The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

|75|

When Ashley woke up, her thoughts first went to Ilse, for one reason: she hadn't dreamt of the ghost all night. She knew she hadn't even just forgotten about it. Ilse had stayed away from her for the night.

Her second realisation was that she was still on the couch, but not alone. As soon as she noticed that her head was resting on Colby's chest, she sat up.

"Morning," he mumbled, running a hand over his face. "How ya feeling?"

Ashley swallowed a few times, her throat feeling drier each time. "In need of a glass of water," she mumbled, choosing to ignore that they'd slept the entire night cuddled up to each other, despite her heart beating rapidly in her chest as she thought about it.

He chuckled, sitting up. "Alright, milady, be right back."

Ashley's eyes followed him into the kitchen and watched him closely as he poured two cold glasses of water.

"What a gentleman," she said with a crooked smile as he came back, handing one of them to her.

"For you? Always," he said. It could've been a joke. A friendly, teasing comment, a jab between friends. But his eyes were fixed on hers as he said it, his expression slightly too serious, his smile slightly too crooked. Just slightly.

Ashley looked down at her water.

"So. What's the plan for today?" Colby continued.

Her face twisted slightly as she thought about going home. Neither Sadie nor Jerry would be too excited to see her again, she knew that. Colby saw her reaction and glanced at the time.

"A breakfast place I like should still be open," he said casually. "Do you want to get brunch together? Sam's probably still sleeping.

"Sure," she replied, smiling. "But I'm still wearing my clothes from yesterday..."

He quickly looked at her dress. "I still have one of your old shirts here, you can wear that with..."

"Wait. Which shirt?"

"Uh, a band shirt..."

"Imagine Dragons?" Ashley guessed. As Colby nodded, she gasped. "I've been looking for that for ages, have you had it all this time?"

He shrugged sheepishly. Playfully rolling her eyes, she set down the now-empty glass and stood up from the couch. He quickly followed, bringing her to his room and handing her the shirt and a pair of his old shorts and then leaving to give her privacy.

After taking a quick shower and changing clothes, her head felt less stuffed already, and she glanced at her phone. It was half past one. Oh well, fuck it. It was basically still her birthday, after all, she was allowed to sleep in.

She stepped back into the living room and Colby looked up, immediately closing his phone. Why was he so tense? "How's the hangover?"

"It's not that bad. I didn't drink enough to actually feel it."

"That's good. I'm taking a shower, then we're ready to go, yeah?" He smiled as he said it, but an almost imperceptible tension twisted the corners of his mouth.

Ashley nodded and let him walk past her without saying anything. He probably wasn't feeling well, maybe he'd drunk more than she.

The breakfast place was as good as Colby had promised. It served brunch until late in the afternoon, which was perfect for the two of them, since they arrived a little after two pm. The owner greeted Colby heartily and shook Ashley's hand warmly, which led her to believe Colby knew him personally. The fact that they were led to the best table in the restaurant further confirmed that suspicion. Now, they were in a corner of the restaurant, hidden from the view of most of the other tables.

"Favouritism, huh?" she asked jokingly. Colby scoffed.

"Guess you could say that."

"I mean, I'm not complaining," she said, reaching for the menu. He took her hand before she could grab it and set it down on the table.

"Let me order. Trust me."

She raised an eyebrow but failed to reply before he called one of the waiters over to place an order. What exactly he ordered, she didn't catch, because he used numbers.

"I sure hope you didn't order any alcohol," she said to fill the silence afterwards.

"What? It's two pm, don't you-" Her raised eyebrow made him interrupt himself. "Don't worry. No alcohol for the lady, then. Or for me, for that matter."

She didn't stop the smile that spread on her lips as he called her a lady for the second time today. She could get used to that.

"Soo... have you heard anything from Jerry?" It was obvious that he had to force himself to ask that, and Ashley was reluctant to answer as well.

"No, not since yesterday." To be completely honest, she'd hoped he would at least check up on her – maybe Sadie talked him out of it. Or he just didn't think to do it. Either way, she couldn't help but check her phone once again. Negative.

Colby frowned. "That's weird. Isn't he worried? Like, at all?"

She shifted slightly in her seat. "I don't know. Maybe Sadie told him not to text me or something."

"She's still going on about that?" he asked, grimacing.

"Probably even more after yesterday. Today. Whatever." Suddenly, she sighed and slumped forward in exhaustion. Her head hit the table with a soft, controlled thud. "I don't wanna go back to the apartment."

"Then don't. At least not yet."

"Huh?" Ashley looked up. Some strands of her red hair fell in front of her face, and she didn't bother brushing them away.

"Just stay with me and Sam for a couple of days. We can get blackout drunk at night and watch more horror movies, and when we wake up we'll come back here and eat brunch and talk about stuff."

She hesitated. That sounded... great. Fantastic, even.

"I'd have to get my clothes and other stuff..."

Their conversation was interrupted by a waiter bringing two plates. The second Ashley laid eyes on it, her face lit up.

"Omelette!" she exclaimed, quickly thanking the waiter before grabbing her fork and knife. "I love omelettes!" Her mood was immediately raised.

"I know," he said with a grin – slightly cocky but with just enough honesty.

She didn't even bother asking when or how he'd figured that out, instead digging into the omelette. It was just as delicious as it looked, and she sighed contentedly.

For the rest of the afternoon, both of them mentioned neither Jerry nor Sadie. Ashley, surprisingly enough, enjoyed banning her once best friend from her mind. On the contrary, Colby seemed to get more and more tense over the course of their meal, which included eggs and bacon for both of them, two glasses of orange juice for Ashley and a soda for him.

"So," she said, setting her glass down. "What's up with you today?"

"What? Nothing," he answered, way too quickly. She raised an eyebrow.

"You weren't this tense yesterday. First I thought it was a hangover or something, but something is definitely up. You want to tell me what it is?"

He paused, contemplating her question for at least a few seconds. Then he cleared his throat and drank the rest of his soda. Ashley half expected him to brush it off again when he looked straight at her all of a sudden.

"Yes, actually," he said, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Okay...?"

"What if we called this-" He gestured to her, to him, and then to the table filled with food. "-a date?"