Sleeping With a Friend

Chapter Nine

When I arrived at Ashton home I was immediately jealous by what I saw. I had expected an apartment building with a nice little parking lot, but oh boy did my eyes deceive me. Instead, I arrived at a small townhouse complex right on the outskirts of the city. The scenery was beautiful and it made me wonder if he had hired a gardener to keep the grass so green. The hedges were perfectly trimmed—it was straight out of a Home and Garden magazine that were always in the doctor's offices. There was already a car parked in the small driveway so I set mine in park right in front of the house. If the outside looked this good, I could only wonder what the inside was like. Anything would be better than my small place. I reached the front door after admiring the yard and knocked a few times, praying that I had followed the right address.

Ashton opened the door grinning, "Hey, come on in." I smiled.

"I wasn't sure if I had the right address." I stepped passed him, looking around the quaint home, "How did you come to find this place? It's so cute."

"Cute wasn't exactly what I was going for, but thanks." He chuckled and I heard the door shut. There was a hallway as soon as you walked in with a staircase that lead to the upstairs portion of the house. So far, everything looked clean, for a man's house that is. "My last job was head of advertising for the newspaper." I turned around to give him a questioning look.

"And you left? If that job gave you this why would you? I'd kill to have a place like this." We stayed in the hallway where openings lead to each room.

Ashton shrugged, "They brought in some goof to be the editor and he thought my work was 'too modern for them'." I nodded in understanding. "I have drinks in the kitchen." He began walking toward that entrance, "Don't worry. There's nothing too strong." He chuckled taking a look back at me.

"Alright, don't start that now." I joked, following him. His kitchen was modern with new appliances. The countertops were a dark marble that I admired very much. Ashton took two bottles of beer from the fridge and slid me one.

"Thanks mr. bartender." I laughed, twisting off the cap and taking a sip. It wasn't the best tasting, but it was something.

"So, tell me."

"Tell you what?" He took another sip.

"What went on with Sophie?" I rolled my eyes at the thought.

"There's not much," I said, "I think we're just too different people and now that we're older it shows more. That's about it." I told him simply, sipping my drink again, this time it went faster and easier than the other. Ashton leaned his elbows against the counter that acted as a bar with me on the other side, sitting on a stool. "They say that drama leaves after you're in school, but I feel like it just gets worse." I continued, looking at the bottle in front of me. My lips formed a flat line and as I thought about it, I kept wanting to cry and cry and cry. But I didn't want to. Hell that was the last thing I wanted to do in front of Ashton.

"You just need to get your mind off everything." He observed as I picked at the label on my bottle. With careful steps, he was on the stool next to me, a comforting grin resting on his lips.

"Hah, it's always easier said than done." I tilted my head to glance at him. "I wish I could just not care about anything like other people do."

"Deep down everyone cares about everything." He retorted with a chuckle.

"Well then how do I hide it?" I whispered. The kitchen filed with only soft breaths with the only other sound were the link of the beer bottle onto the marble counter. Ashton swung around on the stool so that his body was facing me entirely.

"I have an idea." He finally warned and I raised an eyebrow at him. I twisted around so that we were mirroring each other.

"Yeah?" He nodded, leaning his face closer to mine. I suddenly felt nervous, I could tell what was about to happen and I could also feel my whole body begin to stiffen. Before I knew it, his soft lips were hovering over mine. I stopped breathing afraid that if I did it wouldn't be real anymore. His lips halted there and I could feel his stare trailing from my eyes to my lips. I kept my eyes on his lips, waiting for them to be on top of mine.