The Worst Choice

Ashlyn.

I watched as Nash stepped backward, before stepping forward again. He shuffled his feet awkwardly and grew interested in a loose thread on his sleeve momentarily. His head shot up to meet my gaze before glancing away from my face, scratching the back of his neck. "Um..." I waited for him to continue and sighed when he didn't.

"Not to be a bitch, but I really don't have all night. As part of the deal to take you to your brothers, I have to do some housework," I explained, biting my lip slightly.

His gaze suddenly met mine and I saw his eyes widen slightly, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. It made him look boyish and I fought the urge to grin and gush about how adorable he looked, regardless of the scratches on his face. "Housework?" he echoed me. "You're still taking me?"

"I haven't quite broken the news to my mom about it," I answered, trying my hardest to sound nonchalant. "I went through a lot of begging and I'm not looking forward to an 'I told you so' just yet."

He frowned slightly before breathing heavily out of his nose. "I don't know how to say this, because as we all know, I'm not good with these kind of things," he said slowly.

"Yet you seem to have no problem whatsoever being a dick," I snapped.

Anger flashed through his eyes and I saw him clench his fists. I didn't care. "Okay, I guess I deserve that," he said. "But you can't stand there and tell me you thought I'd jump at the idea of you being inside of that house."

"Well, no," I admitted. I sighed. "I didn't exactly think it through. But I was excited and worried and I just really wa-"

"I know," he cut me off. "Which is why I shouldn't have been such an asshole. I'm not sorry for disagreeing with the fact that you were in my house- I meant most of what I said- but I'm sorry for blowing up like that."

"You're gonna have to make it up to me," I told him. "Again."

He grinned. "Baby I'm probably going to have to make it up to you a lot more times," he said.

I chuckle before silence fell over us. He didn't make any effort to move, so I decided against saying anything. But once it got really awkward- for me, at least- I knew I had to say something. "Your mom was beautiful," I said quietly, half hoping he didn't hear me.

He smiled slightly. "Yeah, she was," he said. He looked at me, his eyes lingering on my face a little bit before he chuckled and took a few steps closer to me. "You know," he started, putting his hands on my hips. I felt hesitance in his movements, but he relaxed a bit when I didn't move. "She would've really liked you."

I smiled. "Really?" I asked, snaking my arms around his waist and I stared up at him.

"Definitely," he said. "You guys would've gotten along great." I opened my mouth to speak but he continued to talk. "I also think Eric will absolutely love you, along with Carrie. So I really hope you'll be the one who's taking me."

I unsuccessfully fought back a grin. "You know, I haven't even cleared any of this with your aunt," I said. "So as of right now, she probably has no idea that we're coming. Or at least that you'll be bringing your girlfriend."

He laughed, resting his forehead against mine. "She won't mind me going," he whispered, his smile falling slightly as his tone got more serious. "And she definitely won't mind my beautiful, amazing girlfriend coming, especially when she's the one who made this all happen."

I felt my face heat up. Nash's grin returned, but before he could tease me about it or anything like that, I leaned up and pressed my lips to his. He responded immediately, his hands moving up to hold me in place by my neck. As our lips moved together feverishly, I held onto him as tightly as I could, but I didn't want to hurt him. I saw how terrible he looked yesterday and I didn't want to cause him any more pain.

Instead, I settled on gripping the sides of his hoodie as he deepened the kiss. My lips parted themselves as his tongue wasted no time moving into my mouth. I sighed in content and I felt him grin.

"Ashlyn?"

I pulled away quickly, turning to look where the voice came from. Jean, an older lady who lived two houses down, was standing at the end of my driveway. She was walking her... cat? "Hi, Jean," I answered, smiling slightly. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good," she said back. "Sweetie, you know that it's not modest at all to be all over a guy on your front doorstep. What do you kids call it these days..." She paused, thinking it over. "I believe the term is 'hooking up'? Anyhow, it should be done inside when you're married, okay darling? Just think about it. You're a beautiful young lady and you don't want to present yourself as trashy."

"Okay, Jean, thank you!" I told her, biting on my lip to refrain from laughing. She said her goodbyes and started walking away. I turned to Nash, who was flicking her off. "Stop!" I laughed, pulling his arm down.

He chuckled, leaning in for another kiss when the door opened, revealing my mom. "Nash, would you like to stay for dinner?" she asked.

"Um..." he trailed, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I shrugged. "Sure?"

"Good! Come on in," she said, moving back to give us space to walk in. Nash walked in first and I gave her a questioning look, to which she just winked at me. "You can take care of the cleaning later."