Pairing: Chris x MC (Allie) Zig x OC (Ash)
Book: The Freshman Book 3
Word count: Too many (3,500+)
Rating: R (eventual sex, swearing, and heavy topics)
Summary: This takes place during book 3 where my MC has a twin brother. I can't imagine my life without any siblings, so I've been writing this in my head for over a year now. Her twin brother Ash, falls in love with Zig, and the two men go through their own struggles. Together or not is the question.
Author's note: This is my first time getting back to writing in a year. I just graduated college myself, so I'm a little rusty writing anything other than notes and flashcards. I think the beginning of my chapters are a little fast paced, but I hope everyone else likes it more than I do. I'll add a picture later, I wanted to get this out as soon as possible. I don't really know about the texting part and Tumblr botches the formatting so ugh. Please don't roast me.
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Relaxing after work was nice. Ash Wilkes spent nights pretty much just scrolling through his phone until he got tired. Nothing else to really do other than make sure his tiny apartment was clean. Though he could probably eat.
Setting his phone down next to his gloves on the nightstand, he sat up and was about to stretch until his phone buzzed. Snatching it up, he was surprised to see a text from his sister.
The person who usually invites pays
Whatever asshole. Just get over here.
Throwing on some clothes and grabbing the keys, Ash made his way to Hartfeld. He didn't go see her as much as they were hoping to, but he was glad he could actually take a little bit of time off now. He tried to be around for her a little bit, especially since he knew she needed comfort with her anxiety, being in a completely different home and all. So far he's only met Chris.
So he was a little nervous when he realized she actually has four other roommates. But maybe he's just a little overprotective. He gripped hard at the steering wheel to push the idea that anything that bad could have possibly gone wrong.
She would've said something. He was definitely about to find out.
Stepping out of the van, he noticed a well dressed man step into the coffee shop. A little overdressed for some caffeine he thought, but maybe the man had a date.
As soon as he made it in the door however, the first thing he saw was the same man grabbing Allie's arm.
"Hey!" His attempted intervention went unnoticed however, as a strong whatever it was sent him falling backwards.
Rubbing his now throbbing head, he caught a glimpse of the dickhead booking it out of the shop.
Startled, Ash looked up and saw Allie looking at another man in front of her before turning in his direction.
"Ash!" His sister kneeled down next to him and pulled him into a hug which he gladly returned.
"I didn't even realize you were coming in. Are you okay? You didn't just get hit did you?" He laughed a little bit at her concern, clearing his throat when she raised her eyebrows in offense. What she didn't know is that he was supposed to be asking her.
"I guess I just got the wind knocked out of me for a moment," he shrugged. "Who the hell was that grabbing on you?"
Now she shrugged. It was a way bigger deal than her body language is saying it is. Before she could open her mouth, a yell erupted from the other side of the cafe.
"Zig! We need you behind the counter!"
Zig. He'd really have to thank him for acting to protect Allie. He can only assume that was the manager. Ash forgot about everyone else other than Allie for so long that the first reminder that it wasn't just them made his insides almost eat themselves. Could also be adrenaline.
"Sorry, I need to go," Zig spoke up. "If that a-hole comes back, come find me, okay?" He slouched off where his balding, pissed off looking manager was waiting. Yeesh.
Allie grabbed his arm pulling him up off the floor. Once they got to the others, Allie set a coffee cup in his hands before she got enveloped into Chris's arms.
He smiled at them for a second before he focused on his coffee. He seemed to be in his own head for a bit because after a moment, Allie started walking away.
"I'm thinking I should go say something to him," She suggested. Turning to her friends, she gestured to the dining room. "Can you guys go get us a table?"
"I'll go with you," Ash shouted suddenly, catching everyone off guard for a moment before her friends walked to find a table and Allie smiled at him.
Despite whatever that jerk was about to do to her, Allie even just laughed a little. It was good that she found ways to stay her happy little self, especially with everything he worries about her going through.
Once the twins made it to the counter, Zig gave them a pleasant expression before Ash greeted him.
"So… Zig, huh?" Okay, not so much "greet", more like just blurting out words randomly. It wasn't too late to check to see if he has a concussion.
Zig glanced up at him, surprised. Looking down at his hand, Ash let out what he was hoping was a silent wince. He's had his fair share of injuries, but ouch.
The shock on the barista's face quickly melted into a calmer expression. "Short for Zigmund," He remarked. Interesting name. "Zig is fine, though. Zigmund tends to raise a lot of questions."
Ash chuckled, until his sister kindly bumped his shoulder to remind him that he was being a weirdo. Clearing his throat, he simply smiled. "I don't think shortening it is really fooling anyone."
