Ash's POV
I had been working hard on trying to compose another song. For some reason, I had been getting so much inspiration lately. Something in me said that it may or may not have had anything to do with Alex. The songs I used to write were normally sad and emotional, but now they weren’t necessarily like that anymore. It was pretty difficult to write something that explicitly sound happy or in love with just a piano and no other instruments or singing. But that was what I did. I would lock myself up for hours on end, just trying to find notes that fit well together. I just happened to have more inspiration to actually create something that sounded good without having much of a purpose behind it.

Every lunch break, I’d sneak off to the musicroom, taking my seat on the long padded stool, letting my fingers rest on the black and white keys, ready to make them dance along the keyboard. The notes would swirl around the air, creating a beautiful melody that I didn’t even always know. Silence would be filled, the sounds bouncing back off of every object in the room. A smile would creep up on my face as I played the all too familiar instrument again and again.

This was what my OCD was doing. I was telling myself that it wasn’t affecting me, that I wasn’t as crazy as when my mom just died. The obsessive book alphabetizing wasn’t going on anymore, but I just couldn’t keep my hands away from that piano. Something would go wrong if I did. I had to play it. If my hands didn’t graze those keys at least twice a day, I would feel like I was going to go insane. So, every single day, I made sure to use all my free time to play the instrument I loved so much. Nobody seemed to think too much about it, since they just thought I was practicing my ass off.

Today was no different. I went to lunch with Alex, meeting up with Rian, Jack, Lianne and Harper. I ate my food as quickly as possible, giving my leftovers to either Jack or Alex, depending who begged more for it. And in no time, I would already be getting my stuff ready to sneak off to the music room. But I actually sorta made a mistake this time. It wasn’t exactly a bad mistake, but it also wasn’t really intended. Really, I promise you it wasn’t.

Everything I was doing was on autopilot, I basically didn’t have control over my own actions. But I can tell you it definitely shocked my friends and some people surrounding our table.

“Ok, so I’m off again,” I smiled as I picked up my bag, stuffing my water bottle back in it.

“Again?” Jack pouted, but still reached out for the food I hadn’t eaten. “Are you ever going to spend the entire lunch break with us?”

“I’m sorry, Jacky,” I returned his pout, “but I’m working on a new song and it’s almost finished.”

“Ok… I’ll see you in music class then. I guess I’ll have to live without you for another half an hour,” he sighed way too dramatically.

I rolled my eyes and giggled, leaning down and giving Alex a quick peck on his lips before rushing towards my most beloved piano.

----
Alex’s POV
I honestly wasn’t thinking when Ash kissed me. It had become such a usual thing for me that I didn’t think twice about it when she suddenly did it in front of the whole school. I actually just turned back to my soggy fries, eating them casually like nothing had happened. To me nothing special really did happen. It wasn’t until I noticed all the stares that I suddenly realised what exactly Ash had done.

When I looked up at Jack who was sitting opposite of me, I saw his surprised and bewildered expression. My eyes went wide when I could suddenly remember the feeling of Ash’s lips against mine. Jack mouthed something along the lines of ‘oh my fucking god’, as panic started bubbling in the pit of my stomach. They all knew now.

I scrambled to collect all my belongs together, running to where I knew Ash was. It suddenly seemed like the whole cafeteria was an obstacle course. I ran into every table corner possible, tripped over almost every chair, and it seemed like everybody was trying to hold me back as I clutched my bag to my chest, trying to make it to the music room as fast as possible.

When I burst into the room, the door slamming shut behind me, Ash jumped, turning around to see what the commodity was about. I was completely out of breath from just running that very short distance. Ash just looked at me with an amused look, biting her lips as I tried to regain my composure. It drove me insane whenever she did that, but I was too focus on not passing out than having weird fantasies about her.

“You just-- You-- You-- Cafeteria-- Me--” I managed to stutter out, dropping my bag clumsily to the floor. I didn’t know why I was taken aback so much. The year before, I was kissing girl after girl in front of the whole school, yet it terrified me this time. Maybe it was because Ash was so insistent on keeping it secret for so long.

“Yeah… I know…” Ash mumbled, putting her papers on the piano, but not sitting down on the stool, “I didn’t do it intentionally, it just happened.”

I walked over to her, wrapping her in a hug so that she wouldn’t think I was mad at her or that this was her fault. “I actually didn’t even realise it happened until I noticed everybody was staring at me.”

“Well, then, we’re both oblivious people,” she laughed, wrapping her arms around my neck and leaning backwards to see me better.

