Next Door

Lunches

"Ashlyn?" Gina, Ashlyn's other best friend, turned to Ashlyn at lunch. Their lunch period was different than Big Red's.

"Yep?"

"Is something going on with you and Big Red?" She asked.

"What? Of course not. We've been friends for forever, and that would be so weird." She lied.

"Really? No feelings for him?"

"No. I don't like Big R— fine." She groaned. "No one can know. My parents don't want us dating."

"Romantic."

"Not really, it's annoying."

"Romeo and Juliet." Gina added.

"You know how that ends, right? Still not happy." Ashlyn mumbled. "I just want to date him like a normal person. Dances, dates, kisses without hiding."

"Have you kissed?!"

"Bring your voice down, will you? But yes, we kissed this morning."

"Is that your first kiss?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "It was amazing."

"Dude. Can we talk?" Big Red asked Ricky before even sitting down at lunch.

"Sure. Where?"

"I don't know... here works, actually." They sat down.

"What happened?"

"First kiss." He said, eyes wide. "I got kissed. I kissed her back."

"Who?"

"I... I actually can't tell you." He awkwardly said.

"So... Ashlyn?"

"How?"

"You've been rambling about how annoying her parents are for the past week." Ricky observed.

"Yeah... fair enough. Don't tell anyone." He sighed. "Anyways, what am I supposed to do?"

"What do you mean? You're fine as long as you didn't run away or do something dumb after."

"That's not what I mean. Just generally. I know have a girlfriend who no one can know about, even though she's the best girl ever."

"I'd argue otherwise..." Ricky put his head on his hand, propping it up as he stated observing a girl sitting at another lunch table.

"Nini is great and all, but Ashlyn... wow." He smiled to himself.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Ricky. I asked for help." He nudged him.

"Right." Ricky turned back to him. "She kissed you. She clearly likes you. I don't think you need much help."

"I hope."

"Oh, she does." Ricky said.

"How would you know?"

"It's obvious." He shrugged.

"How was school?" Ashlyn asked, starting to walk home.

"Alright. Glad to see you though." Big Red smiled. "But..."

"Yes?"

"Ricky knows that we're dating."

"I guess that's fine."

"I didn't tell him who, he just guessed—"

"It's fine if he doesn't tell anyone." She laughed. "You're cute."

"Thanks." He smiled.

"Mhm. Speaking of, Gina knows too."

"Got it." He nodded. He noticed they were far from the school and hugged her. She hugged him back. "This feels better than being friends."

"It does." She smiled. "You wanna take a walk? The walk home feels way too short."

"Sounds great." He held her hand. They took a detour, walking at the nearby park. "Aww!" He smiled, looking at a dog. "It's so cute!"

"It's adorable." She smiled. "Not cuter than me, right?" She joked.

"Nope." He said, not even acknowledging it was a joke.

"Oh. Thanks." She blushed.

"Mhm." He kept walking, Ashlyn following.