Come Here to Forget | Ash |

[Ashley Bates]

Ash wished he could say more but as always he was not a guy accustomed to expressing himself with many words. He had said what needed to be said, uncovered the elephant in the room as it were and he hoped that would be enough because he didn’t know what else he could say. Fortunately his words did seem to be having some effect. If nothing else she seemed to be thinking about what he had said. That was at least something.

When Dakota spoke up again Ash watched her for a moment. He really did hate seeing her like this. He hated that she was confused and scared and hated himself a little for being the cause of it. There wasn't really much he could do to fix all of that but his eyes found her trembling hands and an idea occurred to him. She might not appreciate his touch, had even made it pretty clear that she wanted to be at a distance from him but once the idea occurred it seemed like the right thing to do.

Without a word he reached across the distance between them and laid a hand on hers hoping that she wouldn't jerk away. He did love her in spite of everything that had happened and he would be damned if he left her now after a statement like that. "It's okay to be scared Dakota but what are you afraid of, me or what you might feel? Love isn't something to be afraid of. A loveless life is a lonely life but you don't have to be afraid and you certainly don't have to be alone."

[Dakota King]

Dakota looked down at her hands as Ash rested a hand on top of hers. After all that she had done, he was still willing to do that. She didn't jerk away from his touch at all. She blinked a couple of times before she looked up at him. It was okay to be scared, but what was she scared of? Love and loving him. That's what she was scared of the most, but she didn't know how to put that into words. And at that moment, she didn't want to use words.

Even though she was trying to keep herself from breaking, his simple touch was crumbling her defenses. Maybe she could blame it on the alcohol, but now, she decided to finally break. She leaned in towards him as she pressed her lips together before glancing down at his lips. It was only a split second decision before she leaned in closer to him and kissed him.

[Ashley Bates]

Again Ash found himself watching as she leaned in closer to him and again he let her press her lips to his in another one of the surprise kisses. He supposed that since she had done this twice now it could mean something but he had gotten his hopes up before. Instead he chose to enjoy this moment, this kiss, and enjoy it he did. There was a moment when when the the kiss threatened to ignite into one of those truly passionate kisses and Ash thought that he could take this further if he wanted. He wanted to, gods did he want to and he thought that this time Dakota would have let him but he could taste the booze still on her breath and that served to anchor him.

He didn't want this to be how things really began between them. How would he feel if he took advantage of this situation now only to find out that she still had not decided, still had not accepted him after all. That would lead to even more regret and heartache between them and they had already had enough of that for one life time. He didn't want that, not now, not ever. She was his beautiful Aphrodite girl but this wasn't what she needed right now. Ash knew it and he couldn't bring himself to push the boundaries.

Reluctantly he pulled away from her before things could get too hot and heavy. He looked at her for a long moment, a hand going to stroke her hair as he watched. Finally he nodded to himself and spoke to her in that calm and reasonable voice. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up. After that I'll stay, if you want me to, but for now I think you can be done with crying."

[Dakota King]

Dear gods, his lips felt so good against hers. So much for trying to restrain herself around him. She really did try, but her self control was always weak around him. And damn, she almost forgot how much of a good kisser he was. And she wanted more. So much more of it. She was ready to go deeper into their kiss before he pulled away from her lips. She groaned as she looked up at him and pouted a bit. But it looked like he wasn't going to give into her. At least not yet.

But he suggested getting cleaned up and that he could possibly stay afterwards. Both of them sounded nice at that moment. If anything, she wanted to wash her face to get rid of those dried tears on her face. She smiled sadly as she slowly nodded her head. "Yeah..." she muttered. "Probably should do that..." She pulled away from him as she got off of the bed as she walked out of the room and towards hers.

[Ashley Bates]

She smiled and that was a very encouraging sign even if it was a sad one. He could understand that sadness but he thought they could work to fix that if she would let him. For now though he had gotten her calmed down and that was a start. Getting Dakota back to her room so that her siblings didn't come home and find her passed out drunk was definitely another step in the right direction in Ash's opinion.

He followed Dakota to her room with a steadying hand on her back ready to catch her if she fell or stumbled. He had never been to the girl's room so he let her lead him to where it was. Once there he helped her to the bed and got her sitting. Once that was accomplished he began looking around for some kleenex or something for her all the while taking in his surroundings. He hadn't really expected to ever get to see this room after everything that had happened and yet here he was. If there was one thing he was learning about Dakota it was that nothing could be expected.

