Second Chances, Bad Habits

“Why are you freaking out so much about this date thing Ash?” Jake sighed leaning against the bathroom wall as he watched me adjust the new clothing that I had just changed into.

“Because!” I’m not telling him that I think this girl is adorable as hell or that she’s already seen me naked because then they’d think I was nuts for doing this.

“That’s not a reason Ash!” Andy smacked the back of my head.

“Pfftt.. I don’t have to tell you two shit.” This didn’t things any better. In truth all it did was make Andy hit me again.

“Bullshit. Tell us Purdy!” Jake had now taken interest in why I wasn’t talking.

“What if I don’t want to?” Sucking on my cheek I stared at them through the mirror.

“Well, why don’t you want to talk?”

“Ummm.. Shesawmenakedtheotherdaythroughthewindow” Andy’s jaw just hit the tiled floor.

“SHE WHAT!?” Wow… who knew he’d be so worried about this… Jake, well, he just looked confused.

“What did she do?” He looked back and forth between Andy and I.

“This girl he’s going out with saw him naked!”

“Dude, Andy chill man, its not like a bunch of other girls haven’t seen him naked.” Jake held his hand up defensively.

“I know that!” With his hands crossing over his chest and glared at me.

“How did she see you Ash?” Jake still looked at me innocently while Andy raised his eyebrow. What the hell is wrong with Andrew today?

“Um, I left my window open and it just happened….” As if he understood Jake nodded and Andy just continued to glare.

“Ash! Why the hell are you going out with this chick! She’s probably some creepy obsessed fan that wants nothing more to ruin your life?” Sighing I turned from the mirror and looked at Andy.

“This one feels different though, she acts like she’s never seen me before in my life. And she obviously isn’t from here because she has an accent that isn’t a Californians’” This didn’t make a thing better with Andy.

“Whatever Ash.” Andy sighed and leaned against the wall next to Jake.

“Well, at least he’s not trying to bone her Andy.” Jake does have a point… I think….

“He has a point Six! I’m not in it for sex this time!” I don’t think Andy’s happy with me right now because all he did was shake his head no and roll his eyes. Well… good to know my friends have faith in me.

****

Again I found myself standing in Hot Topic looking at jewelry. Hmm… Note to self, come back here later they have some really adorable Hello Kitty rubber bracelets.

“Hey.” She looks really nervous.

Hey look she changed too! Now I don’t look and feel like such a loser. The black skinnies that she had on made her legs look more amazing than they already were and the cookie eating devil on her shirt again, made me laugh. This chick… damn… That’s a good damn by the way.

“Hi there.” With the way she’s staring at the floor I’m guessing she’s thinking about the window incident.

“So, do you wanna go grab some food?” I don’t really know what’s up with her but she looks like she’s fighting an epic war of her thought up there in her head.

“Erm… sure?” Why the hell won’t she look at me? Seriously? Is she shy or something?

“Great! Where do you want to go?” This awkwardness is KILLING me, bouncing on the balls of my feet I tried to break the ice. What do you say to a person that you’ve saved, has seen you naked, and won’t look you in the eye?

“Surprise me.” Oh, I enjoy it when women say that to me.

“Alrighty! One surprise coming up,” Of course I’d love to surprise her in my favorite way possible, but I don’t think that would fly. So instead I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the store. Once we were out of Hot Topic and I knew she wouldn’t run away I repositioned my hand so it was holding hers the right way.

One surprise? Umm.. Do the butterflies in my stomach count? Because that’s surprising to me to say the least.

In an attempt to kill the awkwardness I started asking her questions:

Where are you from? Are you knew here? How long have you worked at Hot Topic? What’s your favorite song? Do you like Penguins? Ever been the to Zoo? But I don’t think she was listening because after ever pointless question she didn’t say a word. Well…. Things are starting off great…

“What do you want? I’m paying?” Smiling down at her made me laugh a little, she’s so tiny! I’m not the tallest person in the world I’m like 5ft8 but she’s really little. Its adorable!!!

“Erm. Whatever.” Works for me! Wait… she’s not a vegan or something like that right?

“Hmmmm….” Looking around the food court I sighed. She’s not really helping me out here. “How about the Meatball Monday Special?” That would work right? I mean everyone likes that right? The guys and I come here to get it at least once a week, if not twice.

“Erm… yeah… sure.” This girl has no confidence dose she? Its um… kind of cute.

“You don’t seem too sure there.” My comment got her to look me in the eyes, we’re doing good, maybe by the end of lunch she’ll actually say more than a sentence to me.

“No! Its fine honest” Deli bit her lip. Okay seriously what’s wrong. Aw damn, I think she is a vegan.

