The Chase

Friday came at last, Ash was at home getting ready and was trying to distract himself from the butterflies forming in his stomach. He had never had them before, so he wasn’t sure what they meant. He knew he couldn’t possibly like Ella in the way they were suggesting, he’d promised himself to never get involved with another girl after he saw Carter get his heart broken. It had crushed him and they mutually decided to never let another girl make them feel the way Carter had felt, as they both didn’t like the idea of heartbreak. Hence the reason why they had both decided to become players, the schools most notorious players to be exact.

Ash stared in the mirror intently, searching himself for any tiny fault. Once he couldn’t find one he smiled, flicking his deep brown hair out of his eyes, he brushed any imaginary dust off his black skinny jeans and white v-neck shirt. First dates meant nothing to him normally, but inside he felt that this one might. He smiled and slipped on his shoes, grabbing his black jacket he headed over to Ella’s house.

-

Lauren was frantically trying to finish Ella’s hair. It was nearly seven o’clock and she had been working on Ella for the last three hours. Ash had only told Ella to dress casually, so Lauren had tried her best. Lauren finally finished curling the last blonde strand of Ella’s hair, it looked glossy and flawless in the light and brought out her eyes. Ella stood up and opened her eyes once she was in front of the mirror. She let out a gasp and bought her hand to her hair, feeling it to make sure it was real.

Ella was in dark blue skinny jeans, white converses, a light grey t-shirt and her over sized denim jacket. Her hair was curled lightly and hung in loose waves around her flawless face. Lauren had done two thing flicks of black eyeliner on each of Ella’s eyes, her lips were a light pink and she had a fair bit on mascara on. She was wearing her famous purple eye shadow, the one that Ash had told her she liked.

She hugged Lauren tightly, thanking her and then she sat down on the bed, checking her phone as she waited for the next ten minutes to pass. She sighed and laid back, rethinking the last time she’d been alone with Ash. She remembered mostly everything, she remembered the kiss especially - it had all come back to her over the course of the week. She knew she felt something, she felt sparks, she felt that they fitted perfectly together but she knew that he wouldn’t have felt anything, he was a player and she was just part of the game.

‘ELLA HE’S HERE’ Lauren yelled as the sound of the doorbell rang through the house. Ella shot up and frantically ran over to the mirror checking her appearance again. 

‘You look perfect, just go El, have fun!’ Lauren dragged her away from the mirror and pushed her towards the staircase. Ella sucked in a deep breath and put her phone in her pocket, turning to Lauren, she gave her a quick hug.

‘Sure you’ll be alright here? Shane’s in his room, but my parents won’t be back until late from work, if you need anything text me, okay?’ Lauren nodded and pointed at the front door. ‘Bye Lo’ Ella called as she ran down the stairs

Ella flung the door open and her breath caught in her throat, Ash looked perfect, not a single hair was out of place - his blue eyes lit up and he smiled the minute he saw her. She smiled back at him. 

‘You look, beautiful, El’ Ash said, slightly breathless. His eyes raked over her body, she wasn’t wearing anything revealing but she still looked stunning. He’d never called any girl beautiful before, normally it was hot or sexy. But she managed to put all of those things and more into her simplistic appearance. 

‘I can go get my camera, if you want?’ Ella said, snapping Ash out of his thoughts.

‘Huh?’ Ash replied, confused.

‘You can stare at a picture of me, instead of actually at me that way.’ Ella teased, smirking.

‘Ha ha, very funny, but you do look stunning.’ Ash responded, taking her hand in his. He quickly jolted his wrist as he registered the spark, she felt it too as her wrist jerked slightly. They smiled at each other and Ella let out a quiet laugh. She blushed and slammed the door behind her, as they walked over to Ash’s car.