ARTIFICIAL // B.E

14

billie

i took a deep breath as i stood at aspen's door. tonight, i'm taking her on a date.

i'm nervous.

i mean, first dates are always nerve-racking but the fact that this is not only my first date with aspen but my first date with a girl, makes it so much more nerve-racking.

i raised my hand and rang her doorbell. i waited for a moment.

the door opened, and i smiled as i saw aspen. "hi, baby." she greeted as she smiled too.

"hi, mama. i, uh— i brought you flowers." i held them out towards her.

her eyes lit up as she took them, her bottom lip jutting out as she did. "they're so pretty. thank you, bil."

"yeah, of course." i tried to wave it off, but my cheeks had flushed a bit.

i watched as she stepped inside. she left them by the stairs for now before she started to walk back over to me.

"c'mere," i murmured as i made grabby hands for her. "i've missed you."

"i missed you too," she bit her lip as she stepped into my embrace, then giggled as she added "you act as if we haven't seen each other in forever though; we just saw each other yesterday."

"shut up," i grumbled. "i don't care how long it's been; i still missed you."

"cutie." she giggled again before giving me a kiss. i smiled before pecking her lips a few more times.

"okay, c'mon." i moved my hands from her waist to hold one of them out for her hand. i grinned as she placed her hand in mine before i started leading her to my car.

i opened the door for her and waited until she was situated until i shut the door and ran around to the other side to get into the driver's seat.

"so, care to tell me what we're doing?" aspirin said in a teasing tone as she propped her chin in her hand, her elbow resting on the center console as she looked at me.

"well," i started as i glanced over at her, smiled, then looked back ahead of me. "i got us a reservation at this really good restaurant. me being who i am, i was able to get us a private booth thingy so we won't be bothered by anyone. then after that, i was thinking we could just ride around and shit?"

i looked over at her again as i pulled up to a red light. she was pouting a bit as she stared at me with a look i couldn't quite read.

"that sounds amazing, baby. thank you for this, for real."

"it's no problem, seriously." i flashed a smile, though looked ahead and tried to hide my blush.

§§§

"this food has absolutely no right being this damn good." aspen shook her head after chewing a bite of her food.

"right?" i looked at her with wide eyes. "it's my favorite. it seriously tastes amazing."

"like... this might just be my new favorite restaurant." she hummed.

"all thanks to me." a smirk tugged on the corners of my lips.

"shut up." she laughed.

"i know we just finished the first leg of the tour, but i'm already ready for the next one." i chuckled as i got some of my food onto my fork.

"of course you are," she shook her head with a giggle. "i am too, but it's nice to have a break. well... kinda. it's not really a break if i still have to do a whole bunch of press and shit, huh?"