Bury The Taste

“You sound so down; what’s wrong?” Malorie’s voice was quiet and relaxed. “We’re at the happiest place on Earth! Cheer up.” She nudged Ainsley’s shoulder, the unexpected shove making her take a few quick steps to keep herself from completely losing her balance.

“Felicia and I haven’t been getting along,” Ainsley admitted, falling back into step with Mal.

“Like how?”

Ainsley shrugged as she watched Jaime and Casey who were several feet ahead of them, chatting away and laughing about only God-knows-what. Jaime knew that Ains had been tense because of how she had been butting heads with Felicia and thus decided to plan an outing with Mal and Casey. Even though Jaime made Ainsley incredibly happy, there was only so much he could do. He was hoping that spending time with her long-time best friend would cheer her up.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Mal said, slowing down as they neared the line to Splash Mountain. “She’s in a difficult place right now.”

“I know,” Ainsley sighed. “I am, too, though. Taking her in when I hardly knew her. I just wish she would be a little more considerate. I don’t ask for much, but the least I deserve is her respect.”

“How is she disrespecting you?” Casey chimed in, catching an interest in the conversation as they leaned against the railing in line. Mal walked over to his side and leaned into him – he immediately placed his hand around her shoulder. Ainsley couldn’t help but smile a bit at how natural it was for the two of them to immediately place a loving claim on one another. They didn’t even notice that they were doing it – each of them still looking to Ainsley for an answer, their expressions never changing at the contact.

Ainsley sighed and looked down. “She thinks that she can get anything she wants. She thinks that because I’m not her mother, I have no control over her – and to a certain degree, she’s right. But she’s living under my roof. She’s still underage. I’m not okay with her drinking or doing drugs in my house. She thinks that she can do whatever she wants and when I tell her she can’t, we fight.”

“Oh man,” Casey mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s tough, Ains. I had no idea. I mean, Himes told me about the overdosing incident, but I guess I never really thought about how it would affect you, you know? You’re one tough girl – you’ll get through to her soon. She really looks up to you.”

Malorie and Jaime were both nodding in agreement at Casey’s words. Ainsley felt a lot better at his little speech. She knew Casey very well because of Mal, but she had never heard him be so serious and understanding directly to her. Most of what she knew was through Mal, not face-to-face contact with him. It was nice to actually talk to him for once.

The line began to move forward. Casey stepped down from the railing, keeping his arm around Malorie as the two of them moved forward. Ainsley didn’t move forward right away, she instead waited for Jaime to move first since his arms were wrapped around her waist. They moved forward together and Ainsley stifled a laugh as she noticed that she and Jaime had tangled themselves together without even realizing it; just like Malorie and Casey had done. She wondered if they saw the same amount of love in her relationship as Ainsley saw in theirs.

“Whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout?” Jaime asked against Ainsley’s ear. His lips against her skin left a tingling sensation upon the area, his breath warming her skin, and his voice mushing her brain.

“You,” Ainsley answered with a whisper. She turned herself around in his arms so she was facing him. She lifted her arms up and wrapped them around his neck, her fingers gently playing with the ends of his hair.

“Yeah?” Jaime asked with a goofy grin. “What about me?”

Ainsley bit her lip and stared him right in the eyes. “Just how much I like you,” she said confidently.

“Yeah, and how much is that?” Jaime asked as he ducked down and connected his lips to the skin below her jawline. He kept his lips pressed against her skin, not really kissing her – just leaving the contact in place.

Ainsley’s heart began to race as she thought about what Jaime wanted to hear. Did he want her to say that she liked him a lot, or was he looking for a certain word? Ainsley’s breathing hitched as she felt Jaime’s grip tighten around her, pulling her closer so he could lead her forward as the line moved once again.

“How many?”

“Four,” Malorie answered for them, holding up four fingers as she did so. They went to where they were directed to go and waited for the next available log to board.

“I want the front!” Ainsley claimed, immediately stepping into the number one spot. “I want to get wet.”

“I don’t think you need the ride for that,” Malorie teased, nudging Casey so he would catch on to her joke.

“Yeah! That’s what I’m here for,” Jaime chimed in.

Ainsley shook her head and rolled her eyes. The next available log came up and they boarded the ride: Ainsley in the front, with Jaime behind her, Malorie behind him, and Casey behind her.

The ride began and each of them sang along to the songs and rehearsed the words to the ride when they could. The big drop was coming, which meant the picture was coming up. “Bored faces!” Malorie called out, giving a theme for the picture they were going to take. Ainsley immediately wiped the smile off of her face and stood still as they reached the peak of the mountain.

