For the Love of Gracie (6 page)

A customer hit the bell, drawing me out of the fantasy world of the paranormal novel I was reading.  I straightened my apron, turned around, and smiled brightly when my eyes landed on Ashton. “Are you stalking me?”

He raised his hands in the air. “I promise I had no clue you worked here. I’m here with Gavin, browsing. I came to get a cappuccino for us. Whatcha reading?”

I held up the book to show the title. “It’s paranormal,
you know, demons, vampires, all kinds of fun creatures. They’re making a movie of it, so I thought I’d read the book first.”

He nodded. “You know the movie is never as good as the book.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, majority of them aren’t. Every now and then you get one that is still good, even if the book is better. So, two cappuccinos? You want whipped cream?”

He winked at me. “Duh.”  He glanced at the ‘tip’ jar. “You get to keep all the tips?”

I nodded. “During my shift. We empty it at the end of each shift so that it starts over. Don't feel too bad that it's empty.  We don't get many tippers, I'm pretty used to it.” I turned to make his cappuccinos.

While the machine was running, I stepped back over to ring him up. “You
planning on hanging out with us this weekend?”

“I’m free,
so I’d love to.”

I smiled. “Great. Word of
advice; don’t let Cameron trick you into challenging him to a game of pool. He’s a shark.”

He nodded. “Good to know,
although I am too, actually.”

I gasped. “Oh hell, you have to challenge him now! I would love to see someone beat him! And don't worry, no money involved. He enjoys beating people for the pure pleasure of gloating.”

He laughed. “It’s a deal. Where do you guys play?”

I handed him his change and said, “Pool hall down on Second Ave in downtown Nashville. It’s kind of pricey, but Cameron loves it there.”

"What time do you get off tonight?" he asked. 

I sighed. "I'm here until closing, at eleven.  I normally don't work that late,
but I'm covering for a friend." 

He
bobbed his head in understanding and said, "Be careful, leaving so late by yourself." 

I spun around to grab his drinks. I swirled whipped cream on top, slid them over to him, and said, "Don't worry, I always am." 

He held the cups up and said “Thanks, see you this weekend?” I nodded excitedly.

He dropped something in the tip jar and walked away. When I glanced over at it, I noticed it was a twenty dollar bill. I smiled at his generosity and decided I would have to make sure I bought him a drink at the bar this weekend.

From behind me, I heard a “psst” sound; I turned and saw Gavin waving at me as he stood beside Ashton across the room in the science fiction section.  I gave him a big smile with a wave, before resuming my reading. 

Around ten thirty, my phone beeped. Cameron wanted me to meet him downtown where he was hanging out with Angel and Gavin. I texted him back stating,
Leaving work in 30, would take too long to go home and change. Rain check?
 

He texted back with,
Fine, but you owe me a drink tomorrow night, bitch.

I laugh and responded,
Deal princess. 

It took me longer than usual to clean up
that night. By the time I was leaving, everyone else was gone except for the manager. 

"Gracie, you want me to walk you out?" he asked. 

"Nah, Jimmy I'm fine. You can watch from the door if you want, that would make me feel safer." 

He glanced outside, then opened the door. "Can I help you, sir?" 

I tensed up, wondering who was outside the door at this hour. 

Jimmy stepped back inside. "He says he's waiting for you. His name is Ashton?"  Ashton moved in front of the window and waved awkwardly. 

I smiled. "He's cool, Jimmy. He's a friend of mine. Thanks for looking out for me."

I slipped out the door so he could lock it, and smiled when my eyes met with Ashton's.  "You
are
stalking me!" I chuckled. 

He grinned. "I was still in the neighborhood and didn’t like the idea of you walking to your car alone. Is that too creepy?" 

I held up my forefinger and thumb about an inch apart. 

His shoulders sagged. "Sorry, trying to be gallant for my friend." 

I slid my arm through his. "It's very sweet. I was going to pick up dinner on the way home. Wanna grab a bite to eat with me?" 

He led me to
my car, his motorcycle was parked right next to it. "Where can we eat this late?"

I licked my lips. "Let’s go to Steak N Shake." 

He straddled his bike. "Wanna ride with me?" 

I looked from my car to his bike. I really wanted to ride with him again, pressed up against his body, but that wasn’t a good idea. "I'll take my car so we don’t have to come back here." 

Ashton led the way.  He was easy to keep up with because he drove like an old man, or he did that for my sake not knowing I had a lead foot. 

We grabbed a t
wo person booth in the back and ordered burgers and fries with milkshakes. "You're too sweet for coming to check on me tonight." 

He took a sip of his shake and smiled at me. "I'm a bit of a worrier, ask Gavin."

I pulled the straw out of my peanut butter banana shake, sucked all the liquid out of it and grabbed his cup shoving my straw inside to taste his chocolate covered strawberry shake. Instead of arguing, he followed my lead, stealing a taste of my shake. He picked up a napkin and wiped my chin from where I had dribbled from the straw. 

I blushed. "Mmm, I should've gotten yours."

He slid it to me. "Wanna switch?"

We switched,
and I moaned over the taste of the milkshake. 

He shook his head. "Gracie, I think you're enjoying that a little too much."

I grinned sheepishly. "Sorry.  I love ice cream."

The waiter brought our food. 

"Holy sh..seriously?" I exclaimed as I saw what Ashton had ordered. The burger had seven patties on it. I had no clue how he was going to get his mouth around it.  He had also ordered a large skillet of chili cheese fries to go with it. "You hungry, Ash?" 

He shrugged. "I got the munchies,
figured this will be a nice snack." We both started laughing. I grabbed my fork and liberated a few fries from his skillet. 

