Wanderlust

The phone call that broke up what would have been Tom and Ashlyn’s first kiss ended up not being all that important. All it ended up being was her parents calling to check up on her. The only thing Tom could think was that she was 21 years old and her parents still felt the need to check up on her like she was a teenager. He could see it in her eyes that she didn’t really appreciate the interruption but he was certain that she would never say anything to her parents.

“Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” Tom said, reaching his arm behind his head to rub his neck as he kicked at some dirt on the ground after Ashlyn had hung the phone up. She just smiled softly.

“Only a little bit,” She muttered, kicking herself in the ass that she had even thought to answer the phone at time like that, “Look, I’ve never been really good at this whole relationship thing so it isn’t really surprising to me that I fucked it all up already.”

Tom laughed at Ashlyn and just shook his head, “There’s not anything to fuck up right now, love. You’re fine. You just did what you’re used to doing, which is answering whenever your parents call.”

“It’s not like I can help it, really. I’ve tried so hard to break away from their crazy thoughts that I should just stay here for the rest of my life and give up everything because my sister can’t take care of herself anymore. I can’t do that, though. I don’t even care how selfish it is. I’m not going to give up on my dreams because of what happened,” She said, pulling at her long hair. She hadn’t gotten it cut in years; her mom told her that long hair suited her so she had just kind of kept it the same. She wasn’t even sure if she had consciously thought about the statement her mom had made and how it influenced her, but she hadn’t changed it.

“It’s hard to break away from what’s expected of you and just do what you want,” He said softly. And in a matter of minutes their conversation had gone into a different atmosphere. It had become intense and Ashlyn had at least a passing idea that they would end up leaving these trees with a little bit of baggage.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” Ashlyn said, somehow knowing that Tom would understand what she had meant, “Be warned though, mine are kind of deep.”

She had never had to warn a boy off before; her parents had done that for her. But they weren’t here to take care of him and run him off with the past. She would tell him herself about what had happened and why. She was sure that he had at least a generalized guess of what had happened all those years ago and why she was suddenly so respectful of her parents.

“In all honesty, Ashlyn, I’m not sure if you’re ready to tell me anything yet. And I’m not going to force it out of you. You feel like you owe me an explanation, when in reality you owe me nothing of the sort. I plan on spending as much time with you as I possibly can, alright? And I don’t want to know everything about you right this minute; I want to spend time doing it. I want to know your favorite flower and your favorite song. And why you are so reserved around your parents but you’re so amazingly open around me. Everything. And God damn does it make me sound like a loon, but I don’t even care,” He said, standing up and pacing back and forth as he just let his mouth take over. He stopped when he realized that Ashlyn was sitting on the ground laughing silently at him.

“This is funny to you? That you drive me crazy and I’ve been in the United States for less than a month? I’m glad it’s funny to someone, because you’re driving me bloody mental,” He said, giving her a smile even though his words would sound kind of harsh to anyone else that was listening to them, “I can’t even get you out of my head for a split second, do you know that?”

“Good. I’m sick of you running circles in mine too. So we’re even now,” She said and grabbed his hand to pull him back down to sit next to her on the blanket. When he was sitting she leaned against his chest, feeling braver than she had in weeks.

“Do you think we’ll work out?” She asked, hoping for the right answer and praying she wasn’t making a fool of herself.

“I damn well hope so. I can’t predict the future, love. But I would like to see us work out,” He said, kissing the top of her head softly.

“But you live in England. And I live here,” She said, playing with the grass beside her, making a small pile as she pulled it out of the ground.

“You want to see the world, don’t you?” He asked lightly, smiling at her as her grabbed her attention and she nodded enthusiastically, “So what’s the problem then?”

“I guess nothing,” She whispered and finally, after waiting for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, Tom had his chance to kiss her and he took it.

And it was just as perfect as she hoped it would be.

“I’ll come visit you tomorrow at the store,” He promised with another soft kiss before he got out of the car and walked towards the back where his cabin was. She smiled softly and walked into the house, finding her house empty of everyone. She was thrilled at this fact until she saw the blinking light indicating that they had a message. She hit the button and waited for the voice, which she knew was going to be one of her parents, speak.

“Ashlyn. We’re going to have a discussion when we get home tomorrow, please don’t make plans to do anything except go to the store to work. We’ll be home around two or three,” Her mother said, always short and to the point.

“Love you too mom,” She muttered as the monotonous voice of the answering machine let her know that there were no new messages. Ashlyn figured she might as well get some cleaning done just so that they couldn’t be on her ass about that as well and started in the living room, praying for the day where she never had to deal with this crap.

She wasn’t sure what the discussion, as her mother called it, would be about tomorrow. But she knew that it would have something to do with her and the boy who had taken up residence in the cabins behind their house. And she didn’t know what she would do if her parents said something to her about him that she didn’t like. Tom was a safe haven for her. He was someone that listened with an open ear and an open heart. He didn’t have any notions or ideas about her that he had conceived on his own to make him hate her, he was just there for her. And she had a feeling that he would be for a while if her parents didn’t try to run him off.

She knew that Mandy had a great deal to do with whatever it was that her parents had decided for her, but at that moment she could not find it in her to care less about it. She was a grown girl and she could decide what she wanted to do with herself.

She just hoped she could be that strong willed when her parents came home the following day.