Unsung Heroes

Ch. 10 Welcome to the Family! Check Your Sanity at the Door
Ever since the day that I basically pounced on Ash, my weirdness about being physical seemed to go away in a matter of days. I wasn’t so shy with him, anymore, and now if he were to walk in on me naked, I wouldn’t care. As opposed to when Mitch walked in on me naked and I would freak out and throw things at him.
I am much more comfortable physically, too. Not just with contact, like if Ash were to come up behind me while I was cooking or something and pinch my ass or grab me through my jeans i'd probably just jump a bit or let out a surprised noise, but originally, if someone else did that, I might have actually (on reflex) turned and punched them in the nose.
Physically, though, I used to really cover up, the lowest cut in my shirts that I would wear would be a shallow v-cut, and I always wore pants and combat boots. I only wore shorts if it was especially hot out. Otherwise, I lived in bandshirts, skinny jeans, and sweats. Now, I was more likely to be seen in... well, nothing REVEALING, exactly, but clothes that were a bit flashier, like shirts that were black and had glitter on them or pants that had designed cuts on them on the thighs.
I credited it partly to being in such a good relationship with Ash and to it being that I was now having sex. Now that I had initiated something, Ash wasn't all freaked out or nervous about approaching me about sex, because either one of us could.
We were still living separately, as we'd only been together a couple months and that's a pretty big step forward to move in.
Right now, I'm at his place, helping him make dinner -- grilled chicken and salad. Boring, but he's super weird about this diet he's been on for years, and refuses to eat red meat. Even though I did tell him that, as a Brazilian, not eating red meat might actually kill me since it's a big part of our diet.
He just shrugged and said, "Yeah, but I'm not gonna buy it." Basically meaning that if someone were to go out of their way to get me my steak, it wasn't going to be him unless it was a special occasion.
I was manning the salad, chopping various vegetables and throwing them into a bowl. He'd handed me a bunch of stuff and said it was salad stuff. In Brazil, though, unless there was a specific recipe, salad tended to just be lettuce and tomatoes. He'd laughed at my expression and then just told me to throw it all into the bowl.
He was behind me, grilling chicken marinated in lemon and garlic and parsley in a pan on the stove. His dogs, Killer and Tokyo, were sitting on his feet, so he was kind of stuck there.
"Hey, Baby?" he said suddenly, drawing my attention from the bell pepper I was chopping.
"Sim?," I said. I spoke Portuguese more with him, now, not because I wanted to confuse him because he didn't understand me, but because he actually thought it was erotic. He did tell me he loved my accent, and that did include me speaking my native language.
The proof of that was when he groaned slightly before he continued talking. "There's a gathering at Andy and Juliet's this weekend. Just food and booze and shit. CC and Jinxx and Jake and his girl Ella are going to be there. Juliet and Ella wanna meet you, but you don't need to go if you don't want to." He sounded hesitant.
Setting down the knife, I turned around and wrapped my arms around his middle, getting on my toes to press my nose into the back of his neck -- I'm short DON'T JUDGE ME.
"Ash, I'd love to go, don't feel like I'm being forced into something I don't want to do." I kissed the back of his neck and then turned back to continue chopping bell pepper.
"Indy, if my pups weren't sitting on my feet and if moving them didn't risk them getting thrown across the room, I'd kiss you," I could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Ha ha, you're adorable, Ash," I laughed and looked over my shoulder.
He looked over his and winked at me, pursing his lips. "I try."