"I can honestly say…" He commented as he found what he was looking for and came over to sit by her with a box of tissues. "…I never thought my first visit here would be under quite these same circumstances." He paused here as he took one of the tissues and began wiping her face free of tear stains. "Are you feeling a little better at least?"

[Dakota King]

Dakota couldn't help but notice Ash's hand on her back as he walked her towards her room. She knew that it was just a kind gesture which was just something Ash did, even though Dakota couldn't help but wish his hands were on other parts of her body as well. She was wishing a lot of different things were happening between the two of them. But they finally got to her room and she sat down on her bed as she looked sadly at Ash. She wished he would change his mind, but it didn't look like he was going to change his mind. At least, not when she was in this drunken mess.

He talked about this being the first time he was in her room and she looked around and all she could see was a mess. To anyone else, it just looked like little piles of clutter, but to Dakota, it was unlike her to keep her room this messy. "I'm sorry it's a wreck," she apologized as she looked up at him just as he started wiping her face to get rid of the tears. "It's usually much cleaner. And I think I'm feeling better... I don't know... I'm really sorry about the mess."

[Ashley Bates]

Ash wiped away the tear stains that had covered her cheeks without a word. Even as she tried to apologize for the state of her room the boy waved away her concern. It was not Dakota’s room that he had come here to see and it wasn’t like he expected to show up unannounced and for her to be completely prepared to welcome him. As it turned out this entire night was pretty unexpected for both of them and whether Dakota had bothered to clean her room or not was the last thing on his mind.

What was on his mind was making sure the girl was alright and to an even greater extent that kiss. How could one girl have such an ability to leave him completely baffled as to what to do? Ash, who had never had trouble deciding anything any his life, didn’t know how to proceed and just when he thought he had Dakota all figured out she would kiss him again and throw his world into confusion again. Did he want the girl? Desperately so, but how could he trust her when she didn't even seem to know what she wanted?

“You’ll be alright.” He said gently as he finished his work and leaned in to kiss her cheeks if she would let him. As he settled back in beside her he spoke again. “Make me a promise Dakota.” His voice returned to that serious calmness that was all too common for him and he stared at her with piercing intensity from his pale blue eyes. “Promise me that you will stop trying to bury all these fears and regrets. Be true to yourself. If that means that you and I can never be together…well it is what it is but don’t let fear be what keeps you from being happy.”

[Dakota King]

Would she really be alright with him being in her messy room? She had no idea, but he always made it sound like everything was going to be alright, when she didn't know herself. But it still very nice. And the kiss on the cheek was even nicer and she wanted more, but knew that would probably not happen. Not with everything that happened between the two of them. She watched as he sat down next to her and she knew that she had to behave now. She already slipped up once and she knew that she couldn't slip up again.

She clasped her hands in her lap as she looked down at him. She only looked up at Ash as he started talking to her in such an eerie tone. She stayed quiet as he wanted her to make a promise. Burying all her fears and regrets? Did she really have all of those? She took a deep breath before she said, "You know what I don't regret?" She looked at him as she blinked. "Kissing you. I don't regret that at all. I regret the situations I kissed you in, but never kissing you."

[Ashley Bates]

Dakota listened to him and that was good because it lent what she said next a certain amount of gravity that he could believe. She didn’t regret kissing him. That was news to him, but even if the situations hadn’t been right for them that was at least something that they could work with and maybe build off of if she wanted. It wasn’t much but maybe it was a beginning to fix the messed up situation they had gotten themselves in and to stop hurting one another over and over again. It wouldn’t be easy but things that were worth it rarely were.

“We could stand to work on our timing a bit I think...” Ash agreed. “…but hearing you say that does clear up a few things. Why don’t we try to work on making the situation right? You’re feelings, the uncertainty, what this is…we’ll figure that out along the way. Together. Until then let’s stop walking on egg shells around each other. I think we’ve both spent enough time making ourselves unhappy and I don’t know about you but I’m tired of getting things wrong between us.”

[Dakota King]

Work on their timing? That seemed like a better option at the moment, even if Dakota was still unsure about a lot of her feelings towards Ash. And it didn't help that her sister's words kept echoing in her head since they had that oh-so-helpful talk. But this seemed like a pretty good start for now. She slowly nodded her head to agree with his statements as she looked down at her hands again. They needed to work on their timing and she was pretty sure that kissing him right now while she was still drunk wasn't a good idea.

