Next Door

Do Over?

A few days later, Ashlyn started her walk to school, before feeling a hug from behind. She giggled. "You're better?"

"I am." Big Red kissed her.

"Finally!"

"What's been going on recently?"

"Nini and Ricky are dating, but I'm sure you knew that through texts or calls or whatever... that's about it. Not much is new." She shrugged. "You really didn't miss much."

"Besides days of schoolwork, so that'll be fun."

"That sucks."

"Not the best, but luckily I'm not busy."

"Good, try to save some time for me." She grinned. "I'm kidding, get your work done."

"You know I'd rather see you than do any school stuff. Obviously that's not a very big compliment."

She laughed. "Yeah."

"I do wanna hang out babe."

Ashlyn couldn't help but giggle, but also couldn't stop herself from blushing. "Babe?"

"It just kinda slipped out." He said, embarrassed, his face turning the same shade as hers.

"Yeah." She smiled. "It was cute."

"Was it?"

"Well, I don't know. I kinda always thought it was kinda... I'm not sure, maybe the word is shallow? It just never seemed very sincere to me." She shrugged. "But it's you, and it worked."

"Okay." He cheekily smiled. "So you like it?"

"It's not bad." She nodded before kissing his cheek and grinning.

"It sounds like you liked it?"

"Maybe. I'm not gonna stop you from saying it again sometime."

"You liked it." He smiled.

"I did."

"Good. Uh... what were we talking about?" He asked.

"Late work, hanging out." She reminded him.

"Oh, right." He nodded. "I know we FaceTimed, but I need to make up for missing prom."

"Biggie, you got sick. You don't have to make it up to me."

"Okay, well, do you want to go on a date? I might not have to make up for it, but hey, it's prom. Might as well have a do over." He asked.

"Ash!" Gina ran over to her, as they noticed they were at school.

"Gimme a sec." She held up her finger. She kissed Big Red's cheek. "Busy today or does that work?"

"Pick you up at 8?"

"Perfect." She let go of his hand. "Okay, what is it?" She asked as she went off with Gina.

Ashlyn had invited Gina over to help her get ready again. "What do I wear? The dress I wore before is kinda a lot, because I don't know what we're doing. If we just went to a random restaurant, it would be too much. I don't want to underdress, but I don't have much in between."

"How about that?" Gina suggested, pointing towards an outfit.

"I don't know how you do that so quickly." She chuckled under her breath, shaking her head in mild disbelief. "I can put an outfit together, but I find it hard to figure out what's overdressing and all that stuff." She grabbed the outfit. Gina shrugged. She went to change.

"You look great!" She exclaimed when she came out.

"Thanks for the help. He's gonna be here soon, you should probably get going." She hugged her.

"Mkay, bye." She left.

"Bye." Ashlyn sat in her living room, waiting impatiently. They'd been on plenty of dates before, even nice ones, but this one was both nice and a surprise. A knock on her door came, and she jumped up and opened the door. "Hey hone— oh. I didn't know you'd be home so soon." She said to her mom.

"Got off work for once." Her mom hung up her purse and keys. "Why are you so dressed up?"

"I've got a date." She said, beaming. "He should be here soon."

"Big Red?"

"Yes, of course." She nodded.

"Make sure to be home by 11."

"I will." She nodded. "Oh, there he is! Bye!" She walked outside, closed the door, then met up with Big Red, who was walking over. They hugged.

"Hey." He smiled. "You look amazing as always."

"So do you."

"Can I know where we're going now?"

"It's just a nice restaurant. I think they may have some live music. Then we can do whatever." He told her.

"Ooh, fun!"