JJ and Ashley Ch. 05

'Skype yet?' Two words. That's all it took for her heart rate to increase dramatically.

'Yep. Right now.' She replied, setting the phone down and looking back to the computer to see five pairs of eyes watching her. "What did I miss?" she asked.

"It's not what you missed." Rebecca tilted her head and squinted, Chloe doing the same thing from her window.

Ashley raised her eyebrows, not understanding Rebecca's cryptic statement or behavior. "Huh?"

"So how has your weekend been so far, Ash?" The redhead asked casually, straightening and setting aside her notes from their talk.

"Good. Left school early. Had a, uh, fun day yesterday." Ashley swallowed, suddenly nervous. She had wanted to share some of what she and JJ did, but this just felt weird.

"A fun day? What'd you do?" Rebecca asked while Chloe snickered. Even Sarah and Brenda grinned, both sitting this one out.

"Well, I stopped by JJ's to see how the house was coming along. She's done so much to that place. It almost looks like new. I mean some paint, carpet and a new roof have worked wonders." Ashley stopped herself before she could gush too much.

"And how is dear JJ?" Chloe asked, batting her lashes and grinning.

"She's good. Happy to be almost done with the house. Oh, she took me roller skating. I can totally skate now!" Ashley remembered she'd wanted to tell them.

"And JJ taught you?" Chloe was giggling, her chin propped on her fist.

"Yeah." Ashley knew she was missing the point here. There was no way they'd know what else she and JJ did, so what was going on?

"Did our dear, sweet JJ teach you anything else?" Rebecca asked, one eyebrow lifted suggestively.

Ashley couldn't help the blush that flared across her cheeks, but a glance at her own, small window on the screen revealed what they'd been smirking about. That damn hickey was visible, plain as day on her pale skin. Ashley cleared her throat and adopted a lofty air. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Everyone giggled at that, then Amy leaned in. "You wanna invite her for June?"

Ashley smiled, "I was going to ask you guys about that actually. Would anyone mind if JJ tagged along for some of our plans?"

When everyone agreed they'd love to see and catch up with JJ, Ashley nodded. "I'll let her know."

"So are you two dating? Engaged? What?" Chloe asked bluntly.

Ashley laughed, "Definitely not engaged. Um, dating might not be quite the word, because this is...extremely new. We're just taking things one day at a time right now."

Brenda piped up. "Ashley, while this might feel new or be a new aspect of your relationship with JJ, I don't think it's new to us. It was pretty clear, even as kids, that you and JJ were closer than the rest of us were. While we may not have envisioned that you and she would link up romantically, I feel like it was obvious that you two would have a deeper, closer friendship together than any of us would with her.

Sarah nodded, her screen reflected on her glasses for a second. "I agree with Brenda. You were the one who brought her out of her shell and you two have this bond from that. We can't compete with that, and I don't want to. I'm happy to be your friend, to be her friend. I love that your two were, are, so close."

Ashley blinked, speechless. She hadn't expected this. What do you say when your best friends accept that you have a stronger connection to someone than you do to them?

"For the record, I thought you two might fuck at some point, but only after puberty started." Chloe sipped her lemonade.

Sarah clucked her tongue at Chloe's crass language, while Rebecca snickered. "So, you can keep the details to yourself, but I'm curious. How good is JJ at kissing? Like, scale of one to ten with one being you'd rather kiss a fish." The redhead asked, her own girlfriend poking her in the ribs, either for being nosy or being curious about another woman's kissing skills.

Ashley blushed as she remembered JJ's kisses, a pretty big smile spreading across her face. "I'd say she's solidly a 45 when it comes to kissing."

There were giggles, hoots, and Chloe sent a shrill whistle. "Damn. Why couldn't I have been the one to help her out of her shy little shell?" the pale blonde lamented playfully.