Just as the log tipped forward and began to pick up speed, Jaime’s arms reached around her and he placed each of his hands over her boobs, squeezing them slightly. The picture went off and Ainsley and Malorie both began to laugh hysterically. The log reached the end fall and a huge wave of water lifted into the air and hit Ainsley with full force – drenching her hair and most of her shirt.

“What the heck!” Malorie called out, cracking up as the log pulled around for them to unboard the ride.

“Did Casey do it to you?” Ainsley asked, turning around to look at Malorie. Malorie’s face was red from her laughter, and Ainsley had her answer.

As they exited the ride, Jaime and Casey exchanged high fives. “We planned that on the way to the ride,” Jaime explained. “That was too perfect.”

“I hope they didn’t remove the picture,” Malorie said with a frown as they all approached the picture displays. They found their picture and it somehow managed to slip through the monitors and be displayed. Ainsley quickly took a picture of the screen, just before the image blurred an image of a lock displayed on the screen over the blurred image.

“Did you get it?” Casey asked, laughter booming through his words.

“Sure did!” Ainsley responded, holding her phone out so he could see the picture. “I’ll send it to you guys.”

The four of them started to walk around the park, each of them wanting to go on different rides or different areas of the park.

“I kind of want to head over to California Adventure now,” Ainsley said. “I want a turkey leg.”

“Oh, that sounds good,” Jaime agreed, licking his lips as he thought about eating a turkey leg.

-

“I had a wonderful day today,” Ainsley said as she dropped her purse to the floor of her bedroom. Jaime kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto her bed, burying his face into his pillows. They weren’t all Ainsley’s pillows anymore – it was Jaime’s side of her bed and thus, they were Jaime’s pillows. Jaime mumbled something in response, but Ainsley couldn’t hear him.

“Huh? I can’t hear you when you’re talking into a pillow.”

Jaime groaned and lifted his head just enough so he could prop his chin up on the side of the pillow. “I said,” he began, dragging out the vowels, “that every day is wonderful when I’m with you.”

Ainsley blushed and walked over to the bed, dropping her knees on the bed and making her way over to Jaime. She placed each of her knees of opposite sides of Jaime’s body and crawled her up, taking a seat on his butt and placing her hands on the small of his back. She pushed her hands up over his shirt, and began to gently rub his back.

“Have I ever told you how amazing you are?” Jaime questioned, letting out a groan as she continued to ease the tension in his back. Ainsley rubbed a little more, turning his compliments into a game.

“And sexy,” he added.

She moved her hands so they were under his shirt now, massaging and scratching his bare skin. She trailed her hands along his pant-line, moving her hips against his body as she continued to sit on him.

“Keep talking like that and maybe you’ll get a-“

There was a loud thud that sounded from the kitchen, cutting off Ainsley’s sentence. She stopped moving and Jaime perked his head up once again, ready to get up and grab something to defend himself. “What was that?” Jaime whispered. “Did you lock the door?”

Ainsley nodded, afraid that somebody had broken into her house. She tried not to laugh when she remembered that the intruder wouldn’t get very far since she had left her shoes sitting right in front of the door.

There was another sound, this time a shattering noise – like plates hitting the floor. Just when Jaime was ready to get up and check things out, laughter sounded through the house.

Ainsley immediately relaxed. “Felicia,” she said through a breath. She let out a sigh as she pried herself from Jaime’s body, closing the bedroom door behind her as she went to see what Felicia was doing. Ainsley leaned up against the wall at the end of the hallway and flicked on the light before crossing her hands over her chest. Felicia was laying on the floor with a broken plate next to her and Ainsley’s shoes beside her. Ainsley smirked a bit when she realized that Felicia had tripped over her shoes, just as she suspected would happen to whoever had entered.

“Oops,” Felicia tried, her voice questioning as she looked up to Ainsley’s unwavering gaze. “I, uh…tripped over your shoes, and then when I tried to grab the counter to get up, I accidentally grabbed the plate that was sitting on the edge and knocked it down.

“Are you okay?” Ainsley asked, her tone uncaring and posture never changing as she watched Felicia struggle to sit up. Giggles were shaking her body but she was trying to suppress their sounds.

“Yeah, a little tired, but I’m good,” Felicia answered. She froze for a moment, her expression going blank before a large grin took over her face. “Oh… you mean about the fall? Yeah, I’m okay.” She began to giggle quietly to herself, the sounds coming out as snorts and grunts instead of actual laughter. She froze again, her expression once again going blank, but this time laughter didn’t come next – she was like a fire hydrant that cracked. The water spewed from her eyes as she began to cry hysterically, the released pressure never easing up. But through the crying came uncontrollable laughter.

