Creek Blues (Jalsey)

20. Deal

Wait to start the song.
***Trigger warnings for a lot of food and some body issues.***

Josh waited until Ashley had cried herself out of tears before stopping in some random town to get something for her to eat. She remained laying in his lap as he pulled into the parking lot of a diner. He pulled the E-brake, shifted the truck into first gear, and pulled the keys out of the ignition before looking down at her. She looked back up at him through puffy eyes.

"Do I look too gross to go in there?" She asked him quietly, wiping at her swollen eyes.

Even if Josh knew she was going to be annoying about him saying this to her later, he replied, "You never look gross. Come on. If anyone looks at you weird, I'll beat the shit out of them."

She smiled slightly. "Promise?"

"Yeah, so sit up. Let's go," he told her impatiently.

She sat up carefully before pulling him in by the front of his shirt and kissing him deeply. He allowed that, mostly because Ashley's teeth tugged a bit too harshly at his bottom lip, just the way he liked it. She smiled at him when she broke the kiss.

"I know you won't like me telling you this, but your loyalty is actually really adorable," she told him, laughing when he rolled his eyes and opened the truck door, climbing out. She scurried out through his door too as she laughed. "I don't really deserve your loyalty at this point, but I still think it's sweet. I don't know. I'm not saying any of this in a way you'd be okay with, but I guess I just appreciate you."

"So did you want me to buy you lunch or did you just want to make me throw up in this parking lot?" He asked her irritably.

She laughed, tangling her fingers with his and letting him lead her into the diner. He held the door open for her, and she blushed at the action. He didn't get that. He always held the door open for girls. That was polite. His dad used to get mad at him when he didn't do that.

They slid into a red and white booth, grabbing menus off of the table. The diner was nothing fancy, but it smelled good in here, and Josh was suddenly starving. Ashley was sitting across from him, which apparently to her meant it was okay for her to put her feet in his lap while she read though the menu. She must have dropped her flip-flops beneath the table because her feet were bare. Abbie did this to Josh sometimes too though, so he'd learned to just deal with it. Abbie usually moved her feet if Josh tickled them, but he wasn't going to do that to Ashley. She would interpret that the wrong way for sure.

"If I am pregnant, what are we gonna do?" Ashley asked quietly.

Josh looked up at her, finding her disinterestedly turning the menu over in her hands. Tears were gathering in her eyes again. He sighed.

"I don't know, Ashley. What do you want to do?" He asked her, forcing himself not to sound annoyed.

She shrugged. "I don't know." She hesitated before meeting his eyes nervously and saying, "Would you marry me if I was pregnant?"

Josh's eyebrows raised in surprise. His dad would probably want him to do that. That's what his dad had done when his mama had gotten knocked up. It wasn't up to his dad though.

"Would you want me to?" Josh asked curiously.

She nodded slightly, looking away from him quickly. "Yeah. I think so."

"Okay," Josh replied simply before looking back at the menu. "We could get married."

"Okay," Ashley replied quietly. After a moment she said, "Would you want a boy or a girl?"

Josh groaned irritably. "Can we just focus on lunch please?" Ashley shrunk away from him instantly, apologizing under her breath as she looked back down at her menu with tear-filled eyes. He sighed. "Girl."