Aspiring Nobody

Chapter 14 Someone's jelly

STYLES'POV

"Ashely!" Erin hisses. "Calm down."

"Yeah, mate, listen to your girlfriend. Come on, let's get out of here." As the four men in suits leave the table, I sit back in my chair and rest my hands on the back of my head not really sure where that came from. 

 Over the next few minutes, we don't talk and we eat in silence, both of us scrolling through our phones. By the time I take my last bite and wipe my mouth with the serviette, I see Erin taking a picture of the ocean view. "So, what's the plan once you finish up with me?"

Erin sets her phone down on the table and picks up her glass. "Not sure. I've seen lots of modelling jobs online. "

I wave a buzzing fly from my face. "Modelling what?"

"No clue. I'm guessing bikini shots or—"

"Porn." My jaw twists. "You should avoid that route. Unless you're interested in having your own webcam show."

"I hadn't even thought about that. Thank you." Erin smiles as she looks down to her phone and scratches the side of her neck. "I should research that. See how much money they make."

The thought of her on some porn site makes my gut turn. I watch her nibble at her lip and tap away at her phone. "You're not serious, are you?"

She looks up at me. "Huh?"

"I said you're not serious, are you? Because if you are, I make sure your brother finds out-- your mother as well."

Erin giggles and keeps tapping away at her phone. "Not that they could stop me. I mean, check this out," she flashes her phone at me. "I've found all the information I need. I could have my own site up and running by tonight."

I reach across the table and snatch her phone from her fingers, ready to throw it on the road, when Erin jumps up and says, " please don't! I was only winding you up."

My eyes dart to her. "Winding me up--last time someone did that he ended up with a broken nose." 

She covers her nose, and I roll my eyes. "For shits sakes, Erin, I don't hit females. So take your hand down. " I stare at her phone still expecting something on webcam girls; instead, I am surprised to see she was uploading the selfie she just took to her Instagram account. "So you like fucking with me, do you?" 

She smiles and then laughs. "Sorry. Just a little. But seriously, do I seem like a webcam girl to you?"

I hand her the phone. "I'm sure your future husband, children, grandchildren, will be thankful for that."

"I can't live my life around what my future husband, kids and grandkids will think. Unlike some people, I don't have a degree to fall back on. Besides my high school certificate, I have no qualifications; my mother is a dental assistant and my father is dead. I can't even get a job packing shelves. So if I don't make this work, then I'll be going home."

Without thinking anything through, I hear myself saying, "so you'll work for me until you find a decent job?"

Her eyes widen in surprise before she looks down at her hands. "That could be weeks away? Besides, as sweet as your offer is, I could never agree to that. Why do you even care?"

It's a straightforward question; yet one I cannot give a straightforward answer to. "You ask why and I say why not?"

Erin sighs. "How come you don't have a girlfriend?"

"Because I choose not to." As much as I love a woman in my bed, I don't want another one messing with my head as Becky had done.

Erin drinks the last of her coke, slurping up the dreads. "But you have had a girlfriend, haven't you?"