—get all irritated… and then you ask me questions like you actually want me to stay.” she tilted her head. “that’s kind of cute, actually. andy does that too.”
ashley scoffed. “my mom taught me a lot of things. most of them were useless.” her eyes slid back to him anyway, lingering with absolutely no shame.
“and I’m still here because you keep reacting.” a small, pleased smile tugged at her mouth.
“you complain, you look away, you—
"Of course I care that you're staring, it's annoying as hell. Didn't your mom ever teach you not to stare at people?"
Shaking his head and breaking eye contact with her once more.
"If I'm pissing you off, why are you here huh?"
—pissing me off, actually.” she paused, then smiled sweeter. “mostly because you keep acting like you don’t care that I’m staring.” ashley leaned closer.
ashley blinked at him, almost looking offended by how reasonable that sounded. “wow.. responsible and boring. you really aren’t andy.” her lips curled into that irritating little grin again as she met his stare without flinching.
“but you’re already doing a pretty good job of—
"Fun? What, you expect me to taunt you about something? I don't even know you, why would I do anything that could piss you off?"
Great, and here she is again. Lazily meeting her gaze, hopefully it's enough to get her to stop for the time being.
her smile twitched at the eye roll. “mhm, yeah. I noticed. andy’s usually a lot more fun when I annoy him.” she stepped around just enough to catch his face again, shamelessly continuing to stare.
“besides, turning away isn’t helping your case. now you’re even doing the whole—
"Until you figure it out? You know that sometimes people just look alike right? And I definitely ain't your brother."
Rolling his eyes and turning from her.
—until I figure out why you look so much like my brother.”
her head tilted. “…try not to make the resemblance worse, okay? andy already gets on my nerves enough.”
ashley’s grin only widened at that. “oh, it could be a good thing.” she leaned in just a little, eyes dragging over his face again like she was searching for something familiar.
“but if it’s bad?” A soft laugh slipped out. “then you’re gonna have to deal with me staring at you—
"Is that a good or bad thing? You're staring like you wanna rip my head off I think."
Creepy. Who could he possibly remind her of that requires this much study?
her stare lingered far longer than was socially acceptable, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied every little detail of his face. “…you look like someone I know.”
she tilted her head, expression twisting into something between amusement and discomfort.