Ash bit his lip subconsciously, trying and failing really hard to hide a smile. His cheeks flushed a deep red as he felt he ended up doing that for a very uncomfortable amount of time.
Another clearing of the throat. Can he stop doing this? "I'm Ash, and this is my little sister, Allie."
Allie snorted and rolled her eyes, elbowing her brother a little too hard, causing him to clutch his chest.
"We just wanted to say thanks, and I'm sorry you had to get involved in all that," She said, putting her hands in her pockets.
"Nice to meet you guys. But there's no need to apologise," he shrugged. So humble. "I'm not a fan of bullies."
Before Ash could think of something to say, Zig tossed a rag over his shoulder and fiddled with the espresso machine. The twins stepped closer.
"Trust me, I can take care of myself," Allie smiled. "But I appreciate the help." Not so humble.
She put a finger on her chin, furrowing her brows. "I haven't seen you around before…," Oh, he must have just got here. Maybe a transfer student or something. "Are you new?" Ash looked at Zig with a smirk, and the barista fixed him with his own.
"Yep," The smirk was a wide smile now. "Just started here a couple weeks ago." Awesome.
"I mean at Hartfeld. What classes are you signed up for?" Allie continued.
"None," Zig replied. "I'm not in school actually."
"Oh! Sorry I just assumed…" Allie smiled sheepishly. Or hoped.
Zig turned his attention back to the machine, reaching for the tamp with the bruised hand. He dropped it with a hiss, shaking out his hand.
"How bad does it hurt?" Ash asked, reaching to tell Zig he wanted to get a better look at it.
"I'm fine," He assured, holding it out of his view. "Probably."
Ash leaned over to gently grab him by the wrist of his injured hand and saw that his knuckles were badly swollen and a bruise was starting to form. Zig quickly pulled his arm back.
"I guess evidence suggests otherwise."
Ash looked at Allie with a mixture of amusement and slight annoyance. This man was a stubborn one.
"Let me help you with that," Ash suggested, already getting up to sit on the counter. Zig's face lit up with a smile.
"I'd really appreciate it," his smile made Ash ridiculously happy for some reason. "But my boss would be pissed if I let anyone behind the counter."
"Well, you've already punched out a customer. How much worse can it get?" Allie spoke up. Ash fixed him with a smirk.
"I guess you have a point," Zig chuckled.
Ash climbed over to the other side of the counter and flushed red when Allie walked in through the gate, and went to find the ice tray. One of them held the towel while the other took care of scooping ice into it.
Ash took it and pressed it to Zig's injured hand. He hissed through his teeth as it made contact.
Ash bit his lip, too nervous to apologize out loud. He was questioning why, they were talking fine two minutes ago. He suddenly noticed how close they were to each other now. He had gloves on, but he could feel Zig's fingers on his palm.
"Sorry," he finally got out. "Does it hurt?"
"I've felt worse," Zig made a face. Oh god, he was looking directly at him.
"So are you going to tell me what that whole scene was about?" Ash looked really confused for a second, and then turned to his sister. He really wanted to know too.
"If you would believe it, it was a student council dispute," she said. Both men arched an eyebrow, Ash a little more impatiently. He knew politics were a touchy subject, but it should never involve actual touching.
"Really?" Zig opened his mouth in shock. "Seems like a lot for something like that." His feelings exactly.
"I guess you could say there were extenuating circumstances," she responded. Ash rolled his eyes and shook his head, focusing back on Zig's hand. Even Zig raised a sceptical eyebrow at her. She finally told them what happened during her first two quarters. Now it was Ash's turn to be shocked.
"You blackmailed someone? I wouldn't peg you for the type," Ash personally was more worried that Allie was near a fucking sociopath this entire time.
"Well, it was a pretty low moment for me."
Ash felt his heart ache at that, pulling his sister into a one armed hug.
"Sounds like you were just looking out for your friend," Zig said. Ash gave Allie a supportive smile at that, causing her to hug him a little tighter before letting go, and then looked a little sullen again.
"I was, but I could have ruined someone else's life in the process." Did she mean Sebastian's?
"You mean that entitled brat who tripped me?" Allie was too damn nice to people, if someone thinks it's acceptable to not only treat complete strangers like they're beneath him, but also to take advantage of them and the school that seems to kiss rich people's asses, he can go live in a box for all he cares. "If you or anyone else do wrong by him, he's earned it." Ash liked this guy.
"Well, when you put it that way…" Allie's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "It was him or Chris, and I protect the people I care about."
The twins shared a smile at this.