Ainsley immediately dropped down to her knees beside Felicia and went to rub her arm, but pulled back when she felt a layer of sticky sweat coating her skin. She leaned in as Felicia continued to have her episode and smelled the air around her, instantly noticing the strong burn of alcohol to be emanating from Felicia.

“Are you drunk?” Ainsley asked, moving backwards a bit. Her tone was stern and loud – unyielding in her display of anger.

Felicia’s tears continued to flow, but her laughter stopped enough for her to catch her breath and reply. “Drunk? No. High? Maaayyybbbeeeee…” her tone became higher as she spoke, her words randomly broken by a laugh that she failed to bottle in.

“On what?” Ainsley asked, her head suddenly spinning with anger, confusion, and fear. Was she supposed to punish her even though this wasn’t her child? Was she supposed to just let her off like nothing because she had absolutely no rights over her?

“Who knows? Who cares? Nobody’s keeping track,” Felicia answered with a shrug as she started to get up.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ainsley was shocked at how motherly she sounded – how strict and disgusting she made herself feel with the mature tone that came out of her without even deciding how to deal with the situation. Her instincts took over: her disappoint in Felicia was raging inside of her, causing her to decide on punishing Felicia by chastising her.

“Um, to my room,” Felicia answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Felicia began to walk away, snickering to herself as if she had won the battle – as if her choices didn’t matter because she knew she could get away with them.

“You think you can just go out, get high, and then come back to my house like nothing?” Ainsley shouted down the hallway. Felicia turned around, ready to speak up, but Ainsley wasn’t done yet. “This is not your house. You don’t get to make your own rules. Have a little respect!”

“You sound like my aunt – Jesus Christ, just shut up!” Felicia rubbed her hand across her forehead to wipe at the sweat that was coating her skin. “I’m going to bed now.”

“We’re going to talk tomorrow once you’re sober,” Ainsley quickly shouted before Felicia could shut her bedroom door and disappear.

Ainsley lingered in the hallway for a few minutes, just staring into the darkness. She fixed her eyes on the tiny sliver of light that illuminated onto the floor of the hallway from beneath Felicia’s bedroom door. Once the light disappeared, she broke her gaze and let out a long sigh.

Once back inside her bedroom, she collapsed onto the bed beside Jaime, causing him to jump a bit at the sudden movement of the bed. He let out a groan and blinked his eyes a couple of times. “Jeez, babe, I was sleeping,” he grumbled, slightly frustrated at how he was woken up.

The two of them hadn’t been getting full nights of sleep for the past week because of all of the work they had each been busy with, plus they had started having nightly phone conversations which would sometimes make them stay up way past their usual bed times.

“Sorry,” Ainsley said through a sigh.

“Another fight?”

“Yep,” Ainsley responded, popping the ‘p’. “I just don’t know what to say to her anymore. I want to stand up to her, but at the same time I have no idea what kind of ground I’m walking on here – I’m not related to her in any way… why should she listen to me?”

“This is still your house, and you are the one who was left in charge of her.” Jaime turned over onto his side so he could look at Ainsley. Her porcelain skin was slightly sunburned from their day in the sun, her eyes tired and her lips dry. Even when she looked exhausted and her hair was a mess and her mood was cranky, Jaime admired how beautiful she was.

Ainsley turned to face him and stared over his appearance. His hair was slightly curled, the power of the flat iron he used earlier that morning was no match to the Southern California heat and sweat. His eyes were puffy and he had a ridiculous tan line on the sides of his face from his sunglasses, but his dimples and crooked grin made up for the tiredness in his features. He smiled up at Ainsley before crossing his eyes to make her laugh.

As Ainsley cracked a smile through all of her anger and fear, she stared at her boyfriend and felt her heart growing larger – making room for Jaime and all of his sarcasm and goofy grins.

“Don’t worry, babe,” Jaime muttered as Ainsley got up to change into her pajamas. “Everything happens for a reason.”

Ainsley wanted to call bullshit. How could fighting with Felicia possibly happen for a reason? How could being disrespected lead to something besides a lower self-esteem and a burned out ego? She didn’t say anything though – instead she just nodded in response.

She climbed into bed beside Jaime, immediately pushing herself up against him after he made his way under the blankets with her. He kissed the top of her head three times in a row before letting out a content sigh. Ainsley closed her eyes and tried to forget about her fight with Felicia and all of her worries, and it worked. In Jaime’s arms, anything was possible. Even happiness.

Notes

I'm sorry for taking so long to update and I'm sorry that this update didn't have very much going on in it. Things are about to go down, so don't y'all fret. Shit is about to go down.

Thank you guys for reading and supporting my writing! Seriously, it means the world to me.

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