“Yeah, well, what are we going to do now?” I asked carefully.

“We just deal with it,” she shrugged, “I don’t feel like coming up with some lame excuse. I think it’s time they know. We can’t hide this forever. It will just be so much easier. We won’t have to be careful anymore either. Now’s our chance to tell them.”

“Are you sure?”

“If your parents know, our friends should know to,” she smiled and bit her lip again. This time I did let it get to me, and closed the space between us. I pulled her closer as I made our lips meet in a much desired kiss. We weren’t going to have to hide here anymore and do whatever whenever we wanted to. It wasn’t that I would want to make out in front of hundreds of people, but I could still occasionally give her a normal peck. That idea definitely excited me. Now, on another note, a whole other part of me got excited as she started tugging at my hair.

Suddenly there was a loud gasp coming from the door. Ash and I both pulled apart, but didn’t let each other go as we both snapped our heads in the direction of the sound. Jack was stood there with his mouth agape, pointing at us with betrayal in his eyes.

“You guys are--!” He stammered before giving us another soap-opera-worthy gasp.

“What’s wrong?” Ash acted oblivious, but her body was still up against mine and her fingers were still tangled in my hair.

“I came here expecting to have to break up a fight or make you guys talk to each other, but I’m met with this!” He shrieked.

“Met with what?” she raised an eyebrow, “doing this?” Her lips were on mine again, giving me a short yet hot kiss.

Another gasp. “I am so confused right now!”

“Stop playing with him,” I sighed but couldn’t help the smirk that was permanently plastered on my face for the moment.

“Well, Jack, you might want to sit down for this,” Ash giggled, letting go off me, meaning I was left cold. Jack did as he was told, immediately dropping down to one of the chairs at the front of the classroom. Ash clasped her hand together. “So, as you may or may not know, Alex had a humongous crush on me…”

“I- I don’t… maybe.. I don’t… Why would I know?” Jack sputtered, not sure whether or not to confirm my ‘secret’.

“Yes, yes he did,” she sat down on the stage, elbows on her knees, as she lectured Jack, “so, he finally got the balls to do something about it. You see, I was completely oblivious, so I had no clue. But Alex finally made a move, and I was like ‘ugh, fuck it! Why not?’. So, here we are, in this amazing classroom, you just having caught Alex and I making out. Are you following me?”

“What? But--” Jack’s look shifted to me instead, his eyes squinting at me with suspicion. “You!”

“You can’t get mad at me,” I raised my hands up in defense, “this happened before you told me to be careful and stay away from her until she was feeling better.”

“You’re not making this any less confusing for me. Just answer these questions. When did this happen? How did this happen? And why the fuck did I not know about this?!”

“It happened just after I got the abortion,” Ash told Jack calmly, “I was shaken up about it and Alex came in to help me. He basically used my own trick on me.”

“Trick?”

“Yeah,” I took over now, “the one where she tells a story to calm somebody down. I only decided to use it for something else, basically trying to figure out whether or not I would ever be able to make a move, even if it would only be in ten years or so. But her answer just gave me some confidence and I kissed her--”

“I wasn’t scared for some strange reason,” she interjected before Jack could get mad at me for making such a bold move, “so I figured it was the right thing to do. I don’t regret it at all.”

“Wait, so you were already together when we went to New York?” He suddenly decided was a more important question than knowing why we kept our relationship on the down-low.

I nodded and he broke into a grin. “You sneaky sons of bitches.”

“Yeah, well, he basically saved my life, so it’s only a good thing,” Ash muttered.

Jack gave her a small sympathetic smile before turning back to me, “so now clarify why I didn’t know anything about this? You guys tell me everything!”

“Because I was still unsure at the beginning. I wanted to make sure that it was the right thing to do. I didn’t just be together with Alex for two weeks just to break up with him and then have everything get even worse. But now I’m sure that it’s all good. I was going to talk to Alex about making it public soon, but I guess there’s no point anymore now. Anybody who saw knows.”

“Wait, so I can announce it to the whole world?” I suddenly got very giddy and excited as the first bell to notify everybody had to go back to class rang.

“Yeah, but how were you planning on--”

I ran to the door, opening it with force, already startling some of the students in the hall. I took a step out and a deep breath. “Hey, everybody! I’m in love with Ash Collins!” I shouted as loud as I possibly could, probably making my message be heard throughout the entire school building.

“Thank you, now continue with your day,” I smiled and closed the door again.

Notes

FINALLY!!!!!

Ps. the story is getting really close to an end