"MOM?" ASH said, stepping into her house.
She was greeted with silence, and looked around hesitantly. "Mom?"
"In here, honey!"
Ash jammed her cigarettes into her back pocket, and walked into the living room.
"Yeah?" She asked, and she stopped abruptly in the doorway as her mom looked up from where she was sitting on the couch.
A man sitting across from her looked up also, and Ash's forehead creased.
"What's going on?" She asked, looking between them, and her mother smiled.
"Ashley," She said. "This is your dad."
Ash stared at him, and he waved timidly. "Hey, sweetheart."
"N-no." Ash stuttered, swallowing hard. "This isn't– it's not–"
But her mom was nodding her head, a weird smile stretched across her milky face, and Ash took a step backwards.
"There's been a mistake you– you can't be my–"
"Dad?" The man asked, looking up at her. "You'll find that I am, darling."
Ash shook her head, and then said in a trembling voice, "A real dad would've been there. A real dad wouldn't have– wouldn't-"
She rubbed her arms self consciously, and he got up from the couch and took a step towards her.
"Sweetie, that was a long time ago-" He reached out to touch her shoulder, but Ash slapped his hand away, glaring at him.
"Ashley!" Her mother said warningly, and Ash turned furiously towards her.
"No!" She said. "You can't just drop a bomb on me like this and expect me to act like everything's fine- like nothing ever happened!"
She glared at both of them before saying abruptly, "I'm going to Richie's."
She turned on her heel and thundered up the stairs to her bedroom, hearing her mother shout, "Ashley Brenner! You get down here this instant!"
Ash grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and slung it over her shoulders, stomping back down the stairs and immediatly turning towards the front door.
Before she could turn the knob however, she was stopped by her mother.
"Ashley." Her mother said in a sharp voice. "Your father just got home-"
Ashley spun to face her. "Really mom? I had no fuckin' idea!"
"Hey, young lady, watch your language!" Her dad said, also walking towards the front door, and Ash laughed.
"Ohhh right, I forgot!" She face palmed her forehead. "You have no literal clue what's happening in my life right now!"
She smiled sweetly. "Let me fill you in."
"First of all," She began, cutting right across her father. "This summer I made the best friends of my entire life, all of them boys and one girl who sadly moved away to Portland. We spent the whole summer riding around on our bikes, going into abandoned houses, and splashing around in sewers. We called ourselves the Losers Club."
"Secondly," Ash continued, once again ignoring her father who looked as if he was pressing to interrupt. "I dated a boy from this club, who I broke up with and is now one of my best friends. I also didn't even live at my own house for most of the goddamn summer, and lived with my best friend in the universe Richie Tozier and slept on his couch with him."
Her father's mouth dropped open, and her mother looked as though she wished she could be anywhere else as still Ash barreled on. "This boy, who I also smoked cigarettes with and got into fights with and insulted everyone with, is now my boyfriend and the love of my life. The Losers, my friends, they call us the Asshole Duo and Richie is a total trashmouth and says the word, "Fuck." In every sentence. He's also made out with me on numerous occasions and always protects me with every fiber of his being."
She finished this speech, narrowing her eyes at her dad. "And that just about- oh, wait I have something for you!"
She reached into her pocket, and pulled out her middle finger, holding up in front of him. "Go fuck yourself, dad of the year."
And then Ash turned and wrenched open the front door, slamming it shut behind her.
~
"Wait, wait, wait," Richie said, gasping for air, his shoulders shaking with hysterical laughter. "Y-you said- you said "G-go fuck yourself dad of the y-y-y-"
"Year, yeah." Ash said, and he collapsed into another fit of laughter, holding his sides.
"Oh God, oh God," He managed to wheeze. "My girlfriend is iconic."
"Well, what the fuck did you expect me to do!?" Ash said, and he started laughing again, closing his eyes.
"Let me catch my breath- please-" He managed to choke out, now having the hiccups from the laughter, and after a couple of minutes they petered out and Richie finally sat up.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and put his glasses back into place, grinning at her. "That is now my second favorite Ashley quote."
Ash made a face. "Don't call me Ashley. It doesn't fit you right."
She tilted her head at him. "Also, what's your first Ashley Brenner quote?"
Richie didn't hesitate and automatically recited as if he had said the words over and over again, "'I'm in love with you too.'"
She smiled softly at him. "Aw, Rich."
Leaning forward, she kissed him gently on the forehead. "You're such a sap, babe."
He raised his eyebrows as she sat back. "Babe? That's a new one."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it."
As Ash looked around the same old living room, a thought occurred to her. "Hey, I've never seen your bedroom."
She glanced at Richie, who took a few seconds to register what she had said, and when he did his head snapped up. "Huh?"
But Ash was already leaping up and bolting to his stairs, going up them two at a time as he shouted, "Hey! HEY! You little sneak- get back down here or I'll-"
She laughed as she reached the top, looking around for his bedroom and saw it, a faded out R on the door, probably carved into it.
She slowly turned the knob and opened it slightly before a hand shot out and slammed it back shut.
Ash spun to see Richie, holding the knob tightly, and exclaimed, "Hey!"
Richie looked apprehensive, licking his lips nervously. "We should- um- do this later-"
"What!?" Ash asked. "Why?"
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out and she shook her head at him. "Tozier, I let you sleep in my damn bed, so let me in your bedroom."
And before he could protest she had pushed the door firmly with her shoulder, her hand on top of Richie's as she opened it, and it gave way as they both stumbled in.
It was normal enough, and Ash looked at him weirdly. "This isn't even a big deal, what is your-"
She stopped abruptly as she caught sight of his mirror, her voice dying out as she walked towards it.
Pictures covered each and every inch of it, and all of them were of her.
Her laughing, her with the Losers, her doing something completely stupid, but they were all her.
She saw one of her at the ice cream parlor on the last day of school, the day she had gone out with all the Losers. She had ice cream on her nose and was batting Eddie's hand away as he pointed at it.
Another one showed her leaping into the Quarry the day they had all gone, being her sixth time jumping off the cliff.
There was one lone shot of her cigarette box, and an old faded one that looked like it had been from a long time ago of her and Eddie looking at Ben's pictures on his wall, a black slash drawn messily through it.
But the one that caught her eye was her sleeping on Richie's couch, the blanket half off of her. This had obviously been taken during this summer, and she saw his legs tangled up with hers, one of his hands in her hair, and her eyes gently shut as she dreamed.
"Rich...." She said softly, and turned towards him when a flash went off right in her face, and she blinked from the white light.
Richie put the old polaroid down, smiling as the picture slid from it. "One for the album."
After it had dried, they both bent over to look at it, and Ash's breath caught.
The mirror showed the reflection of Richie holding the camera, barely making out the corner of his mouth slid up into a slight grin as Ash looked right into the lens, her expression filled with wonder, and amazement, and love.
"Glad to know you weren't faking this whole being in love thing." He whispered, and she grinned as he slid his arms around her and pulled her in.
feels!! also, we are currently 8 chapters away from...THIRTEEN. oh geez. you guys. *shudders* well anyway, vote and comment your thoughts and reactions on this chapter, new update coming soon!