cynosure ; until dawn

four•irl

(a/n: still not proofread fucking fight me)

later that night (well, morning, as it was one a.m.), ashley went back downstairs after she'd calmed down. everyone knew about her anxiety, so they managed to put the pieces together themselves. no one mentioned it, because they knew ashley preferred to keep things to herself or with chris and josh.

"matt, stop texting me! we are in the same exact room," mike exclaimed. matt glared at him.

"i wanted to remind you that i love you a fuck ton without the others being annoying." jessica snickered.

"that's actually kinda cute, not gonna lie," emily admitted. ashley giggled.

"i want taylor momsen to shove every pretty reckless album down my throat," jessica mumbled. everyone laughed.

"i only know like two songs by them," ashley confessed, getting a dirty look from jessica. josh snuggled into ashley's side, yawning.

"looks like someone's tired," ashley said, giggling and yawning herself.

"i think everyone's tired," sam concluded, "it's nearly two in the morning."

"true," emily replied, lying down on a couch and yawning.

"ash and i will grab some blankets for you guys to use," chris said, grabbing ashley's hand and leading her upstairs.

"hey, uh, while we're alone, can i talk to you about something?" chris gave ashley a slightly worried look and nodded. "so uh, you, josh, and i have done sexual things before and i... oh god, i'm sorry, i..." ashley took a deep breath before continuing, "i think i'm asexual." chris sighed in relief, expecting the news to be something much worse.

"so like... you just don't wanna do sexual stuff?" chris asked, simply to clarify. ashley nodded.

"i mean, i can still be like romantically attracted to you guys, just not like, sexually i guess. am i making sense?" chris nodded and pecked ashley's forehead.

"it's fine. i'm not mad or anything. i know josh will be cool with it," chris said reassuringly, riffling ashley's hair. ashey giggled and hugged chris. "alright, enough with the hugs. we have to grab blankets." ashley whined but obeyed, attempting to reach the top shelf in the closet where the blankets were. chris giggled when ashley couldn't reach them.

"stop laughing at my struggles!" ashley exclaimed, crossing her arms like a little kid who couldn't get the toy she wanted. chris laughed. before ashley could expect it, chris plopped a pile of blankets into her arms. ashley staggered but quickly regained her balance, only to drop a blanket and trip over nothing, landing on her knees. chris looked down at her and quirked an eyebrow.

"did you get drunk off capri suns or something?" chris asked teasingly. ashley glared at him. she picked the blankets back up and walked down the stairs, with chris holding her forearm to make sure she didn't fall again.

fortunately, they made it downstairs without ashley dying, and the rest of the group grabbed their blankets and chose spots to sleep. mike and matt claimed the couch, jess and emily stole the love seat, beth, sam, and hannah slept on the carpet, and chris, ashley, and josh slept upstairs in their bed.

chris, ash, and josh walked upstairs, all three of them obviously tired. ashley was first to hop in bed, not bothering to get into pajamas. chris and josh did the same, because let's face it, everyone was too tired to actually take the two minutes to change into pajamas.

ashley was stuck in the middle, as per usual, with chris to her right and josh to her left. josh pecked ashley's cheek and mumbled a tired, "pass that on to chris, yeah?" ashley giggled and pecked chris's cheek.

the three fell into a peaceful slumber.