Fairytale Reality

Chapter 3

A/N: Finally a picture of Ash!! (Penn Badgley)

Chapter 3

“The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves. We live in denial of what we do, even what we think. We do this because we’re afraid. We fear we will not find love, and when we find it we fear we’ll lose it. We fear that if we do not have love we will be unhappy.” –Richard Bach

It had been two days after my incident with the creepy guy. I left my writing class with Ash, who still didn’t know what happened to me. Don’t get me wrong I had been trying to tell him but it wasn’t a casual conversation topic…hey Ash what did you do the other day? Me? Oh, I got hit on by this total creeper nothing special. Plus I was debating over asking for his number…not for any romantic reason, but more self assurance…ok I guess personal reasons would be a plus.

“ Hey Ash…I was wondering if I could get your number?” I stupidly looked at the floor and waited for an answer. I never had a problem looking him in the eye, why now? Well stupid it’s because you’re asking a boy for his number and waiting for him to reject your butt.

“ Oh yea sure! I had been meaning to get yours actually. I don’t know why I didn’t give it to you before?” We passed phones and typed in the numbers. “ So are you one of those girls who loves to talk on the phone?”

“ Heck no! I mean… I’d rather text someone than talk on the phone. I get a little phone awkward and usually run out of things to say. You know?” I couldn’t even talk to my own grandmother without having the phone hit a tone of silence and slow awkwardness before I came up with an excuse to pass the phone back to my mom.

“ Yea same here it’s only a few people I can have a good convo on the phone with, but I mostly text.” Ash gave a charming half grin before giving me a half hug and walking to his car.

Later that day we text each other and I finally told him about the run in with the creeper.

Ash:  So R U ok?

Me: Yea I’m good now it was creepy thgh.

Ash: Well I’ll walk w/ u next time till ur mom shows up. That way u won’t be alone.

Me: Really…that would be awesome thanks!

Ash: no prob anytime… I’m here 4 u J

The next time we walked out of writing class Ash walked me right out to where my mom would pick me up.

“ So this is really you playing the guitar? I can’t believe you created this song it’s awesome!” I took the ear bud from my ear and gave it back to Ash.

“ Well it doesn’t have words yet…”

“ But it’s still cool! I really like it!” Ash looked down at the ground and a light blush rose on his cheeks. I turned my head to give him a little privacy to compose himself or boost his confidence again.

“Do you play anything?”

“Uh I tried flute once…couldn’t make the sound come out, I play a little piano but I haven’t taken lessons for a long time. I mostly just sing.”

“Hey that’s still nice! I can’t sing that well, but I could always use someone to help out with the lyrics!” He gave me a playful nudge and I blushed a little, but quickly turned to hide it, only to see my mom pulling into the parking area. I said bye to Ash and hopped into the car.

“Who is that?” Her mom tried moving her head to get a better look at Ash as he walked away.

“That’s Ash. I told you about him…he’s a good friend.”

“Oh that’s Ash! He’s cute! I approve!” I rolled my eyes and stared at my mom.

“Approve of what? There isn’t anything to approve of we are friends!” I let out a sigh of aggravation already knowing full well that she wouldn’t let this go.

“Sweet heart from all the things you’ve told me: he waves at you, sits next to you, hugs you, texts you all the time, and now walks you to your car.” I didn’t think those were great reasons to like someone as more than a friend, I mean after all the last one was just because of the stuff that happened with creepy guy. The only thing Ash was guilty of was being a decent friend.  “And he was even worried about you when you started tutoring.”

“Yea I know he told me to stay in a public area.” Any friend would be worried right? I had to tutor a total stranger for credit in my math class. Ash made sure to text me and tell me to stay in a public area so people could see if this guy I had to tutor would do anything creepy.

“And then he text to check up on you afterward to make sure you were ok!” That was true, but still didn’t mean anything did it? “I’m beginning to agree with Jamie…he likes you Aria.” I didn’t believe either of them mostly because I didn’t want to start liking another guy and have him say that we were “good friends.” I was already starting to believe I had ‘best friend’ tattooed on my forehead for all potential boyfriends to read.

The Next Day

Jamie and I sat outside Dr. M’s office waiting for him to open his door. We’d usually walk in, but the understood rule was if it’s closed it’s a serious conversation. Jamie and I were talking about Ash. She was once again trying to convince me that he liked me and I was trying to prove he didn’t. Although I was beginning to notice my argument was getting weaker and I found myself pleased that it was. The idea of Ash liking me was really growing on me.

“ Aria I know you like him!  You smile every time you see a text from him.”

“ Ok so what if I did like him? It doesn’t mean he likes me back.”

“ Well he stops whatever he’s doing as soon as he sees you!” Just as she said that they both saw Ash walk out of the computer room and toward the HP door. He happened to turn and saw me sitting outside Dr. M’s office. Just as Jamie described, Ash stopped right by the door and walked over to me.

“ Hey Aria! How are you?” He reached down and gave me one of those cheek to cheek kisses.

“ Uh…good thanks.” I was a little in shock; he’d never done that before.

“That’s great!” He kept eye contact with me for about thirty seconds before he noticed Jamie sitting next to me. “ Oh… sorry hi…um…”

“ Jamie” she answered.

“ Uh yea sorry Jamie” He reached out his hand and shook Jamie’s. He gave a little embarrassed smile and looked back at me. “ Well I’ve got to go but I’ll see you later for class. Bye Aria… and nice to meet you again Jamie!” With that Ash walked out of the HP. Jamie looked at me with a victorious smile.

“ Seriously Aria do you need anymore proof?”

“Whatever.” Jamie laughed as we got up and went into the study lounge.