''Why don't you put your things in your room and get settled in,'' Sarah placed a hand on Ashley's shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. Not entirely sure as to what was happening, Ashley decided that her best cause of action was to do as she was told. Therefore with a nod and a small smile (if you could call it that) she picked up her bag and walked into her new bedroom.

Sarah had been right when she'd said that she was going to let Ashley decorate because the room wasn't exactly what she had been expecting. Of course, there were the usual necessities; a double bed sat in the middle of the room, accompanied by a matching set of nightstands, on with a little lamp placed on top of it. there was also a wardrobe shoved in the corner next to some Chester draws. The walls were covered with a very retro patterned wallpaper that seemed to be peeling off before her very eyes. The only real surprise of her new room was that she had her own ensuite, all to herself. It looked a lot more modern than the rest of her room, leading her to think that it may have been put in for her.

Not entirely what she was supposed to do, Ashley placed her minimal luggage that she'd brought with her, on the bed. It sunk a little more than she had expected and was sure a layer of dust rose when it did too. Sighing, she unzipped her suitcase and groaned when she noticed that everything inside had moved around and her clothes were spread about (possibly because she'd forgotten to pull the straps together).

Just as she was trying to filter through her clothing, separating tops from bottoms, underwear from her shoes, a knock on the door startled her. She hadn't even realised that the door had shut behind her, mainly because it hadn't made a noise when it had. A sudden heat crept it way up the back of her neck, as she approached the door to open it.

''Sorry, I didn't...''

''All the doors in this house have a mind of there own and I don't care if you keep it open or not,'' Ashley nodded, not sure how to look at the man in front of her. She didn't want to look at him directly in the eye because she didn't want to draw unwanted attention to his black and purple bruised eye.

''Sarahs gonna take ya to the mall to get some stuff, you know make it ya own,'' Ashley nodded a little confused. Sarah had made it out like Toby was some sort of monster with no feeling, but the conversation; a little one-sided to tell the truth, they were having he seemed perfectly fine.

''Yeah ok, that sounds good,'' she replied, her hand gripping the edge of the doorframe.

''Great, well Sarah will call you down for dinner. We'll let you get settled in and unpack first,'' with that final comment Toby turned around, grumbled something Ashley couldn't quite hear before he then disappeared back down the stairs.

He left Ashely frowning in the doorway of her new room. The words Sarah had spoken swirling round and round in her brain 'I'd just be careful around him ok,' what was strange was that Toby seemed fine to her. Shrugging, she closed the door behind her and went back to unpacking. She didn't get far until she found herself sat crossed-legged on the bed, silent tears dripping down her face, a photo of her and Micheal pressed against her chest. Never in her entire life did she think she'd miss a person so much.

❃❃❃

Ashley could cut the tension at the table with a knife. She'd been living with Toby and Sarah a day and a half now. Sarah had taken her shopping as she'd promised on the first day and they'd spent the first half of Ashley's second day moving furniture around and scraping the remnants of the old wallpaper off the wall. It turned out Toby hadn't been a fan of the mess they'd made and screamed at them for ten minutes before declaring that they clean it up and that he was going to pay someone to redecorate it properly.

Needless to say, that was why the dinner table wasn't exactly a humdrum of chit chat on that second night. Not like the first one was full of conversation either, but at least there'd been some sort of conversation.  Ashley could tell that Sarah wanted to say something, due to the number of times she watched the blonde open her mouth only to close it again. In the end, it was surprisingly Toby who broke the silence.

''Ashley remember I'll be taking you to work for your first day tomorrow. I expect you to be ready for eight otherwise I will leave without you,'' he pointed his fork in a threatening way towards Ashely. With her mouth full she was only able to nod in understanding. Thankfully that appeared to be enough for Toby because he didn't say anything else after that. The rest of the dinner concluded in silence.

After what felt like the most awkward dinner of her life so far, Ashely found herself alone again in her room. She was excited for tomorrow, a part of her hoped that maybe she'd meet a couple of new people even the thought of maybe seeing Marshall and Proof again brought her mood up. They may have been a lot older than her and not her type of people, but a friendly face was all Ashley wished for in tomorrow.

Sighing she sprawled herself on the bed and stared up a the ceiling. Leaning over to the nightstand to her left she pulled the drawer open and fished out her walkman and headphones. Not bothering to check what tape was in it, she just hit play. That is where she spent the rest of the evening, barely listening to the music blasting in her ears, her thoughts drifting away back to what she'd be doing if she was still in England.

Her hand reached up to clasp the locket around her neck. How she wished Micheal had made the move before instead of literally the second she was about to leave. That thought was what brought the tears back.