FicWad

As Ashley cuddled up to Joe in bed, she sighed, looking up to the ceiling with a look of disappointment on her face. Joe still hadn’t made a move, and she was beginning to get frustrated, both emotionally and sexually. Looking back towards Joe, she sighed again as he played on his phone, ignoring her silent pleas for attention.

“Joe,” She whined, and he looked up from the screen of his phone, silently cursing the fact he hadn’t memorized all her tones of voice yet, and had no idea what to expect from her when she turned to look him in the eye.

“What’s up?” He said it carefully, and she smiled before picking her nails slightly.

“Are you ever going to...” She stopped, not wanting to rush him and push him away at the same time. Joe raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, wanting to hear the rest of her sentence.

“Going to what?” He asked, genuinely not having any idea of what she was talking about. She sighed again and turned fully towards him, needing to finally tell him what was on her mind.

“I feel like you don’t want to be with me Joe, you haven’t made me a move on me yet,” He widened his eyes and put a hand on her arm, frowning slightly.

“But-” He thought for a moment and sighed, looking her in the eye. “I was going to at the first party we had here,” He paused, smirking slightly as he remembered her passed out on the bed. “But you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you,” Ashley frowned this time, and tilted her head to stare at Joe.

“So why haven’t you made a move since then?” She asked, and Joe thought for a moment.

“I guess I just thought I wanted to wait for a while, I didn’t want to rush everything and ruin it,” Ashley gulped, trying to determine whether she thought Joe was telling the truth or just trying to get out of a sticky situation. She took a breath and poked his arm playfully, attaching a smile to her face and letting her instinct of Joe’s truthfulness kick in.

“Well, if you made a move now, you wouldn’t be moving too fast,” Her pupils dilated and Joe took a deep breath, watching as Ashley moved closer to him and brushed his arm, making Goosebumps appear and the hairs on the back of his neck stand. She smiled innocently and he smirked, moving towards her and brushing her hair out of her face.

“Are you sure?” He asked, and placed the smallest of frowns onto his face before looking back at her. “I mean, we can wait if you really want to,” Ashley shook her head, and put a hand on his cheek, bringing his head towards her and kissing him lightly.

“I don’t want to wait,” She smiled, kissing him again. “I want you,” She whispered, and Joe smirked happily before rolling on top of her and kissing her forcefully, and Ashley smirked into the kiss, grabbing a hold of his shirt and pulling at it. When they had pulled his shirt off and moved to the top of the bed, Joe went to pull at Ashley’s top too and pull it off, but before he had the chance, the door to the bedroom flew open, and Pete ran in. Wearing nothing but an open, silky bathroom robe, he jumped onto the bed with them and flung his arms around Joe, making Joe cringe.

“PORN NINJAAA!!” He yelled, and Joe widened his eyes at the sight of Pete’s goods, and slapped his hand to his face, climbing off of the bed.

“Pete I thought you got out of the habit of that,” He groaned, and Joe turned to Ashley who similarly had her hand glued to her face. “He did it at least once a week when we lived at our house,” Ashley giggled from behind her hand and Pete turned to Joe, still neglecting to cover himself up.

“Why are you topless?” He asked, and looked to Ashley who was peeking through her fingers to check if the coast was clear. When she noticed that it wasn’t, she squealed slightly and groaned.

“I’m going to need therapy,” She mumbled, and Pete smirked proudly, realizing he had interrupted something between them.

“Oh dear,” He started, and Joe rolled his eyes, knowing Pete was retreating to his pranking ways now he was comfortable in this house. Pete sniggered and pointed at Joe.

“Sorry, I stopped you from getting some, didn’t I?” He asked, evidently not guilty of his actions in the slightest. Joe glared and pushed him out of the room, all the while attempting to keep the lower half of Pete’s body out of his eyeshot.

“Get out,” He muttered, practically throwing Pete out of the room. He heard him sniggering behind the door after he had shut it, and he hopped back over to Ashley who was frowning on the bed.

“He killed the mood, didn’t he?” Joe asked, and Ashley rolled her eyes.

“Unfortunately I think I’m going to have to call a counselor,” She muttered, and Joe laughed, sitting next to her on the bed. He sighed at the door and tilted his head to look at her.

“I’ll kick his ass the next time I see him, when he’s not naked,”

Outside, Pete had giggled as he strutted across the hallway, planning his next attack. He had contemplated Patrick, but he figured the dude wouldn’t be in the mood for any practical jokes today. He also contemplated jumping Grace and Gabe, but thought against walking into the room that was more likely to be accommodating nakedness that even Ashley and Joe’s room. He decided to attack Jenn, hoping that it would piss Dirty off, and that they could have some sort of play fight to amuse themselves later because of it. He smirked to himself and wiggled the doorknob slightly, checking to see if the door was unlocked. He smirked as it twisted and opened the door an inch or two, and he giggled once more before bursting into the room.

