chapter twenty two
WHEN I WOKE UP, I had no idea where I was or what time it was. Or, even, what day of the week it was. As I sat up rather quickly, my head throbbed so much that I had to lie back down. I put a hand to my head and groaned as the sharp pains didn't seem to stop. What's going on?
It was pitch black in the room I was in. There was no source of sunlight or any kind of lamp that I could see nearby, so I began to get a little scared. I quickly recognized that I was on some sort of fold-out couch with a ton of blankets on top of me.
I furrowed my eyebrows together and turned on to my right side when I realized there was a person next to me. I shot up, yet again receiving more stabs to the brain, as I groaned and tried to get a good look at who was beside me.
Kyle?
My heart began to pound as I looked around and recognized another figure as the one and only, May Parker, to my left.
Did we have some sort of huge sleepover last night, or, like, what's going on?
I slowly lowered myself back down as I turned on my left side and looked over at May. I could feel my heartbeat in my head and it was not a good feeling at all.
As my eyes adjusted, I saw that May looked incredibly peaceful in her sleep. Her head probably wasn't throbbing like mine and her hair seemed to be tossed around in all directions like a birds nest. I couldn't help but see it as incredibly cute and so... It was just so May.
I felt something vibrating in my back pocket, so I quickly pulled it out and saw that my dad was calling me. The light from my phone practically blinded me and made my head hurt even more, so I quickly denied it. The time read that it was four in the morning.
I had several Snapchats from people, some of which were from Olivia and Fernando (I'm not really sure how they got my Snapchat), and a few Facebook messages from Julia. I ignored the notifications and opened up my phone only to see a new background on the home screen. It was a picture I had never seen before.
As I looked closer, I saw that everyone at Lulu's surprise party was in it, except for Kyle (who I assumed was taking the photo), and my arm was slung around May Parker's shoulders. My heart pounded when I saw that I was smiling at the camera but she was smiling at the side of my face instead.
I slowly peeled my eyes away from the phone and looked at her next to me, who was still sleeping as peaceful as an angel.
Curious, I opened up my camera roll and saw several pictures from Lulu's stake-out point. I don't remember taking any of them and that honestly scares me a little bit.
I felt something move on my thigh which made me freeze in my position. I slowly picked up the blankets and turned on the flashlight on my phone to see what it was. To my very own surprise, I followed someone's foot with my light and saw that May Parker's leg was literally around my left thigh. I wanted to scream, cheer, burst into a happy dance, but I didn't. I simply turned to look at her and smiled.
Her face scrunched up as she started to stir around and that's when I realized I was shining the flashlight in her face. I quickly shut it off and put my hands under the blanket - along with my phone. I closed my eyes, just to fake it, and prayed that my headache would go away soon.
About a minute later, I knew she was awake. She was probably confused, too, just like I was.
"Ashley?" She whispered. I slowly batted my eyes open and gulped when I saw her eyes meet mine. She smiled. "Hi."
"Hi." I smiled. I bent my left leg and felt it touch different parts of her leg than originally.
"Oh, jeez, sorry." She mumbled and took her leg away from my body. I craved for it to come back but I knew that would be weird.
"It's okay." I whispered and tucked my hands underneath my pillow. My fingers were getting a little cold.
As my eyes kept readjusting some more, I realized that we were probably in someone's basement. I knew there had to be more than just me, May, and Kyle in here.
"What happened?" She brought her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes tightly as she hissed.
"I have no idea." I replied as I tried to ignore my throbbing head. What did we do last night? "Last thing I remember is when Kyle gave us brownies..." I recalled.
"Oh, my God." May groaned and rubbed her hands on her face. "I'm guessing those were pot brownies." She chuckled and looked over at me. I smiled and tried to contain my laughter, but I couldn't really do it.
"I wouldn't be surprised." I shook my head and stared up at the ceiling.
We laid next to each other in silence while the sound of a clock kept us company. It wasn't awkward or forced or anything, it was actually quite nice. May happened to take a deep breath the same time I felt my phone vibrate again.
My heart raced as I prayed it wasn't my father, but, as I lifted the screen to my face, it was. I sighed and stared at the screen until the ringing stopped. I would think - at this early hour - that he's wondering where I am. I mean, I can't blame him, I've been out of the house since yesterday morning and I haven't checked up with my parents at all to let them know I was okay. Only, you know, when my dad called me at the zoo - I'm not really sure my location is the biggest issue to handle.
"What's going on, Ashley?" May whispered beside me. I locked my phone and turned my head to look at the gorgeous girl beside me. I mean - pretty.
"My dad..." I cleared my throat and exhaled out of my nose loudly. I can't cry; not today. "He called me at the zoo." I confessed, making sure to keep my voice low. "And he basically said that I'm a failure to my family and-"
I took a deep breath. It was extremely hard to say an insult to yourself out loud.