"I have to see you put your mouth around that thing," I said.

He smirked. "That's what he said." 

I snorted with laughter and held my hand up for a high five.  He smacked my hand as he laughed with me. 

His mouth stretched to its limit as he tried to shove the enormous burger in his mouth. My mouth fell open in shock when he took the first bite.  I said, "You're gonna need a bigger mouth, dude." 

He started to choke as he laughed. 

I gasped. "Are you ok?" 

He nodded and held his finger up asking for a moment. "Don't make me laugh when I've got that much in my mouth," he said. 

I winked. "That's what she said." 

He held up his fist and I bumped it with mine.  "You're a lot of fun, Gracie." There was something about the way he said my name that made me
want to swoon. 

"You're pretty cool yourself." 

The check came and he grabbed it first.

"Let me get it," I said, continuing with, "I had a big tipper tonight." 

He smiled at me. "You keep that. I needed a fun night tonight, let me treat you." 

When we stepped outside I shivered. My light hooded sweatshirt was no match for the bitter cold wind tonight.  He removed his coat. I raised my hand up. "No, I'm fine you keep that." 

He tilted his head, giving me a stern look. "You know what
my momma would do if she saw me walking with a jacket on, letting the woman next to me freeze?  My momma raised me better than that, hun." He slid the jacket around my shoulders and rubbed my arms using friction to warm me.

We stood next to my car for a moment. He stood in front of me as I leaned my back against the door.  Ashton leaned forward, his face only inches from mine. I felt his hand brush against my hip. This was the moment I'd been waiting for since I met him. I closed my eyes waiting to taste his sweet lips. He opened the car door and said, "You need to get in here and warm up, Gracie-bug."

Well, that was disappointing.  His face was so close to mine, if I just moved a few inches I could pretend to 'accidentally' kiss him. His lips were so full and delectable looking.  His tongue darted out to wet his lips and it made my breath quicken.

I pushed myself up and kissed his cheek instead. "Sit with me for a bit?" I asked.

He moved to let me slide in behind the wheel. He ran around the car and climbed in next to me. I turned the heat on to warm us up. "You said you needed a fun night, is something bothering you?" 

Ashton's face turned away to stare out the window.
"I'm sorry, you probably don't want me in your business." 

He placed his hand on mine. "No, it's not that. It's something I don’t have an easy time talking about.  Occasionally I have rough days, today was one.  Gavin spent the day with me because he knew it was an anniversary for me. Actually it's an anniversary for both of us,
and we were trying desperately to stay cheerful. The thing that finally made me smile was this really sweet barista at the bookstore I went to." 

My heart warmed, as did my face, when he spoke the sweet compliment.  He patted my hand. "You really are a lot of fun to hang out with,
and we should do it more often."  The inner teenage girl in me grew nervous hearing, 'we should do it' because I was thinking the same thing…only different. 

We were interrupted by his phone beeping, I looked at the clock and it was after one in the morning. "Booty call?" I asked, teasingly
, secretly hoping that it wasn't.

He smirked. "Not exactly. Gavin and Cameron are both drunk,
and they need a ride home. Not sure how he thinks the three of us will fit on my bike."

I laughed. "I'll go get them." 

He shook his head. "No, I'll have them get a cab and I'll pay for it when they get to the house. You shouldn’t go downtown by yourself this late."  This was a perfect excuse to spend more time with Ashton.

"How about you drop your bike at my house and ride with me?"

It took us about an hour to get downtown to Cameron and Gavin. Angel had left with some guy she met and
the two guys were both wasted. When we pulled up, they were sitting on the bench outside making out. 

"Well, looks like they're getting along," Ashton said.

I yelled out the window, "Get it girl!" 

Cameron's hand popped up long enough to flip me off. 

"That's not very nice, considering I'm your ride."

Ashton and I had to load them into the car.  We all went back to my house so that it would be easier. I placed Cameron on the couch and Ashton put Gavin in the chair. "You can sleep in my room again, if you'd like." I said, then added, "I'll keep my hands to myself, promise!" 

He laughed. "I'm not drunk, so I can make it home."

I walked him out, reluctantly. I knew he hadn’t been drinking. Selfishly
, I wanted him to stay with me tonight so we could talk more. 

"Thanks again for protecting me tonight." 

He straddled his bike and started it up.  "Thank you for cheering me up."  He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Guys didn’t understand how incredibly romantic a kiss to the forehead was for a girl. 

"We should do this again," I added, hopeful. 

"Definitely. I'll see you this weekend, too." 

My night with Ashton had me in a fantastic mood. I hated to see the night end and wasn’t sure I'd be able to sleep.  At first, I thought about going to see Hudson, but changed my mind. I went to curl up with a good book instead. 

Cameron jumped on my bed in the morning. "What up, girl!" 

I sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawning. "Dial it down a notch, Cam." 

He snickered. "Sorry.  I woke up in your house and remembered that you showed up to rescue me with Ashton. How'd that happen? Dish!" 

I covered my mouth with one hand, while waving him to follow me with the other. My mouth felt funky. I went to brush my teeth as I told him, "Ashton and Gavin were at the bookstore yesterday."

Cameron nodded. "I know, Gavin told me, but that was earlier in the day." 

I bobbed my head up and down. "Yep. He'd asked me what time I got off work and when he realized how late I'd be there, he came back to walk me to
my car. We grabbed a bite to eat after that and hung out for bit. He's a lot of fun." 

Leaning over, I rinsed my mouth while Cameron continued his interrogation. "Wow. That’s pretty sweet. I'm glad you guys are getting along."