“PORN NINNNJAAAA- uh?” He stopped in his tracks when he looked at the bed, and spotted Andy with his arms around a now waking Jenn.

“Pete what are you- AHHH WHAT THE FUCK?!” Andy screamed, making Jenn jump and look confused at the commotion. Andy looked at her and placed a hand over her eyes protectively.

“Andy why have you got your hand over my eyes?” She asked, and Andy glared at (the top half of) Pete.

“Because Pete in standing in front of us completely naked,” He muttered, and Pete smirked.

“Actually I have a robe on, look,” He pulled the material and looked smugly back at them, but then frowned. “Andy what are you doing in bed with Jenn?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Jenn gulped and attempted to look back at Andy, but failed as his hand was still against her face. Andy simply smiled.

“Just because whenever you’re in bed with a girl it means you want in their pants too, doesn’t mean we’re all like that Pete. It’s just a friendly night spent cuddling,” He looked at Pete pointedly and Pete smirked.

“Yeah yeah Hurley,” He turned to the door and Andy raised an eyebrow.

“Where are you going now?” He sighed, knowing Pete was off to jump someone else. Pete smirked evilly and looked back at them, walked out of the door as he talked back to them.

“I’m going to go and Porn Ninja Izzy, minus the Ninja,”

*

Life seemed to get pretty boring as vacation ended and the group went back to their lives they all shared in the girl’s sorority house. The Monday they returned, most of them drifted onto campus for classes, but Gabe decided to take his last day off before his Tuesday class to finish moving his belongings into Grace’s room. Ali was home too, but as soon as she arrived home, she gave everybody the silent treatment and locked herself in her room. Izzy tried to talk to her, but was only met with a plea to be left alone. Pacing down the hallway, she would glance from Gabe rearranging his stuff in Grace’s room across the hall to Ali’s closed door, knowing full well there was something wrong.

“Ali, you know you can talk to me about anything,” she announced, earning a concerned glance from Gabe who moved to the doorway to peer at Ali’s door as well.

“Me too, even though you don’t know me as well,” he laughed to himself. “I’m quite the girl too,” he joked. Izzy smiled at his remark before leaning against Ali’s door, desperate to console her friend.

“Ali, just let me-” Izzy yelped slightly as the door suddenly opened, and caught herself on the doorway before she toppled, startling both Ali and Gabe at the same time. Ali looked at them as they collected themselves before turning back around and walking towards her bed. Taking it as somewhat of an invite, Izzy moved into the room and quickly motioned for Gabe to follow her. The two sat on both sides of Ali and instantly, Ali seemed to smile at the comfort she was already receiving.

“I’m just a little confused, that’s all,” she mumbled. Izzy nodded, understanding.

“With the whole Travi slash Patrick thing, yeah?” Ali nodded but sighed again.

“To make matters worse, my sister is-”

“Oh don’t tell me she’s coming-” Izzy interrupted. Ali nodded and cut her off.

“…for a visit,” she finished and Izzy cringed, clenching her teeth tightly together.

“Ok, I don’t really care about the whole Travi Patrick situation anymore,” she paused as Ali and Gabe both raised their eyebrows. “I hate your sister,”

“Why?” Gabe asked, beating Ali to the question. Ali nodded in agreement at Izzy. She rolled her eyes and stood up, placing a hand on her hip.

“Because every time she’s come for a visit, you end up having the worst time,” she smiled lightly though. “Plus, I’m your best friend, which automatically puts me on your side,”

Ali smirked at her comment but still let out a reluctant sigh.

“I just don’t want to have to deal with her crap,” she skewed her mouth to one side. “She’s bringing her newborn,” Gabe perked up his eyebrows.

“Woah! You’re an aunt?” he asked. Ali laughed slightly.

“I’ve been an aunt for four years,” she said back. Gabe nodded once and looked to Izzy who seemed to be in thought.

“I just don’t understand why she always has to come down here and flaunt herself around like she’s the shit,” she hissed. Ali shrugged.

“Because she’s the big sister, regardless of…” Ali trailed off and Izzy chewed on her lip as Ali looked kind of guiltily at Gabe. He tilted his head to the side.

“Regardless of what?” he paused as they stared at him. “What?” he asked again. Ali shook her head again.

“Nothing,” she whispered and closed her eyes tight. “Nothing at all,”

*

The moment Ali opened the door that Friday afternoon, her smile faltered and her mood went from content to discouraged in three seconds flat. On the front steps of the house stood her older sister, Emily, smiling brightly with a small infant in a car seat that hung from her arms. Ali tried to force a smile, but found herself frowning as Emily made her way inside, greeting herself to the group that littered the living room. Ali closed the door and took a giant breath before following her, watching as most of the guys perked their eyebrows up at the obvious differences between the two. While Ali stood fairly tall compared to most of the girls in the house, Emily stood much taller than her. Emily had obvious dyed hair, but it was the eye color difference that set Patrick off. He looked at Ali and she slightly shook her head before turning to her sister.

