ashlynn still seemed shaken up, and josh hated seeing her like that. there was only one other time he had seen her like this, and this time was worse than last time. josh just had to hold her helplessly while they all tried to make a plan. she could talk easily, but she was still shaking. he didn't think she knew, so he didn't say anything.
"how're we gonna get her caught?" jenna rose the question first, after the long silence of everything just thinking of what they'd all discovered.
"what if we call the cops?" tyler suggested.
"if we call the police, she'll turn it on us." ash pointed out.
"true." josh added blankly.
"what if we just let her carry it out and make her fail? we know her plan, so let's just let her think she's winning." ash suggested sitting up a little straighter as she spoke her mind.
"That's stupid." tyler scoffed
That's genius!" jenna exclaimed, right as tyler scoffed. it was kind of creepy, how coordinated they were.
"what if we get someone hurt? she could kill any one of us!" tyler fussed. they nodded silently in regretful agreement, their eyes having a sudden fascination with the tiles of the floor.
"i mean... 4 is smarter than 1... right?" josh finally spoke up. everybody's eyes darted from the ground to josh, then they all exchanged some glances. they all seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"so.... what're we gonna do first?" jenna rose the question.
"take you to the hospital." josh and ash spoke at the same time, getting up from the floor. their hands were already locked together, almost instinctively.
"awww!" tyler and jenna cooed at the two, tyler wrapping jenna's arm around his shoulder to support her. "couple goals." jenna added.
both of their faces heated up instantly, but, their hands still were held together. tyler helped jenna to the car, as he claimed he was her husband and didn't need any help. before they left the house, josh pulled ashlynn back into the foyer with him.
"what are we?" the words rolled off his tongue unknowingly like they'd been stuck there for centuries.
"couple goals, according to jenna." she joked lightly. her nervousness was evident to josh, though. he didn't know why she was nervous, and frankly, she didn't either.
"i'm serious." josh chuckled quietly with her. his voice lowered to a whisper, almost like they were being hushed in a library. their faces were very close, closer than normal, and their hands were still interlocked. "are we... like... together?" josh whispered, searching her eyes for any immediate answer.
instead of answering, ashlynn just pressed her lips to his. which was definitely enough of an answer for josh, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and her arms went to the back of his neck as they shared-
"ahem." tyler's voice made them both jump back in surprise. "if you two would stop sucking each other's faces off, i'm trying to get my wife to the hospital. so, if you would please grab some towels and get to the car, it'd be greatly appreciated." tyler scolded the two and walked back out to the car, but not before receiving a look that could cut through metal from josh.
ashlynn went up on her toes and gave josh a kiss on the cheek, a huge smile on her face.
"you go out to the car, i'll grab the towels." she spoke in a calm voice. her voice was like butter to him, and he couldn't believe she was his now. josh nodded, letting go of her hand reluctantly to go to the car.
as he walked away, ashlynn gave a small slap to his ass, causing him to jump and look at her in shock. but, she was already skipping down the hall and giggling like a kid. josh chuckled, and at that moment, the realization hit as he whispered to himself:
"damn... i love that girl..."
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as they sat in the waiting room, waiting for jenna, josh wouldn't let go of ashlynn's hand. unlike usual, tyler was now the third wheel for once. none of them were nervous because they all knew jenna was okay, they were just there so she could get bandaged up and then they'd be out.
"jenna joseph?" a nurse with a high pitched voice and a clipboard called into the waiting room. they all stood up and followed her to jenna's room, which thankfully wasn't a fully fledged hospital room. it was just like a doctor's office where jenna sat in once of the chairs, some bandages on her arms and presumably under her shirt.
tyler immediately bolted to jenna, gently wrapping his arms around her. josh, though he wouldn't admit it, hoped someone would someday see him like that. they'd love him to death, and he'd love them just as much. as he thought about this, he glanced down at ashlynn, whose head was resting against his arm, her thumb drawing circles on the back of his hand. just the sight of her made him smile.
"they said i can go home today." jenna announced after tyler had let her go.
"well, let's go then." tyler piped cheerily as he helped jenna up from her seat. the gang left the hospital after singing jenna out and making an appointment for her to come back for a check up, and they were on their way home.
jenna obviously had dibs on the front seat, so josh and ashlynn were stuck in the back. on the entire way home, like some teenage lovebirds, ashlynn sacrificed her comfort and sat in the middle so so she could be next to josh.
ashlynn and josh had already agreed that they were definitely having a sleepover of sorts that night, so they were just dropped off by tyler and jenna to josh's apartment. they said their goodbyes and rushed into the apartment, giggling like crazy.
as they were cuddled on the couch watching fight club, josh noticed ashlynn was slowly drifting away, then jerking back awake. she wasn't letting herself sleep.
"ash?" josh whispered.
"hmm?" she hummed sleepily, her eyes shooting open to seem awake.
"when was the last time you had a good night's sleep?" he whispered again, just now noticing the severe bags under her eyes.
"when did we start fake dating?" she asked, her tone matching his.
"you haven't slept well in that long?" josh sat up straighter, worry filling him.
"i'm fine, josh. don't worry about me." she also sat up straighter, trying her hardest to seem awake. thought, her act was put off by a yawn interrupting her mid-sentence.
suddenly, josh got up and picked up ashlynn with him, and she squealed a bit in response.
"where are we going?" ashlynn questioned, her legs swaying as josh walked with her in his arms to an unknown location.
"my room. it's late, you're tired, you're going to sleep." instead of objecting as he expected, ashlynn just nodded a little and rested her head in the crook of his neck. a smile spread across his face unknowingly, and it wasn't just a smile of happiness, it was filled with pride. the pride that had all come from her.
josh tucked ashlynn into his bed and kissed her forehead, saying a little goodnight before heading for the door, like he had done a few times before. minus the kiss on the forehead, of course.
"stay?" ashlynn's faint voice stopped him in his tracks, and he turned around to see her sitting up in the bed, looking at him with eyes he couldn't say no to. he sighed and nodded, walking back to the bed and climbing in with her. she immediately cuddled up to him, her face buried in his neck and her arms snaked around him. she was like the best type of leech on the planet, and he never wanted to get her off of him.
"night josh." she whispered as she faded into sleep.
"goodnight ashlynn."
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a/n: i think ash has done what we all wish we could do honestly. well, two of the things.
Also sorry for the shitty filler i'm kinda just delaying something till a certain chapter so haaaaaaaaaaaaaa *haa intensifies*
