Arranged •{ONC 2020}•

《 Chapter Seventeen 》

After dinner and more family time, Ashlynn said goodnight to the family and went up to their bedroom alone.

"You should go first and open the gift," Lucy had whispered to her at the table.

She felt like it would be cheating, but curiosity got the better of her and she complied. Now she stood at the foot of the bed, staring down at the neatly folded silk sheets. It was now or never.

The silk cooled her fingers as she unwrapped the second package. Heat flooded her face as soon as she saw what it contained.

Lacy lavender lingerie.

"Oh, thin mints." She threw the sheets back over it and opened them again, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Alas, she wasn't being deceived. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Ashlynn held the bra up for inspection and a slip of paper fell onto the bed. She picked it up and read Lucy's handwriting, "Have fun!"

"She's sneaky, I'll admit that," she grumbled to herself. The lace was beautiful, and she knew the color would complement her skin tone, but there was no way she would wear this for Wesley and 'have fun.' A bit panicky, she folded up the lingerie and tucked it into her dresser drawer. Digging around, she pulled out an unopened box of chocolate from Thanksgiving and wrapped the silk sheets around it. There was no way Wesley would ever find out what the second package really was.

Wesley stood in the doorway, watching her try to make the sheets look neatly wrapped, "So," he asked, making her jump, "what was in it?"

"I-I don't know," she lied, twisting her hands behind her back. "Let's open it and see!"

He walked closer and helped her untangle the silk sheets. Jamison had told him he would 'really like' the surprise, so when Ashlynn held up a box of My Tiny Horsey chocolates, he knew she'd swapped the present out. "That's not it."

"O-Of course it is! You watched me open it! This was inside!" Her voice came out squeaky with panic and embarrassment.

"Jamison said I would like it, and last I checked, I'm not a big fan of My Tiny Horsey."

Maybe he would like it. She snapped herself out of that thought immediately. That kind of thinking was absolutely not allowed. "Oh, well he must have been confused."

Wesley arched his eyebrow, and she looked away immediately. The scar made him look way too serious and intimidating. His hand brushed her elbow. "Ash..."

"Fine!" She threw her hands up in the air and tried to ignore the fact that her elbow was all tingly. "It was l—"

He looked at her expectantly. "L...?"

She was dying. "L-Ling—"

"Lounge wear?" He offered, wondering why she was so tongue tied.

"Yes!" She said, a little too ecstatically. "Lounge wear!"

"Well, wear is it?"

"Ha ha, very funny." She rolled her eyes at his pun.

"No, seriously, where is it?"

Ashlynn gulped and her eyes flickered over to her dresser. Wesley noticed and made his way over. She tugged on his arm, panic kicking in big time. "Wait!"

Too little, too late. Wesley opened the drawer and stared, his mouth agape. "Oh."

She couldn't look at him; she was so embarrassed. "Yeah. 'Oh.'"

"Oh!" Now it was his turn to blush. Jamison had been right; he would like it. Not that he would ever get the chance to see it.

"Quit staring!" Ashlynn slammed the drawer shut, nearly catching his fingers in it. "Perv..." She stormed out of the room, leaving Wesley standing by the dresser.