"What the hell are ya doin'?"

Josh walked into Ashley's house, eyeing her suspiciously. She had texted him and told him to come over right after first period and he happily obliged, feeling exhausted from the night before.

Josh watch watching as Ashley sat on the couch, rubbing her earlobe with an ice cube. "'M numbin' my ear."

"Okay..." Josh shut the front door before walking towards her. "Why hell are ya numbin' ya ear?"

"To pierce it."

"Jesus, Ash," Josh mumbled. "You already have It pierced," he pointed out.

"I want a double piercing."

"And you're doin' it here? Unsupervised?"

"If I die, I die," she shrugged. "Might as well be the reason instead of syphilis."

"You have syphilis?" Josh's eyes widened.

"Nah," she took the ice off. "Not yet," she let out a giggle and held out a mirror. "Will ya help me? I jus' need ya ta hold this while I stick the needle in."

Josh sighed and cracked a small smile before coming over and sitting next to her on the worn, dirty, ripped couch. "Like this?" He grabbed the mirror and held it at a titled angle so Ashley could see what she was doing. Nodding, she grabbed a sewing needle and a lighter and quickly lit the flame over the tip to sterilize it. She held the ice to her ear for a few more seconds before putting it back down and instead grabbing the browning apple slice and holding it behind her ear.

In one swift motion, she was holding the needle to her ear right above the bottom stub and pushing. Ashley bit her lip to avoid letting out a groan but a small whimper escaped her lips anyway. Josh watched in fascination as the blood slowly pooled out of the small hole in her ear.

She grabbed one of the studs on the table, quickly taking the needle out and putting the earring in and attaching the back to it. Grabbing a tissue, she held it around the wound to collect the blood. "Well, shit," Josh spoke, bringing his hand down. "That looks pretty damn good."

"Thanks," she winked, pressing on her ear harder. "It's goin' hurt like hell tomorrow but I'll be fine. I did the first ones like it and they didn't turn out shitty," she shrugged. "I gotta do the other one too though."

The process began again but this time Ashley put rubbing alcohol on it and then had to wait while the ice numbed her other ear. "So," she started. "How was English?"

"Borin' as hell," Josh scoffed. "I ain't smart enough ta figure out how the fuck the themes in Hamlet correlate ta real life," he shook his head. "I don' think anyone in Scarlettesville is smart enough ta figure that out. We're all dumb as a box of rocks."

"Agreed," Ashley laughed. "Everyone except Dal. But he's from Utah so that explains it."

"Tyler ain't stupid either," Josh pointed out. "He's in all honors classes."

"It's because he ain't from here either," she replied. "J, can I ask ya a question?"

"Shoot."

"Do ya like Tyler?"

Josh paused for a moment before shrugging. "I don' know, dude," he sighed. "I mean he's cute. But he's two years younger than me and I don' wanna get drag his ass inta any of our shit. Would I date him? Yeah. Would I want to ruin him? Absolutely not. He probably ain't even in ta dudes."

Ashley seemed content with that answer because she didn't reply after that, instead going through the same process to pierce her other ear. Ice, sterilize, ice, apple, pierce, earring, tissue. Her right ear didn't bleed as badly much to Josh's dismay.

After she finished, not even bothering to clean up, she pushed Josh back onto the couch even further and crawled into his lap. Eventually, Josh laid them both down and they stared at the ceiling while he traced circles on her thigh.

"I can' believe you just pierced ya own damn ear."

"I can' believe you're pussy enough to not alrea'y have a piercin'."

"Fuck off," Josh rolled his eyes with a smile. "I ain't against them I just never thought about gettin' one."

"You'd look hot as fuck with a nose ring," Ashley turned over to look at him in the eye. "I can pierce it now for ya if you want."

Josh raised an eyebrow at her. "I ain't sure if I trust ya enough to put a hole in my face."

"Ya don't trust me at all," she pointed out.

Josh laughed. "Fair enough," his lips rested into an easy smile. "Do ya even have stuff to pierce it with?"

"Yeah. My mom had hers pierced for a long time. I can jus' use a stud she hasn' used since they're smaller than regular earrings."

He pondered that for a moment. "Fine. If ya give me a disease or some shit I'll beat your ass," he promised.

"Roger that!" She sprung up from where she was previously tucked into Josh's side. "I'll be right back. Start cleanin' ya nose with the alcohol."

Josh watched as she hurried up the stairs to more than likely her mom's room. He just then realized she was only in her panties and one of his t-shirts. He smiled and shook his head before grabbing the rubbing alcohol and one of the cotton balls. He doused the cotton in the chemical before rubbing it on the left side of his nose.

Ashley returned a minute later with a small baggy in her hand. Upon closer inspection, Josh realized there was in fact a nose stud inside. It looked new too but he already knew Ashley wouldn't lie to him.

She crawled into his lap and grabbed one of the ice cubes, holding it to his nose to numb it. "Reminds me of all the times Frank beats the shit outta ya and I gotta and fix ya up," she laughed softly.

"You don' gotta do nothin'," Josh
cracked a smile making Ashley giggle even more. She put one of her hands on his shoulder as she used the other one to apply pressure to the ice on his nose.

"This don' hurt, right?"

"Nah," Josh replied. His pain tolerance was alarmingly high.

"Good."

The two sat there for a few more minutes while numbing it. Finally, Ashley moved to grab a different sewing needle and lighter, sterilizing the new one. "Are you goin' in?" He asked.

"That's what she said," Ashley smirked as she leaned in and pressed the needle to his nose, finding the spot she was going to insert it.

"Why does it gotta be a she?" Josh raised an eyebrow.

"Shush, don't make me laugh or I'll make ya bleed out," she giggled.

Josh began to space off, thinking of various things. His mind eventually wandered to Tyler and smiled, remembering the day at lunch where Tyler asked if him and Ashley were dating.

"Hello? Earth to Josh?" Ashley waved her hand in front of Josh's face.

The mentioned blinked and looked over at her. "Yeah?"

"'M done," she held the mirror she used earlier out to him. He grabbed it and looked at himself. Ashley was right. He did look pretty hot. As if reading his thoughts, she spoke up again. "Shame ya ain't inta girls. I'd fuck ya right now."

"Ya'd fuck anythin' I don' think that's a compliment."

"I hate ya," she rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Did ya seriously not feel that?"

"Nope."

"You're a psychotic fuck."

"Yep," Josh grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the couch so they were lying down. "Now shut the fuck up. We're gonna take a nap."

Ashley giggled and rested her head on his chest, careful not to hurt her ear. "I love ya, J."

"Shush, I'm sleepin'."