"Hey." May moved her hand out from under the blanket and grabbed onto my wrist for comfort. I smiled down at it. "He's just an asshole that doesn't understand people like us." She smirked. I felt a small tear escape my eye and trail down to my pillow.
"Yeah." I smiled and took a deep breath. "It sucks." I adjusted my head higher up on the pillow so I was truly facing her.
"It does suck." She chuckled lightly. "But, you know what, we're okay." She squeezed my wrist ever so slightly. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with us. We're still human, right?" She began to choke on her words a little bit.
"Right." I smiled and closed my eyes. "I can't cry - it hurts my brain too much." I chuckled and made her to laugh as well.
"Me too." She laughed before she took a big, shaky breath. Her hand that was on my wrist was so warm and welcoming that I really didn't want her touch to leave my skin. I wanted to stay connected forever. "Ashley?" She began.
I hummed in response. I couldn't open my eyes; the pain was absolutely unbearable. When she didn't say anything after, I opened my mouth to respond, "yes?"
"Do you..." She struggled to get the words out. I felt her fingers begin to tap on my wrist, creating some sort of pattern. It felt really nice. "This may sound weird, and I don't want you to take it the wrong way, but..."
I kept my eyes closed even though I was suddenly extremely curious. My heart began to speed up and I started to lose feeling in my toes.
"Do you ever think something could happen between us?" She asked. I opened my eyes and stared at her while the inside of my body went on an extreme rollercoaster. This was the first time I actually saw May nervous - she didn't look confident or strong like she always does which made my heart flutter just a bit. "Like, okay, maybe that came out a little weird, but, you know-" I smiled, "-okay. Let me rephrase that. Okay. So..."
"It didn't come out weird." I smiled and interrupted her thoughts. I suddenly remembered the way she held my hand last night. "I got it."
"Oh." She smiled and laughed nervously. "Okay, good. I'm glad it makes sense." She pursed her lips and then blew some stray hairs out of her face. If it wasn't so dark in here, she'd see me blush.
"But, um," I gulped, "going back to your question," pause, "uh," I looked away from her face and down at her hand resting in my wrist, "yes - I mean, I hope so."
She smiled that big ole' smile of hers with the dimple and everything and I almost stabbed myself - it was so cute.
"I hope so, too." She took her hand off my wrist. I begged for it to come back, but then she took me by surprise as she reached out to touch my hair. I froze.
I didn't say anything, instead I just smiled at her as I watched her eyes follow her hand in my hair. She pushed a few pieces back and tucked them behind my ear, practically causing me to internally squeal of happiness.
I don't think my heart has ever pounded faster than it is right now in my entire life.
"I don't like it when you stare at me like that." She huffed and brought her hand away from my face as she brought her eyes back to mine.
"How do you even know I was looking at you?" I chuckled.
"I just know." She pouted and scrunched her nose up. My heart burst when she did that.
We ended up just staring at each other for a really long time. May Parker wants something to happen between us. And I do, too. I smiled at the thought. I couldn't stop myself from glancing down at her lips, I just couldn't.
"May?" I gulped.
"Yeah?" She smiled. Her stupid dimple showed, yet again, making my stomach feel weak.
"Would you slap me if I tried to kiss you right now?"
I couldn't believe that I actually let those words out of my head. I felt my entire face flush red.
She smiled and shook her head.
Before I could say anything else, May sat up, so I did too. I almost laughed at the awkwardness of it all.
"Hang on." May shuffled her legs around, causing me to chuckle. I decided I should probably get comfortable, too, I guess, so I moved my legs underneath of me. I looked up at her and smiled as she continued to shuffle around. I laughed. "Oh, fuck it." She breathed.
Before I could even register what was happening, May leaned forward and gently planted her lips on mine.
It was like everything had stopped. The rollercoaster inside of me stopped, the butterflies faded, and I was able to feel every single inch of my body as if electricity had been shot in every single possible direction.
I smiled, disturbing the whole thing, and caused her to accidentally bite my lip. I laughed as I pulled away and dabbed at my lower lip.
"Oh, shit, I'm sorry, hang on." She shot up from the couch and went to go grab something. All the butterflies returned when I realized what had just happened. "Here, I got napkins." She climbed back on to the couch and held the napkins out in front of my face.
"Thanks." I smiled and took one out of her hands as I began to dab at it.
I couldn't even look at her in front of me without thinking oh, my God - we just kissed!
I dropped the napkin and, as I looked up at her, we both smiled as wide as we possibly could before erupting into a fit of laughter.
That sloppy kiss was just so typical.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Is anyone else screaming or is it just me? You guys... the Mayley ship has sailed... and I've never been more smile-y :-)
I know I said there will only be a few chapters left, but I lied! (I know, I'm sorry). This book is not over yet! I still have lots of plans to come *winky face plus evil laugh*.
Any idea of what is to come next? Dad, Julia, Mason, Mom, Plant, May, Fernando/Grant, Olivia? Any votes?
See y'all on Sunday! <3