Outside the Lines (lashton)

(34)

This week consist two days of therapy and an interview. It feels great to be back doing band things again. I've missed it. What isn't fun is when they ask where I've been. "I was dealing with some medical things," is what I tell them. And it's not a lie, I was dealing with getting my weight back to where it should be to be deemed medically healthy.

But there's only so many interviews you can do in Australia. There's been talk of getting a house in Los Angeles so we can do interviews and promo in America. It was set up before, but then my eating disorder came out and, well, here we are.

Todays plans are therapy, which I've already finished, and a first date with Ashton. I don't know what we're doing because Ashton won't tell me, it's suppose to be a surprise.

"Come on, just tell me!" I beg him. We've been driving for fifteen minutes.

"You're so bad at surprises that it's actually funny," he tells me. I punch him in the shoulder, which probably isn't smart to do to someone who's driving.

"You already knew that," I chuckle, biting on my lip to try and hide my smile. The car falls into a comfortable silence as Galaxy World, an arcade, with bumper cars, comes into view.

"Is this where we're going?" I ask him excitedly. He nods to me, grin displayed on his face.

"Do you like my choice?" He asks me. It's my turn to nod now, frantically at that.

"I haven't been here in years!" I turn to him, grabbing his hand he isn't using to drive. "I absolutely love your choice," I say sincerely. I didn't think it was possible, but his grin grows.

He pulls into a parking spot close to the entrance. It seems empty aside from four other cars, most likely because it's a weekday afternoon. As I unbuckle, Ashton tells me to wait where I am. I do as he says, and watch him get out of the car. He comes around to my side and opens my door for me.

"A gentleman," I enthuse, "thank you!"

He smiles in return - the smile hasn't left his face at all today - and goes to grab my hand. I pull away jerkily, feeling anxiety wash over me.

"Sorry, I forgot," he tells me, now wearing a sad smile. Sad, but still a smile nonetheless.

We had agreed on not making our relationship public until a certain amount of time has passed. We didn't determine a specific amount of time because we figured we'd know when it would be a good time to come out with our relationship. I'm still dealing with a lot, and what I have with Ashton is extremely new. So for now, the hand holding stays in private quarters.

We walk into the arcade and up to the counter. The girl behind the counter looks bored out of her mind, like she'd rather be anywhere else but here.

"Welcome to Galaxy World Family Fun Centre, how may I help you?" she asks plainly.

"Hi, can I purchase 100 tokens?" Ashton asks, looking over to me for approval. I nod my head, letting him know the amount is perfect.

"One moment," the girl tells us, getting the tokens ready and typing our amount into the cash register. Ashton hands over the money, which I make a fuss about because I brought money, I can pay, but I can't do anything about it because he's already handing over the money to the girl. As she takes the money, she finally makes eye contact with us for the first time. She soon returns her bored gaze back to the cash register, getting Ashton's change.

"Have fun," she says in a monotone voice, and we walk away into the arcade area.

"She was cheery," I whisper.

"I don't know, I sort of sympathise with her. Would you want to work at an arcade that's dead?"

"Arcades are cool!" I say.

"Yeah, when you're going to play, not when you're stuck behind a counter all day," he explain.

I shrug. "I guess I see what you mean."

We walk all over the arcade, going to all different machines. My favourite one was the one where you stack blocks on top of each other virtually. I made it all the way to the top and got 100 tickets for it. I jumped for joy and Ashton applauded me.

After playing, Ashton tells me his favourite is air hockey.

"Is it still your favourite even if I beat you?" I ask, our hands rubbing together from how close we're walking next to each other.

"Even more so, because your excitement and happiness shows through," he tells me, causing me to blush. I nudge him and he nudges me back.

We're over by the skee ball machines now, which I suck at. Ashton's pretty good though, getting the balls into the higher point holes. After one particular round, he jumps in excitement, beating his old record. I stare at him in amazement. He's fantastic, and I can't believe I get to call him mine.

"What are you looking at?" He asks, noticing my stare.

I love this boy so much, I think to myself. I get so caught up in my love for him, what I'm doing doesn't register, and I'm unable to stop myself. Slowly, I put my hands on both of his cheeks, close my eyes, and pull his face towards mine, letting our lips move against each others. The moment seems to last for ages, never ending, with excitement bubbling inside my stomach.

We both pull away feeling blissful, slowly opening our eyes, foreheads resting on each other.

"I thought you wanted us to be private. This isn't a very private place to have a first kiss," he giggles, looking around.

"Oops," I whisper, gently moving his curls away from the front of his face. I then look around myself, noticing that no one is paying any attention to us, everyone focused on themselves. "I think that's the perfect way to end this date," I say, shaking our container of tokens. It only has three remaining inside.

"Wanna waste the last ones on that game with the stackable blocks?" he asks me.

I smile, thinking about how generous he is. "How about we play that game once, and then spend the last two tokens on air hockey?" I ask.

"Sounds like a plan."

I only get halfway to the top of my favourite game, which is a bummer, but I beat Ashton two more times in air hockey so it evens out. Instead of spending the tickets ourselves, we give the tickets to the only child in the arcade. He's over by the mini basketball game, trying to shoot baskets with his mom assisting him. His face glows in excitement when we give him all our tickets, deciding that we don't need any prizes ourselves.

As we leave, we turn on Spotify on my phone and sing along to songs we love.

At the red light, Ashton looks over to me and grabs my hand, rubbing his thumb soothingly against it. I lean over and give him a quick peck on the lips, which surprises him.

Best date ever.