The Best Mistake

Ashlyn.

For the rest of the day I couldn't get Nash off of my mind. I barely knew him yet I felt a strong pull to him. It's probably only because he's a 'bad boy' and maybe in the back of my mind I just wanna be a rebel or something. But I still don't like it. Which is why I practically begged Jenn to come over.

"I want a guy like Channing Tatum," Jenn said as we watched Step Up, frowning as she shoved a cookie in her mouth.

I snorted. "Good luck with that," I said. "We're stuck with guys Tommy."

She groaned. "I'm gonna marry Lou," she said, speaking of her cat.

I laughed. "Can I be the maid of honor?" I asked.

She gave me a weird look. "No, Kush is," she said.

I shook my head in disbelief. "I still cannot believe your parents let you name your parrot that, especially with everything you teach it to say," I said.

"They don't know what kush is," she said, shrugging. "And I blame what she says on Jaime."

I laughed. "Shut up! It's the showcase, and Channing Tatum looks so sexy," I said, pointing to the screen. She immediately shut herself up by shoving another cookie down her throat.

While I was gawking at the screen, I heard a loud bang coming from upstairs. "Jenn? Did you hear that?" I asked her in a hushed tone.

"It's probably Alex trying to fly again," she said, waving her hand as she focused on the TV.

"Alex is at BJs tonight!"

"Ha ha, BJ. Who names their kid that anyway?" she asked, before shaking her head.

"Jenn, this is serious!" I hissed at her.

"Sorry, sorry," she mumbled. There was footsteps crossing the floor, from what sounded like my room. "Who would break in through your window anyway? It's on the second floor!"

Suddenly it hit me. I laughed humorlessly. "Wow," I said, pushing myself off the couch and going up the steps, taking two at a time. I was well aware of Jenn following me, but I didn't care. I opened my bedroom door and wasn't surprised in the least when I saw Nash sitting on my bed. However, the blood staining his shirt and trying to stain my comforter did surprise me. "What the hell?!"

"You're Nash Carter!" Jenn said, pointing a finger at him accusingly.

"Talk about me often?" Nash asked me in a cocky tone.

"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes. I saw Jenn look at me wide-eyed from the corner of my eyes. "Why are you here?"

"He's bleeding, Ash!" Jenn said. "At least offer him a... a band-aid or something." Nash snorted.

"Jenn, a Barney band-aid will not stop that much bleeding!" I said, gesturing to the bleeding boy on my bed. I turned to glare at Nash as I pointed to the bathroom. "Bathroom. Now." He threw me a weird look before limping to the bathroom.

"You failed to mention that you and Nash Carter were BFFs!" Jenn whispered to me.

"We're not even friends," I said, rolling my eyes. "Go rewind and pause the movie so I don't have to miss Channing Tatum."

"Fine, get the sexy criminal all to yourself. I see how it is," she said, before stalking off.

I rolled my eyes as I walked into the bathroom. "Take your shirt off," I demanded.

"Whoa, you gotta buy me dinner before you undress me," Nash said.

I glared. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you, okay? So listen or leave," I shot.

"Okay, okay," he said, taking his shirt off as he grumbled, "Who put sand up your vagina?" He dropped the bloodied gray shirt into the bathtub and I search my cabinet for a first-aid kit. "You're gonna need alcohol, too."

"I know what I'm doing," I mumbled.

"Oh yeah? How?" he said.

"Because I'm just that bad ass, okay?" I shot. "Lean back." He leaned back against the toilet and held his arms up, giving me a clear view of his side. It was bandaged up, but blood was seeping through like there was nothing covering the wound. I couldn't help but to look at his body. He wasn't built or anything- he was more on the skinny side- but he was pretty lean and had a nice body, especially nice arms. I quickly glanced at his face and looked away immediately as I saw him looking at me with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his lips. I took off the gauze and saw a wash rag underneath. "You really expected this to stop the bleeding?"

He shrugged. "I was in a rush and had nothing else," he said. I shook my head, throwing the wash rag in the tub.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Got in a fight and a knife was thrown in. No biggie," he said casually.

I looked at him with slightly wide eyes, before snorting. "Right. No biggie." I unscrewed the cap to the alcohol. "This is gonna hurt."

"Bring on the pain, baby."

I poured the alcohol on the gash and I glanced up Nash, who only blinked once at the pain. I grabbed the bandage and pressed it to the wound. "Sit up," I mumbled. He did as he was told and I grabbed the gauze and wrapped it around his torso, ignoring how close I was to his bare body. Once I was done, I sat on the bathroom floor as he stayed on the toilet seat, staring at me. "Why'd you come here?"

"I figured you'd help," he said simply. "And I didn't see any cars in your driveway so I thought you were home alone."

"So you're just using me for help?" I asked him, finally looking at him.

His eyes moved over my face, before looking in my eyes. His mouth was in a tight, straight line before he spoke slowly. "I don't know what you expect from me, Ashlyn. But I can't give you what you want."

"Why didn't you just use the front door instead of being Spiderman?" I said. "Matter of fact, how the hell do you even get through my window?"

He shrugged. "I'm good with climbing, I guess," he said. "Is anybody else here besides Blondie, anyway?"

"No, just us."

"Where does everybody go?" he asked.

"Aurora goes to friends houses, Alex has family or friends and my parents have dinner dates and business parties," I answered.

"So you're alone a lot?" he asked.

"I guess," I said, shrugging.

"That's not very safe," he said. "Especially when you live in a house that's never heard of locking their windows or security systems."

"Not very safe?" I repeated. "That's rich coming from the guy who gets into fights all the time for no reason and breaks into strangers houses."

"I only break into yours," he said, winking. "And I don't do anything for no reason, for your information."

"Oh? Then why do you fight?"

"It's how I make my money," he said, shrugging.

"You could get a job like normal people do," I told him.

"And go brain dead by toxic fumes? No thanks," he said.

"My job isn't that bad," I said. He gave me a look. "Okay, maybe it is. So what? At least I don't get hurt in the process."

"You're losing brain cells by the millisecond," he said.

I laughed. "Whatever," I said. It honestly felt good laughing with him. Surreal, but good.