A Fresh Start

Ashley's eyes fluttered open as she felt the warmth of a new day sun draws over her face. With a small hum, she rubbed her eyes and yawned before looking to her right and seeing Zack's sleeping face on the pillow next to her. An easy smile grew on her face as she found herself merely watching the teen, thinking about the other day fondly. Though Ashley did feel a touch of shame come over her, over the years she'd seen Zack dozen's of times whenever their sisters decided to hang out together, and she never gave him the time of day, never wanted to get to know him better and now, she couldn't think of a bigger regret.

Just then she felt a little odd sensation on her leg, in fact, her whole thigh did feel warmer than the rest of her body. She carefully lifted the blanket, letting some light under it only to see Zack’s hard on resting on her leg. Her cheeks turned a deep shade of red, feeling it poke her last night was one thing but actually seeing it was something else entirely. Ashley nervously chewed on her lip, unable to help herself from inspecting him closely, in comparison to Brandon he was huge. She reached her hand down and ran her thumb and pointer finger slowly along his shaft, He’s got to have at least two maybe three inches on Brandon, she thought before moving her hand away.

Ashley shook her head, _Geez, what the hell girl, you can't just cop a feel like that, that's so wrong! _She internally chastised while she slowly adjusted herself, sliding her leg away from him before slipping out of the bed completely. Zack let out a little grunt but turned over, sleeping just as hard as before. Ashley grinned as a fleeting thought of Zack's morning wood filled her mind though she pushed it away, heading to the bathroom to start her day.

She quickly relieved herself and brushed her teeth, since the bathroom was connected right to their room she held off on a shower, for now, not wanting to wake Zack. Seeing as he had done almost everything for her yesterday, the least she could do was let him sleep in a little this morning. Ashley turned on the sink, wet her face with a bit of cold water, the one thing that she was dying for, was a fresh cup of coffee, something to give her that jolt of energy.

Ashley quietly moved back into the bedroom, slipped on a pair of shorts over her panties before sneaking out of their room. She made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen only to stop as she saw Brandon sitting at the kitchen table. Her eyes narrowed instantly, and she quickly diverted her gaze elsewhere. Brandon lifted his head from the table and let out a little smile, “Hey Ash.” He said as she walked past him, “I, uh, I made a pot of coffee if you want some.”

Ashley stopped for a moment, taking in a slow breath. “Yeah, thanks.” She replied dryly walking over to the counter to grab a coffee mug, "Were you expecting me?" The blonde added on with a quick glance over her shoulder,

"Not expecting per se, just something I've started unconsciously whenever we're staying together," Brandon replied though her only heard a soft scoff from Ashley in response. As she picked up the pot and started to pour her cup, Brandon slowly got from his seat and walked up behind her, “Listen, Ash, do you want to talk this over? I don’t know how all this happened but I really am sorry that it did.”

Ashley bit on her tongue, trying to hold back from shouting, swallowing down her anger she quietly said, “Yeah, I bet you are.”

Brandon narrowed his eyes at this comment and took another step towards her, “Ashley I’m being serious here. I talked to Heather about that night and if I really did do something with Sharon it was a mistake. Are you really going to hang me out to dry because I was drunk? After all we've been through together?”

Ashley’s eyes flared up and she quickly spun around to face him, “You know what’s the worst part? You are just expecting me to shrug this off because you were drunk, but you haven’t even apologized to me!”

“What are you talking about?!” Brandon exclaimed as he sat his coffee onto the counter and crossed his arms,

“You’ve only ever said you were sorry that it happened, never that you were sorry to me! You are a serious piece of shit!” Ashley spat out,

“Ashley! I am sorry!” Brandon shouted out while tossing his hands up, “But I don’t see how you aren’t getting this was a mistake! I got drunk and fucked up, yes, but I didn’t do anything last night or any other night! One mistake isn't a reason to end this, that's just fucking stupid!” He said, his voice coming off rougher than he wanted and less pleading.

Ashley slowly clenched her fists as Brandon spoke, each word angering her more. Finally, she took a step towards him so they were only inches away from one another, “Let me put it to you this way. We are so fucking done, so you can go ahead and fuck whoever the fuck you please.”

Ashley then stepped away from him, picking up her cup of coffee, before heading towards the door. As she reached the exit she heard Brandon mutter out, “Guess that means Bishop’s getting lucky tonight.”

