Stuck {A.I.}

eight

(unedited because I wanted to update so be nice)

When Ashton woke up, he thought he was hallucinating. There, curled up in his arms, her legs tangled with his and her fading green hair tickling his collarbone, was Bayla. This was too real to be a hallucination though. The softness of her skin and faint smell of vanilla were so vivid it hurt Ashton's head. Or maybe that was the hangover. 

Bayla's eyelashes fluttered before her eyes flew up. "Good morning." Ashton said, his voice stratchy from sleep. 

"Good morning." She replied instinctively, blinking up at him with a smile twitching at her cheeks. It wasn't long before her expression turned to one of confusion, and she pulled herself away from Ashton, struggling to untangle the blankets from her legs. "Um, I'm going to see if the power's back on."

 Ashton reached over to her bedside table and flipped the switch on the lamp. "It's not." 

"But I pulled the breaker remember?" She hurriedly grabbed the closest sweatshirt, tugged it on over her head, and left her room. 

Ashton sighed and leaned back on the pillow, letting his hands fall into the empty space where she had been next to him a moment before. He felt slightly queasy but wasn't sure if it was from Bayla or his hangover. Either ways, he paused for only a moment before climbing out of bed in search of water.

 By the time he stumbled downstairs, Bayla was already climbing back up from the basement. 

"No luck." She groaned. "Which sucks because my phone is dead."

"Yeah mine died last night." 

"Well then I guess we're still stuck here."

 "Guess so." Ashton nodded out the back window, which was almost completely covered with a snow drift. 

"Great." Bayla pulled herself up onto the counter next to the fridge. "Do you want some breakfast?" 

"Sure." He yawned and perched himself on the opposite counter. 

"Aw fuck, I forgot to move this stuff into a cooler so everything's spoiled." Bayla wrinkled her nose in disgust and threw a container of milk back into the fridge. 

"So I guess cereal is out of the question."

 "And eggs, and toast, and leftover Chinese food, and pancakes or French toast, or basically anything that isn't plain bread." 

"Plain bread is fine. Do you have any vegemite?" Ashton laughed at the massive eye roll Bayla gave him. 

"Who the hell do you think we are? We have peanut butter and Nutella so you'll just have to come to terms with the fact that no one outside of Australia has that horrendous-hey, are you ok?" Bayla stopped her anti-vegemite rant and slid across the floor towards Ashton.

"Hmm?" He glanced up, not realizing that his face was reflecting the pit fall happening in his stomach.

 "You got all sad when I mentioned Australia. Is something wrong? Did you remember how creepy of a country it is with all its weird animals?"

 "Hah, no." Ashton looked back down at his hands. "Um, I just missed my dad for a minute, that's all."

"Your dad lives ten minutes away Ash, I don't understand."

"Not anymore." 

Bayla sat down next to him. "Explain."

"My parents finally realized they couldn't stand each other, right after my dad found out that my mom was cheating on him. Again. So she moved in with her new boyfriend and he moved back to Australia for God knows how long. I haven't seen him since court nearly three months ago." He shrugged, trying to pretend that he wasn't bothered by this, which is what he'd been doing since his parents' divorce. Running from his problems and acting as if they didn't exist was how Ashton coped. 

"I'm-" Bayla started, but he cut her off. "Sorry, I know." He let out a deep breath. "I know. Please don't say it. I'd just rather forget about this. Let's make some peanut butter and Nutella sandwhiches for breakfast, ok?" 

"Sure." 

There was silence for a while as the two got out plates and knives and such, with the awkward tension in the room staying at a minimum until they sat down to eat. "I'm sorry." Bayla blurted out. 

"What did I say?" Ashton groaned, picking at the crust of his sandwhich. 

"I mean, I'm not sorry your parents divorced. Well, I am, but that's not what I'm trying to say. Um." Bayla took a large bite of her sandwhich in an attempt to stop babbling. Ashton looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for breaking up with you. And for not telling you why. And for ignoring you after and pretending that you were the bad guy. And I'm sorry for not being there when your parents split because I was always there for you. I'm just sorry." Ashton nodded slowly, setting his sandwhich down. Bayla sat there watching him to try and gauge his reaction. 

"You always were there for me, weren't you?" 

"Yeah?" She phrased it like a question. 

"Is that what you meant? When you were telling me why you broke up with me? That you couldn't handle me or whatever? Because I always needed you?" He was struggling to get the words out. Bayla bit her lip and stared at her plate intently. 

"I meant that having a boyfriend felt like too much because my own mind and body were turning against me. I couldn't handle anything, let alone the boy I love having his own struggles that needed my help when I couldn't even help myself." She finished, standing up and walking around the table to the sink, not making eye contact. 

"Love." He monotoned even though his heart was leaping.

 "What?" She lifted her head back towards him, her eyebrows furrowing. 

"Love. You said 'the boy I love', as in the present tense, not 'loved'." Bayla turned a darker shade of pink than the plastic cup she was clutching. 

"Oh, I did?" She said too breezily, placing her plate in the sink.

 "Mhm."

"Hmm." She twirled a strand of hair around her finger, sighing at the lightened shade of it. "I need to redye it." 

"Let's do it right now, I could help you." He suggested. A grin cracked across her face. 

"Really? Awesome. I've got some purple dye left upstairs."

"I thought it wasn't your favorite color anymore?" Ashton couldn't help but ask as he followed her upstairs.

"No, it's still my favorite color." Bayla stopped walking to face Ashton. What she said next caused his heart to stop. "I don't think it ever stopped being my favorite color." 

-

oh look a sucky chapter ending on a long overdue update who's surprised not me

but hey theres two chapters left in this story and it's all planned out i'll probably finish it this week!!!! first time i've ever finished a story even though i've been on wattpad for a year very exciting 

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