LAYERS

Exes and Os

"How is your hair this messy?" Mint asked, when the comb got caught in yet another knot.

"I guess it doesn't like rain water," Ashley said with a laugh. He shifted so he faced Mint, who sat above him at the edge of her bed. "Here, let me do it." The sentence was punctuated by Ashley opening his hand. Mint sighed and gently placed the comb in his palm.

"So, tell me about yourself," Mint prompted, chasing away the notion of silence.

"Hmm," Ashley pondered. "Like what?" he asked, pulling the comb through his hair.

Mint opened her mouth to reply, only to notice Ashley had managed to almost entirely free himself of the tangles that deformed his hair only moments previous.

"Woah," Mint breathed, awestruck. She reached out a hand and carded her fingers through Ashley's damp hair. "How did you do that?"

Ashley's eyes crinkled as he laughed. "Just used to dealing with long hair, I guess."

Mint motioned for Ashley to face away from her once again, and began parting his hair when he complied. After spending a few minutes pulling his hair back into a high ponytail, she tugged at his shoulder to get a look at how it looked. Upon seeing it, she shook her head and turned him back around and pulled the elastic out of his hair to restyle it.

"If it's not an issue, maybe your ex?" Mint said, continuing their whilom conversation. "What's her deal?"

There was quiet moment as Ashley considered the question. "As I said earlier: we lived together, we had a cat, her twin sister lived with us, she cheated on me, y'know..." Ashley's sentence trailed off.

"Hm... What's her name?" Mint prodded, hoping to avoid awkward silence. Though before Ashley could get a word in, Mint exclaimed, "Done!"

Ashley spun around on his knees to face Mint. Their eyes met, and Ashley had to pull his own eyes away to stare down a wall when Mint smiled at him. If his cheeks were pink, she didn't comment on it.

Mint held out a hand mirror as Ashley was putting his glasses back on. He paused when he caught his reflection.

"Oh," he said, surprised. "A bun?"

Ashley examined his hair in the mirror. The bun sat proudly on the back of his head; all his hair neatly rolled tight, with the exception of two stray hairs that fell over the opposite sides of his face. He looked up to Mint with an excited smile. "I've never thought of putting it up in a bun," he admitted. "I really like it."

Ashley then let out a giggle that had Mint grinning. His laugh was cute, very boyish, Mint noted. It fit him.

It got quiet between the two once again, and Ashley pushed himself off the ground to join Mint on her bed. "Her name was Spice," Ashley said, slowly.

"Woah," Mint said, startled. She turned her body towards him. "Spice? As in Spice Green?"

"Yeah, you know her?" Ashley stuttered out, eyebrows high on his head.

"Yeah." Mint's gaze drifting away as she recalled her time with said girl. "She was in my biology class sophomore year. God, I fucking hated her. There was a rumour she slept around— surprised it took you however long to find out," she said, mouth moving before her brain could catch up.

When Ashley didn't respond, Mint returned her focus to him.

His eyes were fixed on his hands, balled in his lap. His face was tight, teeth digging into his bottom lip to keep it from quivering. Clearly, he was still sensitive to the issue.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Mint said, stumbling over her words as she rushed to get them out. "I didn't mean to—"

"No, no. You're okay; makes two of us," Ashley said quickly. He hesitated before saying, "I miss my cat." A laugh was forced through his teeth, wishing to keep the air of the room light, but the laugh warbled around a sob.

Despite Ashley's best efforts to wipe them from his face before they could fall, the tears kept flowing. Mint rubbed his back in an attempt to console him.

Ashley pressed his head into Mint's shoulder, sobbing. Mint wrapped an arm around Ashley tentatively, not entirely sure what to do. A few seconds later, her other arm embraced him too. Ashley didn't hug Mint back, something in his grief addled mind registering vaguely that he was making her uncomfortable.

Time seemed to concentrate like infinity in a bottle, and after an undetermined amount of time passed, Ashley slowly pulled away from Mint's embrace. She let him go without a word.

"I'm sorry for being such a burden," Ashley said, wiping his nose.

"Oh no, you're perfectly fine! I'm happy to help," Mint said. Although it was partly out of courtesy, she did really hope that nothing she says would make him feel any worse.

It was quiet again. Mint deeply despised that. She flopped backwards onto her back dramatically, bed bouncing under her as Ashley chuckled.

"I was with someone about a month ago," Mint said, staring at her ceiling. "He was toxic, and I'm sure he cheated on me with someone. Glad it's over."

Ashley adjusted so he could look at Mint more clearly. "How'd you cope with it?" he asked.

"Dyed my hair blue," Mint said.

"What," Ashley dragged the word as far as he could, coating every extended letter with sarcasm. "So you mean your hair isn't naturally blue?"

Mint laughed, and Ashley asked, "So what color is your hair naturally?"

"Hm," Mint drawled with a smirk. She tapped a finger against her bottom lip. "Secret."

They lapsed back into silence. Mint tolerated it for a few moments before patting on the empty space next to her. "Come on. Lay next to me and we can sulk about our toxic exes together."

Mint eyed Ashley with a smile as his cheeks developed a pink tint. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Rigidly, he lowered himself to lay beside her. Mint scoffed at his action. "Oh, come on. You're so stiff!" She guffawed as she poked at his sides.

Ashley made a sound of alarm. "Hey! I'm ticklish there," he said through a laugh. "Stop!"

They both sighed as they relaxed back to stare at the ceiling. Much to Mint's displeasure, it was quiet once more.

Ashley was the one to break the quiet this time. Though his voice wasn't much louder than the silence. "I did love her," he said. Then quickly added, "She was kind of a hoe though," said so fast the words stuck together.

"So, where am I gonna sleep?"
Ashley asked genuinely, after Mint's laughter died down.

"In here," Mint said, as though it was obvious.

"In where," Ashley sputtered, shoving himself up into a seating position.

"Well, duh. Where else would you sleep?" Mint said, as if it was entirely normal to allow a stranger she only just met a few hours ago to sleep in the same room as her. "I want you to be comfortable."

When Ashley began to protest again, Mint stood from the bed. "It will be fine, trust me," she insisted as she walked to her closet and kneeled down to reach something at the back. She pulled out a sleeping bag and shook it. Ashley watched as she rolled it out at the foot of her bed. "I'll sleep here," she said.

"What?" Ashley exclaimed. "No, you can't sleep on the floor— it's your house. At least sleep on the bed."

Mint stared at him, considering. "Okay, fine," she eventually said. "But I'll be giving you some pillows so you're comfy."

Ashley knew that at this point there would be no arguing, and just sighed. "Fine, deal."

They shook hands and got ready for bed.

"Good night, Ashley," Mint mumbled, pulling her blanket over her body.

"Thank you again for this," Ashley said, zipping up the side of the sleeping bag and settling in. "Good night."

"Of course," Mint said. "Good night."