That Saturday, at 7 pm, I put on a plain black V-neck, a blue and black flannel, black skinnies, and heeled, black, knee-high boots. I'd put on red lipstick and liquid liner and mascara. Grabbing my bag, which just had my phone and wallet, I slung it over my shoulder and grabbed my bike keys and helmet, heading out of my apartment and down the stairs to the street.
As I headed to my bike, a sudden voice called out to me.
"Indy!"
I turned and saw that Ashley was parked in front of me, leaning against a black Harley, waiting for me, wearing a Misfits shirt, his leather bike jacket, and black skinny jeans and his cowboy boots.
I smiled and spedwalked over to him.
"Hey," I said, leaning into him to press a kiss to his lips. He wrapped my arms around me, under my shirt.
"Want to go there together on my bike?"
I grinned. "Sure, but next time, we're taking mine."
He snorted. "Okay, sure, Babe." It kind of sounded like he didn't trust me on my bike, but that was probably just some weird man thing.
I pulled on my helmet and slid behind him on the bike as he put on his helmet and started the engine, revving it and lifting the bike stand. I wrapped my arms around his middle and lifted my legs up as he pulled out onto the road towards Andy and Juliet's house.
The drive lasted about ten minutes, with me looking over his shoulder and occasionally running a hand up his side.
When we got there, I could see that CC's truck and both Jake and Ella and Jinxx's cars were parked on the street and Andy's and Juliet's were in the driveway. As Ash squeezed onto the driveway, I suddenly felt incredibly nervous, and my chest felt tight, as it always does when I'm around more than five people.
When Ashley parked, he climbed off and pulled off his helmet. I stayed on, but pulled off my helmet, resting it on my lap.
Ashley turned to see me sitting there, and walked back over me to and pulled the helmet from my hand and helped me off.
"Are you okay, Baby?" He asked me quietly. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
I nodded. "I do, it's just nerves. Happens every time i'm in groups of more than five."
He smiled. "I promise they don't bite. CC might, but he's just being friendly. He's like an oversized puppy."
Laughing, I wrapped my arm around his middle and he wrapped his around my shoulders and he lde me to the front door. I could hear music through the door and people talking and laughing.
When Ashley raised his hand to knock, the door flew open and Juliet was standing there, her curly, dyed blonde hair all around her face, her brown eyes sparkling, and seh was wearing a white off the shoulder shirt and tight blue pants.
"You guys came!" She said happily, almost jumping on Ash before turning to me and smiling even wider, even though I was almost positive that is she did her face would freeze in that position.
"You must be Indy!" She suddenly grabbed me in a bonebreaking hug, and I gasped slightly.
"Whoa there, Jules, let's not kill her before she's even in the house!" Ash laughed.
Jumping away suddenly, Juliet laughed again. "Oh, sorry, come on in!" She turned and practically bounced back into the house.
Wide-eyed, I looked up at Ash as we crossed the threshhold. He laughed at my expression. "Don't worry, she only really gets like that when she's had more than a couple cafeinated drinks."
Walking into the house, I saw in their living room that Jake and Ella were sprawled on one of the couches, Ella tucked under Jake's arm. Jinxx was sitting by them on the ground, his legs spread in nfrot of him. CC was on the armchair wideways, a beer in his hand. I could see Andy sitting at the table, lighting a cigarette, and Juliet had gone into the kitchen, most likely cooking.
Andy was the first person to notice us.
"Hey, look who finally showed up!"
Everyone turned to see us and lit up. Ella moved from under Jake and got up to walk over to us. She TOWERED over me, her long brown/black hair flowing around her shoulders, and her blue eyes sparkling.
"Hello." Her british accent was thick. "I'm Ella. Ash has told us so much about you, it's nice to finally meet you!"
I smiled. "Nice to meet you, too."
Smiling, she grabbed me from under Ash's arm and practically dragged me into the kitchen where Juliet stood, stirring something in a pot.
"Do you want anything to drink?" Juliet asked, looking up at me, smiling brightly. "We got booze, soda, and water."
I sat on a stool around the island counter across from Juliet. "I'm fine with just a beer."
Ella grinned. "A gal of simple means. I think I like you," she said wtih a smile, opening the fridge and pulling out a Corona and sliding it to me across the counter. When she wentt o get a bottle opener, I stopped her and pulled out my bike keys and used the ring to open the bottle and taking a long swig.
When I set the bottle down, Juliet and Ella were looking at me funny.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"Where the bloody hell did you learn to do that?" Ella asked incredulously.
I shrugged. "You meet all kinds in Rio."
Ella laughed. "You must teach me how to do that!"
I smiled.

The next few hours were spent mostly listening to loud music and eating finger food and drinking beer. I was sitting on Ash's lap on the ground across from the band against the wall.
"So, Indy," Juliet said suddenly after CC made some random joke. "We TRIED to get Ash to tell us more about you other than his weird lovey dovey bullshit" -- Ash buried his face in my shoulder, making everyone laugh -- "But now that you are here and we know you better, tell us about you! We wanna know how actually was able to get the guy who was so anti-commitment to actually... commit!" Andy laughed and pressed a kiss to her temple. Jake laughed. "Yeah, tell us about the girl who actually got Ash to turn down playboy models!"
I blushed and laughed. "You Americans make me laugh!" I looked at Ella. "How do you deal with these Gringos?"
She shrugged. "Sometimes I wonder that, too. And then i remember i'm engaged to a Yank." She laughed and kissed Jake's cheek.
Jinxx smiled. "What does gringo mean?"
I smirked. "It's Brazilian slang for white people." I took a sip of my beer.
CC sat up suddenly. "Wait, you're Brazilian?"
I nodded. "My parents are from Rio, but i was born here. My parents died when I was young, so my grandparents raised me in Rio until I was 16, when I emancipated myself because i hate them and moved to LA to go to school."
Jake smiled. "So you haven't lived here all that long?"
I shook my head. "No, only seven years if you don't count the ones I spent here until I was six."
CC grinned. "Dude, that's awesome! If we ever go there on tour, you could be our guide!"
I laughed. "Maybe. I mainly just act and look like a Brazilian woman."
Juliet sat up. "What does that mean?"
I smiled. "It means I can be loud, I like partying, I make a lot of food, and I dance Samba and belly dancing. I have tan skin, naturally dark hair, I have a giant ass and big tits, adn i'm not that tall."
Andy laughed. "Now I get it, you're actually interesting, unlike those bimbos Ash used to bring onto the bus!"
I rolled my eyes and stood up and walked into the kitchen to throw away my now empty beer bottle and get another, now using my belt buckle to open it as I walked back out.
"Às vezes me pergunto o que exatamente passa pela cabeça de vocês, americanos , e se ou não que você realmente pensa ou apenas falar." I sat back down in front of Ash to see everyone confused asto what I said.
"Did I say that in Portuguese? Sorry, that happens sometimes."
"Keep that up, and Ash might not be able to hold himself back much longer," Jake said with a smirk.
I laughed. "Sometimes his restraint amazes me," I said affectionately, turning my head to kiss the side of Ashley's nose.
Ash was blushing. "Are we just gonna spend the night making fun of me?" The collective laughter that followed seemed to answer his question, and he groaned, hiding his face in my neck.

Notes

I had a lot of fun writing this :)
Translations:
Sim: means yes
Gringo: is Brazilian layman's terms for white people, but not in a demeaning way
Às vezes me pergunto o que exatamente passa pela cabeça de vocês, americanos , e se ou não que você realmente pensa ou apenas falar: means Sometimes I wonder what exactly goes through the minds of you Americans, and whether or not you actually think or just talk.

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