7 Minutes ✔

9: Minute Four

Ashton was staring at me again. His eyes were digging into the side of my head as I chatted with Quinn, pretending like I wasn't aware of his eyes.

"He's staring," Quinn whispered into my ear. I smirked as I grabbed a french fry from my tray and brought it up to my mouth to take a bite. Ashton stood up from where he sat and walked over to me.

There was a guy from the football team sitting beside me, but at the sight of Ashton, he stood up and moved to another table. I had to ignore the butterflies fluttering around in my stomach as he sat down right beside me. Quickly, I sat up a bit straighter and made sure to try to calm my breathing so he wouldn't notice the heavy rising and falling of my chest. However, no matter how many times I tried, I always failed.

"Hey," Ashton's deep voice rumbled into my ears.

"Hey!" I chirped.

It was hard to concentrate on my thoughts when I could hear Quinn squealing loudly into my ear and tugging onto my arm. She was making it so obvious that I liked him, causing heat to quickly creep up to my cheeks, tainting them light pink.

"So, uh, Madison, my parents own this lake house on the other side of town, and I was wondering if you wanted to go," he said.

My heartbeat was thumping so hard in my chest that it began to hurt. Was Ashton Black asking me out?

"Uh, sure, um, and Quinn can come too!" I declared, wanting to slap myself once the words left my mouth. I panicked. It would have been the perfect opportunity to get to know Ashton. Going on a date with him was something that I dreamed about since I was a freshman, and now I was allowing my awkwardness to get in the way of it all.

"Sure. I can invite a few people if that's what you want." He shrugged.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I muttered, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. He smiled, showing off his perfect white pearls.

"You sure are cute," Ashton smiled. As he looked at me, my eyes wandered over to Angeline who was sitting at the table we used to always sit at. She was drawing something in her sketchbook when some boy walked up to her. I had him in one of my classes, his name was Chase. He was a complete weirdo which makes sense if he was friends with Angeline.

I watched behind narrowed eyes as Angeline glanced up at him with a big smile on her face. He said something to her that I couldn't quite hear, coaxing a giggle out of her. Could it be possible that Angeline actually liked him?

Ashton waved his hand in front of my face, chuckling lightly. "You there?"

"Sorry, what?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. I watched him get up from his seat and throw his backpack over his shoulder. "I'll text you the address. See 'ya on Saturday!"

I nodded my head with a tight smile on my lips.

He stood up from where he sat, my eyes following his every moment. It finally crashed down on me that I probably just ruined all of my chances with the guy of my dreams. Quinn was never going to let me live this down. I was prepared to hear her go on and on about how she worked so hard to get me and Ashton together only for me to throw it out the window.

"I'll see you later, Madison," Ashton said just as he walked away from me. As I pathetically sat there, regretting my every decision, I couldn't help but look over at Angeline again. Chase was sitting so close to her, but I could just tell Angeline was loving every minute of it. Chase was a scrawny boy who wore beanies over his head almost every day allowing only pieces of his curly hair to escape. I don't think I have ever seen him without his hoodie on and a pair of sweats. He was definitely not the cutest boy around. He also didn't seem like he would be Angeline's type at all.