickly held a finger up as she shushed him. 'Shh, here she comes.'

Lotte quietly shut the front door as she fidgeted around with the key that had decided to jam itself in the lock again. She fumbled around in the poorly lit hallway as she finally freed it, and headed towards the stairs, obliviously.

Ashlyn creeped out of her own hallway and slowly walked up as she pulled something out of her pocket.

'Hey Lotte, I thought I'd drop by and-'

The girl, terrified, jumped as she held out the pepper spray, Ashlyn immediately ducking and covering her face. She was 5 years in the game, this was not new to her.

'Jesus Ashlyn, what are you doing here so early? Were you waiting for me?' Lotte asked, putting the pepper spray back in her pocket as Ashlyn stood up again.

'Why would I be waiting for you? I just thought I'd drop in, I certainly wasn't expecting you to be going anywhere' Ashlyn said, lying as she smirked. Lotte sighed.

'Nick? Was she waiting for me?' She asked, as the boyfriend of her best friend came out of his hiding spot and nodded.

'Yeah. I couldn't talk her out of it' he admitted, as Lotte looked at Ashlyn angrily. She just sarcastically smiled and then glared up at her idiot partner and his big mouth.

'How did you even know he was here?' Ashlyn asked, defeated.

'I may be avoiding everyone lately, but the past what - year and a half or whatever, it appears wherever Nick goes, you follow and vice versa. Never do see one without the other anymore' Lotte said, rolling her eyes and pretending to gag. She didn't know what attracted them to each other and still thought it was completely wrong when she looked at them. The only good it did, was introduce her to someone else, someone she could mess around and have fun with. Someone she didn't want to acknowledge as any more than friend, until she was crying alone in bed at 2am high and fucked up wondering what the hell she was doing.

'Aw, did you hear that, babe? Someone's jealous of us!' Ashlyn said, as she poked Lotte in the arm. Lotte took a step back, annoyed.

'I don't know why she'd be jealous of what she already has' Nick said quietly, looking away from the girls as he glanced down at his phone again, hoping work would call and say they needed him in after all. That call couldn't come soon enough. He needed an excuse to get away from Ashlyn for the day, she wasn't letting him rest.