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Ashlyn flopped down on her bed, kicking her flipflops off and curling up in a ball. She wanted to be strong and keep herself from crying, but she had never been able to hide her emotions well. A few tears trickled down her face. Pamela and Katy, Ashlyn’s roommates, weren’t in the room, and she was grateful. Sometimes, a girl just needed to be by herself.
When Ashlyn had wiped away her few tears, she noticed how loud the wind had become. It was beating against the windows. Ashlyn wondered how strong the wind had to be to do some damage. She looked outside. While the rain didn’t let her see far, she could see a few palm trees being blown to the left. All of their leaves were flowing to the left, like an urgent invitation had been extended them and they were trying to break away from the tree to go.
Ashlyn bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a smile. Maybe Brandon would leave soon, and she could just avoid Mark. It wouldn’t be so bad. They were going to have sloppy joes that night, and maybe Ashlyn would call her mom. Maybe Ashlyn had been wrong about Brandon’s sweet-tempered character.
Two raps sounded on Ashlyn’s half-open door, and she turned around. There was Brandon standing almost contritely. “May I come in?” he asked.
Ashlyn shrugged and let the curtain fall back over the window. “Sure.”
Brandon took a few steps inside. “Do you want to sit?” It was strange to have him come in her room and invite her to sit down, but Ashlyn was tired anyway. She had been going out on the beach too much. It was making her exhausted.
Ashlyn sat cross-legged on her bed, and Brandon sat on the edge.
“Are you okay?” Brandon asked. Fifteen minutes ago, Ashlyn would have poured everything out without wavering. She had been trying this new thing where she allowed Brandon to see every side of her, where she didn’t hide anything. She knew she stood a big chance of getting hurt, but he had shown himself trustworthy so far. Ashlyn knew that she was falling hard for him, and it would be hard to leave Brandon behind if he decided at the end of her time here that he didn’t like her as much as he thought he did.
Ashlyn shrugged, and her eyes followed the carpet’s jagged pattern. “I’m fine. I’m not dying or terminally ill. I eat food every day. In comparison to a large majority of the world, I’m amazing.” Putting her problems in that perspective made her feel like a slug for throwing a miniature pity party. What did it matter if Brandon said one thing that wasn’t so nice? She still had a lot to be thankful for.
“I know,” Brandon said, leaning back on the palms of his hands. “Isn’t it crazy how we stress about the stupid stuff every day? Like just now, my argument with Mark.” Brandon closed his eyes and shook his head. “That guy is crazy, but we both got pretty upset about something stupid.” Brandon shrugged. “I didn’t want to drag you into it.”
Ashlyn pursed her lips. “You could have said that without being so harsh.”
“Was I harsh?” Brandon seemed surprised.
Ashlyn wondered if she was simply being too sensitive. Maybe he hadn’t really been that harsh. She didn’t really remember anymore, and it didn’t seem to matter. Finally, Ashlyn just shrugged. “Yeah, a little. I was only trying to help, and I just thought that, I don’t know. It kind of hurt that you didn’t need me.”
Brandon studied Ashlyn seriously for a few minutes. “Okay, let me tell you something about guys. We will love a woman if she lets us, and we will, at least I will, be faithful. But, guys, no matter how much they might like a woman, they don’t want her interfering in the disagreements they have with another man. Would you want me butting in when you’re arguing with Pamela over leaving her dirty clothes on your bed?”
Ashlyn laughed, but she understood Brandon’s point. “I guess I would be pretty irritated.”
Brandon opened his arms to Ashlyn, and she crawled over into his lap. “Sorry,” Brandon said. “But I guess we both learned something, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ashlyn replied, wrapped her arms around Brandon’s neck. “I learned that you still look really cute when you’re upset, and you learned that you better treat me like a lady.”
Brandon leaned forward and gave Ashlyn a quick peck on the cheek. “I already treat you like a lady.”
“Yeah, you do,” Ashlyn agreed. She laid her cheek against Brandon’s chest and wondered if he was thinking about the future. Every night after they had walked down to visit the turtles, Ashlyn had wondered if the two of them together was something that could last. When filming time was over, would he make some sort of effort to see her again? Where would she go? Would she be willing to stay with this man that she had known twelve days?
Chapter Two
As Ashlyn sat in Brandon’s lap, she felt him trembling. Was she really so large that he couldn’t hold her? Ashlyn pulled away from Brandon immediately to stand on the floor, but then she felt that the floor was trembling just the slightest bit.
“Do you feel that?” Ashlyn asked Brandon, looking at him with wide eyes.
Brandon nodded. “I think this hurricane is hitting us in full force.”
Ashlyn took two steps toward the window before Brandon caught her hand. “Where are you going, Ashlyn? You’re supposed to stay away from the windows in a hurricane.”
Ashlyn had never experienced a hurricane before, but Brandon obviously knew everything. “Isn’t that because the wind is so strong? What else are we supposed to do?” Ashlyn remembered watching The Wizard of Oz when she was a kid. Dorothy had been trying to reach a storm cellar. “Shouldn’t we go to the storm cellar?”
Brandon started laughing, and Ashlyn frowned at him. “What? I thought that was what you’re supposed to do.”
“Yeah, if you live somewhere that has firm ground. This house is built high-up. Didn’t you notice? There is room under the house in case the waters rise. If you go under the house, you might drown.”
“Oh,” Ashlyn looked around. “So what do we do?”
“We need to find a small room without any windows that is low down and in the middle of the house. Do you have a flashlight?”
“No,” Ashlyn said. Brandon went into action, taking Ashlyn’s hand and pulling her out of the room.
