Who: Ashleigh and Aiden What: After the party Ash decides to head to Aiden's shop, rather than going home. Where: Arcadia Unbound When: Backdated to right after the event. Warnings/Rating: None
She wasn't really aware of what time it was when things ended, and honestly, she didn't care in the slightest. To say that she was rattled was putting it mildly. She was absolutely shaken, and it was something new for her, something that just didn't happen. Even after Matthew's death, she hadn't felt like this. But ever since moving here, moving to Vegas, with all the shit that was happening day in and day out, she felt like there was a part of her coming unwound. Nightmares, and now the hotel actually fucking with her. Something had to give, and the last thing that Ash wanted was for that to end up being her.
For a moment, she was tempted just to return home, to crawl into her bed at the Aria and try and look at this after a good night's sleep, but she instead took the cab to Aiden's shop, and that's what brought her to knocking on his door at god knows what hour, arms wound around her, dressed for bed in a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top.
For Aiden the night had been quiet. One or two late-night shoppers. A handful of drunks. But in general, quiet, which he liked. He’d felt a little strange at one point earlier in the evening - almost queasy - but when it passed he put it down to bad food or a worse drink and settled in for a little more work on the papers an ex-professor had requested.
So to have someone knock when he was comfortably settled in irritated him a little more than he was expecting. Knocking, at least, meant they were close enough to sober to be polite, but they still saw the lights only half-on and realized the door was locked, right? The message should have been clear: he Wasn’t In. And fortunately his window above the front would let him look down and see who it was and tell them to piss off without having to actually get within punching range …
… but the dismissal paused on his tongue when he recognized the silhouette after a moment. It was late, he thought, and there was Ash, standing there in what looked like hot-weather pajamas. Just … standing there on the sidewalk. He hadn’t known her very long, one not-quite-a-date aside, so this unsettled him more than a little. Nobody else was around - for how much longer?
He headed downstairs and unlocked the front door, more wary and unsure than surprised.
“It’s a little late,” he said, but there was something about her posture that put him on edge. “What’s up?”
The sound of the door unlocking drew her attention back towards it, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment as she shifted uncertainly where she stood. "Hey," Ash began, and a shiver ran through her despite the warm evening. "I'm not- I'm not bothering you, am I?" She was usually certain, confident, outwardly optimistic, but right then, she was feeling anything but. It made her wonder why she had even come to see him, considering. They hardly knew one another, had only been on a single dinner outing, so what was it about him that made her come here instead of going home, back to the Aria?
There was a moment of hesitation and then Ash gave a sharp shake of her head, turning on one sneakered foot away from him. "Just- It's okay. I don't know why- I didn't mean to bother you, yes? I'm just going to go back home. I'm sorry, Aiden, truly sorry for getting you up." And the girl started to walk away, fingers rubbing at her arms, truly rattled.
There was something distinctly off about the whole situation - people didn’t come to his door looking for him late at night, much less anyone of the female persuasion - and the fact that she was in probably her pajamas made it even more unusual. And the weird lack of confidence, which in their two or so meetings had been pretty firmly in his face, was probably the strangest part, and made him raise an eyebrow in a confused question.
And then she was going to walk away. In the damned middle of the night.
“I wasn’t asleep,” he said, stepping halfway outside. “Wait - what the hell’s wrong? Don’t try saying it’s nothing. Something pretty clearly is.” Why would she be here instead of finding Neil, he wondered? If it was that awful wasn’t a sibling the go-to? Unless he was out of reach or … had the same issue to deal with …
But if the hotel hadn’t been pulling punches again, wouldn’t he have known?
The sound of his voice stopped her halfway down the walk, but she didn't turn around, not yet. The feelings that she was experiencing right then reminded her of how she felt when the officers had come to her door to tell her about Matthew. Hopeless. Helpless. More than a little lost. And she had just gotten over feeling that way, just started to really put herself back together, inside and out, and then something had to go and rattle her all over again.
Finally, she turned around back towards him, quick steps taking her back to his door, and without saying a word, Ash wound her arms around his waist and pressed in close against him, fingers clenched in his shirt. She didn't say anything, but the hug, knowing someone was close, nearby, there and solid and sure, it did a lot in helping to ease those feelings.
