You're Not My Babysitter

Chapter 6

(the photo above is Ashton's outfit)

Andy

We ended up at a small little diner called Maria's that was about 20 minutes away. I'd never been here before but, it seemed cool.

"This place has some bomb-ass milkshakes," Ashton smirked as she opened the door, "also their bacon burger. It's what I get every time I come here."

I followed her to a booth in the corner, "Seems cool."

The restaurant was very stereotypical with it's 1970s theme of checkered tile and neon lights.

"Hey there," a cheery waitress welcomed us as soon as we're seated, "how are you doing today?"

She smiled down at me as I opened the menu that sat in front of me.

"Great...Mariah, how are you?" I asked giving a small grin of my own, after pausing to read the woman's name tag.

She twisted a lock of her auburn hair around her finger as her warm smile contorted itself into a flirtatious smirk. I looked in Ashton's direction just in time to catch her making a pretend vomiting motion.

"Oh I'm doing a little better now," she winked, "what can I get you to drink?"

"Oh I'll just take a water I think." I said averting my gaze back to the menu to find what I wanted to order.

"Absolutely, I'll be right back with that!"

I glanced back up to give her a nod.

"Yeah, um can I get a vanilla shake?" Ashton asked as our waitress began to walk away.

"Oh," Mariah sent out a small chuckle, "sorry babe, I didn't see you there."

How could she not see her? She's sitting right across from me.

"I don't think I like her very much." I finally let out about a minute after Mariah left to get our drinks.

"Oh really," Ashton smirked which pulled a look of confusion onto my face, "I couldn't tell by all your flirting."

"What?"

Ashton rolled her eyes at my apparent obliviousness, "Don't you pretend like I wasn't here."

"I'm not- I wasn't flirting," that earned a sarcastic nod in response, "I wasn't! I was just being nice!"

"You might want to tell her that." Ashton sighed looking over the menu.

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"I told you she thought you were flirting!" Ashton shouted trying -and failing- to hold in her laughter.

"Ok, you told me so, shut up about it!"

Halfway through our meal Mariah slipped me a napkin with her phone number and a message that read "call me for some free dessert"

"Oh I will not!" she snorted.

That caused me to roll my eyes, "you know what, I'm glad my weird and slightly humiliating interaction is brightening your mood."

"Oh I'm elated," Ashton skipped just a step, "I mean seriously though, I think I can still catch a whiff of her desperation from here!"

"You know, you don't seem like a very nice person." I chuckled slightly amused at her sudden burst of energy.

I've obviously talked to Ashton within the past three days I've spent with her but, all of our conversations were short and seemed so...forced. It was nice to talk to her and it not be me asking her questions or her giving me snippy responses. It was nice to just...have a normal conversation.

"I'm nice," She rolled her eyes at me when I stopped and raised my eyebrows, "I am! Just...not to people who don't deserve it."

I thought about that statement while we drove back and about half-way into the drive I shot my response, "Who does deserve it?"

"What?"

I took a momentary glance at her before my eyes were back on the road, "You said you're only nice to the people that deserve it and, don't get me wrong, I haven't even know you for a week but, you don't really seem to be that open of a person?"

"I guess you're not wrong," she paused for a second to fidget with the rings on her fingers, "and I guess there aren't too many. I mean my brother 100% would be one. Oh, and probably my friends. I only have three but, as they say, 3 true friends are better than 100 fake ones."

"I didn't know you had any friends," I smirked causing Ashton to punch me in the shoulder, "hey! Come on it's not like I've heard you talk about them before!"

"Well," there's once again a pause, "I've known Presley the longest and she's a year younger than me but, she's smart as fuck. Oh, and Gracie is probably the sweetest human being you will ever meet which is kind of ironic because Sydney- her boyfriend- is a total douchebag sometimes but, I love him anyway..."

As I listened to Ashton describe her friends, I couldn't help but be amazed. That was the longest I'd heard her talk and I found it so easy to recognize how much she cared for them.

"So you really like these kids huh?"

"Yeah, I just hope they still like me." She then fell quiet and started to stare out the window.

I couldn't tell what that was supposed to mean but, I could tell that she didn't want to talk about it so, I changed the subject.

"What about me?"

"What about you?"

"Well," I threw another quick glance her direction, "do you think I deserve your kindness?"

There was a moment of silence before she responded.

"I don't know yet."