Ash's Darling | ✔

Chapter 3

~Esther~

Ash picked me up off his bed and took me back to his car about thirty minutes later. We had been talking and I realized he had been watching me all these years. I will admit it was a little creepy at first but it's also sweet in a way. I still have no clue how he feels about me, I didn't dare ask. I don't know how I feel about him right now and I don't want things to get awkward. "I feel bad for thinking this was just for some dare." I said as he drove me home.

"Don't worry about it, darling. How's your ankle doing?" He glanced over at me as he spoke before quickly turning his attention back to the road. 

"It's better now that I've sat down for a while."

"Good." He said when he pulled up in front of my house. He got out and walked around to my side of the car, grabbing my crutches from the back before opening my door for me. "Now go inside and get some more rest." He handed me my crutches.

"Thanks, Ash." I made my way inside and saw Indiana sitting on the couch waiting for me.

"Crap, sorry Indi, I totally forgot you were coming over to study today."

She turned around with a smile on her face. "Was that Ashton dropping you off?"

"Yes." Why was she so happy?

"You know, you two would make a cute couple."

"Oh my God, Indi. He's an asshole." I say rolling my eyes as I walk to my room. To be fair she says that almost every day, I should've seen it coming.

"Excuse me?" I heard my mom call from the kitchen. 

"Crap. I'm sorry, mom. I didn't mean to, I swear." I'm not allowed to cuss at home but sometimes I slip up. I just hope she won't yell about that after Indi leaves.

"He's not that bad." Indi said. She wasn't going to give up, was she?

I just shook my head and got out my school books. "Let's just get this studying over with."

"Fine."

~~~~

We had been studying for almost an hour when I started to think she had finally given up about the whole Ash thing. I should've known better. "So what were y'all talking about?"

"It was nothing. What's the answer to number fourteen?" I said, trying to redirect her focus.

"Esther, that's not going to work. Tell me everything already."

I sighed, finally giving up. "Fine. But after that we get back to studying, otherwise I'm going to fail this test."

She laughed. "Deal."

I told her everything, every little detail, even the ones that I didn't know how I felt about. For example, how good he smelled. Yes I know, I'm weird okay? But to be fair, if he picked you up you'd be thinking about how he smelled too.

When I was done telling her everything, she just stared at me. "You're seriously telling me you don't know how he feels about you? Girl it's so obvious. He likes you!"

"Okay, yeah, maybe, but I don't know how I feel about him and if he makes a move it might get awkward."

"Correct me if I'm wrong here but, you can't stop thinking about him, even if you won't admit it you like that he cares about you, and deep down you want to see where this goes." She wasn't wrong. Why did she have to know me so well?

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I do kind of like him." I admitted.

"So tell him, girl!"

"I want to wait until he makes the first move." I wasn't going to tell him I like him when I didn't even know how he felt about me.

~Ashton~

After dropping Esther off at her house, I called Seth.

"Hey boss, what's up?" He answered.

"Tell the team to be at my place at 7. I seriously need a guy's night." I told him.

"Alright, I'll bring drinks." We may all be underage but that doesn't stop us from having a few drinks. All of the guys are around my age but most of them are younger. Other than Tim, he's a pain in my ass. He thinks because he's a year older than me he's the boss. News flash, he's not. He likes to get on my nerves. If he wasn't good at his job I'd kick him off the team in an instant.

As I hung up on Seth I threw my phone at my bed. Esther is driving me crazy. I want to fucking kiss her but I can't find the right moment and it's killing me. If I spend any more time with her without kissing her I think I might explode. All I want is her fucking lips on mine. And possibly her pu- Stop it.

At seven the guys showed up with Seth carrying the alcohol. I let them walk in as I turn on the TV. We probably won't watch it, we'll be too busy talking but I always turn it on anyway. I turned it on to some sports channel. It turned out to be playing football, Bears against Packers.

"Oh come on, both of those teams suck." Roy complained as he walked in the living room.

"Which ones?" Parker called from the kitchen.

"Bears and Packers." Roy called back.

"The Packers don't suck, you little shit." Kyle joined in.

"They all walked into the living room, Seth coming in a couple minutes after.

"What took you so long?" I questioned him.

"I was putting the drinks in the fridge."

The rest of the guys started talking about football teams as Seth turned to me. "So how's the love interest?"

"Just call her by her fucking name." I hated it when he called her 'The love interest'. It gets on my nerves.

"Fine, Mr grinch. How's Esther?" He asked again.

 I rolled my eyes. "She's fine. Frustrating but fine."

"What'd she do now?" Roy asked, stopping the conversation about football teams.

"Nothing, that's the damn problem. I can't find the right moment to make a move and it's killing me."

"Someone's in love." I heard Parker mumble to Kyle.

"Shut the fuck up, Parker."

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Author notes:

I'm going to start uploading two chapters a week and sometimes more if I feel like it. Also I know this chapter was kinda short but I'm going to be uploading another chapter in a few hours to make up for it. 

What do y'all think so far, by the way?

Constructive criticism is welcomed :)

[Edited 3/15/22]

xoxo ~ Alex