Clean Slate » a.i. au

Nine

         "Ashton-"

         "It's me!"

         As I hear his voice coming from the hallway, relief floods over me and I can't help letting out a sigh — I don't know why, but somehow I've developed an abnormal fear of someone breaking into the apartment while I'm alone, and Ashton isn't with me. So when I hear his voice from my spot in the bathroom, several rooms away from my crutches and everything I can rely on, I sure am glad to hear it. "Where are you?"

         "In the bathroom," I reply, shouting, continuing to towel-dry my hair. My heart speeds up a little when I hear foot steps just outside the room, and proceed to swallow my excitement and nervousness when he walks in.

         "Hey, uh..." As he stops talking, I take a peek at him from under the towel. "Nothing, I just wanted to say I'm back."

         "Okay."

         "And I brought pizza, so you don't have to cook anything."

         "That's thoughtful of you."

         "Yeah. And there's one slice left, in case you're hun- whoa."

         'Whoa' is the reaction I was expecting once I stood straight and whipped my hair back. I run a hand through my slightly damp hair, casually but the way he's looking at me is going to make me look a lot less chill than I intended to be.

         "I actually am hungry, thanks." I smile, feeling proud that I didn't mess up any of the words, and then grin at Ashton when he keeps staring at me with wide and slightly confused eyes.

         "You- you're... whoa." He ends up repeating the word, it seemingly being the only one he can muster while watching me untangle my fingers from the brown locks, almost black from being wet but once my hair dried completely, they'd return to their natural dark brown color. The color Ashton expressed fondness of in his delirious state a couple nights ago.

         "Do you like it?" I ask, looking at myself in the mirror, deciding not to act like I don't know what he's so shocked about. "I called my sister and asked her if she could get me some hair color remover. I'm actually kinda surprised it wor-"

         "Wait, your sister?" He interrupts me, seeming to have gotten back his ability to speak. "Emma was here?"

         So. He calls her Emma but I'm still Lucia. I don't even know why I'm surprised about things like this. "Uh, yeah, she also got me-"

         "Emma?" Ashton cuts me off again, raising his brows at me. "Emma was here?"

         For a few seconds we stare at each other, him with his eyebrows practically on his forehead and me with my mind completely blank. At first I'm beyond confused and I'd actually started trying to recall if they have some sort of conspiracy against each other, but then I remember- the problem isn't her. It's neither of them. It's Ashton's suspicion about whether or not she was the one here. This has been going on for months and I'm still not used to it. I should get used to it. I should definitely get used to it.

         "Yes," I tell him slowly, nodding my head too. "Emma. Emilia. So far I know she's two minutes younger than me and once you beat up a guy because he was doing body shots with her, and you thought it was me."

         I breathe out a laugh when Ashton drops his head low, clearly smiling at the memory but trying to hide is as he folds his arms over his chest. "Of all the things, she told you about that?"

         Not only did she tell me about it, but it happens to be my favorite memory from all the college parties he's been to with the two of us. The first few months of me going to college were our prime time. "Yeah. Some other things too, but I especially like that one. We've been talking quite a lot lately."