(winnie's outfit for this chapter)

Winnie groans with annoyance, laying her head on her crossed arms on the table. "If they continue to act all lovey dovey anymore I'm gonna have to go stand in the middle of a busy highway."

Tad and Bella have been all coupley ever since they got back together and it was getting annoying. Was she jealous they were together and she didn't have anyone? Yeah, obviously. But that's besides the point. Poor Ashley had to see it all; Winnie felt so bad for her and wished there was something she could do for her.

"Did I hear something about standing in the middle of a busy highway?" Stick questions, taking the empty seat between Brook and Winnie. "'Cause I'll go too." 

"Nini said that." Brooke replies, glancing at the couple with annoyance. "And I don't blame either of you." 

"Ugh! I've got a deadline in three days, and I can't concentrate." Ashley groans. "Why am I so distracted?"

"I don't know." Brooke pretends to sound like she doesn't know when it was obvious she did. "Maybe it's because you like Tad, and...Well, look at them." The four friends glance over at the table Tad and Bella sat at. Winnie looks at the couple weirdly upon seeing Bella scratching Tad behind his ear. "They're grooming each other like chimps." Brooke remarked.

"Really weird." Winnie commented and Stick nodded in agreement.

Winnie notices Ashley is clearly upset and that she tries to portray that she's happy for the couple. "I liked him for a nanosecond." She fakes a smile. "I say, good for them." The next time she speaks sounds more like she forced herself to say it. "Good for them." 

"Convincing." Stick sarcastically remarked.

Winnie sympathetically smiles at Ashley. "Ash, you're not fooling anyone. It's obvious you're upset about them. I'm sorry you have to go through this."

"It's okay, I guess." Ashley sighed and continued working.

"Hey, Ashley." Victor greets. "How are you doing?"

"Great." Ashley forces a smile and fists bump the air. "Whoo!"

Winnie glances at the couple when she heard laughing in that direction and saw Bella had put icing on Tad's nose. "Yippee-kai-yay, Uncle Victor." Ashley said, leaning her arm back on the seat. 

Victor raises his eyebrows at her. "You sure everything's all right?" 

Ashley's smile falls upon noticing Tad and Bella sharing a Twizzler like how Lady and the Tramp shared spaghetti in the movie. Winnie smiles sympathetically at her, feeling bad for her. "Amazing." Ashley replies. "It's just so great being a teenager." She forced a laugh that didn't sound convincing. 

Victor looks at her weirdly and nods. "Okay." 

After he walked away, Winnie lokos back at the couple along with her friends when she heard Bella say, "Here comes the choo-choo." Bella then fed Tad some ice cream from the milkshake.

Winnie glances at Ashley with surprise upon hearing a pencil snap in half and saw she had half a pencil. "Okay, Lady Hulk, you jealous." Brooke sassily commented.

Ashley leans back with a surprise expression. "Jealous of Bella?"

"It's obvious you are." Winnie nodded.

Ashley laughs. "Her one accomplishment in life is making sure her bra strap is always showing." She gasps, looking at her friends with a panicked expression. "Did I just criticize another woman for how they dress? What is happening to me?" She frowns. "I'm a bad feminist."

"You are not a bad feminist." Brooke reassures her. "You're just dealing with your first crush."

"Yeah, crushes are hard." Stick said, dreamingly smiling at Winnie. Ashley and Brooke exchanged a knowing glance.

Winnie, who had been checking notifications on her phone, glances at her phone when she realized Stick w staring at her. She raised her eyebrows at him and smiled slightly at him, but she was confused as to why he was smiling like that at her. 

Stick quickly look away from her with an embarrassed expression since he got caught staring at her. "I've heard."

"This crush is turning me into a mean girl." Ashley realizes and as she speaks her voice gets louder. "I can't concentrate on work. I have a deadline. I'm shouting for some reason!" She looks at Brooke and Winnie pleadingly. "Girls, help me."

"I just saw Brooke posted an eight-step program for how to get over a crush." Winnie explained, pulling up the eight-step program and turned her phone around to show the program to Ashley.

Brooke nods with a smile. "At the end of this, you'll not only be over Tad, you'll be friends with him."

Ashley smiles widely at Brooke. "You are so the Alan Turing of teen problems."

