Operation Boyfriend

Chapter 2

Ashlyn drew in a breath then quickly let it out as she burst out into a fit of amusement. She scoffed as she raised a cautious eyebrow at me, "Operation Boyfriend?"

Frowning, I slapped her lightly across the arm. Annoyed, I snapped, "This is serious, Ash. You asked for my help and you sure as hell are going to commit to it despite what I call it."

We were now seated in front of the main entrance of the mall, waiting for our ride to come. Zander luckily lived quite close to me and since Ashlyn was sleeping over, I blackmailed him into driving us back to my house. Ever since the day he bragged about obtaining his driver's, I wanted to skewer him of his constant boasting. Honestly, I was only holding back my actions since he lived so close and I was sure that I would be mooching off him.

"Fine, you got me, commander!" she laughed, giving me a goofy grin. Ashlyn appeared to be a totally different person from the one just a few seconds ago. Her smile was reflecting off her face that radiated full of life. The deep, cool eyes only shined brighter as her grin grew. It was almost frightening to see her in this state, the awakening of the four letter word that none can truly understand. Love.

 After drowning in thought, I turned to face Ashlyn and stared directly into her eyes, gathering all the seriousness in me. She was eagerly awaiting my answer when I spoke, "Step 1: Scout enemy grounds."

She was baffled and almost let out another foolish giggle out but held it in once she let her gaze drop towards my face. This was a serious battle, and the only way to win it was to follow a simple, easy plan: Operation Boyfriend. Ashlyn calmed herself and questioned, "What do you mean enemy grounds?"

"Well, duh! Ever since you pursued with this plan to go after another girl's boyfriend, she instantly became your enemy." I explained to her with worry, seeing that she couldn't even figure out the first step. "We need to learn everything we can about their relationship, this is war, Ash."

"Right, war." She repeated, trying to process it into her dawdling mind. Ashlyn was not a stupid blond, hell she was smarter than me but when it came to anything out of school that was a different story.

Before I could give her a reply, Zander's red Jeep pulled in, to our relief. It was a long, restless day of window shopping and gossiping. Ashlyn placed herself in the back while I climbed into the passenger seat next to Zander who looked quite irritated at us.

"Zander!" Ash squealed as she reached over to ruffle his dark hair quickly causing him to grimace.

Enjoying watching his discomfort, I leaned over to pinch his cheek causing an inflamed patch on his tan skin. With great sarcasm I told him, "It's so nice of you to give us a ride, Zander."

He turned to glare at me with cold hazel eyes, knowing the truth behind my words. When he pulled away from the mall's parking lot, he was still soundless, only bothering to send Ashlyn and me an icy stare with slanted eyes. It was when he put the Jeep at a standstill when we came upon a stop light that he finally spoke with the same amount of sarcasm that I had used, "It's also nice of you to blackmail and manipulate me, Cass."

"It was not blackmail nor did I use manipulation." I lied, trying to keep a serious façade but it immediately broke once I glanced at his face filled with disbelief. Trying to hold back a giggle at the ridiculous expression, I spit out, "Fine, so I did use blackmail and manipulation. We were desperate."

"Desperate?" he questioned with an arched eyebrow. "I'd never think you'd admit it."

Zander was always constantly on my case about how I've never been in a relationship before. Honestly, I didn't think it was so important but he thought otherwise. The problem that makes it tense between Zander and I was that we had completely different morals and values. He deemed that it was alright to have many rather than just one while I always believed in faithfulness and loyalty. At times, it was extremely irritating about him flaunting his experienced life in my face, it was also disgusting to listen to the details but we were friends so it came natural for him to tell me almost everything.