Till the end || Ashtray

005.

"Ayo Fez!" I yelled, running up to the shop. Lexi was walking at normal speed behind me. "Sup kid." He said as he ruffled my hair. I pushed his hand away, "Imma go see what type of rolling papers you guys got." I motioned to the fridge door. He nodded his head. "Lexi Howard." I heard him laugh as I walked to the door.

I opened the door and heard music playing. Ash paused it as we made eye contact. He looked me up and down and I could've sworn I saw the corners of his mouth turn up. "Was that a smile? From Ashtray?!" I asked, throwing my hand over my heart dramatically. "Shut up Hayden." He said, glaring at me. I threw my hands up in 'surrender'. "Anywayssss do you have any strawberry rolling papers?" I asked with a huge smile. He shook his head as he started going through all of their stuff. He pulled out a pack of pink papers, handing them to me. I said my thanks and sat down, noticing that Lexi was still talking to Fez.

I pulled out my phone to scroll through TikTok seeing that we weren't talking anymore. After about five minutes Ash spoke up again. "You're still wearing it." He stated, pointing at the hoodie I was wearing. "Oh yeah, it's... comfy." I started blushing. He took note of the bright shade of pink my face was in right now, a look of amusement in his eyes. "Sure. It looks good on you y'know?" "Thank you Ash." I smiled.

Just then Lexi stuck her head in through the door. "You ready? Mom wants us home." She said, smiling at Ashtray. I gave him a small wave and left with Lexi. It started raining on our walk home. It's safe to say Lexi's camera roll was full of rainy pics of us.

-

Ashtray's POV:

I didn't notice the twenty dollar bill that was sitting on the table until after Hayden left. I knew it was her because it was sitting right in front of the empty chair she was just in. "Jesus Hayden." I laughed a little. I heard some thunder followed by the small taps of raindrops on the roof. I abandoned my chair and walked outside. I saw Lexi taking pictures of Hayden; she was drenched and she looked beautiful.

"Bruh stop staring it be creepy." I heard Fez say. "Shut the fuck up, you turn fuckin red when Lexi's name is even mentioned." I said, smacking his head. I spent the rest of my day selling drugs to different people. A few junkie and 'hot Cheetos girls' tryed to flirt with me, but they're awful and I already belonged to someone else.

I was going through the money and I came to the twenty dollars Hayden had left. I unfolded it to add it to the stack but a tiny piece of paper fell out of it. It had a phone number written on it and it said 'Lex said you & Fez don't have socials so here's this instead. -Hayden'. I smiled to myself and shoved the paper into my pocket. I finished counting the cash followed by Fez driving us home.

-

Hayden's POV:

I was playing cards against humanity with Maddy, Cassie, and Lexi when my phone buzzed. Seeing as we were sitting on the floor in front of my bed, I leaned back onto my bed post. "It's your turn H." Maddy said. I picked a black card out the box and went back to my phone.

Italics= Ashtray
Normal= Hayden

(231) *** - ****

Unknown:
Hey

Hayden:
Took ya long enough

Unknown:
Sorry for actually
having a life

( Hayden changed other's name to 'Ash')

Hayden:
Ur a bitch

Ash:
Thanks

Hayden:
Anytime bitch

Ash:
U have a life now?

Hayden:
Ye I quite like my job
playing cards against
humanity :)

Ash:
Sounds fun.

Hayden:
Fs my coworker
Maddy is super
competitive

Ash:
Sounds like someone
that would be competitive.
My coworker Fez is not
competitive at all

Hayden:
Oh not at all he's
a whole teddy bear

Ash:
Pls don't say that it
sounds super strange

Hayden:
My bad bitch! Let me
correct myself, he's a
ginger teddy bear

Ash:
I'm leaving this
conversation

Hayden:
Bitch

Ash:
Bye ;)

Hayden:
Bye bitch ;))

(End of texts)

I sat my phone down on the floor, tuning back into the game. "Who we're you grinning at?" Maddy giggled at me. "No one!" I tryed to keep a straight face but failed. We were all laughing now, except Cassie she had been acting weird for weeks. "Sh- She's probably grinning at Ashtray!" Lexi wiggled her eyebrows as she said his name.

"No you've got to be fucking joking! You mean like the wanna-be gangster?" Maddy said, her eyes widening as she burst out in laughter again. "You whore! He's not a 'wanna-be gangster' he's actually quite scary." Lexi argued with Maddy, to which Maddy just silently nodded, still not convinced. "How about you both shut up and play the game? Does that sound good?" I asked in an annoyed tone. "Sounds good to me." Cassie finally added herself to the little interaction.

We played for another fifteen minutes or so before we all got bored. "I'm staying the night and Hayden's bed is the best." Maddy said out of nowhere, waiting for an answer. "Fine, but! You have to get your own blanket. I froze the other night." I finished. I gave Lexi a hug and told Cassie good night, then went to take a shower.

I let the water run cold as I thought about Ashtray. For only just becoming friends he made me so happy, I felt safe even just being in his company. I eventually climbed into bed. Maddy turned to me. "I can't sleep, wanna talk?" She asked, looking eager. "Of course. What has happened with you since last time you were here?" I was expecting for her to talk about anything other than what she brought up next. "So do you like him? Ashtray?"

"Seriously Mads?" I asked rolling my eyes. She just giggle and nudged my shoulder. "Answer the question Hayden Eloise Howard!" "Oh my god ok, I think so? I don't know." I sighed, honestly not knowing. She squealed, to which I covered her mouth with my hand. "Well does he make you happy?" She asked again. "Yes. In fact I think this is the happiest I've been since before my dad. Ash has been the only thing on my mind for days." I didn't intend to share that much. She squealed once again and I kicked her. "You dumb hoe, you do like him!" She smiled.

"Whatever you say Maddy Perez. Im going to sleep, love you." I said, turning the other way. "Love you..." Was all I heard before I drifted off to sleep, the clock reading 2:45 a.m.

•••

J's thoughts:
Ooh im so excited for how this story is gonna play out! Much love to you all <3