Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Eleven

[I honestly wrote this chapter just to put Ashlee's character into a better perspective, so this is kinda a filler ig]

I crawled into bed next to him. I told him I wanted to go home for the night but clearly I couldn't. When I touched him his eyes snapped open. He stared at me.

"Patrick?" he asked.

"Hi" I whispered. He stared at my face.

"Oh my god" he mumbled. "I knew I shouldn't have let you go home" He ran his thumb over my now black eye. "I'm gonna kill him" He sat up and tried to leave the bed but I grabbed his hand.

"I need you right now" I said gently. He frowned at me. He laid back down pressing his forehead against mine "I love you so much" I whispered "Please, don't hurt me. So many people have, I just can't take it anymore. Please just don't hurt me"

"Never. I won't ever hurt you" he said. He placed his hand on my cheek running his thumb under my eye. "I love you so much baby"

"Can you hold me?" I whispered.

"Of course" He grabbed my waist hugging me tightly to him. "You're so perfect, you don't deserve this"

"It seems like you're the one always telling me that"

"I know" he smiled.  I smiled back.  I cuddled my head into his chest to feel safe again.
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"Patrick what happened to your eye!?" Ashlee yelled when I walked into art.  "Did you get into another fight?"

"Yeah" I laughed "Actually this time I walked into a door.  My boyfriend had to take me to the hospital" I lied.  She nodded frowning.  The other Ashley smiled at me. 

"How are you Patrick?" she asked.

"Better" I mumbled.

"Good" she said.  I sat next to Ashlee.  We looked up at our teacher "Okay, so I have a project for you guys that's not in the curriculum but, I like it" she said.  She grabbed a stack of paper.  "So what you'll be doing is going with your seat mate somewhere, anywhere in the school.  You'll fill out these questions about your partner, and do these activities, and then you'll draw your partner as you see them, in some way that really shows me who you think they are.  But, nothing mean" she winked "Okay, go, and stay in the school!" she yelled.  We laughed at her.  Ash and I both grabbed the papers we needed. 

"Where do you wanna go?" she asked.

"I have a place"
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I knocked on Petes door gently.  He looked over at me.

"Free period right?" I asked.

"Yes, why aren't you in class?" he crossed his arms.

"We have a project for art and she told us to go somewhere else in the school, is it okay if we use your room?" I asked.

"We?" he asked.

"Hi Patricks boyfriend!" Ashlee said excitedly.  Pete raised his eyebrows at her "I mean uh, hello, not Patricks boyfriend, uh, normal english teacher at my school"

"Smooth Ash" I mumbled.

"Uhm, I won't tell anyone.  Patricks kinda my best friend so I don't really wanna betray him.  I'm trustworthy I promise"

"I believe you" Pete said gently "Patrick has good judgement"

"Okay" She smiled.

"Okay" Pete laughed "You can use my room but I'll be in here if that's okay"

"As long as we can use the room" I said.  He waved us in.  Ashlee closed the door behind her.  We sat down at the two desks in the back.

"Okay" she said "So the first question is whats your partners favorite color?  Wow, that's surprisingly simple, oh wait I just read the next question.  I knew there was a catch it's Ms. Frangipane-"

"Ash, calm down, you're talking fast" I said.

"Sorry" she squeaked "I don't know how Evan deals with me.  Uhm, my favorite color's purple"

"Mine's orange" She smiled at me and we wrote the answers down. 

"Okay, next question.  What's a secret no one else knows?" she asked "It says we don't have to write it down"

"Uhm, I'm dating my english teacher" I laughed.  Petes head shot up.  He stared at us.  "Stop eavesdropping"

"It's a quiet room it's not hard to eavesdrop" he mumbled.  He went back to grading.

"You kind of know everything about me, well, I mean okay, don't ever tell anyone this, this doesn't leave this room" she looked at Pete.

"Who am I gonna tell?" Pete asked not looking up.

"Teacher friends?" she asked.

"I only like two of my colleagues and the one is your art teacher" he mumbled. 

"Okay, well, when I was fourteen I got pregnant" she said gently "And I lost the baby, I wanted to keep it but, I had a miscarriage.  Ever since then I've been obsessed with having a baby, but I just wanna wait too.  I'm only seventeen" she smiled "Wow, that was deep okay.  Next, question" she looked at the paper.  Pete and I met eyes.  He gave me a saddened look.  I bit my lip.  "How do you see your partner?  This is what you'll be drawing them as so be honest.  Good qualities only.  Lift someones spirits" she said "Awh, Ash is so cute" she smiled. 

"Oh boy" I laughed.

"You first" she said.  I smiled.

"You're strong, and you're always smiling even on the toughest of days so thats cool, you're always one to stand up for the little guy.  You always stand your ground and you fight for what you believe is right" I said.  She smiled a little.

"Thank you" she whispered.  I smiled back.  "You always put people before yourself.  You're very logical and you have good judgement.  You're a great friend and your really strong.  Nothing can knock you down.  You know what you want and you know how you wanna get it.  You have amazing drive in life.  You just keep going.  And even when you're having a bad day, you still have room for caring and loving everyone" she said "And you're my best friend" I saw Pete smiling at us from the corner of my eye "And you have a really cool boyfriend"

"So do you" I laughed.

"He's okay" she smiled.

"Thank you Ash" I said.  She nodded.

"Oh!  I know how I wanna draw you!"  She said. 

"Oh, I'm scared" I said.  She giggled. 

"Go sit next to Pete" she said.  Petes head shot up again. 

"Uhm" he said.

"Don't worry, no ones gonna know you're dating.  Calm down" she laughed.  He watched me pull a chair up next to him.  "Okay, so I want Patrick to talk to you.  And you smile at him" Oh lord "And you won't understand this picture or see it until Ash says we can show each other.  It says it in the directions" Oh lord.
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In the end I ended up drawing Ashlee smiling at a little baby.  The baby was on her lap holding one of her fingers.  Ashlee had a bigger smile on her face than I'd ever actually seen her smile in real life.  It was supposed to represent how big her heart was.  And how amazing it was to hear about a fourteen year old that got pregnant wanting to keep her baby. 

"Okay" Ashley, teacher, said "Now that I have all of your papers I want you to give each other the drawings you made" she said.  Ash smiled and handed me the one she did.  She was an amazing artist.  She got Pete and I perfectly.

"This is supposed to represent the good impact you have on peoples lives every day" she said.  I smiled at it.

"I love it" I said gently.  I handed the one I did of her.  She stared at it for a second before a small tear ran down her cheek.  She smiled at me.

"I love it" she whispered.  She hugged me tightly "Thank you"

"You're welcome" I smiled.