"Thank you." Brooke responds, looking confused. She shakes her head. "I'll google that later." She smiles at Winnie. "Nini, can you read off the steps?"

"Sure." Winnie smiles, turning her phone back to face her so she can read it. "Okay, step one says to feel the pain."

"Oh, good." Ashley smiles. "I'm doing that already." Grimacing, she puts a hand over her stomach. "It's right here. Ooh, it's terrible."

"Well, if you're a good student, you'll only feel this pain for eight more days." Brooke smiled reassuringly at Ashley.

Ashely's eyes widen. "Eight more days?" She asks in disbelief. "I've got a work deadline in three." She quickly closes her laptop. "Let's get started." While Ashley and Brooke stood, Winnie stood, putting her phone in her back pocket. The four friends glanced over at the couple, looking at them weirdly upon seeing Bella kissing Tad's arm. 

"Preferably somewhere we don't have to watch Bella eat Tad's arm like a corn on the cob." Ashley commented. 

"If you guys need any help..." Stick began to say, but Ashley and Brooke were already walking towards the door. "I'm sure you'll find someone else." 

Winnie was half way to the door, but stops, glancing back at Stick with a sympathetic expression. She felt bad for leaving him alone so she decided to hang out with him. She knew that Brooke could help Ashley out by herself. 

"Nini," Winnie turns around, looking at Brooke who had stopped by the door. Brooke raises her eyebrows at her. "You going with us?" 

"I'll catch up with you guys later." Winnie responded with a smile before she turned around and walked back over to where Stick was standing by himself. Brooke smiled softly and shook her head as she left. She wished that the two of them would just confess their feelings to each other already. 

"Hey." Winnie greeted, smiling at Stick. 

Looking at her with slight confusion, Stick still smiles at her. "Winnie, what are you doing here? I thought you were going with them."

"I couldn't leave you here to suffer with..." Winnie grimaces, dramatically gesturing at the couple. "Them."

Stick chuckles softly. "Thanks, Winnie."

Winnie jumps, startled slightly when she heard the big Confect Four pieces fall. She and Stick glance over at the table the game was on and her eyes widen upon seeing Victor had been hiding behind the game. "Coach. Not cool with spying." She said in a scolding tone, shaking her head in disappointment.

"I wasn't spying." Victor defends himself, glancing at everyone who were looking at him. "As co-owner, I sometimes referee these games."

"Way to go, guys." Victor smiled, double high fiving the boy and girl who had been playing the game.

Winnie and Stick walk over to Victor who now stood at the counter. "How long have you been back there refereeing?" Stick inquired.

"Long enough to hear my poor niece is in pain and getting terrible advice." Victor answers. He furrows his eyebrows. "Eight steps? She doesn't need that."

Victor smiles. "I've been cheering her up since she was a little kid. All it takes is karaoke, arroz con leche and churros." He glances at the two teens beside him. "Any questions?" 

"I understood everything but arroz con leche." Winnie nodded with a confused look on her face and Stick nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah." Stick agrees. "I got a B in Spanish, so I got a lot of questions."

Winnie pouts, crossing her arms. "You're so lucky you got a B. I got a C. Stupid Spanish." Stick chuckled lightly, smiling at her and thought she was cute when she pouted.

****

Later that day, Winnie and Stick help Victor with carrying things he needed to help cheer up Ashley inside his house. Victor kicks the door open since he was holding a speaker. "Fun Uncle Victor was always able to snap little Ashley out of her funks." Holding a bag full of groceries, she followed Victor inside while Stick followed her inside, rolling a karaoke suitcase behind him. "She loved karaoke since she could talk, which was at four months." Victor continues. "One time, when she was eight, she was so depressed. Congress had just cut NASA's funding." Winnie chuckles lightly and sets down the bag off to the side as Victor picks up a music stand. "You know what fixed her? Me."

"I got her to sing the entire cast recording of 'Mamma Mia!'." Victor smiled widely, setting the music stand by the suitcase Stick left near the door.

"You know, Coach, Ashley didn't officially tell you why she was upset." Stick reminded him while Victor got the book of songs and put it on the music stand.

Winnie nods, crossing her arms. "She's going to be upset or mad when she finds out you were spying on her."

