Lie and Tie
Six
Ashley’s POV
“And then he kissed me!” I finished off my story of last night’s date to the three anxious women sitting there staring at me intently, absorbing every word I said and each clutching something uniquely them tightly to their chest. For Trisha it was her coffee, for Clarissa it was her binder full of today’s schedule and for Lisa it was her diamond bracelet. I sighed dreamily as they did a mixture of the same and squealing and threw myself into one of the comfortable chairs in Maggie’s.
“So it was another fantastic date.” Trisha said matter-of-factly.
“Yeah…it was great.” I sighed still smiling and turned to look down at my feet as I slouched in the armchair. Lisa got up suddenly and we all looked up at her.
“Well, you are lucky that he has such a realistic job and that he seems to really like you. Now that the tough part is over, you go into the deeper depths. That’s the truly difficult part, the choppy waters, always threatening to drown you and take it all away.”
“What do you mean?” I asked sitting up a little straighter as we all watched her pace around the fitting area like starved wolves staring down a piece of meat.
“What I mean is now; you have to see if he is interested in a serious relationship. If he is going to date you exclusively or if you’re just going to become Friday night while red head and blondie are Saturday and Sunday respectively. After that you have to see his interests. Meaning on Sunday is he going to lounge on his ass with his jerk friends and watch football while you bring them beer and pizza? Or is he going to make every Sunday night date night? If you can get past all that then you have to meet his family. See if his mom is a monster-in-law, like the movie. Maybe you will get lucky and she is a sweet heart who loves you and welcomes you kindly into her home. Then there is also the worry of whether you are the first girl he brought home to meet his parents or the one-hundred and first. That’s all just the beginning of a relationship.” All three of us just sat there looking at her with our mouths on the floor in shock. Clarissa was the first to recover, “Ughhh, ummm. Ughh well Tyler seems nice enough so let’s just take this one day at a time and hope for the best.” She stuttered trying to sound hopeful. I only nodded, my mouth still open.
Tyler’s POV
“Dude, I’m telling you she is something special.” I said to Freddy while we were sitting in the kitchen. I was still on my high from last night’s date and was making breakfast with a huge grin plastered on my face. Freddy was sitting at the counter on his phone and only looked up at me occasionally to mock my “stupid grin.”
“Why don’t you invite her to come to dinner with us tonight?” He said grinning at me.
I contemplated this. I couldn’t tell if Fred was just busting or if he was serious. “Are you serious man?”
The grin went from his face quickly and he slid his phone into his pocket while he straightened up. “Well yeah, I mean she has to meet your friends eventually right? And you’re only going to end up talking about her all night anyway, so why not bring her for the guys to meet and vise-versa?”
“You know what, I think I’ll go do that right now.” I checked the time and decided that since we were having breakfast at eleven it was probably safe to say she was probably up by now.
After three rings I was afraid that it would go to voicemail but then suddenly she picked up sounding quite awake but slightly hesitant.
“Hello?”
“Hi Ash, its Tyler.”
“Oh yeah sorry I didn’t check who it was before o answered. How are you?”
“I’m good. How about you?”
“Pretty good, look I’m kind of at work right now so I can’t talk for too long.”
“Oh yeah right sorry. The guys and I were just wondering if you wanted to join us tonight. We are going to a small restaurant down town and thought maybe you would want to come get to put some faces to names and everything?” there was a brief pause where I could hear Clarissa calling for her and her pulling away from the phone to yell back before she responded.
“I don’t want to intrude on any of your ‘guy time’ or whatever you boys call it.” I grinned at her cute bit of worrying.
“You won’t be, it was actually a suggestion by Freddy and the boys are dying to meet you.” I reassured her.
I heard her sigh resignedly before saying, “Oh, all right. Text me the details. I got to go though so bye. See you tonight.”
“I can’t wait.” I smiled as she hung up. I walked back into the kitchen and Freddy looked up at me expectantly as if to say “Well?” I nodded and he grinned back before I sat down to finish breakfast.
Ashley’s POV
The day went by really quickly and I hurried home so I could shower and get ready for when Tyler was picking me up at 7. He had texted me all the details and Clarissa had read over my shoulder which resulted in me having to explain to her our entire conversation and the plans for tonight. “Now, if he gets drunk or he turns awful or anything makes you uncomfortable or goes wrong. You call me right away and I will come get you. You hear me?” she had said and made me promise that I would call her if anything went wrong and had refused to let me leave until I had done so. Obviously I had promised and I was honestly greatful to have such a motherly figure around when my mom was so far away.