“Guys, this is my sister, Emily,” she gulped as Emily smiled widely and looked to Ali for introductions. “Em, you know the girls, but uh, you haven’t met the boys,”

“Do they live here?” she asked, creasing her eyebrows together. Ali nodded once and Emily laughed shortly, moving around her and sitting down right in-between Izzy and Pete, the two looking slightly annoyed at the fact of being separated. Emily proceeded to offer her hand to Pete who hesitated at first under the glare of Izzy.

“I’m, uh,” he gulped loudly. “Pete,” he finally said. Emily nodded and turned back to Izzy.

“He yours?” she asked. Izzy pursed her lips together and perked up an eyebrow, already annoyed.

“Yeah,” she answered flatly. Emily smiled through the sarcasm and turned back to Ali.

“So are you going to be rude or introduce me to the rest?” she asked. Ali frowned even more and sighed slightly before pointing to the various faces.

“Patrick, Ashley’s boyfriend Joe, Andy, Grace’s boyfriend Gabe, Dirty and Travi,” Ali skewed her mouth to the side as Travi pouted slightly at the absence of a title in front of his name. Ali licked her lips nervously, and Emily noticed right off the bat.

“Is he your boyfriend?” she asked. Ali was about to respond when Travi leaned over and nodded, grabbing Ali and pulling her down into her lap.

“Yes, I am her boyfriend,” he announced. Patrick reacted first, his lips parting in a slight gasp before Ali flinched but under pressure from the stares she was receiving nodded hesitantly.

“Yeah,” she agreed and forced a smile as Emily gushed.

“Oh well will you look at that, Ali finally found a guy,” she chuckled lightly before picking up her baby son, brining him to her lap. This was the only thing that seemed to intrigue everybody, even Izzy, who offered her finger to the baby, giggling as he began to suck on her finger.

“Hey now,” Pete joked, glaring for a moment at the infant. “That’s my girl you’ve got there, buddy,”

Izzy laughed with Emily and the rest of the gang, Ali instantly feeling awkward. The baby was then passed around like a pet and soon found his way into Ali’s arms, her expression faltering for a moment as she peered down at her nephew. He widened his mouth up at him but Ali found that emotion she dreaded creeping up her spine and slowly handed him to Travi who genuinely seemed frightened by the bundle.

“Whoa there, I don’t know what to do with this thing,” he mentioned. Ali forced a smile again as everybody laughed, and the minute everybody was distracted, she excused herself from the group and drifted upstairs to her room, relaxing herself in her bed, leaning against the headboard as she did so. Closing her eyes, she held back tears and calmed her breathing before hearing a slight cough at her doorway. Snapping her eyes open, she saw Patrick, who seemed to resort back to his old nervous ways and hesitated to step in. The moment he did however, Ali shifted and he paused in his movements.

“Patrick,” she somewhat whined, ready to complain about his presence.

“Listen,” he called, raising his hands defensively. “They are all having fun down there, and I just wanted to make sure you are ok,” he assured. Ali raised an eyebrow.

“Why do you care?” she asked cautiously. Patrick dropped his hands and looked at her with a worried glance.

“Because right now, it seems I’m the only person who seemed to care enough to come up here to see what’s wrong,” he answered rather bluntly. Ali chewed on her lip for a moment and nodded.

“Ok,” she gulped. “Close the door,” Patrick widened his eyes but figured it made sense to do so, if Ali didn’t want to be interrupted by the others. He made his way over to sit with her on the bed and brought his legs up and crossed them applesauce style in front of her. Ali leaned back against her headboard again and let out a long sigh.

“I’ll be honest and tell you right off the bat I’m not too fond of my sister,” she admitted. Patrick simply nodded, silently urging her to go on. “I live in the shadow of her successes, even though…” she caught herself again and clenched her teeth as Patrick creased his eyebrows together.

“What?” he asked. Ali let her shoulders hang and looked away from him.

“Emily is adopted,” she admitted. Patrick seemed to be slightly unfazed by this, causing Ali to be slightly confused.

“I thought something was up,” he spoke and Ali nodded. Though, Patrick then seemed to contort his expression, realizing something. “Isn’t she older?” Ali sighed even more and brought her hand up to her eye, rubbing the side of her palm against the corner of her eye as she felt a tear rest there. She hated this subject.

