Stuck {A.I.}

six

Ashton was a dick. He knew he had been downright awful to Bayla. The realization of how shitty of a person he was hit him as he stormed downstairs into her furnished basement. He took a swig of wine straight from the bottle, but now it just tasted bitter.

His chest felt heavy and tight and he was aching to hit something. Kicking around at the ground and wall didn't help, though. Ashton just wanted to go back in time and punch himself for being so stupid and clueless. He had a bad habit of abruptly leaving every time he got too angry. Maybe that was why Bayla hadn't trusted him.

Everything was tipping out from underneath him. Ashton set the wine down. His brain was moving slowly and he couldn't quite put a complete thought together. All he knew was that he felt like shit.

The basement was cold. Ashton found a blanket and curled up on the couch. He was sleepy from the wine and slightly dizzy and he just wanted to be home in his own bed and away from Bayla who was making him feel emotions he hadn't felt in a long time.

Guilty. He felt guilty. Ashton could finally put a label on the pitfall in his stomach. He hadn't known the reason Bayla had left, and now that he did, he just felt like a dick.

And sleepy. Ashton was sleepy. The last thought that crossed his mind was how he should go upstairs and apologize to Bayla.

"Ashton come back here." Bayla pouted up at Ashton from the couch in her basement. It was the middle of the night and her family was asleep, but he'd come over because his parents were fighting, so the two were hiding downstairs.

"Hang on babe," Ashton was scrolling through his phone, trying to find the perfect song. Their make out session had been ruined by 'Stacy's Mom' coming on and causing her to laugh too hard to kiss him. "Good make out music is crucial."

"I don't care what song is on, I just wanna kiss your cute, dorky face." She whined. He turned to smile at her. Her lips were swollen and red and her hair was messy and half covering her face. In the dim light from the fairy lights that were hanging around the room, she'd never looked so perfect.

"'Don't wanna be your friend, I wanna kiss your neck'." Ashton sang, choosing the The 1975 album and hitting shuffle. Perfect make out music.

"Oh good you picked one." Bayla flashed him a cheesy smile and patted the couch next to her. "Now get back over here. I need you."
Ashton was back on the couch in a second, tugging Bayla onto his lap and locking lips with her once again. He was feeling so small and lonely inside, he needed her touch just as much as she claimed to need him.

"Ah! Fuck!"

Ashton woke up from his dream feeling sweaty and achy to the sound of Bayla screeching upstairs. He untangled himself from the blanket and hurriedly tripped up the basement stairs, the image of dream Bayla still lingering in the back of his head.

"Taylor Beth? Are you ok?" He called. The entire house was pitch black and he couldn't see a thing.

"Yeah I'm fine, the power just went out and it startled me." Ashton heard her footsteps coming downstairs before he saw the bright light from her phone's flashlight. He reached for his, only to find it completely dead. Great.

"Now what?" He asked, feeling more than slightly awkward. His head was throbbing as a result of his unplained nap to sleep off the alcohol.

"I need to throw the breaker to stop the power from surging when it turns on again and then find some flashlights and candles and stuff." Bayla squinted down into the basement and cursed again. "Great, it's already getting cold in here. There's a space heater down here somewhere I think."

Ashton followed Bayla down into the basement, staying behind her by a few steps. She ran around for a minute, then returned to the base of the stairs, tossing him a flashlight. He pretended not to notice the tear stains under her eyes as they headed back upstairs with the space heater.

"We're probably going to have to sleep in my room tonight. Since it's the smallest room in the house it'll trap the heat better." Bayla babbled on while grabbing as many blankets as she could.

"Sleep? What time is it?" Ashton instinctivly grabbed his phone to check, groaning when he remembered that it was dead.

"Um, sometime around midnight."

"Oh." Was all Ashton said. His mind was a bit preoccupied over the fact that he would have to sleep in the same room as Bayla.

"Here's a sleeping bag." She tossed one at him that he caught with ease. "And some extra blankets." As she turned to get him a pillow, the light from his flashlight illuminated the side of her face and the white sweater that hung around her frame in such a way that Ashton couldn't resist wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her into him, burrying his head in her neck.

"Did you really have an eating disorder?" He asked, his voice muffled by her hair. She nodded tensely. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She twisted around to face him, half pulling away.

"For everything." Ashton said, and he meant it. "For not knowing and therefore helping. For being such a dick. For letting you walk away from me. For not talking to you after we broke up. For always walking away. I'm just sorry."

Bayla was silent for a moment, biting her lip. "Don't be. It's not your fault."

"So is that the only reason we broke up?" He asked.

"No, that was just kind of the tipping point I guess." Bayla looked uncomfortable, tensing her shoulders up and rubbing her arms. "You were really needy and at the time and I couldn't handle it."

This only added to Ashton's ever increasing guilt. "I'm sorry."

"Please stop saying you're sorry. It doesn't fix anything, ok? I'm better now; I don't need you and you don't need me." Her words stung for some reason. "Now can we please just go to bed?" She begged.

"Yeah." Ashton laid down on the floor where his makeshift bed was. He was already wearing sweatpants so he was pretty comfortable, albeit kind of cold. Despite the power being off for only a short while, the house was quickly becoming freezing, and the small space heater Bayla had brought up wasn't doing much good.

"Good night Ashton." Bayla whispered from her bed, long after Ashton thought she was asleep.

"Good night Taylor Beth." There was a pause, then a half-hearted sigh.

"Bayla." She corrected him.

"No," Ashton muttered, already half asleep. "You'll always be Taylor Beth to me."

-

when will i ever learn how to end chapters sigh

sorry for the lack of updates and this short chapter, AP exams were a thing

oh and if you caught the song reference in here you get a cookie

thanks for reading and dont forget to vote and comment xx

http://8tracks.com/yourenotlukehemmings/i-think-i-fell-in-love-again