Managing Boys

Managing Boys (23)

“I’m going out,” I informed my father as I made my way down the stairs in the outfit Zoey had picked out for me the night before. When I'd told her that Ash had asked me out, she'd been ecstatic. “I don’t know when I’ll be back, but it should be before it gets dark.”

My father looked up at me from the couch, surprised. “You’re going on a date?”

I stood at the bottom of the stairs, my lips pursed. “Yeah. so?”

Sophie looked just as shocked from the other side of the couch. “You’re going on a date?” she gasped, repeating my father’s question. “You haven’t been interested in a guy since you and Ian broke up!”

I made a face. She just had to bring that up, didn’t she?

“Who's it with?” she asked now.

“Ash,” I answered with a shrug.

Her jaw dropped. "You're going out with Ash?" she repeated, and I nodded. "Are you kidding me? How did you get a date with a member of Hello Aria and I didn't?"

I assumed this was a rhetorical question because I did not want to answer it. Was it really that hard to believe that a guy actually liked me?

"The only single ones left are Ben and Grim," Sophie continued, and I felt my stomach twist for some reason. "Maybe I can ask one of them out!"

"Stay away from Grim," I blurted.

Sophie eyed me. "And why should I?"

I coughed. "You didn't let me finish," I said. I really hoped she couldn't tell I was lying. "Stay away from Grim and Ben. Ben's a total womanizer and Grim's like a brother to me."

My dad nearly choked on nothing, and both Sophie and I gave him a look. "Why would you say that?" he asked once he regained his composure.

I shot him a flat look. "Because he's one of my closest friends."

"Oh." My father nodded. "Alright then."

I only had to wait five more minutes before Ash finally showed up. When he rang the doorbell, I hurried toward the door before my father or Sophie could. I did not want Ash to meet my family on the first date... even though he'd already met them before.

He smiled when he saw me. “You look beautiful.”

Ignoring the blush that was creeping up my neck, I shut the front door before anyone inside decided to interrupt. “Thank you,” I thanked, and we made our way down the porch and toward his car.

The ride to wherever we were going was almost silent, the radio playing over the car speakers quietly being the only noise I heard.

When he turned into the parking lot of a pizza place I hadn’t ever heard of before, I was surprised. I was almost expecting him to take me somewhere expensive, considering the fact he was so famous. But I was actually glad we were going somewhere like this, because then I wouldn’t have felt bad about him paying so much.

“I thought this would be a nice, normal place for a date,” he informed me as he parked the car. “I didn’t think you’d want to go anywhere fancy.”

I smiled at him. “This is perfect.”

He got out of the car, making his way to my side and opening the door for me. I couldn’t help but smile at this gentlemanly gesture. He then held onto my hand and we made our way into the pizza place together.

We picked a table and I took a seat. He then made his way to the front counter to order our pizza, and I let out a long breath that I didn’t even know I had been holding.