"That's good to know. Loyalty's a sexy quality," Zig said. What?
Ash couldn't tell when he felt first, his heart sink or his face turn red.
"You're kind of a flirt, aren't you?" He blurted out, putting a hand on his hip.
"And I've been told I'm damn good at it."
If his face got any redder, he'd have to throw himself into a tomato garden.
"I won't lie, I'm kind of into it." Okay, now he was just saying things. Better than speaking in tongues or something. Probably.
"Glad to see I'm not losing my touch, then." He heard his sister chuckling to herself behind him, and quickly glared at her for being nosey. When he looked back at Zig, the slightly taller man was smiling at either him or the exchange between the siblings.
Ash went back to pressing the ice against Zig's hand, and he let out a shudder.
"Ah! Careful!" He should've been paying attention.
"Sorry!" Despite feeling bad, he laughed. "I'm not being a really good nurse, am I?"
"I think you're doing just fine," Ash had to avoid eye contact to stop himself from doing anything else too embarrassing. He could feel Zig's gaze burning a hole into his skull.
"Well… you should be good now," he said, making sure Zig had a hold of the towel.
"We should probably get back to my friends," Allie said.
"Sure thing. Thanks for checking up on me," His smile made Ash feel really… happy? He wasn't sure.
Zig held up his hand and gingerly flexed it. "I think the sting is starting to wear off a little."
"Well, just keep icing it and try not to put too much pressure on it." Zig laughed at him.
"Don't be a smart ass, I've had my fair share of injuries, especially hand injuries, so you should be thanking me." Both men smiled at each other after he said that, and Ash quickly extinguished his before he did something way too forward.
"I guess we'll see you around?" He was glad Allie interrupted this time.
"You know where to find me." Ash started walking off towards the booth her friends found and Allie gave Zig a wave on their way back.
"Oh I forgot to tell you, we're here because my friend Kaitlyn made a friend who's in a punk rock band," She sat down next to Kaitlyn and he sat across from her, rolling his eyes. He didn't care if he was going to be a jerk about this, but he didn't exactly trust Kaitlyn's judgement with anything after Allie texted him last quarter about how alone she felt. Her friends shouldn't have turned their backs on her.
"I came here for you. But I will say, checking out a different kind of rock music is a good way to hang out," he smiled at her before taking a sip of his frozen mocha.
"I'm so bad at remembering to introduce people," Allie laughed. She started pointing at her friends around the table. "You kind of already know Chris and Kaitlyn, but this is Tyler, Abbie, and Zack. And this is my other friend James, he also worked with Professor Vazquez."
Allie turned her attention to the band, observing them doing an instrument check.
"Wow, they look so cool," Abbie said, mouth agape. Tyler, the guy sitting next to her, fixed her with a look.
"You think so? I think they look kind of intimidating." Ash rolled his eyes. What are those ladies going to do? Aggressively play their songs in their faces? That's kind of the point of rock music.
Microphone feedback turned everyone's attention back to the stage. A woman who he guessed was the lead singer was in front of the mic. "Hey everyone! Thanks for coming tonight! We're The Gutter Kittens."
The band started their thing, and once they dove into the song, Ash started absentmindedly tapping his fingers against the table to memorize the beat. Or it helps him enjoy it more, he wasn't sure. Just something he's always done.
"Hey, they're pretty good!" Chris commented.
"I knew they would be," Kaitlyn smiled. "Natasha's got a great taste in music." That she does.
"This is perfect," Zack stood up. "I can definitely work out some pent up aggression to this. I'm hitting the dance floor, who's with me?" He yelled, pumping his fist into the air.
Allie and Kaitlyn looked as excited as he was. It's been forever since Ash found himself in a moshpit, but hell yeah.
"I think I'll pass, I'm not sure that is dancing," James said. What a pussy.
"Oh whatever, James," Kaitlyn giggled. "Count me in, Zack. Allie?" She looked at his sister hopefully.
"I'm totally in! I could stand to work out some issues too," she said, pumping her arms in the air. She was too cute. Then he felt his arm being tugged on. "You're going too. And no, you don't get a choice."
Like she even had to convince him. The now slightly smaller group ran in front of the stage and started dancing.
"Yes! I haven't been in a pit in so long!" Kaitlyn shrieked. Ash laughed at that and his sister almost hitting him in the face with her hair. He would drag her to places when they were in high school, but only managed to get her to go to one concert. She seemed to be uncomfortable with the amount of people, but she seemed to be thriving now that she's in college.
"Do they call it that because it smells like armpits?" Zack asked, making everyone laugh.