I looked at myself in the mirror of my bedroom. I had on ripped skinny jeans and a plain white v-neck shirt with a nude jacket and nude heels to match. My hair was thrown up in a loose messy bun and I was wearing my signature slight lip tint/shine and mascara makeup look. Just as I was grabbing my phone out of its charger the door bell rang. I headed over and took a quick glance through the peep hole before opening the door and letting Tyler in. His eyes did a quick sweep of the room before coming to rest on me. He smiled his warm amazing smile and part of me melted. He gave me a small kiss on the lips that sent the last bit of my sensibility out the window. “hey” he whispered against my lips. “Hi” I managed back. He pulled away and looked around again. Before his eyes came to my purse sitting on the kitchen counter next to me and then he looked back at me, “Ready to go?” he asked. “Definitely” I said as I grabbed my purse and locked the door to my apartment behind us.
When we got to the restaurant we came to a large booth in the back where a large group of guys were already sitting and laughing up a storm. When we approached the guys all looked up and smiled.
“Guys this is Ashley. Ashley meet Brad, Zdeno, Milan, Andrew, and my roommate Freddy.” I shook hands with all the guys before getting into the booth where I sat with Freddy on one side and Tyler on the other.
Tyler’s POV
I sat on the outside of the booth with Ash comfortably next to me and Fred on her other side. There was tons of room in the booth and we were all just lounging relaxed.
“Tyler never stops talking about you.” Brad said grinning mischievously. I glared at him while the rest of the guys and Ashley laughed at my look.
“Not that we can blame him, seeing you are even more gorgeous than imagined.” Zee said charmingly. Ash flushed and said thank you.
“So do you all work with Tyler?” Ashley asked looking at the boys. I looked at them eyes wide hoping that they all remembered how she doesn’t know about my hockey career.
Milan spoke up, “yeah” he motioned towards everyone except Freddy, “we all work together and beat the crap out of Tyler.”
“And Ty and I started talking over hair gel when we met. And now I have to deal with him in the mornings.” Added Freddy.
She laughed and pat Freddy on the shoulder and crooned, “you poor thing.”
“Finally someone understands!” he said and gave her a hug. We were all laughing at my expense but I didn’t mind since the guys seemed to like her and she seemed to like them.
The rest of the night went amazing and by the time I dropped Ash back off at her apartment it was one in the morning.
“I like you’re friends. They’re a lot of fun.” She said smiling up at me.
“And then he kissed me!” I finished off my story of last night’s date to the three anxious women sitting there staring at me intently, absorbing every word I said and each clutching something uniquely them tightly to their chest. For Trisha it was her coffee, for Clarissa it was her binder full of today’s schedule and for Lisa it was her diamond bracelet. I sighed dreamily as they did a mixture of the same and squealing and threw myself into one of the comfortable chairs in Maggie’s.
“So it was another fantastic date.” Trisha said matter-of-factly.
“Yeah…it was great.” I sighed still smiling and turned to look down at my feet as I slouched in the armchair. Lisa got up suddenly and we all looked up at her.
“Well, you are lucky that he has such a realistic job and that he seems to really like you. Now that the tough part is over, you go into the deeper depths. That’s the truly difficult part, the choppy waters, always threatening to drown you and take it all away.”
“What do you mean?” I asked sitting up a little straighter as we all watched her pace around the fitting area like starved wolves staring down a piece of meat.
“What I mean is now; you have to see if he is interested in a serious relationship. If he is going to date you exclusively or if you’re just going to become Friday night while red head and blondie are Saturday and Sunday respectively. After that you have to see his interests. Meaning on Sunday is he going to lounge on his ass with his jerk friends and watch football while you bring them beer and pizza? Or is he going to make every Sunday night date night? If you can get past all that then you have to meet his family. See if his mom is a monster-in-law, like the movie. Maybe you will get lucky and she is a sweet heart who loves you and welcomes you kindly into her home. Then there is also the worry of whether you are the first girl he brought home to meet his parents or the one-hundred and first. That’s all just the beginning of a relationship.” All three of us just sat there looking at her with our mouths on the floor in shock. Clarissa was the first to recover, “Ughhh, ummm. Ughh well Tyler seems nice enough so let’s just take this one day at a time and hope for the best.” She stuttered trying to sound hopeful. I only nodded, my mouth still open.
Tyler’s POV
“Dude, I’m telling you she is something special.” I said to Freddy while we were sitting in the kitchen. I was still on my high from last night’s date and was making breakfast with a huge grin plastered on my face. Freddy was sitting at the counter on his phone and only looked up at me occasionally to mock my “stupid grin.”
“Why don’t you invite her to come to dinner with us tonight?” He said grinning at me.
I contemplated this. I couldn’t tell if Fred was just busting or if he was serious. “Are you serious man?”
The grin went from his face quickly and he slid his phone into his pocket while he straightened up. “Well yeah, I mean she has to meet your friends eventually right? And you’re only going to end up talking about her all night anyway, so why not bring her for the guys to meet and vise-versa?”
“You know what, I think I’ll go do that right now.” I checked the time and decided that since we were having breakfast at eleven it was probably safe to say she was probably up by now.
