Partner (Micah Bell)

33. Bad With Words

Micah has been acting strange.

Okay, Micah is always acting strange...he's Micah, but he has been acting more strange than usual. At least Ashley thinks that he has been acting strange. To the rest of the camp he was acting the same way he always does but Ashley knew better, something wasn't right.

It all started when they got back from the alcove were they went to drink and just sit together without the camp breathing down their necks. At first everything was perfectly fine, they rode back into camp, said their goodbyes and Ashley actually retired to her tent straight away. The next day was when things started going downhill, if that's even the right word for whatever this is. Micah had been speaking to Ashley less and she was pretty sure that he was avoiding her, or at least trying too. The camp wasn't actually big enough to avoid someone forever.

Just now, Ashley had casually sat beside him at the campfire with a few other members of the camp but Micah stood up almost instantly and walked away. Everyone thought that Micah was just in a worse mood than usual but Ashley knew better, she knew him better than they did.

Ashley shrugged his strange behaviour off, trying not to think to much of it but when it kept happening she knew that she had to talk to him about it. It was just getting tiring at this point. So, when Micah randomly walked away from her this time, she followed him.

Micah had gone to his tent but Ashley had other plans, when nobody was watching she grabbed his wrist and just pulled him towards the trees. Micah could have pulled his wrist out of her grip or at least tried to fight her, but he didn't. He just went with her. Once they got out of sight of the camp and far enough away so nobody could hear them, Ashley turned back to the man. She released his wrist and took a step away from him, crossing her arms over her chest with a blank expression on her face.

"Why are you acting so weird?" Ashley asked, tired of Micah avoiding her and not telling her what was going on.

"I'm not" Micah shrugged, his face and voice void of anything. Ashley might have even believed him if he wasn't so obviously lying.

"Shut up, Micah. Don't play dumb, just tell me why you're acting so strange, pretty much avoiding me" she sighed, running her hand over her forehead and pushing her hair out of her face.

"...because I've had enough of this" he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and rolling his eyes.

Ashley paused, just staring at him like she didn't know what to say and that was because, well, she didn't know what to say. What did he mean by that? Was Micah getting bored of this, of her? Was this his way of breaking up with her? Are they even together in a way that would require him breaking up with her? Of course they were, right? Thoughts ran through Ashley's mind at a million miles per hour.

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked, cursing her voice for coming out quieter than she wanted it too. Was she really about to get upset over Micah fucking Bell?

"Look, I ain't good with words or this kind of stuff" Micah huffed out, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly and looking anywhere other than her face.

"Well, give it a shot" she sighed, looking at him expectantly, ready to take the blow that she was sure was coming. She told herself that she would take the news like an adult but she did wonder why he seemed so hesitant to just throw her to the dirt.

"I wanna...I've had enough of...I wanna be able to, ah shit" he cursed, groaning in frustration and now Ashley was even more confused about what was happening.

"Micah, just fucking say what you want to say" she snapped slightly, instantly regretting it but not apologising. The sooner this conversation was over, the better.

"Fine! I wanna be able to touch you without everyone thinking I'm some creep, without people calling me a pervert" Micah snapped, part of what he wanted to say suddenly erupting from him. Ashley looked at him with widened eyes, what just happened? She couldn't quite understand what he was talking about or what exactly he was mad about.

"You are a pervert" Ashley muttered, half joking, not really knowing how to respond to that without some sort of teasing or joke. Wait...was she as bad at talking as he was? Shit.

"And you love it" he teased back, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Point proven" she smirked back at him, both of them chuckling lightly to themselves. Like the whole conversation they were having was just forgotten about.

"Just shut up and listen" Micah grunted, trying to get the conversation back on track. He knew that if he didn't talk about this now then he probably wouldn't ever do it. "I wanna be able to touch you without you pulling away at the slightest sound, I want to fucking kiss you when I want to without needing to watch out for other people. I want to be able to talk to you without having to be careful about every damn word I say. I wanna...damn it, I just wanna be able to be with you" he confessed and once he was done speaking a silence fell over the two of them. Ashley didn't know what to say and Micah's head was running wild with thoughts, most of them negative.

Micah watched the woman in front of him, waiting for some sort of reaction. Anything but he got nothing. She just stared at him blankly and in that moment Micah regretted every word that he said to her. It was stupid to try to explain that to her, he should have just left it and got over it. Why did he always have to mess things up?

Ashley was shocked, pretty much stunned by Micah's confession. She hadn't even realised that not being able to act like they were in a relationship was bothering him at all, she had just thought that Micah didn't care about it. In fact she thought that he preferred this arrangement, apparently she was wrong. Having to act so differently with him when other people were around was driving her insane but she feared that if she said something Micah would just think she was being emotional or stupid. It appears that Micah was just as emotional and stupid as her. He was full of surprises.

Ashley slowly came out of her thoughts, she knew that she had to say something but she couldn't find the right words. It was like the words were stuck in her throat so she decided to act on it instead.

Micah barely had anytime to react before Ashley had rushed over to him and cupped his face in her hands, pressing her lips against his as she pulled him into a kiss. Micah reacted to the kiss almost instantly once the shock subsided, placing his hands on her waist as he kissed her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she slowly pulled away from him.

"You ain't that bad with words" Ashley smiled, laughing softly to herself as she rested her forehead against his.

"So?" Micah asked, raising an eyebrow at her, not wanting to misread the situation in anyway. Ashley just smiled at him, kissing him quickly but gently before pulling away again.

"Of course I want that too, so...lets do it" she nodded, her chest filling with warmth when she saw the small smile appear on Micah's face. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, in some attempt at a tender gesture. She noticed it and appreciated the effort.

Micah laced his fingers through Ashley's hair on the back of her head before pulling her closer to him, leaning down and kissing her.

Micah's hand was resting on her back and the two outlaws returned to the camp, talking between themselves. Pretty much as soon as they stepped foot in the camp, they heard somebody called Ashley's name.

"Hey Ash! Get over here!" a familiar Irish accent called from the direction of the horses. The two turned to the voice and Ashley smiled at Sean, while Micah just stared blankly. "Me and Arthur are goin' on this job and we need another pair of hands, and yours are perfect!" he explained cheerfully as he approached them.

"Sure, I'll be right there" Ashley laughed at Sean's strange compliment. The Irishman smiled brightly before turning around and hurrying back to Arthur and the horses. Ashley turned back to Micah with a guilty smile. "Sorry...when I get back, we are going to clear this up, let the camp know, whatever ya want" she smiled at him. Micah just chuckled to himself and nodded as her, encouraging her to just go with them.

Ashley's hand lingered on his arm before turning and jogging over to the other two men, Micah just rolled his eyes before walking in the opposite direction and further into the camp.