leave him // a.i {au}

08

flashback

Ashton and Luke were sitting in the lunch room at their normal table by themselves. They were discussing what Ashton should do on his newly planned date with Stevie. He was thinking of going with the usual dinner and movie scenario, but Luke told him that it was too cliche.

"Why can't I just take her to a movie? Girls like those romantic movies, right? Or maybe a scary movie? That way she can cuddle up to me when she gets scared."

"Again, that shit is cliche. Don't you want your date to be memorable?" Luke asked, crumpling up the wrapper of his sandwich. Ashton hadn't realized Luke was such a romantic, he had always believed him to be the player type even though he didn't get much action.

"But that's so much effort," Ashton groaned. "I already know she likes me." He was getting frustrated, having tried to think of ideas and coming up blank.

"What about..." Luke started, bringing his forefinger and thumb to his chin deep in thought, "something active? She's in gymnastics right?"

"But I'm not athletic," he groaned again.

"You're not running a marathon, mate. Maybe go on a hike? Isn't there those trails not too far away?"

"How is that a date though? That's not romantic at all."

"Yeah it is!" Luke argued. "It's just the two of you and you're outdoors surrounded by nature. You can hold hands and everything."

"Everything?" Ashton cocked an eyebrow at his friend. "What do you mean by everything?"

"Nothing! I don't know. It is romantic ok?" Luke didn't know what he was talking about, he was just rambling and trying to get his friend to impress Stevie.

"Alright. I guess it can be romantic. I just hope she likes outdoors. If she doesn't, I'm screwed."

***

Stevie was meeting Ashton at the metro station so they could take the train to the trails. Ashton was dressed in a pair of athletic shorts, a cutoff, tennis shoes and a bandana on his head. He wondered if this was good enough to wear on a date, but he decided to be comfortable if he was going to be walking for a long distance. He was pacing in front of the ticket area, refraining from running a hand through his messy curls so he wouldn't mess it up. He was nervous that Stevie wasn't going to show, that she had gotten some sense knocked into her. He thought she was going to realize that she shouldn't be hanging around a loser like Ashton, but as he was thinking this, Stevie walked in to his line of vision. A smile appeared on his lips as he took in her slim, toned frame. She had on cropped yoga leggings and a solid purple tank that clung to her.

"Hey," she smiled, walking up to meet Ashton. "Is this alright? I wasn't sure because you didn't tell me exactly what we're doing." She tightened the pony tail that was sitting atop her head.

"Perfect," Ashton nodded. "Luke told me it would be a good idea to keep some element of surprise."

"Luke?" Stevie questioned. Of course she didn't know who Luke was, he was just as much of a loner as Ashton.

"My best friend," he clarified, but was mentally cursing himself for bringing him up.

"You talked about me with him?" Stevie giggled as Ashton bought their tickets for the train.

Ashton hesitated before saying, "uh, yeah. You might've come up."

"It's fine," she placed her hand on his upper arm, causing him to feel sparks. "It's not like I don't talk about you to my best friend," she shrugged as she walked away to get on the train.

Ashton was startled by what she said, but quickly recovered and caught up to Stevie on the train. They were sitting side by side on the nearly empty train. It was only a ten minute ride, but it passed by slowly. Ashton was more nervous than he normally was. He had actually become quite comfortable in front of Stevie now, but with the label of this being a date, he seemed to be feeling pressure to make it perfect.

"So I thought that we could take a walk through the trails and stuff," Ashton said as they walked up to the park type area.

"It's so pretty here, have you been before?" Stevie asked, looking all around and enjoying the trees and flowers.

He shook his head. "No, but I knew it was here. I just never found the time."

Stevie nodded and slipped her hand into Ashton's, lacing their fingers together. "I like it outside," she said with a sigh. "It's just the perfect place to think, surrounded by nature."

"What do you think about?" he inquired, genuinely curious. They were now walking up a somewhat steep hill and Ashton's breath was becoming a little bit labored. He really needed to get in the practice of working out.

The girl shrugged, seeming to be thinking now. "I guess life in general, if that makes any sense. I just think about my problems and how life would be different if I was different."

"What do you mean?" Ashton asked, confused. He didn't understand what Stevie meant by this, in his eyes she was perfect.

"I guess I feel like people don't take me seriously, especially my dad. He thinks that gymnastics is a waste of time even though I hold some of the records at the school. He also doesn't think that my grades are ever enough and he doesn't believe that I can be a teacher, which is what I want to be. He always puts me down, even when I do well. I wish sometimes that I didn't care, that his words didn't hurt me. I wish that I could just leave this town and never look back."

Ashton wasn't sure what to say. He believed that Stevie was one of the happiest girls out there, loved by everyone and constantly praised. He couldn't imagine being criticized that often. His mom wasn't always the nicest to him and sometimes yelled at him, but she never criticized him like that. She always believed in Ashton and that he could accomplish anything that he wanted to.

He squeezed Stevie's hand and said, "I believe that you can do it. You can do anything and from what I've seen, you're a genius."

Stevie giggled at this. "Compared to you I am," she joked.

"Hey!" Ashton protested, knowing she was only kidding.

The two spent the rest of the day on the trails, enjoying the views and teasing each other. They were becoming closer than before, gaining each other's trust. This first date would remain in their memories for a long, long time.

hi, hi. school has been crazy busy, so sorry it's been a bit. thanks for reading and please vote and comment xx zoe