I'll protect them

Chapter 6.5

'What do we do?'

'This is getting out of hand. No, it was already out of hand before.' you sit at the kitchen table staring at the floor while you silently think.

'Is he doing this on purpose? Should I directly tell him to leave us alone? At this point I don't really care if I sound rude anymore.' Ashlyn leans her head on her fist. 'I mean, what kind of guy shows up at your house and never asks in the first place!? It's been a total of 9 hours since we've met this dude but I'm certain he's going to ruin the peace me and (Y/n) have in life' Ashlyn sighs sitting on the bathroom toilet. 'I've been in here for too long.'

You sit nervously at the table with your parents, Ben, Aiden and his parents begging Ashlyn to come out of the bathroom in your head. Aiden is drilling holes in your head with how intensely he's staring at you, just then Ashlyn comes back, and your face brightens. She sits down next to you, and you grab her hand, holding it to comfort yourself. You see the thing is you have really bad anxiety, so the unexpected visit has really bothered you.

Ashlyn holds your hand back looking at Aiden who is staring the both of you down with a smile. 'Why do I feel like he's planning something?' Aiden's father speaks. "Sorry for coming on such short notice. Aiden told us Ben, him and your daughters have been fast friends, and so we wanted to come and introduce ourselves-" Mike and Emma started having a coughing fit. "Oh my, are you two alright?"

"Y-yeah, sorry" - Emma

"Don't mind us, go on." - Mike

"I was just saying that we're happy to see Aiden and Benny fitting in. We move around a lot, so Aiden has always been homeschooled and even for Ben, it's been a while since he's gone to public school." Aiden's father explains.

"Oh, that's exciting, are you guys having fun?" Mike asks Aiden. "Yep! Especially with the field trip." 'What is he-' your eyes widen in alarm. "I thought it'd be fun for (Y/n) and Ashlyn to come along too..." Aiden slyly comments.

"What field trip?" - Emma

"Oh, you don't know? The kids have this group project about savannah." Aiden's mother speaks out. "Oh, right Ash And (N/n) were talking about that earlier." you and Ashlyn glare at Aiden as he continues to smile at you two. "Their teacher also planned a field trip to Savannah for the project. It'll be an overnight trip, though."

As Aiden and his family were walking out the door, he handed Ashlyn and you the papers for the trip. "Here, in case you decide you want to go." he waves at your parents." it was nice meeting you Mrs. and Mr. Banner." and with that they were gone. You, Ashlyn and Emma collapsed onto one couch as Mike sat on the other. "I thought it was never going to end." Emma whined. "Well, they were nice." Mike commented.

"Donno about you guys but imma go get ready for bed." Ashlyn stands and places her slip on a counter. "Wait for me!" you rush to follow Ashlyn placing your slip with hers before you both go to the room.

You and Ashlyn were doing your stretches when your dad came into the room, he cringes seeing the both of you bent in half on the floor. "Hey troopers, mind if I come in?" you and Ashlyn get off the floor and sit on Ashlyn's bed. "Sure."

"I think you two should go." he starts." on the field trip? Why?" Ashlyn asks in response. "You know we aren't actually friends, right? We've had maybe two conversations with the guy and one of them was about the project. And Ben hasn't even spoken to us once." you explain. "All friendships start somewhere, right?" he asks. "But we don't want friendship." you deadpan. "How do you know? You can guess that you won't like something but never actually know until you try right? Like how the two of you became friends and look at you now, your sisters." Mike pulls the both of you into a hug on either side of him." Listen, I won't force ya. But I do think it's a good idea for you to experience things before you hate them though." Mike gives the both of you a noogie.