Aww man, tonight was a bad night to sneak out. With the double patrols after that Firefly attack I can barely get past- FUCK! I hit the wall with my back. Shit, shit, shit! They probably heard that. I relax and step from the wall and into the hallway.
I look down then close my eyes. Cant wait to get yelled at… Again. The sound of steel toed boots getting closer makes me twitch. They are close enough for me to hear them breathe. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” My head shoots up.
“Shepard!” I lunge at her and lock my hands around her waist.
“Whoa there, Ellie. I still need to be battle ready.” She mocks.
“I thought you were dead, you fuck.” She finally returns the hug.
“Aww. No Firefly can take this fuck down.” I release my hold and push her. “At least this is how I know you care. Your pushes are pure affection.”
“Eh, You’re an asshole.”
“I’m okay with this… Why are you sneaking around here, Little One?” No, not that fucking nickname. I cross my arms and look to the floor again and sigh.
“I’m trying to get my water guns back from Corporal Dickhead.”
“You know you can just ask right?” Ugh, she crosses her arms and does this thing where she leans back a bit. This fuck and her smug stance.
“Well I can’t ask him!” I raise my voice.
“Be quite, Ellie.” She scolds me. “Come to my room? See Ash, she misses you.”
I perk up a bit. “Hell yeah.” I whisper.
We walk to hers and Ash's room (Slowly). We make some small talk… We talk about Riley and how she left for the Fireflies. Damn, It’s been a month and I wasn't able to tell her how I feel, but of course we were able to have a fight. She could've been in that attack… She could be dead. I sigh as we meet the door.
“Something wrong?” She puts a hand on my shoulder and has a concerned look on her face. “You know I can get the water guns back for you, right?”
“No… Well yeah but it’s not that.”
“Then what is it, Little One?” I sigh again.
“ Do you know if Riley’s dead?” I push out quickly.
“ They wouldn’t of sent her on an ambush that quickly. I know Marlene and she doesn’t work like that.” She tries to reassure me.
“Can we just go in your room… I need a little bit more Ash in my life.” I wiggle my eyebrows.
“HA! HA! So fucking funny. You’re a riot.” She hates puns so much… And It’s really funny. “And that’s my wife so… Shut the fuck up.” She whispers the last part and opens the door.
I walk in first and see Ashley on her bed reading poetry. How the hell do people read that shit? And who the fuck is William Ernest Henley? Her eyes slowly meet mine. She immediately stands and hits her back on the top bunk. “Fuck!” She hisses and rubs in between her shoulder blades.
“Nice move, Slick.” I point at her with both fingers and click my tongue.
“Just shut your mouth and get over here. I want a hug.” She waves her left arm towards herself, while the right was still rubbing her back.
“Ma’am yes, Ma’am!” I mock salute. I slide under her arm and give her a ‘hug’.
Shepard closes the door slowly and looks to Ash worried. (Does this woman ever relax?) “You need a massage, babe?”
“No, I just hit my back on your fucking bunk… But that would be nice later, Skipp.”
“Of course it would.” She rolled her eyes. We then sat down, Me at their desk across from the bed and them on the bed itself.
“So… How did you two meet up?” Ash asked.
“Well, I…” Shep cuts me off.
“She was trying to get her water guns back from Mark… No wait. How did you put it?”
“Corporal Dickhead… That was Rileys nickname for him.” I drop my head.
“You need to stop being a Debbie Downer.” Ash states.
“How? I MISS HER.”
“We know you love her,” My head shoots up and I open my mouth. “Ah, ah, ah! Wait.” I reluctantly close it. “And that’s wonderful but you need to be prepared to lose someone. Especially in times like this.” Ash nods her head in agreement with Shepard.
“Wait? You two are ready to lose each other?”
“I wouldn't say yes but… We’ve accepted the fact that we will die, and probably not together.” Ashley said.
“All this talk about death is making me depressed.” Shepard jumps up from her spot on the bed missing the top bunk. “We need to cheer up.”
“Oh no.”
“What’s going on?” I ask as Shep walks to the right of me.
“We. Are going. To teach you,” She looks down to me as music starts to play. “How to dance.” She looks to Ash and hold out her hand.
“I’m not dancing with your sorry ass.”
“Oh, come on we need to teach Ellie! And when Riley gets back she can woo her.”
“Riley is gonna be pissed.” Ashley laughs.
“Wait, why?”
“You’ll see.” Ashley nods towards her wife.
“Fine!” Shepard sticks out her tongue. “I’ll do it on my own. I’m a better teacher anyway.”
Shepard faces me and gets me into this awkward stance. My feet are somewhat inward but shoulder length apart. She lifts my arms and puts them at a right angle. So I’m like a cowboy pulling akimbo and shooting at the hip. “Well this is weird.” I say and start to ‘shoot’ with my fingers. “Pew, pew, pew.” Shepard grabs my forearms.
“This is serious!” She bends down and gives my a stare. “Do you want to win Riley over or what?”
I sigh and look at the ceiling. “Yes.” I groan.
“Alright then!”
Getting in the same stance as I, she starts to ‘shake’ her hips and sway her arms slightly from side to side. What the fuck have I gotten myself into. She smacks my arm.
“Sway with the music!” I want to curl up in the floor and laugh. She is nowhere near in sync with the music and Ash is covering her mouth. I slowly start to… Sway with Shepard. “There ya go… You know this is how I won Ashley's’ heart?”
“Don’t you fucking lie!” Ashley stands.
“You saw me dancing with my friends and was like ‘What a cutie. I wanna date her!’” Shep mocks.
“That is not true.”
“Oh? Then how did it happen?”
“You were the one who came up to me!”
“Okay! This is enough. Are you two gonna teach me how to dance or what?”
They face me, then eachother, then back to me. Ash speaks up. “Just do… Whatever fits you best.”
“Okayyy?” They start to dance together. Shep doing her... weird thing and Ashley just sways her hips and moves her arms all over the place. But she does it somewhat gracefully. I just start to jump and spin.
I wish Riley was here… I wish she was dancing with me.
