Chapter 6: Date

Ash was an hour in on Math, sprawled upside down on her bed which was littered with books as she soothed her nerves to Bad Guy when Caleb knocked.

"Hey. You up?" he asked.

"No." She laughed.

He waited five seconds then knocked again.

"You up now?"

"Caleb the door is open, you can enter. You know this," she sighed, rolling over to face the ceiling.

The door opened and he walked in.

"You still walk around your room butt naked when it's hot out. That is not something I want to see," Caleb said.

She strained to look at his inverted form and frowned.

"Fair enough."

He shut the door and leaned against it.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm doing math homework on a weekend while listening to Billie Eilish. What do you think?"

It was his turn to say,

"Fair enough."

He walked over to the bed and planted himself on the edge.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," she said.

"I understand."

He fell back on the bed, lying next to her.

For a minute, neither of them spoke. They just stared at the ceiling.

Ash was the one to break the silence.

"I broke up with Maddie," she said.

"I know. I knew when I looked at you."

She gave a small smile.

"Why does it hurt?" she asked, "I mean I don't regret it.

"It's a loss, regretted or not. You were fond of her."

"I was," she admitted.

"But you don't need to lock yourself in because of it."

"I'm not locking myself in. I'm busy."

"The math homework is due Wednesday, Ash."

He turned and stared at her upside down face.

She did same.

"It is a weekend night. Get your ass out there and have fun. You're broken up not widowed," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

She blew a raspberry at his face and turned back to the ceiling.

"I don't know, Caleb. I don't exactly have plans."

Then the sick bastard pulled out the big guns.

"If you don't, it's game night. You'll be stuck playing charades with Emily and I," he said.

How dare he?

Charades? Ugh! What are you sixty? This isn't a retirement home.

"I'm gonna go shower," Ash said, jumping up at once.

"Yeah I thought so," he chuckled.

"Todd, Jason, secure the premises! Emilia, you're with me. Move! Move! Move!"

Hailey worked her joysticks rapidly as she called out orders through her headset.

For most kids her age, weekend nights meant parties till sunup, to her it was long hours of online multi-player marathons with her gamer buddies on her computer, or as Cait so sweetly put it: nerd porn.

Gunshots rang in her ears.

"We're taking heavy fire! They're out here!" Todd's unmistakable voice sounded soon after.

She moved over to the window and looked. From her vantage point, she got a good view of the opposing team.

She switched to sniper rifle and got two in the head in one breath. She was about to take on the third when the phone on her desk lit up and Imagine Dragons' Believer started playing.

Someone was calling.

She looked back at the screen just in time to receive several bullets to the chest.

"Come on!" she groaned, taking of the headset as the words 'You died.' filled the screen.

Yeah I figured.

She reached for the phone and received the call on its way to her ear.

"This is not a good time, you know!" she shouted, "Somebody better be dead."

The voice that came back was not at all who she expected.

"O...kay. You're definitely busy. I'll hang up now." the person said.

Hailey forgot how to breathe.

She sighed.

"You're not Cait, are you?"

"Nope."

"Ash?"

"That's the one." she laughed.

What happened next, Hailey blamed on shock.

She hung up.

Then she bit down on her sleeve and screamed.

When she was done with that, she called back.

By the time Ash picked up, Hailey was already pacing.

"Hellooo?" Ash said.

At the sound of her voice, Hailey felt the need to spontaneously combust.

"Uh... Ahem... Hey Ash. Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Hailey detected humor in her tone, "Is this a bad time?"

She tripped on a hoodie she had failed to put away and fell but managed to keep her grip on the phone.

"What? No. No no no," she took the phone away from her ear and facepalmed then put it back to her ear, "I mean, no it's not. What's up?"

"Are you okay? You sound strange."

You idiot! Her inner voice chided, Now she's gonna think you're weird.

"I uh... I tripped. But I'm fine now."

Way to go genius!

"You tripped?"

"Yes, but it's all good now. I've decided I live on the floor now." she continued to mutter nervously.

Ash laughed.

"Well, when you're done with that, I was wondering if you'd like to take a walk with me or something."

It was at that exact moment, Hailey forgot how to breathe.

"Me? Like right now?" she mumbled.

"Sure. Unless you're busy of course."

"I'm not. I'm totally free right now."

"Good," she said, "because I'm outside your window."

"Oh that's great," Hailey replied absentmindedly, "Wait you're what?"

A tap on the glass drew her attention to the window.

She walked over to it and looked out.

Ash was downstairs, just as she said she was, playing with a pebble in her free hand. She was dressed in denim jacket, unbuttoned over a tank top, and sneakers.

She had a smirk on her face as she waved.

"How did you get there?"

"I jumped over the back fence."

"You what?"

"Never mind that. What are you waiting for?"

"Right. I'll be down in a moment."

"Take your time. I'll be out front."

"Okay are you going to take the driveway or—"

Before she had finished, Ash was up and over the fence.

"I guess not."

The sound of Ash's feet hitting the ground on the other side reached her ears followed by her laughter.

She ended the call and finally processed the events that had just occurred.

Ash wanted to spend time with her. Was she dreaming?

Then Hailey looked down at her outfit and gasped.

She had nothing more than an oversized tee and panties on.

"I'm naked." she whispered.

The park was empty by the time their slow paced footsteps led them there.

The moon flooded the earth with sufficient light. Enough to see several yards.

Hailey had at some point on the journey taken to talking about her video games and regaling her with her tales of war. Ash indulged her, actually paying attention to every word which was more than she could say for Cait.

"I'd actually like to try that sometime. It sounds fun. Either that or you're really good with descriptions."

"It's probably both." Hailey laughed.