“Well, yes,” she whispered and under the intense concerned stare of Patrick, she felt that it was ok to tell him the truth about her sister and in turn, her family. “My mom has this genetically transferred condition that pretty much gave her only a 15% chance of ever having kids,” Ali paused to fight back the stinging feeling of tears and cleared her throat. “Uhm, a few years after my parents married, they adopted Emily, but a few years after that, my mom beat the odds and became pregnant with me,”

“But she still stayed the older child, and the favorite, I assume?” Patrick asked. Ali nodded and closed her eyes tight, bringing her knees up instinctively as her body racked with emotion.

“They just kept praising her,” she breathed out and opened her eyes, finding them glazed over with tears. Patrick frowned at the sight of a saddened Ali, not used to seeing her as the one who cries. He scooted a little closer to her.

“Like what?” he urged. Ali laughed mockingly and wiped at her eyes again, smearing her makeup slightly.

“How bout’ her ability to give my parents grandchildren?” she snapped and Patrick leaned back a fraction as she bitterly spoke. He leaned back though as she shook her head to herself, opting to just let the tears roll down her cheeks. Patrick resisted the urge to wipe them and just looked at her, saddened now as well.

“What?” he whispered. Ali looked down at her lap and sighed out.

“I’m the biological daughter,” she glanced up Patrick and licked her lips nervously. “I have the same problem as my mom,” Patrick felt his breath hitch and leaned a little closer, amazed at what she had just admitted.

“You mean?”

Ali nodded at him and refused to talk after that, shaking her head as she continued to silently cry, her jaw clenched tightly. Patrick had succumbed to his feelings at this point as well and had scooped her up in a tight hug, looking down at her and wiping at her tears as they ran down her cheek. Ali had been outrageously honest with him today and he couldn’t help but wonder why. No matter how much he tried to push the thought to the back of his head, he continued to wonder if maybe Ali trusted him more than the other guys, even girls in the house. More importantly, if she trusted him more than Travis.

*

Later that night, after Emily had left and most of the house had turned in for sleep, Patrick found himself downstairs, watching Travis as he moved around the living room, grabbing a few of his things before he went upstairs to no doubt try and bunk with Ali. Patrick sighed, catching his attention and Travis raised an eyebrow at him.

“What?” he questioned. Patrick just shook his head.

“I’m just wondering what your intentions with Ali are,” he honestly spoke. Travis shrugged at him and scratched at his head.

“I don’t know, I mean, shorty is fine and I’d love to get with her,”

“In what way?” Patrick asked, but then realized that he didn’t want to hear the answer. It was too late.

“Both ways,” Travis answered. “I’d love to screw around but I think dating her would be cool too,”

Patrick skewed his lips to one side, unconvinced of his motives and frowned.

“I think she’s not that kind of girl, Travi,” he mentioned. Travis laughed lightly.

“How do you know that, Trick?” he asked. Patrick raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought you never had a thing with her,” Travis propped up his eyebrows. “How do you know that she’s not that kind of girl?”

“I just do, ok?” Patrick snapped and glared slightly.

“What did she tell you today?” Travis asked, obviously knowing the two had talked today. Patrick shook his head.

“I’m not telling you,” he persisted. Travis rolled his eyes.

“Oh come on,”

“She doesn’t want anyone to know,” Patrick spoke again, getting fairly annoyed by Travis. “It’s personal,”

“What? About her sister?” Travis guessed and tilted her head to the side. “She’s upset because she has kids and she doesn’t, huh?” he asked. Patrick sighed and let his face fall into his hands.

“God,” he breathed. “Travis, she can’t even have kids,” he spoke, seriously but found himself growing extremely irritated as Travis rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“Well then it’s a good thing I don’t really want kids then, huh?” he answered.

Patrick stood up quickly at this and clenched his fists before jumping slightly and throwing his arm towards Travis. He caught Patrick’s fist before it could hit him and shoved it back before leaning forward and shoving at Patrick. The two paused however as the bottom stair squeaked and the they looked over to see Ali looking at them suspiciously, her hands at her waist as she tied her night-robe tighter around her waist.

“What’s going on?” she asked innocently. Patrick was about to respond, but was cut off by Travis walking to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

“Nothing,” he spoke loudly, giving a strong look to Patrick. Ali seemed unconvinced, but nodded and looked to Patrick.

“Are you sure?” she asked. Patrick gulped and sat down, avoiding eye-contact with her as he nodded.

“Yeah, sure,” he mumbled. Travis smirked to himself before turning both himself and Ali towards the stairs again.

“Come on babe,” he voiced.

Patrick frowned even more as the two disappeared up the stairs. He sunk into the couch and just shook his head to himself, disappointed in his failure to somewhat ‘protect’ Ali. Patrick was convinced though, in that moment that Travis was most defiantly not the guy for Ali. Problem was, he wasn’t really sure that he was either. Patrick frowned and for the first time in a long time, felt his heart sink a little bit. From that moment, Patrick decided that there would be no more chasing after impossible girls. Patrick was, for the lack of a better word, done.