The First ~10K~ (book 3)

14.) All Grown Up

Zoey POV—

I woke up with a satisfying feeling. I almost forgot what had happened, but the pleasant ache between my legs reminded me. Tommy and I...

I stretched and felt my muscles scream in pain. I didn't know if it was from our continuous walking or from our...nocturnal activity.

I quickly got dressed and pulled my hair in a pony tail before exiting the tent to the sun beating down through the trees. It was warmer today. It was like the whole world was in a good mood.

"Morning," said Tommy from where we had our fire.

Butterflies bloomed in my stomach. I gave him a warm smile before joining him on the ground. He pulled me in for a kiss and I melted into him.

"Hey, you," I whispered. "Were you out here all night?"

"Ashlyn joined me a few hours after I came out here," He replied, resting his hand on my knee. "She's in her tent now, reading."

I nodded, looking over my shoulder at Ashlyn's tent. I wonder if she heard anything last night.

"How is she?" I asked.

Tommy shrugged. "She said something about a stomach ache but she's probably just hungry."

"That's not what I meant," I said. "After what happened back at the cabin...does she seem different?"

Tommy didn't answer. He looked away from me to the embers that was the fire and rubbed his hands together.

"It'll take a while for the nightmares to go away," He muttered. "She's strong. She'll live. She'll be okay."

I nodded, my stomach twisting at the recollection of the incident at the cabin. I didn't want to talk about it anymore, so I chose a different topic to talk about.

"Did you sleep at all last night?"

Tommy shook his head. "Wasn't really tired." He said with amusement in his voice. I felt myself blush.

"We're definitely gonna have to have a repeat," I managed to say, feeling my throat close up. I used to flirt with guys all the time with no problem, but when it came to flirting with Tommy it was like trying to breathe underwater. Impossible.

Tommy smirked. He opened his mouth to say something when footsteps came from behind us. We both snapped our heads back to look but it was just Ashlyn appearing from her tent. Her eyes were glassy and she looked tired.

"Hey, sweetheart," Tommy said. "How're you feeling?"

"My tummy hurts," She said like a baby. She wandered over to her dad and sat next to him, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and kisses the top of her head.

"Are you hungry?" Tommy asked, giving me a look.

"No," Ashlyn replied. "I don't want to eat."

"Ashlyn," I butted in, growing concerned. "What does your stomach ache feel like? Where is it?"

Ashlyn looked up at her dad. He gave her a nod. Was she asking his permission to talk to me? Or was she just nervous?

Ashlyn pointed to her lower abdomen, about where the waist line of her jeans would be. "It hurts all down here. And I can't explain how it feel it just...hurts."

My mind went to two places. One: her appendix. If that was the case, she was in trouble. But then I remembered when I had appendicitis and it hurt just on the lower right side, not the whole area of my abdomen. I don't think appendicitis was her problem.