Victor folds his hands in front of himself, shaking his head. "She's never gonna find that out." He waves his hands around dramatically. "I'm a master of distraction and manipulation."

"That..." Stick pauses for a moment, shaking his head with a nervous expression on his face. "Is not reassuring at all."

"This all gonna blow up in your face." Winnie commented.

Victor scoffs. "Did anyone ever tell you guys that you worry a lot?"

"Only two psychiatrists and my grandma." Stick shrugged and Winnie smiled sympathetically at him.

Victor puts a hand on Stick's shoulder. "Don't worry." He reassures him. "I've been cheering her up behind her back her whole life. She hasn't figured it out yet."

Winnie's eyes widen with surprise and she grimaces, shaking her head. "Yeah, that still doesn't reassure me."

Winnie glances over at the door to the kitchen when she heard it open and saw Ashley and Brooke walk in. Ashley looks confused but she still smiles. "What's all this?" 

"Surprise!" Victor laughs, carrying in the other speaker that had been outside. As Stick closes the front door, Winnie and Stick exchange a confused glance, both wondering what he had planned. "It's your welcome to California karaoke party."

"Sounds fun, but I can't." Ashley rejects. "Brooke and I were about to-"

"No, Ashley." Brooke interrupts her. "This is great." She glances at Victor with a smile. "Can't wait, Coach." 

"They're more surprises coming." Victor points at her and picks up the grocery bag before he walks to the kitchen. He glances back at Winnie and Stick. "Come on, guys, I need your help."

"With what?" Stick furrows his eyebrows. Then an excited expression forms on his face. "Wait, why am I questioning this?" He jumps up and down with excitement. "Somebody needs me." 

Winnie giggle slightly, smiling at him with amusement. "Hey, wait," She pouts. "I always need you."

Stick smiles softly at her, ignoring the way he felt his face heat up when she said that. "I meant somebody other than you."

"Okay." Winnie chuckled and she and Stick walked to the kitchen. 

****

Somehow Winnie and Stick got pulled into helping Victor with making food. Winnie was never good at cooking. She didn't know how to make anything from scratch; she could only make things that were easy and that had instructions. Even with instructions she sometimes had trouble. 

Victor turns to face the two teens with a smile when he was done peeking out the door to check on his niece and Brooke. "They're already having fun, and they're only dancing to the song list." He grins and claps. "Whoo! Fun uncle's plan is dope!"

"Hey, Coach," Winnie speaks up, gaining Victor's attention. She glances at him with annoyance, putting one hand on her hip. "If this is your plan, then why are we doing the work?" 

"'Cause I can't do all this by myself." Victor scoffs. He tilts his head to the side, pointing at the two teens. "Hey, do you guys still say dope?"

Stick shakes his head. "I've never said that." 

"Me neither." Winnie voices. "And I don't think I ever heard anyone else our age say it either."

When the doorbell rang a few moments later, Victor called out to Ashley for her to get the door. Victor then gave some money to Stick for him to go pay for the pizza so he left the kitchen while Victor and Winnie worked on making the arroz con leche. 

"How do you know when this is done?" Winnie asked him as she stirred the rice in the pot.

"I think it's almost done." Victor replies. "You know, you say you're a bad cook, but this is turning out pretty good." 

Winnie chuckles. "Well, that's because I'm not making it by myself."

"Okay," Victor chuckles a bit and walks over to the door that led to the living room. "I'm gonna go get Ashley so she can test it."  He then called out for Ashley to come to the  kitchen. 

"Hey, Nini." Ashley greeted, smiling at Winnie.

"Hi, Ash." Winnie returned the smile and stopped stirring the rice, stepping to the side so Victor could stand in front of it. Victor then got a spoon and dipped it in the pot to get some on the spoon.

"I need you to test the rice." Victor said to Ashley.

Ashley smiles excitedly, walking over to her uncle. "You're making arroz con leche?" 

"Yep." Winnie nods with a small smile. She furrows her eyebrows with confusion. "Still have no idea what that is."

Ashley chuckles lightly. "It's a rice pudding." She informs her and a look of realization forms on Winnie's face. Ashley then tries the some of the rice that was on the spoon her uncle had. "It's almost ready." She smiles. She glances at Winnie. "Nini, you wanna join me and Brooke  singing karaoke? We're singing the song 'Walk Like an Eygptian'."

