Until the Stars Fade

Chapter 11

October is here before we know it. Asher has been filming for almost two months and school is flying by. I've made some friends at school and Asher and I have hung out with Levi and a few of the other actors from his show on a few occasions.

But now that Halloween is approaching, I'm starting to panic because Halloween is also Asher's birthday. October is also six months from when we met. We've been dating for six months! Asher surprised me with flowers and a romantic dinner to celebrate six months from the first day we met. It seems like a lifetime ago that I helped him pick out his towels. I'm still working part time at House to Home and when he's not working, sometimes Asher still pops in to visit me. He stopped buying random stuff for his apartment months ago and my manager Kim said he could return some of the ridiculous stuff he bought when he was just coming to talk to me, but he hasn't. He said he likes seeing all that stuff in his apartment because it makes him think of me! Be still my heart!

It turns out I don't have to plan anything for Asher's birthday because he said his family is coming to Jacksonville to visit and celebrate. He's invited me to spend the week with them when I can, so now I have to be nervous about meeting his family and getting him the perfect birthday present. No pressure, no pressure at all.

The week before his birthday, we're hanging out at his apartment before heading out to pick up his parents and brother Eli from the airport. Gogo doesn't like me to come over here too much because she says it makes her nervous knowing we're alone here. I have assured her it's not a big deal, but she doesn't believe me. Asher knows I'm a virgin and he has never once pressured me to do anything more than I wanted to do. He's not a virgin, he had a serious girlfriend for two years in high school. They broke up when she cheated on him with one of the guys on his swim team. So, until I'm comfortable, we are keeping things pretty PG.

As I'm waiting for him to get dressed, I'm looking through the scripts on his desk and an idea hits me.

"Hey Ash, are these scripts on your desk for the current episode or old episodes?" I call out to him through the closed bedroom door.

"The ones on the left are the old ones, the one on the right is my current one," he shouts back. "Why, did you want to run lines with me? I have a kissing scene in this episode. You can help me practice!" I can hear the smile in his voice.

"Oh, no reason, just wondering," I reply. I proceed to slip the script for the very first episode in my giant purse. I'm thinking about getting it framed for his birthday. His apartment already has posters from his favorite movies, so the framed script will fit his décor perfectly.

He opens the bedroom door to find me paging through his current script.

"Ready to meet my family?" he asks as he bends down and kisses the top of my head.

"Not in the least," I say smiling up at him. He laughs and pulls me out of the chair.

"Relax, my parents are going to love you. And Eli is easy to impress, you're super pretty and you live near the ocean, that's enough for him." He grabs his keys and we head to the car.

Three hours later and I'm in love with Asher's family. It took about all of five minutes. After Molly, Asher's mom, burst into tears when she saw him at the airport, I was pretty much done for. Asher had made her a huge sign that said "Molly James, world's best mom." She was equal parts embarrassed and thrilled by it and his dad caught her freaking out on camera because Asher had clued him in ahead of time.

Asher's little brother Eli thinks Asher hung the moon. He's been hanging on his every word and when Asher spent a solid fifteen minutes watching videos of his basketball games and swim meets and offering critiques for both, I thought my heart was going to burst.