We watched the water for a while longer and then stood up, brushed the sand off of ourselves and went back to my apartment. “How are you going in math?” Ashton asked. I rolled my eyes so hard they almost got lost in the back of my head.
“Can we not talk about math?” He shrugged, a little ‘oopsies’ smile on his face. I giggled at his cuteness.
“Do you have any homework?” he said.
“Yeah,” I admitted, “I have chemistry homework.”
“Let’s do that then,”
“Let’s do something else and then focus on my chem homework.”
He shook his head, and I knew I wasn’t going to win this argument. “Go get your chemistry stuff, and then we’ll do something else. Okay?”
“Fine,” I huffed, and went to get the chemistry stuff.
We finished my chemistry homework and then Ashton stayed behind and we watched tv and then ordered pizza (“Make sure you get garlic bread,”) and cuddled on the couch until it arrived.
The funny thing was, I hadn’t been in a serious relationship. So when I started dating Ashton, I probably should’ve wanted to take it slow. That’s how I always thought I’d feel during my first relationship. But, as cliché as it is, it felt like Ashton and I had been dating for a long time, much more than only a few days. It didn’t feel rushed or uncomfortable or weird because it had only been a couple of days, it just felt normal. I didn’t want to worry about it, so I didn’t. Of course, I wasn’t completely overcome with stupidity just because I liked a boy. I had a gut feeling that things would work out with Ashton, but I’d learnt to be careful when it came to my gut feelings.
“We went on our first date yesterday,” I giggled when an ad break came on, “And we made out on the beach today.”
“Do you think it’s too soon?” Ashton asked me, concern in his eyes. He thought I wanted to slow down our relationship and I choked on my own saliva trying to get the words out quick enough. “No,” I choked out between coughs, trying to recover.
He laughed without giving me any help. “You’re a cutie!” He cooed. He resembled the blushy emoji, which made me laugh even harder for some reason. So then I was stuck in this cycle of laughing and coughing and laughing and running out of breath and not having enough breath and Ashton just about pissed himself laughing. “You’re such… an idiot!” He howled, laying down on the ground and pulling his legs up to his chest.
So I sat there almost choking to death on the couch and he continued to laugh until he cried on the carpeted floor and it occurred to me how strange the whole situation would look to a stranger who had just walked into our apartment. The doorbell rang, and I managed to calm myself until I could almost form sentences between light coughs and laughs and Ashton managed to stand up and wipe the tears from his face. I opened the door and the pizza guy was standing there holding our food. He looked from me, to Ashton, and looked incredibly uncomfortable. I wiped the tears from my face and promised, “Hang, on, I’ll just go get the money.” I raced off to grab the money my parents had left me for dinner. I could hear the pizza guy and Ashton trying to make small talk.
“I’m here, okay, here’s a twenty, keep the change,” I told the guy as he handed over our pizzas. As I closed the door behind him, I lost it all over again. “Did you see… his face?” Ashton laughed, sitting on the floor to laugh.
“Oh my God, yes!” I laughed, tears running down my face. “I bet he thought we were high.” Ashton laughed and laughed and laughed until tears were streaming down his face and he couldn’t even speak. His laugh was contagious – within seconds I was on the floor, doing the same.