Even though it was against my own best judgment I bought the subs. I’m so screwed if she is vegan of veggie and she get sick.

But thankfully we ate and she didn’t get sick like I thought she was going to. Through out the meal and the whole time I was walking her back to Hot Topic again I asked stupid questions.

Do you still like Sponge Bob? Play any instruments? What kind of phone do you have? Do you like Hello Kitty? Which do you like better Facebook or Myspace?

She answered them all and I changed the subject each time she asked me them back. No need for my being famous and in a band to ruin what we have going right now.

“So… who else lives with you? I mean you can’t live there alone, right?” What? I’m curious why she has the bed room right next to mine.

“No, I live with my mum, my two sisters, and my brother.” Damn… its like that show Full House over there or something. But I’m doing good! She’s looking me in the eyes now and smiling! Hell yes! Ten points for Ashley!!!!

“Nice! Well here ya are. This was nice, we should do it again sometime.” I really did enjoy myself, she’s quite an interesting person. I really do mean it when I say I want to do this again sometime. Maybe tomorrow? Wait… is that too soon?

Deli said nothing as she smiled and walked back into Hot Topic. Watching her as she walked in I took a small sip of my coffee before walking away. I’m glad she lives so close, because she seems to have a way to just get into trouble. Even if she doesn’t want to go back out with me again I’m going to secretly watch her to make sure nothing happens to her. That’s creeperish isn’t it? Oh well… she’s really innocent and I care a lot. So I’ll creep her if I have to.

*****

The guys met me at my house and the whole time they bombarded me with question about my date. No of them I felt like answering so I just either ignored them or relied a yes or no. Believe me it pissed Six off but hey, I’m not here to please him right?

“Uhhhhgggg!!!” Dramatically Jake flung himself on the couch and groaned.

“What’s the problem Jake?” Tentatively poked Jake’s stomach.

“I’m board!” Again Jake groaned Jinxx and I rolled our eyes.

“Well what do you want to do?” Andy now spoke up, apparently he isn’t mad at me for not talking anymore.

“I don’t know!” Jake’s being a five year old right now, if he’s going to act that way then I’m not taking him anywhere.

“Pitts! Stop acting like a PMS bitch!” Jinxx slapped the back of Jakes head, which didn’t help what so ever.

“GAH! FUCK YOU JINXX!” He sat up and crossed his arms over his chest like a child. Dear god, if he wasn’t my best friend I probably would have killed him by now.

“Jake, back to the topic, what do you want to do?” Andy was now not impressed with Jinxx rather than me.

“I don’t know! Lets go out or something.” Like out to a club or something?

“Okay where were you thinking then?” Sitting down next to Jake I sighed, I never like where he wants to go.

“Ummmm… the Whiskey?” Trying to be as innocent as possible Jake smiled up at all of us.

“Okay then. Lets get ready to go.” As a group we all dispersed but vowed to meet back here at my house in an hour. By then it would be dark enough out side that we wouldn’t look like losers walking into a club.

After I finished my makeup and hair I pulled on my leather jacket. A thought hit me. Would Deli want to go with us? My mind was made up as I grabbed my cell and my keys and made my way towards her family’s apartment.

Knocking on the door to there living space I was greeted by young girl who I swear eye’s popped out of her head when she saw me.

“Hey?” This girl doesn’t look impressed. I wonder what happened?

“Um, Hi. Is Deli home?” God I feel like such a little kid now….

“Uh, yeah but um, I don’t know if you want to see her right now.” Okay something is up because this girl that I figure is Deli’s little sister sucked on her cheek and kept looking behind her.

“I would like to see her. Is everything ok?” Now I’m getting worried. What happened when I wasn’t watching out for her?!?

“Um, okay, follow me I guess.” I thanked her and followed her into the house that looked very similar to mine.

“This is her room. You might want to knock before you go it.” Her sister walked away and left me stand outside Deli’s room. I can do this. After mentally prepping myself for what ever it is I’m going to see I knocked on her door before I turned the knob letting myself in.

“Deli?” When I looked in to her room I felt my stomach fall out my ass. There on her bed laid Deli with a shiner on her eye, her lip was split and it looked like she had a bloody nose earlier.

“A-Ashley?” She quickly sat up with a worried look on her face as I entered her room and sat down next to her.

“What happened?” Brushing the hair from her face behind her eyes I tried to hold back the tears as she cried. So I might be a sympathy crier sometimes.

“The jocks from before found me and-” I had heard enough, carefully I pulled her into my arms and kissed her forehead. I swear if I ever see those guys again I’m going to kill all of them.