weakness (south of nowhere)
Title: Nightswimming
Fandom: South of Nowhere
Pairing: Ashley/Spencer
Rating: PG
Word count: 4 @ 150 each = 600 tot
A/N: Bringing the South love
Challenge: Weakness
1.
Late at night, the big empty house feels alive, like it’s trying to catch her off-guard and swallow her whole. It is her own wildly beating heart that shudders her awake most nights. She reminds herself that she is no baby, she’s not this weak. Right?
By now, it’s a routine, a small comfort she allows herself because she trusts her secrets to so very few. The low tone vibrates once, twice, and stops.
“…Ash” A sleep-groggy voice answers. Never hello or other greetings, always her name, spoken like a soft prayer. Or at least as close to a benediction as she ever gets.
“Hey, did I wake you?”
She smiles at a muffled sound, imagining a phone tucked between pillow and ear, sheets pulled up close around a warm frame.
“Mmm, no, I was awake.” Spencer murmurs, the same answer she gives no matter the time. Tonight, 3:42am.
2.
Ashley was always more of a regret person than one driven by guilt. Guilt was for lapsed Catholics. Regrets were for people like her, those that stumbled now and again, their path filled with the kinds of choices that one might look back upon and wish otherwise. Even so, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt knowing she disturbed Spencer’s sleep most nights. And she regretted that her stupid kid fears drove her to it. Damn.
“I think you were probably sleeping, sweetheart” (It is only during these late night half-awake conversations that Ashley whispers that endearment).
“Hmmm, maybe a little then.” Spencer’s voice is a slightly rough, sleep worn. But also soft and soothing. That is exactly why Ashley calls. “You ok?”
She smiles into the phone and rolls onto her back. Is it too much to want someone to actually care if she is ok?
3.
Pulling her own covers up closer, she forgets her empty house, forgets how alone she feels, and forgets her night terrors. Behold: The power of Spencer Carlin.
“I am now. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
If she listens close enough, she can hear Spencer breathe a smile into the phone.
“Yeah? Then I’m glad you called.” This time her voice is tender, knowing.
Ashley thinks about the girl on the other end of the line, safe and sound in bed. Spencer knows security, comfort, because she has that, believes it exists. This is why Ashley seeks her out, why she needs her. She would have never guessed that Spencer would be the strong one and she, in the dark, would whisper her weaknesses, lay them bare. And with a soft breath, the other girl had the power to dissolve them all away.
Ashley believes in magic again.
4.
When the sun comes up, Ashley will have to be strong again. Hard. This is how she makes it through, endures another day of high school in LA. Life isn’t like the movies and there are no second takes. She will become the tough, slightly edgy protagonist starring in her own personal melodrama.
But now, she is soft. And loved.
“Go back to sleep, sweetheart,” In these last few moments of gentle reprieve, Ashley finally feels safe. “Thank you, Spence…”
She can hear rustling and imagines her drowsy girlfriend pushing her hair off her face as she readjusts in bed. She can’t help but wish she were there to dream next to Spencer Carlin. But tonight, like last night and the night before, her voice is enough.
“You sleep too, Ashley. Pretend you’re here with me and sleep.”
She accepts this offer gladly and smiles, phones clicking goodnight simultaneously.
Fandom: South of Nowhere
Pairing: Ashley/Spencer
Rating: PG
Word count: 4 @ 150 each = 600 tot
A/N: Bringing the South love
Challenge: Weakness
1.
Late at night, the big empty house feels alive, like it’s trying to catch her off-guard and swallow her whole. It is her own wildly beating heart that shudders her awake most nights. She reminds herself that she is no baby, she’s not this weak. Right?
By now, it’s a routine, a small comfort she allows herself because she trusts her secrets to so very few. The low tone vibrates once, twice, and stops.
“…Ash” A sleep-groggy voice answers. Never hello or other greetings, always her name, spoken like a soft prayer. Or at least as close to a benediction as she ever gets.
“Hey, did I wake you?”
She smiles at a muffled sound, imagining a phone tucked between pillow and ear, sheets pulled up close around a warm frame.
“Mmm, no, I was awake.” Spencer murmurs, the same answer she gives no matter the time. Tonight, 3:42am.
2.
Ashley was always more of a regret person than one driven by guilt. Guilt was for lapsed Catholics. Regrets were for people like her, those that stumbled now and again, their path filled with the kinds of choices that one might look back upon and wish otherwise. Even so, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt knowing she disturbed Spencer’s sleep most nights. And she regretted that her stupid kid fears drove her to it. Damn.
“I think you were probably sleeping, sweetheart” (It is only during these late night half-awake conversations that Ashley whispers that endearment).
“Hmmm, maybe a little then.” Spencer’s voice is a slightly rough, sleep worn. But also soft and soothing. That is exactly why Ashley calls. “You ok?”
She smiles into the phone and rolls onto her back. Is it too much to want someone to actually care if she is ok?
3.
Pulling her own covers up closer, she forgets her empty house, forgets how alone she feels, and forgets her night terrors. Behold: The power of Spencer Carlin.
“I am now. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
If she listens close enough, she can hear Spencer breathe a smile into the phone.
“Yeah? Then I’m glad you called.” This time her voice is tender, knowing.
Ashley thinks about the girl on the other end of the line, safe and sound in bed. Spencer knows security, comfort, because she has that, believes it exists. This is why Ashley seeks her out, why she needs her. She would have never guessed that Spencer would be the strong one and she, in the dark, would whisper her weaknesses, lay them bare. And with a soft breath, the other girl had the power to dissolve them all away.
Ashley believes in magic again.
4.
When the sun comes up, Ashley will have to be strong again. Hard. This is how she makes it through, endures another day of high school in LA. Life isn’t like the movies and there are no second takes. She will become the tough, slightly edgy protagonist starring in her own personal melodrama.
But now, she is soft. And loved.
“Go back to sleep, sweetheart,” In these last few moments of gentle reprieve, Ashley finally feels safe. “Thank you, Spence…”
She can hear rustling and imagines her drowsy girlfriend pushing her hair off her face as she readjusts in bed. She can’t help but wish she were there to dream next to Spencer Carlin. But tonight, like last night and the night before, her voice is enough.
“You sleep too, Ashley. Pretend you’re here with me and sleep.”
She accepts this offer gladly and smiles, phones clicking goodnight simultaneously.