The next day, the questions that I had finally put to rest in my head, woke up.
I replayed Ashton's kiss in my head so that I could remember every living detail. I wanted to relish in the feeling of it.
But I also had a job to do.
I was working on the third and final tour of the day when Ender caught me daydreaming.
"CARTER!" He shouted, waving a hand in front of my face.
I jumped in my seat.
"What?!" I exclaimed.
"I said that Ashton called while you were gone and said that Michael, Luke and Calum could watch me on Saturday."He sighed.
"Oh, yeah sure that's fine." I agreed.
"Are you okay?" He asked with his concerned ten year old voice.
"Yeah, I was just daydreaming that's all." I pushed it aside and finished tying the knot I was working on.
"Okay we're all set." I clapped my hands together.
"Car, are you still teaching me how to drive the boat Sunday? He asked.
"That's the plan." I smiled, placing my hands on my hips.
"Sweet!" He cheered and then ran off to the other side of the boat.
I shook my head with laughter.
-
"Carter let's go!" Ender yelled from downstairs.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I yelled back at him.
Today was the day I was going christmas shopping with Ashton and honestly I was nervous. I hadn't spoken much to Ashton since he was last over a few days ago...after he kissed me.
I placed my phone in my pocket and grabbed my wallet from the top of my dresser and turned off the light to my bedroom, tromping downstairs.
"Ashton will be here any minute!" Ender said as I hit the bottom step with my foot.
"Calm down." I laughed as Ender ran around the living room.
I jogged to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle and took a quick swig as the doorbell rang.
"Ender can you get that?" I yelled but he was way ahead of me, leaping over the back of the couch and yanking the door open.
"Ashton!" Ender cheered.
"Sup little mate." Ashton grinned.
"Hey." I said as I walked towards him from the fridge.
"Hey." He shot me his charming smile and met me halfway, giving me a hug.
"Okay mate, you ready to go?" Ashton asked Ender.
"Yea." Ender nodded.
"Let's go then." Ashton said and we all walked outside. I locked up the house and Ender grabbed his skateboard from the storage area.
The walk to the lot was full of conversation between Ashton and Ender about what Ender was going to do with Michael, Calum and Luke. Ashton said that Michael had some things planned and Ender got more excited (if that was even possible).
When we reached the jeep, Ashton opened my door for me and then helped Ender into the back. After that he placed Enders things into the compartment and drove us out. I didn't know where the boys were staying so my interest peaked when Ashton drove us toward the rent villas. We had a lot of tourists that rented the villas when they came to our Harbour so during the summer holiday they were always booked.
Ashton drove us into another parking lot that was in front of two brown houses. Beyond the houses was the beach. We all got out of the car and grabbed Enders stuff before Ashton walked us up to the house on the right.
He pushed open the door and led us inside.
The villa was nice. Nothing too fancy but not a total hole in the hole. The entire house was cliche beach themed but I had no room to talk.
"Hey! We're here!" Ashton yelled and three sets of feet came tromping down the stairs.
"Ender, my man! What's up!?" Calum said before giving Ender a high five. Michael followed Calum and high fived Ender before picking him up and tossing him onto the white leather couch causing giggles to erupt from Ender.
"I brought my board!" Ender said and the guys cheered.
Luke moved from behind Michael and I noticed he was in only boxers and a tee shirt.
I blushed slightly and he noticed, moving back behind Michael. Then I bent down to get eye level with my brother.
"Alright, well, we will be back later. You behave and don't do anything you know you would get in trouble by me for." I winked at Ender.
"You take all the fun out of it." He whined.
"I know." I smiled and kissed his cheek.
We walked to the front door and I stopped in the doorway.
"Bye End! Love you!" I called and waved.
"Bye! Love you!" He called back and then Calum waved closing the door.
Ashton and I walked back to his jeep and climbed in.
"So where to first?" He asked.
"The toy store on main street." I said as I shaded my eyes from the sun.
"Off we go then." He grinned and backed us out of the lot and onto the street.