It was good that she came back his direction but the hug was entirely unexpected and Aiden immediately went rigid. Physical contact was something he’d long since lost familiarity with, and already being awkward in general, to have someone grab him and hold on like he was an anchor left him floundering mentally. He looked at Ash, tried to figure out what to say, decided against words, twitched a hand, delayed a few seconds too long, and then awkwardly rested his hand on the back of her shoulder, all the while hoping this was the right thing to do and, more importantly, wondering what had brought this on.
“We should, uh … probably head inside. It’s pretty dark out.” And he’d had too many break-ins in his short time here to risk even just standing on the sidewalk. Aiden stepped backward to try and pull her in, so she would walk over the threshold to the door and into the moderately safer interior of the bookstore.
If she was aware at all of the awkwardness she had just imposed upon Aiden, she showed no sign of it, leaning against him for another moment before he stepped backwards to lead her towards the bookstore. "Yeah, inside," she agreed, her voice pitched quiet, and as she stepped over the threshold just steps behind him, she wound her arms around herself yet again, slumping slightly against the door as soon as it was closed and locked behind her.
The night had been a strange one, confusing and upsetting in the same breath, and even if Aiden was still someone she didn't know well, he seemed safe in a way that mattered. Ash could still feel the man's shiv against the soft underside of her chin, the danger that had lurked in the air, and it made her sick to her stomach. She wasn't a victim, she wasn't some damsel in distress who ever needed rescuing, so why did she feel so damned vulnerable right then?
It was strange to have someone holding onto him like this, like she was afraid to break contact, and now that he’d gotten over the initial shock of human physical contact it was more unnerving than anything else. This wasn’t just clingy affection; this was desperation. Even his company-starved alienation recognized that much. Aiden frowned a little and made sure the door was locked, then tugged Ash carefully toward the counter where there were chairs. Or at least one chair. He could only hope she’d gotten a cab here instead of walking; he hadn’t heard anybody drive up.
“All right,” he managed after a moment of wariness, “what exactly happened? You’re not hurt, are you?” She wasn’t bleeding, at least that he could see. And probably didn’t have any broken bones. No visible bruises or cuts or anything. Just very, very shaken up. It was familiar in a way he didn’t like.
She was quiet until she had sat down, then she shifted, pulling her legs up so that her heels were pressed against the front edge of the chair, legs against her chest with her arms wound around them. A shake of her head at the injury part of things and she let out a sigh, pressing her forehead down against her knees, arms tightening around them. "The hotel. There was some party. I don't know. Asshole at the bar threatened to cut my throat. Just for sittin' and havin' a drink with him." She let out a soft sigh and turned her head in against her knees, face concealed, dark hair spilling over her shoulders.
The hotel. A party at the hotel. How many of those had he been to - not many, but enough to know what the implications were, and to rattle him with the fact that he hadn’t been there. Was he finally free from its goddamned contemptuous grasp? But no. The phone was still upstairs, still reaching out to everyone else. Then for some reason he’d been left out of the horrors that were always reaching for them whenever it lashed out at its unfortunate passengers. Which was … a relief. Maybe for once his life really was going to be a little less fucked up.
But Ash hadn’t been so lucky, and now she was here. At least this was a problem he was familiar with. He leaned against the counter and offered an empty half-smile that probably wasn’t going to be much comfort.
“That’s the fucking hotel for you,” he said dryly. “It does this, every so often. Drags everyone in and screws us over for no reason. Brings out things we don’t want to know about. Makes everything a hell of a lot worse than it needs to. I’ve had my share of fun.” Feeling his face twist, his entire body burn up - horrifying shit he didn’t miss and was glad that, for some reason, he’d been denied this time. “It probably wasn’t his idea. He just didn’t have any other choice, or something. That’s how it goes.”
"And just because he didn't have a choice but to behave that way - that's supposed to make me feel better?" Ash lifted her head to look towards Aiden, her expression pinched, her voice more than a little sharp. But immediately upon laying her eyes on him, something softened and she shook her head again, hunching back in against his knees. That little bit of information might have made someone else feel better, but not for her. It didn't help wash away the fact that it had happened, that the night had happened, and even though it likely could have been a lot worse, none of that made her feel better. She honestly just wanted a hug, a mug of tea with more than a little scotch in it, and someplace safe to sleep until these feelings wore off.
But Aiden was someone she barely knew, someone she had only been out with once, seen one other time, and he didn't deserve to have her come crying at his doorstep. So slowly, she started to unfold herself from the chair, coming up to stand, fingers tangling in a stray strand of hair. "I didn't mean to lay this all on you Aiden," Ash said softly, looking over towards him.