"With all this jumping? How could it not?" Ash joked back good-naturedly. Maybe her friends weren't so bad.
He bumped shoulders with his sister and she bumped back, the twins getting into a groove while laughing and playing around.
After a few songs, they all went back to the rest of the group, sweaty and sore.
"You guys totally missed it," Kaitlyn smiled, making it to her seat first.
"Zack bumped into this huge guy, and he was not happy about it." Allie finished, she and Ash laughing together.
"I totally thought he was going to murder me," Zack shrunk into his part of the booth.
"Be grateful you weren't wearing earrings," Ash said, rubbing at his earlobe at the memory. "Worst concert of my life."
"You guys were a great crowd!" The lead singer yelled into the microphone. "We've got one last song left, but first, I'd like to bring up a special guest to help sing it!"
The crowd cheered as the group of friends "ooh'd" in interest.
"Ooh, a special guest?" Kaitlyn looked more mesmerized than everyone else.
"We just met recently, but I'm sure she knows all the words. Kaitlyn?" The girl on the mic said, holding out her hand.
Everyone turned to Kaitlyn, shocked. She seemed quite surprised herself.
"M-me? In front of all these people?" Kaitlyn squeaked out.
The other woman waved Kaitlyn over while her other bandmates re-tuned for the next song.
"I don't know about this," Kaitlyn whispered.
"Kaitlyn," Allie smiled, putting her hands on her friend's shoulders. "You've got this! We'll all be right here cheering for you."
The rest of her friends smiled.
"And I've heard you sing in the shower before," Abbie said supportively. "You've definitely got a set of pipes."
"You can hear that?!" Kaitlyn gasped.
"Pretty much anywhere in the suite," Tyler piped up. "I've heard you up on the roof before."
"I'm surprised we haven't gotten more noise complaints from the neighbors," Zack joked, elbowing Tyler in the arm.
"Don't listen to them," Chris rolled his eyes at his friends and their antics. "That's beside the point. What do you have to lose?"
"Yeah…" Kaitlyn said softly, still unsure. "Yeah. You guys are right," she brightened up. "I'm going up there. Wish me luck!"
"Luck!" Abbie said sweetly.
Kaitlyn ran up to the stage while Ash found himself cheering her on along with Allie and her friends.
"Knock 'em dead, Kaitlyn!" Chris yelled.
"Yeah! Uh, rock on!" James said awkwardly, throwing his fist into the air.
Kaitlyn got to the stage and once the rest of the band had everything ready, she spoke into the microphone.
"Uh, hi everyone, my name is Kaitlyn and this is 'Heart of Ice' by Coargurot and well, here goes nothing."
The band launched into the song, and Kaitlyn gripped the microphone as she sang intently into it. The crowd cheered wildly, singing along with her.
"Wow, she's really something, isn't she?" James said in awe.
"I mean, I knew she was something, but look at her go!" Abbie laughed, happy that her friend was enjoying herself.
Looking up at the stage, anyone would be able to see that Kaitlyn was in her element.
Everyone continued cheering her on until The Gutter Kittens finished playing the final notes of the song. Kaitlyn bowed as everyone clapped for her, grinning wildly.
She ran offstage and immediately got tackled into a hug by Allie.
"You were incredible! Who knew my best friend was so metal?" She said almost breathlessly.
"I know right? I guess all the singing in the shower paid off!" Kaitlyn shrugged.
"Kaitlyn, you were so good!" Abbie complimented.
"Thanks guys!" Kaitlyn laughed.
Kaitlyn startled suddenly at a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see the bandmates.
"You totally killed it girl!" One of them said, who Ash recognized as the drummer.
"Seriously, our shows never get that crazy," the girl next to her mentioned nonchalantly.
"I find that hard to believe. You guys can play." Kaitlyn looked starstruck.
"Tell that to the people who don't go to our shows," the drummer said.
The lead singer walked up, throwing her arms around her bandmates shoulders.
"I see you've officially met Amara and Rachel. And these are probably the rest of your friends?" She looked the group over.
Kaitlyn lit up. "Yeah! You already know Allie, obviously Abbie. And this is Chris, and Tyler-"
"Yeah, that's cool," Natasha cut her off. Ash raised an eyebrow at her for the rude gesture. "How would you like to join the band?"
"Like, full time?" Kaitlyn opened her mouth in shock.
"Natasha likes to say she isn't really a singer. We've been looking for someone for a while now…" Amara informed.
"We just couldn't find someone who we liked or fit our aesthetic," Rachel added.
"Until now," Natasha smiled warmly. "What do you say?"
Everyone looked at Kaitlyn, awaiting an answer.
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