After three rings I was afraid that it would go to voicemail but then suddenly she picked up sounding quite awake but slightly hesitant.
“Hello?”
“Hi Ash, its Tyler.”
“Oh yeah sorry I didn’t check who it was before o answered. How are you?”
“I’m good. How about you?”
“Pretty good, look I’m kind of at work right now so I can’t talk for too long.”
“Oh yeah right sorry. The guys and I were just wondering if you wanted to join us tonight. We are going to a small restaurant down town and thought maybe you would want to come get to put some faces to names and everything?” there was a brief pause where I could hear Clarissa calling for her and her pulling away from the phone to yell back before she responded.
“I don’t want to intrude on any of your ‘guy time’ or whatever you boys call it.” I grinned at her cute bit of worrying.
“You won’t be, it was actually a suggestion by Freddy and the boys are dying to meet you.” I reassured her.
I heard her sigh resignedly before saying, “Oh, all right. Text me the details. I got to go though so bye. See you tonight.”
“I can’t wait.” I smiled as she hung up. I walked back into the kitchen and Freddy looked up at me expectantly as if to say “Well?” I nodded and he grinned back before I sat down to finish breakfast.
Ashley’s POV
The day went by really quickly and I hurried home so I could shower and get ready for when Tyler was picking me up at 7. He had texted me all the details and Clarissa had read over my shoulder which resulted in me having to explain to her our entire conversation and the plans for tonight. “Now, if he gets drunk or he turns awful or anything makes you uncomfortable or goes wrong. You call me right away and I will come get you. You hear me?” she had said and made me promise that I would call her if anything went wrong and had refused to let me leave until I had done so. Obviously I had promised and I was honestly greatful to have such a motherly figure around when my mom was so far away.
I looked at myself in the mirror of my bedroom. I had on ripped skinny jeans and a plain white v-neck shirt with a nude jacket and nude heels to match. My hair was thrown up in a loose messy bun and I was wearing my signature slight lip tint/shine and mascara makeup look. Just as I was grabbing my phone out of its charger the door bell rang. I headed over and took a quick glance through the peep hole before opening the door and letting Tyler in. His eyes did a quick sweep of the room before coming to rest on me. He smiled his warm amazing smile and part of me melted. He gave me a small kiss on the lips that sent the last bit of my sensibility out the window. “hey” he whispered against my lips. “Hi” I managed back. He pulled away and looked around again. Before his eyes came to my purse sitting on the kitchen counter next to me and then he looked back at me, “Ready to go?” he asked. “Definitely” I said as I grabbed my purse and locked the door to my apartment behind us.
When we got to the restaurant we came to a large booth in the back where a large group of guys were already sitting and laughing up a storm. When we approached the guys all looked up and smiled.
“Guys this is Ashley. Ashley meet Brad, Zdeno, Milan, Andrew, and my roommate Freddy.” I shook hands with all the guys before getting into the booth where I sat with Freddy on one side and Tyler on the other.
Tyler’s POV
I sat on the outside of the booth with Ash comfortably next to me and Fred on her other side. There was tons of room in the booth and we were all just lounging relaxed.
“Tyler never stops talking about you.” Brad said grinning mischievously. I glared at him while the rest of the guys and Ashley laughed at my look.
“Not that we can blame him, seeing you are even more gorgeous than imagined.” Zee said charmingly. Ash flushed and said thank you.
“So do you all work with Tyler?” Ashley asked looking at the boys. I looked at them eyes wide hoping that they all remembered how she doesn’t know about my hockey career.
Milan spoke up, “yeah” he motioned towards everyone except Freddy, “we all work together and beat the crap out of Tyler.”
“And Ty and I started talking over hair gel when we met. And now I have to deal with him in the mornings.” Added Freddy.
She laughed and pat Freddy on the shoulder and crooned, “you poor thing.”
“Finally someone understands!” he said and gave her a hug. We were all laughing at my expense but I didn’t mind since the guys seemed to like her and she seemed to like them.
The rest of the night went amazing and by the time I dropped Ash back off at her apartment it was one in the morning.
“I like you’re friends. They’re a lot of fun.” She said smiling up at me.
“I’m glad. They really liked you too.” I bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. Kissing her sent tingles all the way to the tips of my toes and fingers, it made my brain buzz and my mind blank out. It was like the rest of the world just melted away. When I pulled away I watched her eyes flutter open and color flush into her cheeks. She whispered “goodnight” and pulled back into her apartment and closed the door slowly. I walked down to my car and leaned against the side of it and turned my head up to look at the sky. With my hands shoved deep into my pockets and my breath coming out in soft white clouds I watched as a plane passed by and closed my eyes listening as the city buzzed around me, my smile never leaving my face.
Notes
Thank you all so much for reading :)I hope you all like the update!
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Love!
-E
11/8/13