Ash walked over to the swings and sat. Hailey took the initiative and joined her.

"Are you okay though? I mean I seriously cannot believe you'd rather spend your night listening to me talk about why an M16 is the best gun ever than be out having fun."

"And what is my kind of fun?"

"I don't know. Maybe a night at the club with your girls or something."

It took a second for her to realize that her statement had more than one interpretation, then she was grateful it was dark enough to hide the growing redness of her face.

"Well that is true, but I doubt anyone else on my contact list would want to sit and talk and that's about all I want to do right now."

"Oh. Right. I forgot about... How insensitive of me." she muttered solemnly.

"No, no. It's okay. You've been good company, I kid you not. I really am interested in trying out video games. I'll probably take you on when I'm any good." Ash said, ending with a short laugh.

"I'd like that," Hailey said, "Until then, I'm happy to cheer you up."

She got around the swings and stood behind Ash

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Keep your arms and feet in the carriage at all times. Thank you for flying Air Hailey."

"Wait, what?"

Before she could try to get down, Hailey pushed Ash high up in the air.

"I did not agree to this!" she shrieked.

"For the record, I repeat, I did not know you have a fear of heights." Hailey said, barely managing to contain her laughter.

"First of all, tell anybody and you'll be my target practice for the rest of the term. Second, apology not accepted. You're paying for the food." Ash replied.

"If that will end your sulking sure." Hailey laughed.

"How dare you," Ash frowned, "I do not sulk. Take that back."

Hailey held up her hands in surrender.

After her time on the swing, Ash had chased Hailey around the field.

That had taken several minutes, involved a bit of tackling and rolling on the ground in slightly awkward positions but Hailey had definitely enjoyed the chase and the walk to the diner they now sat in at which point even the slightest tension between them had dissipated.

A waitress came up to their table.

"Good evening, ladies, what will you be having?"

Ash gestured for Hailey to place her order.

"Fries. No ketchup."

Hailey noticed that the girl was checking Ash out without employing the decency to be subtle about it.

"I'll take a sandwich," Ash said, "Then a Diet Coke for the both of us."

"Coming right up." she said then walked away.

It appeared she was twisting her hips a little more than was necessary for walking to gain Ash's attention. It was working, Ash had her eyes on the girl's retreating form.

Fortunately she didn't stare. She noticed Hailey's sober face and frowned.

"What's up?" she asked, "Don't say nothing, I'm not blind."

"She was totally checking you out." Hailey said.

"Ah... Yes she was. I noticed." Ash admitted.

She stretched her hand across the table and took Hailey's.

"Tonight, my attention is all on you."

That made her smile.

Ash held her hand there till the waitress returned. Even then she refused to let go. If Hailey didn't know any better, she would have assumed Ash was trying to turn the girl down in advance.

She shifted their hands to the side to allow the waitress drop their order.

"Well then. If you need anything else, let me know."

She added a wink at the end and sauntered off.

Ash dragged her tray closer and found a piece of paper underneath.

She slid it to herself and put it in her pocket without even looking at it.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Don't worry about that."

Hailey knew already. The girl was not deterred by Hailey's presence or Ash's attraction to her. There was probably her phone number, address, date of birth and monthly cycle on that paper. Hailey didn't even know why she added that last bit.

But Ash was right, she didn't need to worry about it. After all Ash was still with her and it was not as if they were together or anything. She had no right to be jealous. Did she?

Hailey's mood didn't get much better the entire dinner. Ash noticed and ended the dinner soon after, taking her sandwich to-go.

She didn't even wait for the waiter to return, instead dropping the bill under the menu and walking Hailey out.

Hailey was occupied suppressing her internal joy, it took her a few seconds to notice she had left Ash behind.

She turned and caught Ash tearing up the piece of paper and tossing it to the wind.

"You didn't have to do that." she said. She didn't totally mean it but that didn't matter.

"I know." Ash admitted.

She walked up to her as the corner of her lips rose into a sly smile.

"Thank you."

"Unnecessary." Ash said.

"Wasn't I supposed to pay?"

"You'll get the bill next time."

So there was going to be a next time?

She took her hand and they started walking.

"But she was cute." Hailey admitted.

"Totally." Ash breathed.

"And hot."

"Flaming." Ash filled in again, still looking ahead.

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because she's not the one I want to spend time with. She's not you," Ash said simply, "And minus those spectacles," She stopped and took off Hailey's glasses and looked at her face, "You're hotter."

She put them back in place, grabbed her hand and continued like she hadn't just blown Hailey's mind.

But suddenly Hailey was self-conscious. She pushed her glasses up her nose despite the fact that Ash had arranged it perfectly.

"And with the glasses?"

This time she didn't even cast a glance in her direction. Like she already had the answer prepared. An answer she offered with a careless shrug.

"You're nerd pretty. Definitely cuter."

"So this is your stop." Ash said as they stopped in front of the white picket fence of Hailey's house.

"Yeah. Thanks for walking me home."

"Thanks for hanging out with me. I had fun."

"Me too."

She waved and turned to begin the long walk to the front door. It was not in any way a long distance, her feet however felt like lead. And she knew why.

She made it halfway and then she could go no further. She would live with the regret if she did.

She turned to find that Ash had not moved from her spot.

Ah screw it.

She'd rather regret doing than not.

Several decisive strides brought her back to Ash.

"You said I'd have to work for it this time, right?" she said.

Before Ash could question her, she grabbed the girl's face and kissed her like her life depended on it.

She didn't wait to find out if Ash would reciprocate, her audacity was at its end and so were her wits.

As soon as their lips parted, she turned and ran inside, a huge smile taking up residence on her face.