@dareandtheworldyields continued from [x]
She’d forgotten just how good this could feel.
Her world is small these days, revolving around her work and a tight circle of friends. It’s not as though her days are without laughter; with Derek for a best friend that was nigh impossible. Not to mention that Rex shared her love of dry, witty humour and Blake... well, sometime he and Ash were so in tune that some of the time it just took a glance to send either one or both of them tumbling into laughter. However important, there was no denying the fact that those moments were something Ash had grown accustomed to. With her fellow team mates she was at ease, herself. They were able to pick her up at her worst and remind her of her best because they knew her better than anyone else on the planet.
Despite Metal’s close knit nature, Ash still struggled to do anything else but hold the rest of the world at arm’s length. It was a safety mechanism mostly, but the tactic brought with it an unpleasant feeling of wariness and unease around people she didn’t know well. It didn’t mean that Ash was incapable of laughing and enjoying herself with others, hell that pretty boy 141 sniper Toad had tried his hand many times at encouraging her to crack a smile, but the gesture always felt emptier, hollow. As though she was living through the motions, not else to fully let herself go for fear of the consequences.
Ash had been worried about those consequences for so long now that she was beginning to forget what they actually were.
And yet here she was, laughing and teasing with a man whose legend should have made her feel anything but relaxed. Of all people in the task force, Price was the man to fear, the man to watch your words around. He was ferocious, disciplined, dedicated. He wasn’t famous for being the life and soul of the party and yet neither was she.
Maybe that was it. Solid ground, an understanding, similar to how her friendship with Blake had first started. Two adults talking, sharing and fucking trusting because the sum of what they shared was greater than what separated them.
She’s as open as she can be with a person she barely knows and it feels incredible. Fucking liberating. In that moment, Ash decides that this is something she needs to make the most of.
“See, now I’m a little disappointed. Because I was thinking that when you get to your level, you get to pick and choose who gets close enough to brownnose?” She grins at him mischievously. “If you’ve got the pick of the bunch, keep the pretty ones. If they’re going to be down there anyway you might as well get something out of it, yeah?”
Oh God, Derek really is starting to rub off on her in the worst kind of ways.
“Delta bint, huh?” She quirks an eyebrow, an amused smile slipping across her features. “There’s few people brave enough to take on anything at the back of the hangar. Hell 141 mechanics seem to know their shit, but they’re more inclined to sit back and polish the General’s prized kit than do anything close to restoration. I figure that my sparkling personality isn’t about to leave me any legacies around here, but maybe my mechanic skills will.”
Her smile only gets bigger when he guesses right with the vehicle and she raises her glass in a silent toast, taking another measured sip of whisky.
“Got it in one. That thing’s special, a prototype from back when the US started the JLTV program to phase out the Humvees. It was one of the best options they had back in the day, but not cost effective so they went with a cheaper model.” She smiles again, an added brightness flickering in her eyes. “She’s beautiful under the hood, but rust will fuck anything over if you let it. I need to strip her, see what I can salvage. Maybe rebuild the rest from what we already have...” Tailing off, she realises just how much she’s started to ramble. “Shit. Rule number one, never let me have whisky and talk engines. I never stop.”
She’s feeling a little flustered now, caught between embarrassment and the realisation that even indirectly Price has just used the words ‘classiest arse’ to describe her. Clearing her throat, she feels blood flush the tips of her ears and her cheeks, her mind hoping beyond hope that the low light of the room is enough to hide her blushing. Instead she laughs, not daring to hope that Price might have been flirting with her, however mildly.
“Y’know, my ass has been described as many things, but classy has never been one of them.” She gives the Captain a taunting look. “That one of your chat up lines from way back when?”