But Dakota was tired about getting things wrong and feeling like all she did was make one mistake after another with him. Maybe it was all her fault. Maybe it wasn't. But she felt like she needed to start somewhere to fix everything. She looked up from her hands again after she took a deep breath. "I do like you, Ash," she finally admitted to him. "You're a nice guy and so sweet... I do like you." She nodded her head to herself as she decided it was probably safer to look at her hands again instead of at him.

[Ashley Bates]

Dakota was trying. He could see that. It obviously wasn’t easy for her and she still had a doubts and uncertainties but she was trying and that was a far cry from using charm speak on him to avoid conversations. She liked him. Maybe she wasn’t so sure on everything else she was feeling but if she was willing to admit that then maybe there was hope for them yet and Ash supposed if she wasn’t willing to give up on them yet then he shouldn’t be either.

“Hey…” He said as he reached up to turn her face back up to his when she looked away. “…I like you too.” He had said much more than that on another occasion and it had blown up in his face. He still held on to those feelings now but there was something important about changing things up this time. He thought she needed to know that in spite of everything he did still like her. Not only as a friend or even as a make out buddy but as a person too. Dakota was still important to him.

“I like you and I don’t regret our time together either. I never wanted to hurt you and I’m sorry that I have but no matter what kind of mistakes we’ve made I have always wanted what was best for you. If that’s time to figure out some things then I can wait but know this. When you’re ready I'll be ready too.”

[Dakota King]

Dakota didn't get to look at her hands for long before Ash turned her head so she could look at him. He still liked her after all that they had been through, which was slightly oddly comforting. And if he still liked her, that probably meant he still loved her and she wasn't quite sure what to do with that information at all. And that was probably something that she needed more time to process it all.

And he was still eerily calm about the entire thing as he talked. He wanted what was best for her? She didn't even know what was best for her. But she did know what was probably good for her at the moment. She looked over at her bed before she looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders. "It's probably best for me to sleep off this alcohol," she said with a sad smile.

[Ashley Bates]

Ash watched Dakota for a moment. She definitely looked a lot better than the state he had found her in and that made him feel a little better about everything. Even though he hadn't really gotten the answers he was looking for he thought he had some answers that he needed. Even if this crazy beautiful girl he had fallen in love with hadn't figured everything out yet she was starting to admit that maybe there was something there and that was enough for now.

"Will you be alright?" He asked her hopefully. "No more regrets. I can stay here a little while longer if you want. We could talk or I could listen..." Talking and listening were some of the last things on his mind right now but he did want to help her and it was likely that she needed to figure things out on her own now. Still, he didn't really want to leave. It had been so long since things between them had reassembled anything close to normal and this was nice.

[Dakota King]

Was she going to be alright? She nodded her head yes to that question. Besides her waking up with a horrible hangover in the morning, she thought she would be fine. She might have a few regrets, but that was something she was going to work on, right? No regrets? But the idea of Ash leaving her now? She didn't like it. "Can you stay?" she asked her voice a little softer than normal as she gave him a slightly needy look. "Please? I promise to behave."

Because she still had to watch herself around him. Even though she admitted she liked him and liked kissing him, she wasn't sure if this was the right time to indulge in those feelings. But then a wave of drowsiness hit her and she didn't wait for Ash's response before she decided she had enough of her pants and bra. She really didn't think before she undid her bra underneath her shirt and pulled it off before she undid her pants and pulled them off. Once she was comfy in her shirts and undies, she moved to get into bed before patting the spot next to her for Ash to join her.

[Ashley Bates]

Ash had already decided that he would stay if she asked him too. He was already hard pressed to find a reason to leave. All he needed was her invitation and he would take it. What he didn't expect was the needy look or the pleading tone. Was it the effects of the alcohol talking or did she actually want him around? He decided that it really didn't matter and he couldn't care less. She wanted him and he was all too willing to oblige.

It was a good thing he did as Dakota decided that she was too tired for decorum and proceeded to get a little more comfortable by getting a little more comfortable. Ash watched a little surprised at first and then his face relaxing into that amused little half smirk that he sometimes gave but when she patted that spot beside her on the bed he came. "Dakota," He said still wearing that smirk as he sat down and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I don't think I'm going to be going anywhere any time soon."