Recap
Even though a part of me despised the idea of not talking and kissing Jaiden anymore a bigger part of me decided it was a better idea then me starting to hang out with her more and have the possibility of me falling for her.
I pulled up to the restaurant and said, "We're here," with a half smile.
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Jaiden's POV
Ash pulled up to the one story Italian restaurant with a sign outside that said, "Amami Per Sempre". The awning was red and white striped giving it a quaint look. The patio was deserted because of the cold weather, but it would be fun to eat on during the spring, I thought briefly.
I got out of the car and walked up to the wooden door with Ash in front of me. He pulled open the door letting me walk in first.
"What a gentleman," I said winking.
He rolled his eyes chuckling saying, "Will you just walk in please?"
I followed his directions and walked in smiling. I was relieved to see the inside wasn't very formal. There were small, white table-clothed, tables with menus on them scattered around the restaurant.
"We seat ourselves," Ash said grabbing my hand and lightly tugging me to a table in the corner.
The corner he chose was secluded and more dimly lit then the rest of the areas. Figures, I thought, the player would take me to the most romantic part of the restaurant. Ash picked up the menu and began looking through it, so I did the same.
"What's good?" I questioned.
"The pizza," he said immediately breaking out into a grin.
"That settles it then. I love pizza! Do you want to share with me?" I asked.
He nodded in reply, and we began debating on whether to get pepperoni or cheese pizza. I think there's nothing better then a plain cheese pizza, and I was trying to convince him on it. However, I have never met a more stubborn boy in my life. When the waiter, an older Italian looking man, came to take our order, Ash ordered half cheese and half pepperoni making me giggle uncontrollably. The whole time we were debating over nothing, I thought, making me laugh again. Ash sent me a quick smile then continued to order. The waiter walked away with a confused look probably wondering what was so funny about a half and half pizza.
"You made me look like an idiot in front of the waiter," I said to Ash, narrowing my eyes jokingly.
He laughed, "Yeah I did. I knew we could get a half and half pizza, but you're cute when you're debating and angry."
I jokingly glared across the table, "Yeah we'll see how cute I look when I kick your ass!"
Ash laughed his booming laugh making me start to giggle again. Wow, I thought, he's so easy to talk to.
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Ashton's POV
Watching Jaiden giggle and turn an adorable shade of pink is starting to become addicting, I thought. I laughed thinking about how she had been ranting about how good cheese pizzas taste, and why they were so much better than pepperoni. She looked so freaking cute debating about what pizza we would order, so I continued to provoke her. In reality, with that cute look on her face I would have gotten her as many freaking cheese pizzas she wanted. Damn, this needs to stop. I can't be thinking these things about her. Just spending a few minutes with her was weakening my resolve to not talk to her after our date. I can't talk to her at all after this. I can't even look at her I reminded myself.
"Ash, what classes are you taking?" Jaiden asked raising her eyebrows and cocking her head to the side.
Why the hell does she make so many cute facial expressions?
"Well because I took a lot of my classes over the summer, I'm only in English Honors, Algebra 2, Spanish four, and football. What about you pretty girl," I answered flirtingly.
She rolled her eyes and responded, "I'm in journalism, creative writing, English Honors, Algebra 2, and Spanish five. I went to a really advance school before, so I don't have many classes I have to take for graduation. I got them done my junior year."
"Hey maybe you and I will have English and Algebra together," I said, genuinely smiling.
She started talking about how awesome the rest of the year was going to be because of the lack of classes in her schedule. I was really amazing myself by actually listening to what she had to say. I was so engrossed in her story I didn't even notice the little brunette stalk over to me with a pissed off face.
"Um Ash," Jaiden said worriedly, pointing over my shoulder.
I turned around just in time to feel the slap the little brunette gave me full on.
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Jaiden's POV
Ash was leaning forward resting his elbows on the table really looking like he cared what I was saying. Out of the corner of my eye I see a short curvy girl around my age with brunette hair seething and walking toward Ash with closed fists. At first I thought nothing of it. She probably wasn't even looking at Ash, I thought. Her pretty face continued to scrunch together and turn darker shades of red as she got closer to our table.
"Um Ash," I said worried, while pointing over his shoulder.
As soon as he turned around the girl took a hard swing at him. Her hand connected with his face and made a loud noise that made the people around us look at our table and go quiet. My mouth dropped open in shock.
"You ass! You said that you were moving! You said that we could only hook up one time because you would be moving to Indiana to take care of your freaking dying grandma. How's your grandma you lying son of a,"
"That's enough! Stop! We are in a public place. Can you and Ash go outside and talk about this?" I asked annoyed at her outburst that ruined our good conversation, and that made me come back to reality where Ash really didn't give a damn about anyone besides himself.
Ash looked over at me guiltily with a red hand print on his face. I looked away disgusted at him. He told a girl he was moving away to aid his dying grandma? Who does that? She probably felt really bad and hooked up with him to make him feel better. He ensured he'd never have to call or keep in contact with her by lying to her. I felt disappointment well inside of me. I thought for a minute that he might be an okay guy once you break the rough player exterior. Unfortunately I was really wrong.
