The Angel Next Door

Chapter 11

 A knock on the door wakes me up. I pry my eyes open. Another knock.

"Hey. You awake?" It's Asher.

"Yeah. Come in."

Asher walks in smiling.

"Hey." He looks so happy as he sits on my bed next to me. "You still asleep?"

"Yeah." I smile as he rubs his hand on my arm.

"What time did you go to bed?"
"Like midnight. Why?"

"It's almost noon."

"Damn. That's the most I've slept... ever really."

"That's good. You need sleep."

"So..." I sit up. "What's going on?"

"Well, Avi and my dad went to the store. London is at her friends. And my mom and I would love to talk to you downstairs." He slyly slips that last part in.

"Oh..."

"It's nothing bad. I promise." He reaches down and kisses me before jumping off the bed. "Just come down when you're ready."
"Okay." My heart is racing.

Once Asher leaves I get out of bed and quickly change. Then I just sit on my bed. I breathe. I take a few seconds to just let my heart rest.

"Okay. You've got this." And now I'm talking to myself.

I walk downstairs and Asher and his mom are sitting at the kitchen island. They look at me in unison, smiling. My heart starts racing again.

"Hey sweetie." His mom is so nice and I feel like I'm about to shit my pants.

"Hey, Mrs. Angel."

"Remember, call me by my name."

"Okay. Sorry, Coco."

I stand across from them on the other side of the island.

"So I've been talking with Jody and Asher a lot this past week." My palms are sweating and I keep looking to Asher, who's giving me no clue as to what is happening. "As you know, in a week Asher's got to be in Atlanta for Shazam 2."

"Yeah."

"So I will be there with him for a little while, but for the majority of the time, I'm going to have to come back here. Asher and I were talking and thought since you're looking for a job that maybe you'd want to go with Asher for me."

"Oh..." I was not expecting that.

"Yeah. You'd kinda be my assistant/helper." Asher looks nervous, awaiting my response.

"Most things will be paid for by production. All you'll really need to do is make sure to get Asher to set on time, help him with his lines, and just make sure he goes to bed at a reasonable time. Oh and of course keep him out of trouble."

They both just look at me.

"Yeah. That actually sounds amazing."

"Great! We just need to get you a plane ticket."

"Thank you for this." I go up and hug Coco.

"It's no problem. You're the one helping me." She walks away.

"So..." Asher looks at me, smiling like a kid on Christmas morning.

"So...?"

"We're gonna be together for months. Hanging out. Having fun in Atlanta."

"You'll also be working. And behaving."

"I'll behave. We can behave together."

"You're weird."

He rushes up and gives me a little kiss before stepping back.

"When we're there we won't have to worry about being seen."

"Yeah, we will. We'll be surrounded by cameras."

"Well yeah. When we're out. But at night. In the morning."

"You are really thinking ahead aren't you?"

"What? You're not?"

"I'm thinking about the now of everything. That I have to go back next door to get some stuff if I'm going to be gone for months. And about suddenly leaving everything I know behind to basically follow a guy across the country. That's something in itself that I never thought I'd do. Plus I'm dealing with being with said guy who isn't out, a celebrity, and very new to all of this. It's a lot of pressure to be someone's first. I'm your first everything."

"Spencer..." He gets quiet and closer. "I get it. It's a lot. If you want me to I will go over with you. I can even go alone and get what you need." He looks me right in my eyes. "And you're not following a guy across the country. You're going to travel with your best friend, help him out, and maybe find a career that you love. If not, then you make some money for a few months, have some cool experiences, and meet some celebrities."

"I just don't want to ruin this." I start getting teary-eyed.

"Come on." He grabs my hand and we run upstairs and into Asher's room.

"Asher..." I am using everything in me to not cry.

"You're not gonna ruin anything."

"But I will. I always do. I ruin everything good in my life."

"Stop that." He grabs my face. "You are amazing. You deserve the best. You will get the best. These are just facts." He kisses me. "If somehow this doesn't work out, then fine. We'll have fun while we can."

"God, you're too good to me." I kiss him. "Thanks."

"We good now?"

"Yeah." I laugh and wipe the tears from my eyes. "We're better."

"Well, how 'bout we cuddle in bed for an hour, then figure everything else out?"

"That sounds fun... but maybe just 30 minutes. We've got a lot to figure out."

"Deal." We kiss once more before jumping onto his bed.