Keep your friends close and your enemies, closer

Kent’s POV

I absent-mindedly played with Ash’s hair. I couldn’t believe it. This girl, this absolutely beautiful girl, just kissed me. And she was sitting on my lap right now. I wonder if she could hear how fast my heart was beating right now.

A soft snore told me she probably couldn’t hear anything at the moment. I looked to her face and chuckled softly as she breathed deeply.

I hugged her closer to my chest, and rested my cheek against her hair. I was exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep just yet. I was too jittered up with Ashlynn on me. My eyes didn’t want to close, not one bit.

At that exact moment, my cell started vibrating in my chest pocket. Ash squirmed and mumbled something like ‘Shut up’. I shushed her and pulled out my cell. I started to play with her hair, because I knew it would make her sleep again.

I answered the call as soon as I was sure Ashlynn was already sleeping. “What?” I growled in a whisper.

“Kent?” It was Harvey. What did he want in the middle of the night?

“Yeah. Dude, why are you calling me at like two in the morning?”

“Dude,” He mocked. “Why are you whispering?”

“Ash’s sleeping. I don’t want to wake her.”

“What?!” He shouted. My eyes flew back to Ash’s face, in horror that she would wake up again. I didn’t want to disturb her sleep, and I didn’t want anybody else to either.

“Can you shut up? You’ll wake her up!” I chided softly, gently rocking her back and forth.

“What the hell are you doing with her at this time of night?!” His voice wasn’t getting any softer and it was getting more protective.

“Calm down, Harv. We didn’t do anything. I swear. You can come over to her house, if you don’t believe me. She’s just sleeping on my lap and we both have our clothes on.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. He was probably embarrassed because… “Fine. I’ll be over in a second.” Harvey promised warily, as he cut off the line.

I stared at my cell in disbelief. He better NOT be coming over. I wanted to spend my night with Ashlynn, not with her and Harvey. I quietly knocked the back of my head against the sofa.

“Nice going, Kent.” I scolded myself inwardly. I carefully reached for the television remote on the table in front of me, without waking Ash up. There weren’t any good shows on, so I settled for the news.

~

About fifteen minutes later, Harvey walked through the front door as if it was his own house. He flopped down on the sofa, and gave a raised eyebrow.

“I told you, nothing was going on.” I stated, feeling a little irritated.

He laughed and pointed to Ashlynn, who was comfortably lying on my lap. “That’s not nothing. What’s going on between you guys?”

I grinned and snuggled against Ash. “I told her everything.”

Harvey widened his eyes. “Really? What’d she say?”

“She kissed me.” I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

“Seriously? Wow. She must really like you.” He commented, leaning against the sofa and changing the television to some music channel.

“That’s fine with me, because I don’t mind at all.” I gazed at Ash’s peaceful face. She’s so beautiful.

“Yeah? Hey, what do you like about her?” He surprised me by asking that.

I took about a minute or two to think the question through. I wasn’t thinking on what I liked about her; I was thinking on how to say it without sounding like a nerd.

“I love the way she walks as if she’s a model, but doesn’t realize it. I love the way she looks at you as though she doesn’t believe what you’re saying. I love how she’s childish, but never immature. I love how she’s stubborn, and will always stand her ground.” I finally said. “There’s just so much for me to love about her, you know?”

Harvey gave me a serious look. “But do you love her?”

I paused. I faced Ashlynn instead. I brushed a strand of hair away from her face. I kept my hand on her cheek and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

I turned to look at Harvey. “I think I could. But now, not yet.”

He gazed adoringly at Ash. “Just take care of her, okay? She’s practically my sister, and I hate to see her hurt. She’s a strong girl and it takes a lot to make her cry.”

I knew about Harvey’s relationship with Ash, so it didn’t bother me in the least. “I don’t think I could ever do that to her.”

“Of course not.” He smirked. “Because if you do, I’ll hit you so hard you wished you were a girl.”

I pretended to tremble and laughed. “I’m not scared of you, Raegen. And we both know I can totally kick your ass frontward, backwards and sideways.”
Harvey joined in my laughter. “You wished, Rivera.”

Suddenly, I heard Ashlynn mutter something. I rested her head against my shoulder and patted her hair gently. She was probably just dreaming.

“James.” She muttered again, but clearer. I frowned, and looked at her. What was she saying? I turned back to face Harvey, who was silently observing Ash.

“James.” She murmured, louder now. I tried smoothing the frown on my eyebrows, but I couldn’t. Why was she calling out his name in her dream?

“Ash?” I whispered, not entirely sure she wasn’t awake. She started struggling against my hold and hitting me.

I captured both her hands in mine to prevent her from struggling. I ducked my head to look at her; she was still asleep.

“Ashlynn, it’s okay. I’m here.” I tried to comfort her, but she wouldn’t stop struggling.

“No. Go away!” She broke away from my grip and used her hands to hit me continuously on my chest.

Okay. That was starting to hurt. “Ashlynn.” I gently shook her to wake her up. She stayed quiet but she didn’t stop moving.

“Ash.” My voice wasn’t a whisper anymore; I was using my normal voice. “Ashlynn, wake up.” I shook her firmer.

She finally stopped struggling and settled against my chest again. “Kent.” She sighed, before her soft snores started.

I gave her a weird look. “What was that about?” Harvey asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know. Why was she calling out his name anyway?”

Harvey shrugged. “Your guess is probably as good as mine. Oh hey, I thought you said Ash went back with James?”

I frowned. “I did see her going home with him…”

“So how is it that you’re with her now?”

My frown got deeper. “I don’t know. I just found her on the road. Then, I brought her to my cousin’s house and here after that.”

“Your cousin’s…?” Harvey stared at me quizzically.

I sighed. “Long story. I never knew how she ended up on the road alone, though.”

“Think it has something to do with James?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m positive that bitch has something to do with it. And I’m going to find out what it is soon.”

We watched the TV for a little while in silence.

“Oh, what about Summer?” Harvey suddenly asked, tilting his head to face me.

I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Summer and Ash. Aren’t they like still pissed at each other?”

I closed my eyes and groaned softly. “It’s my fault.”

“Your fault?”

“I shouldn’t have told Summer about Ash. That way, she wouldn’t have stuck up for me and started shit with Ash.”

Harv was silent. For about a second. “You’re right, there. It is your fault.”

I smiled sarcastically at him. “Yeah, thanks a lot. I needed that.”

He just shrugged. “I don’t think you can do anything. Summer will crack down first and apologize to Ash. Ash pretends that she needs time to think about it, but accept Summer’s apology a second later in a ‘heartfelt’ hug.”

I looked at him in confusion. “And you know this… How?”

“They do this every two months, tops.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn’t know what. So I shut it up, and leaned comfortably against the headrest.