Pointing at Ashley, Winnie's face lit up. "Ooh, are you guys doing the dance that the three of us made up?"  

"Yeah." Ashley nodded.

"Of course I'll dance and sing karaoke with you and Brooke." Winnie grins and Ashley smiles at her. Winnie chuckles, shrugging her shoulders. "I would've agreed to do karaoke even if we weren't doing the dance, but I think the dance is fun to do."  She grimaces. "Maybe a little bit embarrassing, but mostly fun." 

Her eyes widen in realization. "Wait, isn't Tad here?" Even though she hasn't spoken to him yet, she knew he was there because she heard him and Bella talking. She didn't like that Bella was here, but nowadays when Tad shows up Bella is with him. A look of concern forms on Winnie's face and she tilts her head to the side.  "You sure you wanna do that dance in front of him?" She knew that Ashley made a weird face whenever she did that dance and she figured Ashley wouldn't want to do it since Tad was there. 

"Yes, I'm sure." Ashley smiled reassuringly at her.

"The song's all queued up." Brooke explains, walking into the kitchen. She smiles at Ashley. "Ready?"

Ashley nervously glances at her. "define ready."

"Come on, Ash." Brooke smiles reassuringly at her. She glances at Winnie and Victor to inform them, "She's gonna sing 'Walk Like an Egyptian', and we're gonna do the dance we use to do." Her face lit up and she smiles at Winnie. "Ooh, Winnie, wanna join us?"

"Ash already asked me and I of course said yes." Winnie smiled back at her.

"Well, that's great." Victor smiles at his niece. "I can't wait to see it."

"I'm still psyching up." Ashley smiles nervously. A nervous expression appears on her face as she repeats 'i can't do this'. "I can't do this. I can't do this."

Winnie raises her eyebrows. "Odd way of psyching yourself up."

Brooke nods in agreement. "Okay, maybe a more positive mantra."

Victor furrows his eyebrows. "What's the matter? You love karaoke."

"I can do it in front of you guys." Ashley replies, putting a hand on her hip. "I don't care what you think, but the thing is-"

Stick walks into the kitchen, interrupting Ashley with a scared look on his face. "Do not leave me alone out there." 

"You know, Stick, in a minute." Brooke told him.

"Tad and Bella are all over each other." Stick breathes heavily with a look of fear in his eyes. "When it's just he three of us and someone walks in, I feel like I should just shut my computer really fast."

Victor's eyes widen. "Woah, woah, woah. Tad and Bella are here?"

Ashley shrugs. "They showed up. I told them they could stay."

"What?" Victor puts emphasis on the word to show how much he was upset about this. "Well, they need to go." After seeing the weird looks he got from everyone, he laughs nervously. "I mean, don't you know what this whole evening is about?"

Ashley leans the kitchen island, tilting her head to the side as she looks at her uncle confusedly. Brooke stares at Victor with confused as well while Winnie and Stick glances at him with amusement. "It's about your welcome to California..." Victor's voice trails off and he glacned at Stick and then at Winnie for help.

"Celebration." Stick and Winnie spoke in unison.

Victor nods, leaning on the kitchen island and putting a hand on his hip. Acting as if he knew what to say. "Celebration."

"It's showtime, Ashley." Brooke walked forward, grabbing Ashley's arm and began pulling her towards the living room.

"Fine, I'll do karaoke, but this is going to be the worst experience of my life." Ashley complained.

Winnie follows the two girls out to the living room, smiling reassuringly at Ashley. "Ash, don't worry. You're gonna do great." 

"Ashley, Winnie, and I will sing an oldie but a goodie." Brooke explains as the trio walks over to the karaoke machine. "Right, Ash?"

Ashely smiles nervously at Tad and Bella, who sat next to each other on the couch. "Uh-huh."

"Tad," Victor smiles warmly at Tad, walking into the living room with Stick. "What are you doing here?" Tad stands up with a smile on his face as Victor walks over to him. With a stern expression on his face, Victor points at him. "Get out of my house."

Tad shrugs. "You got it, Coach."

Brooke stops Tad from leaving. "No, no, no, he just needs to stay for one song." She then pushed him back on the couch, causing Winnie to chuckle lightly.

"Yes, please, tio Victor," Ashley takes ahold of both her uncle's hands with a smile on her face. "Just one song." She brings him to stand off to the side, talking quietly so only they both could hear. "I need to follow Brooke's plan."

Brooke joins the uncle and niece with a smile. "We're on step four. It's important."

Victor sighs as Brooke links arm with Ashley and the two girls went over to where Winnie was standing at the karaoke machine. Brooke turns on the machine, smiling at everyone as the song 'Walk Like an Egyptian' plays. "You are in for a special treat tonight. One night only, for the first time in seven years, we're dusting off a deep cut here." She laughed.

Tad grins. "This is gonna be good."

Bella rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

"All the old paintings on the tombs they do the sand dance, don't you know?" Brooke began singing into the microphone she held and doing the dance the three girls came up with. She handed the microphone off to Winnie with a smile.

Winnie grins, continuing to the same dance as Brooke while she sings. "If they move too quick, oh way oh, they're falling down like a domino."

Winnie holds the microphone in front of Ashley, gesturing for her to sing the next part with an encouraging smile on her face. She exchanged a worried glance with Brooke upon seeing how frightened Ashley was. Ashely was frozen with fear. Brooke and Winnie stop dancing, both smiling encouragingly at her. "Ash, it's your turn." Brooke told her.

"Yeah, come on. You got this." Winnie commented.

Ashely shakes her head, turning to step to the side. Winnie frowns, but then her face lit up when she thought of an idea. She looks over at Stick, smiling widely at him. Stick's eyes widen upon realizing what she wanted him to do. "No way, never. Not gonna happen." 

"Come on, I bet it'll help Ashley feel more comfortable if more people are doing it." Winnie moves to stand in front of him, using her puppy dog eyes since she knew he couldn't say no to that. "Please?"

Stick tried his best to not give in, but curse those puppy dog eyes for making her look so adorable. He groans, leaning his head back as he did. "Fine. Okay." 

"Great!" Winnie grinned, grabbing his wrist and pulling him over to where Brooke was standing near the karaoke machine. She let go of his wrist, continuing to do the dance along with Brooke and Stick followed their lead as she and Brooke sang 'oh way oh' a few times.

Finally getting over her frozen state of fear, Ashely smiles at Brooke and Winnie. "Let's do it."

Brooke and Winnie smile at her and nod. Ashley stands beside Brooke and Winnie, singing along with them. "Walk like an Egyptian." Stick awkwardly joined in on singing at the last second, causing Winnie to giggle slightly and smile at him with amusement.

Then the four teens began to do the same 'Walk Like an Egyptian' dance, the one where Ashley makes a weird face when she dances. Towards the end, Brooke and Winnie link arms together and Winnie links her arm with Stick, smiling proudly at Ashely dancing by herself. "We have achieved pooping baby face." Brooke commented.

"I'm so proud of her for doing the dance in front of others and not caring." Winnie smiled.

"Why do you call it pooping baby face?" Stick questioned and in response Brooke pointed at Ashley.

Just like Ashely said before to the girls, she did look like a baby pooping when she did this dance. Yet she got over her fear and didn't care about embarrassing herself in front of Tad or even Bella. 

Stick's eyes widen in realization. "Oh."

At the end of the song, Brooke and Winnie went over to congratulate Ashley along with Stick. The four teens glance over at the couple when they heard laughing and saw they were paying no attention to anyone but themselves. 

"He wasn't even watching?" Ashley inquired with a sad expression on her face.

Winnie frowns, watching Ashley walk towards the kitchen. She quickly follows Ashley along with Brooke. "Ashley, youd id your part." Brooke told Ashley.

"Yeah," Winnie nods. "It shouldn't even matter if he saw it."

"She's right." Brooke points at the blonde beside her. "It doesn't matter." She smiles at Ashley. "You embarrassed yourself in front of him."

"But he didn't' even care enough to watch." Ashley shakes her head. "You were right, Brooke. I wasn't ready. I rushed things." She frowns. "I'm clearly not over him."

Ashley then walks into the kitchen. Winnie frowns. "Poor Ashley." 

"Well, don't give up on the steps because the steps work!" Brooke called out to Ashley with an upset expression on her face.