I directed him in the right direction and we drove along in silence.
The whole drive all I could think about was the kiss and if he was going to say anything about it or if he was going to pretend it never happened.
When we pulled up to the toy store Ashton opened my door again and we walked into the shop.
The toy store was large and tall. The ceiling like a dome. Children with their parents cluttered the shop, the sounds of different playthings filling the air.
"Woah. Small town, big toy store." Ashton joked next to me and I chuckled."So what's on our list?" He asked.
"Um lets see. We have a remote control car. A nerf gun. Ninja turtle anything. And a new skateboard." I read down the list Ender had wrote to Santa.
"Alright lets start looking." Ashton clapped his hands together and bounced up and down like he was about to run a race.
I giggled at his enthusiasm.
We walked down the first isle trying to find the remote control cars.
As I was staring up at a box reading the description, I felt someone take my hand in theirs.
I looked over confused to see Ashton next to me reading the same box, his hand over mine.
"So about the other night..." He started and I felt my heart break into a sprint. "What did you think...?"
"Well...it surprised me..." I said quietly.
"In the good way or the bad way?" He asked.
"Good way." I answered.
"Good." He nodded with a smile.
"Wait...Ashton...what did it mean?" I asked and he raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" He quirked.
"The kiss...what did it mean?"
"Well...it meant this." He said before he leaned down and kissed me.
I couldn't think about anything except for the feel of his lips on mine.
He pulled away and smiled at me.
"Carter, I really like you. I know I haven't known you for long but I feel like I have. And I enjoy spending time with you and Ender and I know there's still a lot we don't know about each other yet but I want to get to know everything about you." Ashton said and my mouth opened in shock.
"Ashton..." I trailed off.
"I want to be that guy that you can call yours, Carter, I just feel something about you that i've never felt before and I want it to last."He continued.
My heart beat faster as my head spun.
"Please say yes or i'm going to be really embarrassed for asking you to be my girlfriend in the middle of a toy store but I couldn't wait any longer." He tried to laugh.
"Yes." I smiled at him, my cheeks ablaze.
"Thank god." He smiled and pulled me in for a hug.
This was happening...oh god this was happening.
I leaned back to look at his face and he bit his lip before kissing my cheek.
"We have presents to buy." I snickered.
"Right." He nodded and then laughed, lacing our fingers together as we continued our quest through the toy store.
Ashton was a great helper. He knew some things about the toys Ender wanted that Ender had disclosed to him during the times they were playing.
We picked out the car, the gun, the skateboard and a few miscellaneous Ninja Turtle items. We went to the checkout counter, both of our arms full of toys.
I placed them all on the counter and the lady added up the total to be $300.
I swiped my credit card and paid for the toys and Ashton grabbed two bags while I grabbed the last two and we left the shop. We threw the bags in the back seat of Ashton's jeep.
"Alright. Whats next?" Ashton asked.
"Well, I need wrapping paper and ribbon." I went down my list.
"Okay." He nodded and he took my hand as we walked down the street. I couldn't help the smile on my face. I had never felt this way before and I never wanted it to end.
"So what do you want for Christmas?" Ashton smiled at me.
"Umm I don't know." I laughed.
'You don't know?! Come on, you must want something." He chuckled.
"I guess I haven't thought about it." I shrugged.
"Hmm...well tell me the things you like to do." He pried.
"Well I like to sail and I love my job and I like riding my bike and watching movies." I named off a few things.
"No for you. Those are all things you do with your brother. What are the things you like to do for you?"
"I...dont know. All I ever do is spend time with Ender, I don't have time to do things for myself." I shrugged again.
"What's something you've always wanted to do then?" He asked now.
I thought for a moment. "I've always wanted to learn how to drive."
"Hmm. Seems legit." He nodded.
"Yea, i've been saving up for a car." I smiled.
"That's amazing Carter." He squeezed my hand.
We arrived at the door and I led Ashton into the gift shop, purchasing red and white stripped paper and red sparkly ribbon.
After that we went back to his car.
"Now what?" He asked.
"We get to wrap presents." I said with an overly done excited voice.
"Yay!" He laughed and drove us back to my house.
It took two trips to get all of the stuff from the car but we managed to get it all into the house, setting all the bags on the living room floor.
"So i'll wrap if you tie the bow." I suggested.
"You've got a deal." He smiled and we sat on the floor, wrapping the gifts.
After an hour of wrapping we took them up to attic and hid them so the cheeky little child of mine wouldn't find them.
"Alright, presents are wrapped and hidden. Now we have the whole day to ourselves until it's time to get Ender." I said as we closed the attic door.
"Hmm. Why don't we go watch some tv, then we can go have dinner with the guys." Ashton suggested.
"Sounds fun." I smiled and he pulled out his phone to text the guys our plan and check up on them.
We went downstairs and sat on the couch turning it onto a channel where they were playing Elf.
"I love this movie." I giggled.
"Me too." He said and rested his arm on the back of the sofa. "It's my favourite."
As the movie continued Ashton moved me closer to him so that our thighs were touching. I felt my cheeks redden again.
"Hey." He whispered in my ear and I shivered.
"Hi." I whispered back and he giggled.
"Are you cold?" He asked and I nodded.
"A little."
"Come here then." He pulled me over so that my legs were draped across his lap and his arm was around my shoulder. "Better?"
"Mhmm." I nodded and I could feel the warmth from his body flow into mine.
We were enjoying each other while watching the film when the front door opened.
"Carter!" Someone called and Ashton and I both jumped up.
"Ari? What are you doing here?" I asked as I went over to hug my friend.
"Well since you backed out of that party I came to see how you were." She shrugged.
Her hair was freshly done, her blonde highlights glinting in the light. She wore a deep red skirt and a black top that showed part of her mid-drift.Black tights clung to her legs like a second skin and black ankle boots graced her feet. She shrugged off her leather jacket and hung it over a chair. That's when she noticed Ashton.
"Oh. Hello." She said.
"Hi." Ashton said charmingly.
"We've met before haven't we?" She asked again, tilting her head to the side.
"Yes." He nodded.
"And your name is....sorry I forgot." She pulled the corner of her lips to the side.
"Ashton."
"Oh right yes." She nodded. "Well...what are you two doing?" She asked now, suddenly suspicious.
"We went christmas shopping for Ender and now we are watching Elf." I explained.
"Ah. Well, I won't be too long, I just need to talk to you for a second...alone." She said to me and I nodded confused as she dragged me upstairs, leaving an even more confused Ashton standing in my living room.
She led me up to my room and shut the door behind us.
"What is this all about?" I raised my eyebrows.
"So you have a boyfriend and you didn't tell me." She crossed her arms.
"It's just happened today Ari, calm down." I assured her.
"Have you told Ender?" She asked.
"No. Like I said it literally just happened." I tapped my foot against the floor.
"Well...have you kissed him?" She asked.
"Yes." I said before blushing like mad.
"I never thought i'd see the day where Carter Chase blushed over a boy." She shook her head astounded.
"Shut up." I punched her arm lightly.
"Well, i'll let you go back to your little love fest down there but don't think you're off the hook quite yet with me missy." She winked and then opened the door for us to go downstairs.
Ashton was on his phone when we walked down.
"Alright, well it was nice to see you again Ashton. And bye doll, love you." She kissed my cheek and then grabbed her jacket before sweeping out the door.
I shook my head as the door closed behind her, a little laugh leaving my lips.
"What was that about?" Ashton asked walking up to me.
"Oh nothing. Just Ari being Ari." I chuckled.
Ashton laughed with me. "Well that was Luke I was texting. He said they are back at the house and we can meet them at the pizza place on main for dinner."
"Sounds great." I smiled.
"Okay." He smiled lightly before resting his arms on my waist pulling me closer to him.
"Our time was cut short." He pouted.
"I know." I giggled. "But theres always tomorrow."
"Mhmm." He smiled and leaned forward to peck my lips.