Pose

[Chapter 5]

Eventually they bring over a bunch of food and I'm actually hungry for once as I realize Zaiden's staring at me. 'Ca- Can I..?' 'Of course, Why not??' 'I was just.. making sure..' I reach over to take some chicken and I start to eat trying to ignore the fact Zaiden is staring directly at me. When I eventually look over at him he looks away really fast before I can completely catch him and he stuffs food into his mouth. I hear Malikai laughing as I turn to see him and Tannar gossiping before Tanner suddenly sits upright clearing his throat. 'So... I hear you and Malikai had a little play time Ash.' 'Mhm, I don't mind playing with kids, I love them.' 'Guessing you'd want kids of your own sometime in the future?' 'Uhm.. I guess...' I start to shrink back into my seat and Mike notices changing the Subject. 'So about the dancing for our song. I think the costumes will be ready tomorrow morning we can test it out-' Zaiden quickly cuts him off. 'Yes, Yeah, that sounds like an Amazing Idea thank you Mike. And Uhm, Tannar how about we go discuss a new plan for some of your notes. I heard a few are a bit difficult for you to notice.' 'I- What? No- Oh.. Uhm. No I think I'm good.' 'Trust me Tannar it'd help me out a lot.' I watch as the two exchange facial expressions before Tannar Sighs and heads upstairs with Zaiden and I just ignore it and continue eating. 'Good to see your at least eating something.' I look over at Clide who's smiling at me and I nod. 'Clide you're such a softie sometimes.' 'That's a good thing Freya.' 'Not always-' Freya suddenly gets shoved in the arm By Lizzy before Malikai looks over at me again. 'Ash can you read me a bedtime story tonight??' 'Uhm.. Why me? I thought you'd want Zaiden to do that for you..' 'Well yeah.. But I want you to do it tonight.' 'I- Alright..' 'Ah Malikai is taking a liking to you.' Lizzy mumbles loudly before smiling at me and I just shrug. 'I'm glad but..Idk if that's a good thing, I'm an awful role model. well.. Model in general. I guess it's fine if he doesn't look up to me.' I suddenly feel a tugging at my shirt and I look down to Malikai who's holding onto my shirt. I laugh before excusing myself and I pick Malikai up carrying him to his room before I put him down in the bed. 'If your dad kills me for this I will haunt you for eternity.' 'Fine by me!' 'What book do you want me to read?' Malikai gets up and goes to grab a book before getting back into bed handing the book to me before he crawls under the covers and I help him out tucking him in before I sit down next to him and start reading him the book. It doesn't take long before he's out cold and I sneakily put the book down turning the light off and walk out of the room running into Zaiden and jumping. 'Geez! Why would you do that-' 'It was an accident- sorry.. I was uhm.. Curious..' 'Don't be angry he asked me to-' ' No it's okay I figured otherwise he wouldn't have allowed it..' 'What's wrong..?' 'What do you mean? nothing's wrong.' 'Your face is just.. Softer than usual.' 'Softer??' 'Uhm, Ne-nevermind.. I'm headed to bed.. Goodnight..' I shuffle off before I get into my room and go hide under the covers of the bed. WHY WOULD I SAY THAT TO HIM!? I pull the covers down holding the pillow over my face hoping to suffocate instead of the embarrassment I have to live through tomorrow. I just brush it off as Minx comes to cuddle up next to me and I eventually fall asleep. When I wake up I sit up but it's still dark out so I rub my eyes and decide to get some water so I get up and go to head downstairs before I hear a voice behind me and I freeze. 'You can stay with me Ash..' Did he follow me?? I turn to face an empty hallway and when I turn back to face where I was headed before I notice I'm no longer at Zaiden's house but in front of my apartment door making my ears fall down before I feel someone pinning me to it. I get turned around and Nate grabs my by the throat again lifting me from the floor and I try clawing at his hands before I go to kick him but he stops me. 'You've got nowhere else to go..-!' 

I jolt upright looking around and grabbing at my throat trying to catch my breath. Just a nightmare.. Just another nightmare..' Minx makes quick work of coming over to my lap and sitting up pawing at my face before I realize I forgot to take my glasses off and I take them off rubbing my eyes. 'I have got to stop falling asleep in my glasses.. And under pillows..' I look over to the pillow I threw off my face after waking up in a panic and I rub my head before I get up to go get an actual glass of water. Probably not going to sleep anymore tonight anyway so I might as well head to the library afterwards.. I make my way to the kitchen and on the way there I hear the Tv blurring in the living room. Walking in I notice Zaiden and Malikai cuddling on the couch fast asleep with Princess and the Frog playing on the Tv and my attention gets peaked by it before I look back over at Zaiden and Malikai as I realize Zaiden isn't wearing a shirt. I find myself Staring at him for way longer than I'd like and by the time I realize it I feel my face go completely red as I ignore it grabbing a blanket to cover the two with. I finally head to the kitchen grab a glass of water before I make my way to the Library and grab some books sitting down and reading for a while. Reading usually calms me.. Why? Because surprisingly I fell asleep again! No nightmares at least but I woke up with a book on my face and I sit up before I notice yelling. 'Has anybody Seen ASH!?' 'Geez- I'm just reading- Am I that important??' I get up putting the book down before heading outside of the library and making my way over to where the yelling is coming from and I see Lizzy coming over to me. 'Thank the gods you're still okay.. Where were you!? I thought you got kidnapped!' 'I'm- I'm fine.. I just had a rough night..' 'Lizzy,' Mike walks over breaking my sentence. 'Stop over reacting. With the amount of security in this house it is very Highly unlikely anybody is getting killed or kidnapped..'  I smile before Lizzy Sighs. Soon after Tannar walks over greeting me. 'Morning Ash. Did you sleep well-?' 'Not really no..' 'What's wrong? Was it the bedding? I told Zaiden you wouldn't like it-' 'No no, I just- Wait you told Zaiden what kinda bedding you thought I'd like??' 'Well yeah, You're our guest. Of course I'd try to give him advise to make you not run away.' 'Why would I run away??' 'Stay here long enough and you'll find out.' Mike chips in making Tannar stare at him. 'Where is Zaiden anyway?' I look between them before Mike and Clide share looks. 'Him and Malikai are still sleeping.' 'What time is it anyway?' '11:24.' 'It's so late!' 'And? Nobody has anything better to do anyway. We can sleep in if Zaiden does.' 'Yeah, But we do have the sad after effect of him yelling at us sometimes for not waking him.' 'Then why not wake him?' 'Because we can sneak extra sleep in-' 'Yeah we don't risk it.' After a good while we all go downstairs to get breakfast and Zaiden finally wakes up alongside Malikai and they both go off to get dressed and come back to join us for breakfast. 'Got a goodnight's sleep?' I look up at Zaiden who seems happier today. 'Mhm.' 'You still look asleep.' I laugh before he nods. 'I am very much still in Lala land.' Zaiden starts to Stretch, cussing under his breath. 'This is why I don't sleep on the couch.. Now my arms are sore..' 'You sleep on your arms, What do you expect?' Clide chips in before Looking over at me. 'The outfits are finished if you wanna try out the glow in the dark thing with the outfit.' 'Oh my gods yes!! Please!' I start to wag my tail and jump when I feel something fall on it before noticing it's just Minx. 'Dang it Minx! You scared me!' Minx meows before running off and Making Nora chase her around the house and I rub the back of my head. 'Gets kicked and nearly dies, Runs around like a maniac like 5 days later. She's asking for the grim reaper to visit.' 'Well that is kind of cats for ya.' 'True-' I suddenly hear my phone go off which hasn't gone off for a good while and I excuse myself before answering it in the hallway. 'Hey Andrea!' 'Ash!! What's up? What's the tea? How's your mansion?' 'Y'know what? Why don't you come over and meet everyone yourself??' 'I- You know I can't-' 'I'll cover for ya it's fine, C'mon please!' 'Fine.. You are pretty damn good at doctor's notes.' 'There ya go, Get your ass over here.' I hang up before I run back over to the others sliding down the staircase railing. 'Woah! Easy, what got you so excited?' 'Can my sister come over to meet you guys??' 'You have a sister??' Mike looks at me before I nod. 'Obviously, she's older though, sadly.' 'Alright sure.' Eventually we all go wait in the Practice room while practicing with my whips and when the lights get turned back on I notice Andrea watching as she applauds. 'My baby brother is getting so good! I'm so proud of you baby..!'  Andrea walks over and we grasp one another into a hug before she looks across the room. 'So you're the famous Andrea?' 'Aw, I'm guessing Ash mentions me a lot.' 'Not really we only heard about you twice-' Mike gets cut off as Freya covers his mouth. 'Nice to meet you. I'm Freya, This is Lizzy, That's Clide, This idiot is Mike, Zaiden and then there's Tannar.' Everybody starts saying hi before Noah pokes his head out. 'And I'm Noah, Thanks Freya.' 'No problem.' 'I was fucking Sarcastic!' 'I'm Andrea.' Andrea replies before Laughing. 'So who's the one who asked my brother to join you again?' Most of the fingers point over to Zaiden and Andrea stares at him. 'Wait.. Zaiden Slater right?? Why do you sound familiar? And I don't mean the modeling..' 'Hey.. Weren't you the freshman girl who started the war at school??' 'Wait what war??' I look up at Andrea and she Starts to laugh. 'So we did go to the same school!' 'So you did start that war??' 'Obviously.' 'WHAT WAR!?' 'The great war of the freshman from my year. We were in protest trying to agree on whether or not we should keep the lunch lady or have the seniors take over for the rest of the year.' 'And the Freshman won..'Zaiden Adds before Andrea starts laughing. 'It was chaos for an entire month!' 'There was food flying everywhere, No classes whatsoever. We came to school to prank the Seniors and that's it. Freshman had to be on our side Seniors with the seniors for obvious reasons and the rest of the school got to pick a side.' 'It was awesome I won't lie.' Zaiden starts laughing before Clide walks over to Andrea. 'You hit me in the face with a pie! EVERY DAY!' 'Ohh! You're Pie kid!' 'You could've at least tried to give me a better nickname.' 'Oh we had one we just didn't want to get murdered so we didn't tell you what it was.' 'What is it!?' '3.1415' 'What!? How is that better??' Andrea starts breaking down laughing. 'It was a nerd joke!' 'Damn you.. I wasn't even a nerd!' 'Yeah I wonder how he got through school somedays.' 'That's what makes it so funny! The Irony!' I start sighing before I notice Freya and Lizzy talking somewhere in a corner before Freya looks up at me and walks over to Andrea with Lizzy. 'Can we Borrow her for a minute? Thanks-' 'Freya, Don't you fucking dare..' Zaiden comments staring them down and Freya shrugs. 'We won't do anything, we just want to talk to her.' 'No.' Freya sighs and walks off before Zaiden checks his phone. 'Shit..' 'What?' I look over as he looks up at me. 'Somebody invited us to a party to come mess around.' 'What do you mean?' 'Somebody my dad knows. He likes to throw parties. 'Can we go??' I start wagging my tail as I notice all the eyes are on me and I pull my ears down. 'Sorry..' 'If you really want to go sure.' 'Really??' I wag my tail again and my ears perk up as he nods and the others nod in agreement. 'Yes!' 'Your first ever party! I'm proud of ya kiddo.' Andrea grabs me into a hug messing up my hair. 'How dare you.. They didn't have to know that and Quit calling me kiddo!' 'Shit you're right.. You're an adult now..' 'Exactly.' 'Alright alright pip-squeak.' 'I-! Ugh..' Andrea smirks at me before walking over to Zaiden. 'You better take good fucking care of my baby brother Or I will come back here and Take you place as North pack Alpha.' 'Is that a threat..?' 'If you let my brother get hurt, Yes.' '.. Alright.' 'Ohhh Tension..' Freya whispers before Zaiden rolls his eyes staring at Freya. 'Shush, Remember the tension we had?? With you and my sister?' 'Oh right.. Yeah we won't talk about it..' I roll my eyes before I head outside the room for some air since I start to feel a bit Dizzy. Andrea Follows not long after helping me stand. 'Ash, Are you okay..?' 'Yeah.. Just dizzy..' 'C'mon.' Andrea moves me over to a chair to sit down and sits down next to me. 'Ash, have you been taking your vitamins like I told you to??' 'I-.. I forgot them.. I was packing in a rush..' 'Damn it.. Okay we gotta get you new ones.. I'll go, ZAIDEN!' Andrea gets up walking back into the music room before pulling Zaiden over sitting him down next to me. 'I'll be back shortly, Keep him AWAKE.' 'Alright-?' Andrea storms off as I look up to stare at the ceiling. 'What was that about..?' Zaiden turns to me staring confused.