Ashley froze in place, her eye almost twitching at this point, “Excuse me?” She asked turning around slowly,

“What? After yesterday it’s pretty easy to see you already found your rebound.” Brandon replied coldly while she walked towards him,

Ashley scoffed at him, “First, it's none of your fucking business what I do anymore, and second, don't fucking talk about me and Zack like you know something because you don't! ”

Brandon let out a sneer “Please, give my congratulations to Bishop for turning you into his pet so easily.” Brandon shot back only for Ashley's hand to fly out in a flash, sharply slapping him across the face,

Brandon stumbled back just a bit, clearly out of surprise, “He didn’t do anything, he was there for me when I found out that someone I should trust betrayed me! He was **** than you've ever been and I don't need to defend myself for spending time with him!” Brandon slowly ran his hand over his cheek, “But maybe, just maybe, all of this was a good thing because now I see what a piece of shit you really are!” Ashley turned around, shaking her head, “Don’t talk to me the rest of the trip, I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”

Ashley stormed out of the room, the anger still flowed through her veins like a poison. She quickly reached her and Zack’s room and opened the door. She let out an exasperated shout and slammed the door, releasing some of her pent up anger. However, this caused Zack to shoot awake, she heard him grunting in confusion as he looked around the room in confusion. Slowly turning towards him Ashley let out a small embarrassed smile. “Hi…” She said with soft eyes, “I’m sorry about that, I really didn’t mean to do it.”

“What happened?” Zack asked as he rubbed his eyes with his right hand.

Ashley nearly winced, fighting with herself if it'd even be worth telling Zack, then let out a sigh, “I just-I just had a talk with Brandon. It really didn’t go well.” She murmured back,

Zack slowly moved his hand away and let out a concerned look, “You alright?” He asked while scooting himself up in the bed,

“Yeah, I mean I think so. The only thing I keep thinking about is...I hit him.” Ashley replied causing Zack to let out a surprised look, “And it makes me feel so shitty. I mean I went from loving him to slapping him across the face in just a day, it’s a horrible switch.” She said while she walked over to the bed and got into it, sitting next to Zack.

“Damn, you really hit him? What did he do?” Zack asked watching her interested,

Ashley paused and kept her eyes on her coffee, once again tossing the idea of telling Zack what was said and if it was something he should hear. Ashley finally let out an annoyed exhale, she figured he deserved to know, “I went down to get coffee and he was there,” She said cocking her head a bit, “He started talking, basically trying to get me to forgive him without even saying sorry. When I told him off he got pissed off then he-” She said peering over to Zack, feeling a bit embarrassed, “He, uh, he just said that you and I-or that I was-”

“Ash, just get it out. It’s okay.” Zack said putting his hand on her back, expecting that she was actually getting upset rather than embarrassed,

She took a sharp breath, her cheeks turning pink, and continued, “Then when I told him we were over he started talking about us. He thinks we're going somewhere, that I'm planning on using you as a rebound. Then he had the fucking gall to say you made me your pet,”

Zack moved his hand away from her and widened his eyes, “My p-pet?” He stammered out,

“His words.” Ashley affirmed, “And that just rubbed me the wrong way. I just-I just snapped and I slapped him.” Then to Zack’s surprise, she smiled, barely holding in a laugh, “Topped the whole thing off by saying I didn’t want to talk to him for the rest of the trip.”

“Sounds like you were on a roll,” Zack said letting out a weak breathy laugh,

“Oh yeah,” Ashley said sipping her coffee, “Nothing could stop me.” The two shared another short laugh and sat quietly in the bed for a moment, “I mean, the other day when you told me about you and Lisa. I saw that you had such...regret for what had happened, and you never even did anything, but when I talked to Brandon everything about him felt so fake. His words didn’t hold any sincerity, I know for a fact that if I didn’t catch him then he never would have told me. He would have just pretended that it never happened and that’s horrible to do to someone you love.”

Zack was taken aback, he understood what she meant but it was near surreal to hear someone tell him that he had nothing to be ashamed of. Lisa didn’t give him a chance but at least Ashley saw how much it mattered to him and that he would have given anything to fix it. “Thanks, Ash, I...I just, it means a lot to hear that from someone.“

“Your welcome, but you don’t have to say that. If you weren’t being the person you are then I never would’ve had reason to say it in the first place.” Ashley replied with a warm smile, “I’m sure once you go after whoever you are planning on going for, you’ll never make that mistake again.”

Zack let out a smirk and chuckled softly, “I don’t know, I’m not even sure if I really am after anyone.” Zack admitted, since Kurt had so easily won Victoria’s eye he felt dead in the water,

“Really?” Ashley said visibly surprised before blushing a bit, “No one has caught your eye?”

Zack's mind was empty, the immediate reaction of thinking of Victoria wasn't overtaking him, instead, he watched Ashley intently, “No, not really.” Ashley let out a small smile and the two both sat gazing at one another. Then in an instant the both of them push forward, pressing their lips against one another, within a few seconds, it was over and they both just sat, thinking about what just happened.