My Romeo

Encounter

Mara's P.O.V.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nothing in Staples is really catching my eye.

Mom dragged me out of the house after breakfast this morning to come here to Staples. She offered to buy me pizza afterwards, so of course I said yes. I mean, who the hell would turn down pizza?

I walked around the store to look at some new notebooks, but I bumped into someone before I could see the binders. I fell to the ground, while he didn't bulge an inch. He was tall, had curly longish hair, and was wearing glasses.

He smiled to me and put his hand out. His hand was large, finger nails short. There was a band aid with SpongeBob designs on his thumb. I looked up at him and took his hand.

"I am so so sorry, I really shouldn't stand in the middle of the aisle like that! I, I-"

Curly boy suddenly shut up. He stared at me with his giant hazel eyes. He bit his lip softly as a tiny smile appeared on his lips. I couldn't help but smile at him also. It was hard not to smile when he smiled at you with his dimples, deep as the ocean, showing.

I took his hand and blushed, half because I felt a bit embarrassed, and half because of him smiling down to me. His glasses were a roundish shape, and they fit perfectly on his face. His eyes were sincere, he was also a bit embarrassed, I could tell.

"H-Hi," the curly blond boy said quietly. "I'm Ashton."

Ashton. What a great name for a boy with such good looks. He looked older, but then again, never judge a book by its cover.

"I'm Mara," I told him, smiling out of shyness.

"Hello Mara," Ashton said with a giant grin on his face. "I-I have to apologize for standing in the middle of the aisle like that. I'm not that smart and-"

He babbled on about how he was clumsy and had the attention span of a squirrel. I couldn't help but smile as he talked. He had a thick Australian accent, which made me melt like an ice cube in the middle of summer. I liked the way the ends of his curls would bounce when he bobbed his head as he talked. He'd sway every which way as he talked, probably a nervous habit of his. I also noted that he stuttered a lot. Maybe he was embarrassed that he was in the dead center of the aisle, or maybe he wasn't good at talking in front of people. Either way, I shook that part off for now.

My favorite part about him was his smile. His smile spread from ear to ear, with his dimples right next to the corners of his mouth.

"-so yeah, I'm sorry about being in the middle of the aisle."

I smiled and shrugged it off. It was no big deal anyway. It's not like he meant for me to fall down; it just happened. He bit his lip as he looked at me closely. I wasn't sure if I was feeling insecure or confident that a cute guy like him was looking at me. I wasn't even sure what to say to begin with.

He smiled warmly again. "So, uh, there's a carnival going on this Friday," Ashton began. "If you'd like to go, I'll be there."

Was this his way of asking a girl out? Hey, what did I care anyway?

"Sure, what time?" I asked him, smiling as wide as he was.

"Seven p.m. Do you need a ride to it?"

I really didn't need a ride, but I knew Mom would be suspicious of where I was heading off to if I was going with a guy. She was so protective over me, which was very annoying.

"Yes," I blurted out quickly. I covered my mouth after I said that, unsure of what the hell my brain was thinking when I said that.

Ashton smiled and nodded. He took his phone out and handed it to me. "Put your number in my phone so I can text you when I'm leaving."

I typed my number in and gave his phone back to him with a shy smile. I had no idea it would be that easy to get his number. Back at my other home, you'd have to know a guy for quite some time before you got their number.

Ashton grinned brightly and nodded in approval as he took his phone back. "Great, I'll text you later."

And with that, we parted ways.