I was pacing around the living room, my heart was racing and I felt like I would pass out any minute. Amber has already told me a million times to calm down but I couldn't. I was nervous and there was no way to hide that.
But when I heard the bell ring, I stopped right in my tracks, my heart skipped a beat before calming down rather fast and I felt alright. Everything I was feeling changed in just a second. I unlocked the door downstairs by pushing the button before already opening the apartment door. I went over to the kitchen table to pick up my phone and purse.
"Hey Ashton" Amber said from the couch. I quickly picked up the two items from the table before turning around to look at him, an instant smile appeared on my face.
"Hi" I said softly, I couldn't take my eyes off him and he didn't seem to be able to either. Smiles were on both our faces while we looked at one another.
He tried to get himself focused again and looked at Amber shortly to say hi to her. I put my phone in my purse before walking over to the door and taking my keys too.
"Hi" He said softly and he seemed to hestitate before finally giving me a soft hug. "You look absolutely gorgeous tonight."
"You look very handsome yourself." I said when he let go of me. I looked him up and down quickly and smiled at the view. He was wearing a black shirt with fading red roses on it and his usual tight black jeans.
"Unintentional matching outfits." He noted and I chuckled softly while nodding. The red of the roses matching perfectly with my red dress. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah" I said with a smile before looking at Amber, "I'll text you when I know at what time I'll be home. Don't stay up too late because you have the early shift at work tomorrow." I warned her
"I'll be in bed by 10:30 at last!" She said with a grin, "Have fun on your date."
"Thank you Amber" I said to her before following Ashton outside, I locked the door from outside, knowing she had a key inside too and she would forget it otherwise. "So where are you taking me tonight?"
"This little restaurant that I love. You will see it when we get there." He replied with a grin on his face.
"I don't mind a surprise so that's alright." I replied and he looked taken back for a second before his goofy smile returned on his face. I could feel him watching me as he walked behind me down the stairs. "Are you sure your mom didn't mind you not being home tonight?"
"The opposite to be honest. She was almost pushing me out of the door to get out. She likes you a lot." He replied, a soft laugh escaping his lips and a smile never even fading lightly
"Moms always love me." I replied with a grin, "But mostly it's the moms of the kids in my class. I'm actually not really sure about mothers of guys I go out with. You're only the second guy I'm going out with so so far I'm doing very well." I rambled so quickly and I only stopped when I heard him chuckle, I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering what he found so funny about what I was saying.
"You were rambling, which is pretty cute, and I can't imagine why someone wouldn't like you, moms or dads or just people in general." He explained when we walked outside. He was parked right infront of the building so we quickly made our way to his car and got in.
"Your fans hate me" I mumbled right before getting in but I hoped it was soft enough for him not to hear it. But by the changed look on his face, I was sure that he heard it.
"They don't hate you." He said softly before letting out a sigh and looking at me. "Most of them don't. The ones that do are a bit lame and I don't like them very much either."
"I know" I replied but I couldn't look at him. I was afraid he would see right through me and see how it affected me. He started his car and started driving while I looked outside. My stupid little comment changed both of our moods and I needed a minute to try and forget about them but after driving for 7 minutes, he parked himself at the side of the road, no restaurant in sight.
"Are you alright?" He asked and he reached over to touch my arm and I almost pulled away. I'm sure he saw the small movement I made and when I dared to look at him, I could see I had hurt him by trying to pull away. "Do you want me to bring you back home? We could just watch a movie or something instead."
"No, I want to go out with you and do this. It's just a bit of an adjustment." I replied with a sigh, "I lied before when I said I was just ignoring it. I can't just ignore it, that's not who I am and to be honest, it hurts a lot to see what some people have to say about me."
"I know Elle. But every time I tried to bring the subject up or to see if you were okay, you shut me out." He replied and I nodded slowly before looking back at my hands. "But even if I wish it wasn't, this is my life. I have millions of followers and fans that send hate and I can't change that. But what I can do, is decide not to be selfish. So it's up to you if you want to do this or not. Because dating me, includes dating a fanbase that has its opinions and isn't always the nicest." He said softly before he placed the palm of his hand against my cheek gently, I looked back at him and a small smile appeared on his face. "If you want to know what the fans are really like, Calum is throwing a party on Sunday. You should come too and maybe talk to the girls. I can't tell you what it's like because all I know is what I see, but they all went through it too."
"So you aren't afraid of me meeting your friends?" I asked and he looked at me confused. "You always ask me to babysit instead of inviting me along when you go to parties. Not that I mind about babysitting Olivia but I thought you were ashamed of me. Because I'm not like them."
"Please don't ever think that again. The fact that you're not like them or anyone else I know, is what I like the most about you." He replied and a smile came on my face. "So what are we going to do? Do you want me to drive you back home or are we still going for dinner?"
"Let's go for dinner." I replied softly before reaching over to kiss his cheek. He smiled and started the car again. We were soon back on the road to the restaurant with smiles on our faces instead of frowns.
"I hope you know I'd do anything to try and prevent you getting hurt. I would stand up for you and if you don't want to be in the spotlight, I'd keep you all to myself and not share you with the fans. I don't ever want you to change who you are to go out with me." He reassured me and the smile on my face only grew, every insecurity I had last night slowly seemed to fade. He wasn't expecting me to change, he wasn't ashamed of me and he was willing to stand up for me.
