*NOT EDITED*

Chapter 8

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"Ash. . . Ash . ." I faintly heard someone calling my name, but I didn't bother answering, knowing that it'll just make the jungle grow aggressively louder and bigger.

Bang, Bang, my head went.

"Ash. . Ash"

Bang, Bang.

"Ash!"

Bang, bang

"ASH!"

The voice was so loud, it send a shocking wave through me, and made me roll out of bed which resulted in hitting my head on the floor. Hard.

Not a good way to start a morning, hungover.

"Could you say it a bit louder. I don't think the people heard. . . In Australia!" I chastised Damon, holding my head between my hands.

"Go brush your teeth. It reeks alcohol from yesterday." His face twisted in disgust as he held his hand over his nose.

"Why are you waking me up?" I rubbed my temples in hopes of getting rid of the ruthless headache, but to no avail.

"Ryder's here, we have a school project and we need your help in something."

I wished people created a kind of alcohol that didn't make you hungover the next morning, it-

Wait, what?!

"Ryder's here?" My eyes widened.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's what I just said."

I pushed him away, and went to the bathroom to freshen up. I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

What a mess, I thought incredulously.

My hair decided to do its own thing, and was somehow standing up on its own. There were dark circles under my hazel eyes, and my mouth smelled like something died in there. And came from the dead. And then died again.

I brushed my teeth thoroughly, and washed my face with cold, refreshing water. I tried to tame my hair, but just tied it up in a messy bun. And it wasn't the cute, messy bun. It was the real messy bun. Before leaving, I popped an Advil in my mouth to reduce the headache.

Damon was out of my room by the time I left the bathroom, so I decided to dress in a pair of sweatpants and an old PINK shirt.

My stomach grumbled rather loudly, and I patted it down.

Hush little baby, don't you cry, momma's gonna find you some food now.

I left downstairs and followed the rich aroma of brewing coffee and pancakes. Bex and Ryder were both standing in the kitchen laughing and cooking food. I couldn't have been happier in my life, seeing the food.

"Please tell me that that's for me," I said hopefully, hopping on the counter.

"It is," Bex said as she slid the full plate towards me.

I wasted no time in barfing down the food like a hungry wolf. Halfway through the meal, I noticed Bex and Ryder staring at me in wonder.

"What? I'm a growing girl who needs to be fed properly. And I'm not gonna eat with manners or whatever just because a guy is standing here." I waved them off before going back to my meal.

Damon walked in a few minutes later. "Yeah, I know how you feel. Seeing a wild beast in its natural habitat."

Just before anyone can laugh, I threw at him my fork and it hit I'm square on the head from behind.

"Oww, how can you be that aggressive?" He said, rubbing his head while Bex and Ryder laughed.

After eating our breakfast, Bex had to leave, and Ryder, Damon, and I went up to finish their project.

"So what are you guys doing your project about?" I asked, bouncing on Damon's bed.

"On the French Revolution. We failed in the quiz, so we're making it up with this project."

"Yeah, I can see that. You guys probably filled in french fries as France's national vegetable." I shook my head.

"That has nothing to do with the revolution and it doesn't even make sense. Plus, we definitely didn't think that potatos were the symbolic vegetable," Ryder scoffed.

"Yeah, definitely. . . pfft," Damon agreed.

"Uh-huh," I shook my head and laid out their papers on the floor.

Ryder decided to stay over for lunch, too, since him and Damon were going somewhere that afternoon so they'd be saving gas by going together.

I was standing in the kitchen cutting fruit when I felt Ryder's presence directly behind me. His front body was touching my back. I stepped away from him and his smirk deepened. I'd prefer my personal bubble to be intact.

"What are we having for lunch?" I asked to break the awkward silence.

"Pizza," he said, beating me down with his heated stare.

"Yay! I'll go get the movie ready," I changed the subject ignored him before jumping on the couch.

"You're scared of me," Ryder said bluntly.

"What do you mean?"

"I was simply standing behind you to grab a banana and you instantly moved aside. Are you afraid we'll get too close?" He leaned on the counter and crossed his arms, his muscles bulging.

I laughed and said, "You can keep dreaming, loverboy."

He sat next to me on the couch, our legs brushing. I ignored him as he put an arm around me and relaxed.

"So you won't mind if I did this?" He asked with another God damned smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "No."

He got even closer and whispered in my ear heatedly. "This?"

My breath hitched in my throat. "Nope."

Before he could have done anything else, Damon walked in, much to my relief.

"Aye! You're too close to her," Damon said as he squeezed himself between us.

"I think she was enjoying it," Ryder said.

"I think she wasn't."

"I think she's getting annoyed," I interrupted their bickering before the doorbell rang. I got up to find the pizza delivery man waiting outside. Paying him the money, I said, "Keep the change."

"Pizza's here!"

We ate in silence as we watched the horror movie, and finished the two pizza boxes in less than five minutes. Of course, I wasn't really focusing with the movie due to the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about what happened with Ryder.

Then, a frightening thought came to me that almost made my heart stop.

This morning, I woke up with a big hangover, which meant that I was really drunk. A really drunk Ash is a really embarrassing and a really unpredictable Ash.

Oh my God, what happened yesterday?

"Uhh, Ryder, did I happened to say anything embarrassing yesterday?" I looked over to him. He was trying to hide his laughter.

"Maybe."

"So what? Is that a maybe yes, or a maybe no?" I started panicking.

"I don't know, what do you think?" He smiled and dimples popped up on both cheeks. Sweet mother of chicken nuggets.

"I think I may have spilled to you my life story." I groaned and closed my eyes. This is why I shouldn't be going to parties.

"Don't worry, you didn't tell me anything embarrassing," he said with a laugh, "but you did say that you thought I looked like a Greek god. And that my abs-"

"Oh, my god, stop. Just stop. I don't want to know what I said," I cried out.

He laughed even harder causing me to laugh a little. Why do I have to be so embarrassing?

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Author's Note:

Hey Guys!! So here's a double update in a day, ain't we amazing? As usual this isn't edited, but I promise that we'll edit the book in whole when it's completed :)

Here's a gif of Dave Franco also known as Damon in TGTCTP 😍

Much love,

MD & SD ❤️