Partner (Micah Bell)

38. Ungraceful

How can three words hit somebody like a tidal wave? Micah still felt the aftershocks of Ashley's words like she had just shot him. But the piercing of her words weren't exactly painful, just surprising. Micah couldn't stop thinking about it. However the way that he was thinking about it wasn't like a teenager with a crush, it was more like a spiral of anxieties about the past, present and future. Perhaps he was being a little dramatic, but Micah tended to over think these things.

Micah hadn't mentioned any of this to Ashley. It was obvious that she didn't remember saying 'I love you' or she just wasn't bothered by it, the truth was that she hadn't even realised that she said it. He didn't know how to approach the conversation and even he did, what was he going to say? Would he tell her that he loved her too? Did he love her?

In an attempt to understand his own emotions and process Ashley's confession, Micah spent some time alone to think. Nobody thought that he was behaving any differently to the way he usually would, thankfully.

The more he ran it through is mind, the more frustrated he got. Micah had never felt like this about someone, actually being willing to risk his own life to make sure she was alright. He had never even considered feeling that way about someone. Of course, Ashley never pressured him into talking about his feelings or anything like that. She knew how emotionally repressed Micah Bell is.

Micah sighed as he sat down on his cot, tuning out the sounds coming from the camp outside. He knew that Ashley was the best thing that had ever happened to him. She is the only person who is patient with him, who laughs with him, who genuinely cares about him. She wasn't ashamed to be by his side even when he was causing trouble, even when he was ashamed of himself. He is proud to be with her, genuinely proud for people to see them together. As sappy as it sounds, Micah was truly happy with something in his life. All he knew was that he had to hold onto her. He wasn't going to mess up again, he was tired of destroying perfectly good things.

It was around the middle of the afternoon when Micah was sat at the fire in the camp. Ashley had been sitting with him but left to get some drinks. As she was returning, Micah stood from his seat. "I gotta go on watch duty" Micah sighed, he would much prefer to sit with Ashley than stand around and wait for nothing to happen.

"Here, take this with you" Ashley smiled, holding a beer bottle out to him.

"See, this is why I love you" Micah chuckled as he took the beer from her, he quickly kissed her temple before walking off towards the trees. Ashley watched him walk away with widened eyes and her mouth slightly agape. 

The blonde didn't quite know why he said what he said, he just knew that he had to tell her but he couldn't sit down for some drawn out emotional conversation. So, that happened. That was ungraceful even for Micah.

"Ash? Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost or something" Javier asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder, encouraging her to look at him and tell him why she had gone so pale and looked so shocked. 

"No ghost...but I did just witness a miracle" Ashley mumbled, smiling slightly to herself.

"And what was that?" Javier asked with a laugh, now more than curious to know what she was talking about. 

"Oh, nothing. I'll see ya later" Ashley shook her head before smiling up at him reassuringly. Before Javier could say anything else, Ashley had hurried off towards the trees. He just shook his head at her and returned to what he was doing. Ashley had left her own bottle of beer at the camp fire before walking off to find Micah.

Ashley knew that she loved Micah, even if he was an idiot sometimes. She didn't understand why she loved him but she knew that she did and that was good enough for her. 

She walked through the trees towards the watch point and finally found Micah. He was standing with his back to her with a rifle in his hands. "Really, Micah? You're just going to leave me standing there like an idiot?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest as he pretended to be mad at him. 

"What would you prefer me to do?" Micah asked with a sigh as he turned to face Ashley, placing his rifle down beside a tree. Ashley raised an eyebrow at him but he just smirked at her, letting her know that he knew exactly what he had done.

"God damn you, you big blonde dumb ass" Ashley laughed as he approached him. They smirked at each other before Ashley grabbed the lapels of his black coat, pulling him into a kiss. Micah didn't hesitate before his hands found her waist, pulling her even closer to him so that their bodies were flush together.

Micah pulled away from her lips with an amused grin on his face that made her raise an eyebrow at him quizzically. "Big blonde dumb ass? That's new, I like that, I'll remember that one" Micah teased, laughing to himself. Ashley laughed along, resting her forehead against his.

Catching her off guard slightly, Micah captured Ashley's lips with his own once again. She kissed him back instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

It didn't take long before Micah had lifted Ashley's feet off of the ground, letting her wrap her legs around his waist. It was a little messy as they both tumbled to the ground but neither of them parted from the kiss or complained. 

They tumbled to the ground, hands under shirts and lips against skin. They both found that they felt the privacy despite being in the middle of the wilderness, among the tress. They knew that nobody would be coming around her until the end of Micah's shift on watch, so there was plenty of time.

Micah lifted his head from the crook of Ashley's neck and looked at her, almost softly. "I meant it, y'know. I do love ya" he mumbled as he raised his hand to gently stroke her cheek.

"I love you too" Ashley smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair. He smiled back as she pulled him back down to her, pulling him back into the kiss.