“Sort of,” Aiden said, brushing off the sharp tone with the memory of his own dealings with the hotel close at hand. “No, because it’s bullshit, but yes, because it probably wasn’t personal. He might apologize. You never know.” Not that he’d ever gotten any apologies. Or given any. But what had he done? Nothing. Exactly. If there was a little room for self-righteous self-pity, he was going to take it in this instance.
Still, it hadn’t been him getting threatened this time, so he’d have to put the self-pity on the backburner. He leaned against the counter and watched Ash get up and apologize. Aiden shrugged, a little offput but not enough to put him on edge.
“It’s no big deal. Things like this, you go where someone’s familiar, I guess.” Had Neil been there? Wouldn’t she have gone to find him if that was the case? There was a little thought in the back of his head about being someone’s first resort when they were in trouble that he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with, so he left it in the back and focused on what was happening now. “You think you’ll be alright?” An honest question, for once. Awkward as he might have been he wasn’t about to try and send her on her way if she was in a really shitty place and was just very good at disguising it.
He might apologise. He might not. He might be as much of an asshole as he had been at the party, and honestly, Ash wasn't sure she wanted to know, wanted to talk to him. Her fingers strayed to her throat, to that phantom feel of a knife pressing there, and she had to close her eyes at the memory, still fresh and sharp.
Ash didn't say anything for a long while, and when Aiden asked if she'd be alright, if she'd be fine, honestly, she didn't know the answer to the question immediately. Chances were high that she would be alright, but the thought of going back outside, of trying to find a cab to take her back to the Aria, of being alone, it left her stomach queasy, her insides rolling. So she was honest, a shake of her head, her gaze downcast as her fingers tangled in the hem of her tank top.
No. Well, that meant he should probably call Neil. Or someone else. But who else? Who was even awake at this hour - nevermind, the answer was ‘everyone’. But he honestly had no idea who Ash knew outside of her brother, and even then, calling him up in the middle of the night, even for his sister, seemed a little … callous, Aiden supposed. The only alternatives were calling a cab, which she clearly wasn’t okay with, or letting her stay in his place, which was a woefully under-taken-care-of bachelor loft. With only one bed.
He paused to think briefly. There was a couch. She could sleep there. Or he could, being that his late-night work wasn’t exactly something that needed a bed to get done. There was a moment where the idea of someone staying in his bed caused a minor mental spasm, but it was brief and reminded him that if he was going to try and pull a gentlemanly offer like this, he’d need to replace the sheets. It was a strange thing to occur to him and probably a remnant of someone much more capable and yet it was, at the moment, probably the most appropriate thing to remember.
“You could stay here, if that’s all right with you,” Aiden offered, a little unsure but more confident once the words were out. “I’ve got some work to do, so I wasn’t planning on sleeping yet.”
The offer of a place to stay for the night, even if she could hear the slight uncertainty that lingered in his voice, meant more to Ashleigh than anything else that had happened in the last day. It was what she had needed, what she had been unable to ask for, and when she looked up to meet his gaze, her own a little uncertain in its own way, tears shone there. "I'd very much like that," she said softly, dropping her gaze once again, feeling some of the stress of the evening lift from her shoulders. Her fingers still twisted in the hem of her shirt, but it was no longer with the fear, the anxiety that had plagued her since the party. "If you've a couch, I can sleep there. I don't mind. I can sleep nearly anywhere when it comes down to it." The corner of her mouth lifted in a small smile, and when she looked up again, there was more of her there, and less of the fear from earlier.
The tears honestly startled him, and Aiden almost leaned back but (fortunately) the counter behind him prevented him from moving. He didn’t quite realize how much weight the offer had carried. But - it was a good thing, obviously. She was grateful and there was a hint of a smile at the edge of her mouth and she had even offered to sleep on the couch, which he almost automatically responded to with an ‘okay, sounds fine’ before those lingering effects nudged him in the spine, suggesting the couch was a better place for someone with a permanently distorted spine and insomnia anyway.
“It’s no problem, really,” he said, moving away from the counter before his own body language could turn against him. His voice was a little rushed, more flustered than anything else under the veil of his standard flat tone. “Just give me a couple minutes to change out the sheets … no reason you shouldn’t sleep on an actual bed if I’m not going to use it anyway.”
Aiden opened the door back up to the second floor and glanced back to make sure Ash was following before heading up, more than a little confused at the turn of events for the evening - but it wasn’t a bad confusion. For once in his life.