I just have to learn how to ignore the comments and the hate.
"Do you think that would be possible?" I asked after a minute of silence while I looked at him, he was so focused on the road but he still had a small smile on his face.
"What?" He asked as he looked at me shortly before looking back at the road.
"To stay in my world where people on the street don't know my name. To stay out of the spotlight." I explained further and he shrugged slightly.
"It depends on how hard you try. They usually leave Grace and Sierra alone too when they're not with Calum or Luke. All the media wants is scandals and drama so they can go a little far at times but we've annoyed them so much already that they don't dare to come too close anymore." He explained and I nodded slowly.
"I know nothing about your world and that terrifies me. I've listened to some of your songs and I know the song playing on the radio right now is one of yours" I said and he laughed softly, "But I wouldn't even be able to say what the title is. Judging on the lyrics of the song it's youngblood or something but I don't know anything about your world."
"Do you want to get to know my world?"
"Yeah, I want to get to know what you love to do and how it all works because I got no clue. You've told me some things and you've let me listen to some of your new songs, which I loved by the way, but I don't know that much. I want and need to know what to expect." I said and he got the biggest smile on his face.
"At what time are you done on wednesday? 3:30 right?" He asked and I nodded before I realised he couldn't see that.
"Yeah, school is over at 3 so I'll be done by 3:30." I replied while I looked at him interested.
"We'll be in the studio till 6-7, you're more than welcome to come watch. And I'm willing to tell you what my world is like." He said and the smile on my face only grew at that.
"I would love that very much." I replied before he turned onto the parking lot of a small restaurant, a laugh escaping my lips right away as I looked at it. "Did you ask anyone where to take me tonight?"
"No, this is my favourite place in LA so I decided it all by myself." He replied honestly
"Alright" I replied with a grin while looking at him.
"Do you know this place?" He asked while we got out of the car and I shrugged my shoulders. He walked over and hestitated before taking my hand in his. "Elle?"
"I might know this place." I replied and he looked a little confused before we walked into the restaurant, all tables were filled and a waitress walked over to us right away.
"I made a reservation for two, Irwin." He said and the waitress looked in her book shortly before nodding.
"Table for two in the back, please follow me." She said with a smile before leading us to the table the furthest away from the windows by the street. Ashton pulled out the chair for me and I thanked him before sitting down. The waitress introduced herself and told us the specials shortly before handing us the menus and leaving.
"Have you been here before?" He asked me when it was just the two of us again but I could see a familiar figure walking over to us.
"Yeah, cooking runs in the family." I said to Ashton right before the woman reached our table.
"Elle, my dear! You should have told me you were coming tonight." She said and I got up before wrapping my arms around the woman.
"I would have texted you if I knew that we were coming here." I said happily to her before looking at the confused man sitting at the table. "This is my date, Ashton." I said to the woman and she got the biggest smile on her face, "Ashton, this is my aunt Amelia" His confused look turned into a smile and he chuckled right away before getting up to greet her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." My aunt said with a smile before shaking Ashton's hand. "I've seen you here quiet often before on your own and always thought you would have fit well with my niece. How's that beautiful daughter of yours doing?"
"She's doing very well, thank you for asking." He replied with a smile before his eyes darted over to me shortly.
"I will let you go on with your date and go tell the waitress to treat you well tonight. Let me know when you're leaving, will you Elle?"
"Ofcourse, I'll come find you first." I replied with a smile before she left. We both sat down again and I watched her go to our waitress and less than a minute later, two glasses of champagne were placed infront of us.
"So out of all the places I could have picked in LA, I chose the one that's owned by your aunt." He replied with a soft laugh and I laughed too while nodding. "I hope you don't mind?"
"Not at all, I love my family and it's been way too long since I have seen her and her wife so this was the best surprise." I replied and I tried not to get lost while looking at him. The dimples in his cheek while he smiled so brightly and the small wrinkels by the corners of his eyes. His eyes were so bright and happy tonight and they couldn't be more different than the dark eyes I met months ago. He wasn't the same person anymore but neither was I.
"So are there any other places where we might run into your family?" He asked and I shook my head.
"Ben and Elodie both work as lawyers just out of LA so I hope we never need them for that. My dad has an office job for a phone company so we shouldn't run into him that easily either. Everyone else lives out of LA so no more surprises." I said while trying to think of everyone. With a big family, you sometimes just forget.
"Do you see the rest of your family often?" He asked with a smile on his face
"Almost every year on christmas, new year's eve and easter. And I see all of my mom's family on her parent's birthdays and the same for my dad's family. We might be with a lot but we try to make sure to still see each other often enough."
"Did I already tell you how gorgeous you look tonight because it's all I can think about when I look at you now?" He said with a grin and I started blushing right away. "I mean it, even now that your cheeks are all red you still look gorgeous and cute"
I hid my face in my hands while I let out a chuckle, trying to hide the fact that my cheeks just got a whole lot darker. He reached over and placed his hands on mine to try and prevent me from covering my face.
"Please don't ever be ashamed of your cheeks turning red when I compliment you because I'm going to do it often." He replied with a grin on his face and I let out a soft chuckle.
"If you're going to do that often, my face is going to match the colour of my hair often too."
to be continued...
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There will be a second part to the date because it was 4900 words long and I couldn't put that all in one chapter 😂 so tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I'll post the second part
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK