Family Troubles || Redlyn

Bad News

Big Red's POV

Felicity hadn't flirted with me in awhile, but that didn't mean Madeline had stopped being annoying.

"You asked EJ out?" I asked Madeline, who choosing an outfit. "And he said yes?"

"Duh." She nodded.

"Why would he go out with you?" I asked. It sounded a bit harsher than I meant for it to be, but I was confused.

"Uh, he likes me." She decided on an outfit. "See ya." She nudged me out of the room to change.

I tried to ignore it all, because I was going over to Ashlyn's for our own date. I got ready, then drove there. I knocked on the door, waiting impatiently for her.

"Hey." She kissed me.

After kissing her back for a moment, wrapping my arm around her, I smiled. "Hey."

"Come in?" She asked. I nodded, and she opened the door wider to let me in. We sat on the couch. "How are y—"

"Ash!" EJ ran into the room frantically, holding two shirts. "Which shirt—" He noticed me. "Oh, hi."

"Hi."

"Anyways, which shirt's better?"

"For what?" She asked. "It depends." I realized what the answer would be, and held Ashlyn's hand. Something about them dating made me nervous. Sure, the date could go horribly wrong, but it could also go well.

"A date." EJ replied.

"With who?"

"Madeline. But which—"

"M- Madeline?" Ashlyn stuttered. "No, she's bad news..." I hugged her, who leaned on me.

"No she's not." EJ denied. "I'll just wear the blue one."

"You shouldn't even go." She mumbled. He didn't hear, as she was talking into my chest. For that reason, he left.

"It's alright." I rubbed her back.

"But she's so... well, you know how she is."

"I know. He'll see that."

"He hasn't yet." She pointed out. "She's faking nice."

"Yeah... but it won't last." I said.

"But what if it does? Then they date, then get married, and then it's really awkward because we're then related by marriage so it's weird when we get married." She rambled. "If. If we get married. Which is just a random thought." She added, only talking faster.

"If it really does, we just tell EJ the truth."

"He's obviously nice, but he can be dumb and slightly... rude sometimes. Maybe he likes her."

"If what you want is for us to get married someday, they won't get in the way." I said. I looked at her cheeks, which were as red as I had ever seen them. I knew mine were too.

"Yeah." Ashlyn smiled lightly. "I'm gonna freshen up."

"Okay." She went to the bathroom. I think she just wanted to wait a few minutes to pull herself together, but I wasn't complaining because it allowed myself to do the same. I basically told Ashlyn we could be married someday. And I did believe it.

"Hi." She sat back down next to me. "How are you?"

"Good." I nodded.

"Me too."

"That's also good." I nodded again.

"So..."

"Do you want to go out for food?" I asked her.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." She hugged me. "Let's go." She grabbed my hand and pulled me up. She nearly dragged me to the door.

"Woah, slow down!" I laughed.

"I'm just excited. And flustered." She admitted.

"Okay. Just don't drag me." I kissed her hand.

"Fair enough." She beamed at me. "Where should we go?"

"Uh... pizza?"

"Sure, your place?" Ashlyn asked, referring to my family's pizza shop.

"Yeah, sure. Drive or walk?"

"Can we walk?" She asked. "It's so nice out." It was about 7, and the sky was clear, so there were plenty of stars visible.

"Of course." We walked to the pizza shop, ordered, then sat down to eat.