"I don't think they work." Winnie shakes her head, smiling sympathetically at Brooke. "But nice try." 

**** 

Later that night, Stick was helping Ashley with testing out her robot she had made. Telerobotics means the robot is remotely controlled by you and that's what Ashley did with this robot. She made the robot able to feel what Stick felt cutaneously and kinesthetically and that is called haptics. Basically meaning while Stick wore the suit Ashley made to go with it when he moved his arms the robot moved its arms. Thankfully it worked and everything went well. 

"Thank you, Stick. I couldn't have done this without you." Ashley smiled, hugging Stick.

"Yeah, one-person hugs suck." Stick remarked.

"Oh, what did you want to tell me at Pat's?" Ashley asks him as they both pull apart from the hug. "I totally cut you off."

"Oh, I was gonna help you get through more steps of Brooke's 'get over your crush' plan." Stick explains, picking up his phone off a nearby table. "Step five, focus on your crush's flaws. Well, Tad's got a girlfriend."

"Okay, he's got one flaw." Ashley rolled her eyes.

Stick nods. "Kind of a big one." He glances back at his phone. "Step six, take up a hobby or throw yourself into work."

Ashley smiles, gesturing to where they're at. "Done."

"Step seven, tell yourself you'll find something better." Stick read off the next step.

Ashley smiles softly. "I think I already did that one." 

Stick glances at her with surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah, I got you." Ashley responds. "And Winnie and Brooke." She adds with a wide smile.  "I wanted that with Tad, but you guys are great too."

Stick smiles. "Friends are always good to have." He looks at the ground with a frown, sighing heavily. "Unless you don't wanna be friends with someone."

Ashley's face lit up and she points at him, smiling excitedly. "You're talking about Winnie!"

"What?" Stick looks back at her so fast he thought he might've gotten whiplash. His eyes were wide and his face was turning pink. "N-No I'm not."

"Please," Ashely rolls her eyes. "It's so obvious you're in love with her." 

Stick stares at her with surprise, he knew his face was a bright red and he suddenly felt like he's frozen yet his heart was beating rapidly. "What would make you say that?" 

"Well, first of all, you know her coffee order by heart." Ashley started to list things off.

"Okay," Stick laughs nervously. "A lot of people know each other's coffee order by heart."

"But not a lot of them smile dreamingly at them." Ashley smirked.

"You-You..." Stick rubs the back of his neck nervously, his face heating up more as he grows embarrassed. "See that?"

Ashley chuckles. "Yeah, it's kinda hard to miss." Stick sheepishly smiles, bringing his shy gaze to the floor. Ashley shrugs. "Unless you're Winnie." She sympathetically smiles at him. "She's oblivious to your feelings for her. I'm surprise she doesn't know you pining after her."

"Yeah, me too. I've been trying to flirt with her for a year." Stick admitted.

Ashley stares at him with surprise. "Really? I haven't heard you flirt with her once."

"By flirting I mean more like doing sweet gestures for her." Stick explains a sheepish expression on his face. "Not really good with actually flirting." 

"You should totally confess your feelings to her, Stick. I bet you she feels the same." Ashley smiled at him.

"I would love to tell her, but I don't want to ruin our friendship." Stick sighs. "She's one of the most important people to me and I don't wanna lose her because of feelings."

Ashley smiles softly at him. "You wanna be with her, right?"

Stick sighs dreamingly. "More than anything."

Ashley chuckles. "Well, then tell her how you feel." Her face lit up. "You should tell her tonight!"

Stick panics. "No, not tonight! Tonight is too early." 

"Okay, how about tomorrow?" Ashley inquired.

"Still too early." Stick replied, still having a panicked expression on his face as he shook his head.

"Stick," Ashley sighs. "You're gonna have to tell her sometime. She deserves to know."

"Yeah," Stick groans. "I know."

"Don't worry, Stick." Ashley smiles reassuringly at him, patting his shoulder to comfort him. "I'm sure that she will feel the same way."

"Thanks, Ashley." Stick smiles slightly and then a nervous expression appears on his face. "I hope you're right."

A/N i had no idea how to end this chapter but i think it turned out somewhat good lol. do we love it that ashley is kinda being like stick's wing-woman? thought that would be a good idea!