"Don't you dare say a freaking word," she screeched, "You whore! You're so freaking ugly I don't know why he would ever take you out in public. You must be really good in bed because that is the only reason he'd keep you around!"
The words hit me like bullets. I've always been more sensitive than other girls, especially about my looks. However, I didn't want her to have the satisfaction of letting her see me cry. I fought the tears that were about to spill when I felt a warm pair of arms slip around my shoulders comfortingly. I expected them to be Ash's, but when I looked up I saw a familiar face. Riley, the boy I had met outside of the elevator smiled down at me.
"Come on Jaiden. Lets leave these two to talk about things. I'll take you back to Hollows," he said practically lifting me out of the chair.
My eyes snapped over to Ash who looked furious. I looked up to Riley starting to get scared for him because Ash looked ridiculously angry. Riley transformed his face into one that looked menacing. I realized then that Riley was a few inches taller than Ash's already tall frame. Riley wasn't as muscular as Ash, but something about his posture let me know that he could handle himself in a fight. I don't want them to get to that point, I thought. I have to do something.
"Alright Riley, lets go," I said tugging on his arm.
Riley put a smug smile on his handsome face which seemed to infuriate Ash further. Ash looked at me with a somewhat hurt expression. However, this time it didn't have the same effect over me. He lied to a girl. Not just a little white lie, he lied about the health of a family member all just to hook up with her. The whole thing was so sick that I didn't want to be associated with him anymore. I knew that if he went that far to think of lie like that to her, he would do the same to me.
"No, I don't need to say anything to this girl. We can go Jaiden," Ash said practically growling.
"No Ashton. I don't want to go anywhere with you anymore," I said turning on my heel.
The look on Ash's face when I called him Ashton instead of Ash made me sad inside. He looked almost defeated. It was probably just his wounded pride because for the first time a girl chose someone other than him. I could feel the tears start to come in frustration with him. When I turned back once more before leaving the restaurant, I saw the brunette girl talking to him angrily. His head was in his hands, and he looked upset. Good, I thought with satisfaction, he deserves it.
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Ashton's POV
Jaiden had called me Ashton. Why that hurt so much, I didn't know. The brunette was still talking to me angrily and waving her hands around. Honestly, I wasn't listening to one word she was saying. All I was thinking about right now was the teary eyed look Jaiden gave me while telling me she didn't want to go anywhere with me.
This whole thing really wasn't worth hooking up with this girl I didn't even remember. I hadn't expected for our date to go like this. Maybe it's for the better I thought. Now Jaiden really won't be a problem anymore because she doesn't even want to see me. Somehow that thought didn't make things any better.
Watching her chose to leave with Riley instead of me made me so angry. The way he smiled so cockily practically gloating over how Jaiden had chosen him was imprinted on my brain. I hated that guy. I thought I hated Reed the most, but Riley just went to the top of that list. I thought for sure that Jaiden wouldn't leave with him, but I was wrong and that wounded my pride a little bit.
Seeing the look in Jaiden's eyes when the brunette said those things to her made me feel horrible. I should have said something, I thought. I should have done something to make her stop humiliating Jaiden in public like that.
"Are you even listening to me," the brunette screamed fuming.
"Yes. I'm sorry I lied to you. In reality, I didn't want anything serious with you. I should have just said that instead of lying to you. I have to go. I need to go talk to that girl you just yelled at," I said deciding to take the honest rout since the lying one didn't work out too well.
Thinking back to what she said to Jaiden made me angry so for good measure I said, "Also don't you dare ever say anything mean to that girl ever again, if you happen to see her. I get you have a problem with me, but she did nothing to you. I swear, if you ever mess with my girl again, you will wish you had never let your big mouth open."
I turned away from her surprised I had referred to Jaiden as my girl. However, I knew she would never be mine especially after what just happened. I was disgusted with myself and the brunette. I wanted to place all the blame on the girl, but I knew it was my fault. Damn, I thought, I really screwed everything up. I knew that right about now Riley was probably comforting Jaiden and trying to make her feel better. For some reason I wanted to be the one doing that. What is going on with me I thought?
Walking through the parking lot I get to my car and bitterly swing my door open. I start my Hummer and immediately John Mayer starts up from where Jaiden had paused it. I chuckled lightly, just what I want to listen to I thought sarcastically. I kept his song on though because I had a feeling every song I would listen to right now would somehow associate with Jaiden in my mind. I aimlessly started driving, not ready to get back to Hollows just yet.
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Hey guys! Well, I hope you liked this chapter. It was kind of a filler! What do you guys think of Riley and Ash right now? What happens after Jaiden and Riley leave the restaurant is coming up in the next chapter(: I'm sorry about the grammar...again! Thank you for all the comments, votes, and reads. This means a lot to me! I'm not sure exactly when I'll be posting the next chapter, but it will be soon!(: Taming My Player is currently #105 on Teen Fiction! I'm so excited about that! Thank you everyone(: