“You know who it is, and you know what to do.” AJ’s message went off once more as Ashley sighed, finally leaving a message.
“Alex, I’ve been calling you for like 20 minutes. I have some friends coming over after school and I just wanted to give you a heads up.” She said. “Lunch is almost over and I’ll be in class so I guess I’ll see you after school.”
The rest of the day went by uneventfully as Ashley kept checking her phone hoping to see a call back from AJ. Ashley smiled as she walked out the door of the school after her final class. She was relieved to have the weekend off for a change and couldn’t wait to get home and spend some time with Angel. She was a little nervous because Angel said she was bringing over two friends and she knew that meant a boy that Angel wanted her to meet. It’s not that she was scared of meeting new people; she just didn’t have the greatest track record when it came to boys.
“Hey bitch!” Angel yelled from a car window across the street from the school as Ashley walked by.
“Hey!” Ashley jogged over to the car. “What are you doing here? I thought you were meeting me at the house.”
“We decided to surprise you.” She grinned. “Get in!”
Ashley opened the door and got in the back of the car next to Angel.
“I’ve missed you!” Angel immediately pulled her into a hug. “We’ve been away from each other way too long.”
“Hey you’re the one who keeps venturing off to lord knows where with your brother, I’m in the same place all the time.” Ashley teased.
“I really have no choice.”
“I know, but we have to spend as much time together as we can while you’re here in case I get shipped back off to boring Florida.”
“You know AJ wouldn’t let that happen. From the sounds of it her really wants you here.” Angel said.
“Yea until I mess up and we get into a fight.” She sighed.
“Hey, you haven’t ripped each others heads off yet and its been what like 10 days? That’s a good sign.”
“I guess so. We’ll see how the rest goes, my mom comes home soon.”
“Did you talk to AJ about us coming over?” she asked.
“Nope, I called him a gagillion times and kept getting his voice mail. He still hasn’t called me back but I left a message to tell him I was having people over so I guess we’ll just see how that goes.” She shrugged. “Let’s just head home.”
“Oh before I forget let me not be rude. This is Danny, my boyfriend.” Angel began.
“Boyfriend? We really do need to catch up!” Ashley laughed cutting her off.
“We have plenty of time for that.” Angel laughed and continued. “And this is my new friend and one of Danny’s best friends, Ryan.”
“Hi.” Ashley smiled timidly and waved slightly at the two boys in the front seat.
“You remember how I told you to get to her house babe?” Angel asked sitting back in the seat.
“Yea.” Danny said as he pulled off to head back.
“He’s cute right?” Angel whispered to Ashley as they drove.
“Who Danny? Yea, he seems like you’re type.” Ashley smiled.
“No not Danny, Ryan! He’s cute right?”
“Angel, I told you already.” Ashley sighed. “I’m just trying to stay focused right now, and boy free.”
“Boy free is never fun.” Angel teased. “No ones saying you have to marry him, I’m just trying to show you that there are actually good guys out there.”
“We’re here, where should I park?” Danny asked.
“Park by the next house, my brothers not home yet and I don’t want him to come in being all full of questions.” She said.
He parked the car and they all got out and made their way towards the house. Ashley unlocked the door and let them all inside. They made themselves comfortable in the living room as Ashley checked the answering machine just in case AJ left her a message. Again there was nothing. Shrugging it off she quickly dropped off her book bag in her room and grabbed some snacks from the kitchen to bring to the others.
“I have some chips and stuff. We don’t have much, my brother hasn’t gone food shopping yet.” She set them down on the table and took a seat on the couch. She smiled timidly at Ryan, who was on the other end of the couch. She did have to admit he was really cute, Angel always knew how to pick the cute ones, she still had her insecurities clouding her head though.
“So Ryan, Ashley has an amazing voice. Maybe you can hear her sing one day.” Angel smiled.
“Oh really?” he smiled at her and she could feel her face flush.
Ashley just bit her lip timidly trying to hide her embarrassment.
“It’s not a big deal really.” She shrugged it off trying to get the attention off her.
“I think it’s really cool that you have something you like to do so much.” Ryan reassured seeing her shyness.
“Thanks.” She smiled slightly trying to warm up to him. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, she was never this quiet or shy around anyone, but for some reason she just couldn’t be herself.
The group talked for a while more and Ashley was beginning to loosen up a little more, but she still had a slight case of nerves.
“Why don’t we watch a movie or something?” Ashley suggested after a slight lul in the conversation.
“Sounds good.” The other agreed. Ashley checked the clock quickly and saw it was already 4:30. She didn’t know where AJ was and still hadn’t heard from him, but she hoped he wouldn’t be mad when he got home, since he had stressed no boys aside from Jared in the house without him knowing first.
“You guys can pick whatever you want, we have a whole bunch in that cabinet under the TV.” She said.
The boys quickly decided on a comedy, American Pie, and joined the girls on the couch again.
Ashley bit her lip nervously as Angel pushed her to sit closer to Ryan.
Not even halfway through the movie Ashley couldn’t help but notice Angel and her boyfriend not paying much attention to the movie and more to each other.
“Do you wanna go sit in the kitchen or something? I can’t really concentrate on the movie.” She laughed a little looking over at Angel and Danny.
“Yes please.” He laughed.
The two got off the couch and made their way into the kitchen. Ashley grabbed them some soda from the refrigerator and took a seat across from him at the table.
“So you’re a sophomore?” Ryan asked.
“Yea.” Ashley nodded a little taking a sip of her soda. “What about you?”
“I’m a junior.”
“That’s cool.” She fiddled her thumbs trying to think of other things to say. “Where do you go to school?”
“Hollywood.” He smiled.
“Oh that’s cool, they have a really big arts department there too right? I think we’ve done some competitions against them”
“I dunno, I just play football.” He shrugged laughing a little.
“That’s cool too. Our football team sucks.” She laughed.
“I know, we’ve played them before.” He teased.
“So what else do you…” he began
“Crap crap crap!” Ashley jumped up quick, cutting him off, as she heard a car pull up in the driveway. “My brothers home. He can’t find you guys here or I’m dead meat.”
“What do you mean?” Ryan looked at her with a raised brow. “I thought you said he knew you were having friends over.”
“Friends, not boys.” Ashley went to the living room and looked out the window to see AJ grabbing some bags from the trunk of his car. “You guys have to get out of here quick. Go out the back.”
She grabbed Ryan’s hand and led him to the back door, with Danny following; hoping AJ would take his time coming in.
“I’m really sorry I have to kick you guys out.” Ashley smiled sympathetically. “I just can’t afford to get in trouble right now if I want to stay here.”
“I won’t hold it against you…as long as we can hang out again.” Ryan smiled at her.
“Definitely.” She nodded with a smile. “Wait until you see him come in before you go around the front.”
“Bye babe, I’ll call you when I get home on Sunday.” Angel said to Danny as they headed out the door.
“It was nice meeting you Ashley.” He smiled.
“You too! Hopefully next time it won’t be so short.” She waved to them as they headed out.
The two girl quickly shut the door and rushed into the living room as they heard the key turning the lock.
“Ash, I’m home.” AJ called out as he walked in the door.
“In the living room.” Ashley yelled back as she and Angel rushed towards the couch and switched on the TV.
A few moments later AJ appeared in the doorway.
“Sorry I’m back so late, I brought some food home.” AJ said as he walked in. “Hey Angel…I thought you were having friends over.”
“Angel’s a friend and she’s over.” Ashley teased.
“Friends meaning plural I figured there’d be more kids here.”
“Oh, well since I didn’t get an answer from you I didn’t want to get in trouble if I had other people here.” She lied. “I figured you wouldn’t mind Angel being here.
“Of course not, she’s always welcomed. I’m sorry I didn’t call back I got caught up in a meeting.” He apologized.
“It’s no big deal.” Ashley shrugged it off and turned her attention back to the TV.
“So it’s gonna be just the two of you for dinner?” he asked on his way out.
“Yup, just us girls.” She smiled and looked over at Angel who smiled back.
As soon as AJ was out of ear shot Angel turned to Ashley.
“So?” she asked.
“So what?” Ashley tried to act as if she didn’t know what Angel was talking about.
“Did I do a good job?” Angel raised a brow in question.
“I have no idea what your talking about.” Ashley laughed egging her on.
“Oh shut up!” Angel shoved her playfully. “Did you like him or not?”
“He’s really nice.” She smiled slightly the blush becoming more apparent on her face.
“You so do!” Angel said excitedly. “I told you I would find you a good boy.”
“We’ll see.” Ashley sighed. “They always look good in the beginning.”
“Ryan is a really good guy, just take it slow and see how it goes. It never hurts to at least give it a shot.”
“I know, and believe me taking it slow is my new mantra. I think I finally got the hint that moving too fast never ends well.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
just a fun chapter to add in something new:) hope you like it
fixed the spelling errors :) hopefully i got them all. I didn't have time to proofread before i posted last night and I was tired.
fixed the spelling errors :) hopefully i got them all. I didn't have time to proofread before i posted last night and I was tired.
