baby; ruel van dijk

20 - irl

Ava's POV:

"Have fun and be safe." Kaylee says once we reach the studio.

I roll my eyes. "Thanks mom."

She grins as I hop out of the car. "Love you, see you later." She blows me a kiss in response and I shut the door.

I take a deep breath and pull out my phone to text Ruel.

ava
hereee

ruel
coming:)

I bite my lip nervously and turn around so my back is facing the entrance.

Why am I so nervous? I'm just singing, something i've done since I could talk. Honestly, I don't even-

"Boo!"

I gasp as two hands grab onto my waist. My heart starts pounding as laughter fills my ears. I turn around with a glare on my face. "You're mean."

Ruel grins. "Sorry, sorry, I had to."

I just cross my arms over my chest and send him an unamused look. He doesn't seem affected by it at all which isn't a surprise. He nods towards the door. "Come on, everyone wants to meet you."

We walk inside and I follow him down the long hallway. "How many people will be there exactly?"

"Only four today, but a couple others might join us later on." He answers.

I guess four people isn't too bad. Right?

He notices my reluctance and stops walking. "Hey, don't worry, you have an amazing voice. I know they'll love you."

I look into his eyes and slowly nod, suddenly feeling a little more relaxed. "Okay."

Ruel sends me a smile and pushes open the door next to us. The first thing I see is a man sitting behind a whole bunch of buttons. Next I spot two other people on a couch and another in the actual recording room.

I feel Ruel's hand appear on my lower back as he leads me further inside. And for some reason a shiver ran through my spine.

I hear a quiet gasp and the door to the recording area is opened. "You must be Ava." A girl with pink hair says with excitement.

I smile and nod.

She walks over to me and suddenly pulls me in for a hug. "I'm Chelsea, this ones vocal coach." Chelsea nods towards Ruel once she pulls away.

"Give the girl some space Chels, or you'll scare her off." The man behind the buttons says with a chuckle. He waves. "I'm Mark, the producer."

"That's Beau and the others Nate." Ruel tells me.

"It's nice to meet you all." I say shyly.

"She's so cute." Chelsea coos, making me blush.

"So, you can sing?" Nate asks.

I glance at Ruel and he smiles reassuringly.

"Yes, really well. She doesn't think so but I guarantee you'll love her voice." He answers for me.

Great. No pressure at all.

I nudge his arm and he just grins.

"Well let's get started. Ruel, wanna help her warm up?" Mark asks.

Ruel looks to me with his eyebrows raised so I nod. I follow him into the room where Chelsea previously stood.

[]

I laugh as Ruel finishes singing in a really deep voice.

We're finally done practicing and now we're just messing around. It actually went really well.

I started off by singing solo, just so they could hear how I sound. Then we chose a song that would work well with both of our voices.

"Okay, not that I doubted you or anything...you have a really amazing voice Ava." Beau says.

I can't help the blush that appears. "Thank you, but my voice is nothing compared to your keyboard skills."

He laughs. "I like this one Ruel."

The tall boy sitting next to me grins and suddenly slings his arm around my shoulders. "How could you not?"

My blush only gets worse because of his actions. "I should get home. Alex is probably getting suspicious."

I have been here for more than five hours. There's no way he's not suspicious.

Ruel nods and we both stand up.

"Thanks for letting me join you guys." I say to the rest of the group.

"Promise you'll come back as soon as possible?" Chelsea asks.

I nod. "Of course."

I say bye to the rest of them before leaving with Ruel. I already texted Kaylee letting her know she can come get me.

"That went way better than I expected." I admit.

"I don't know why you were so worried in the first place." He says, raising an eyebrow.

I shrug. "I don't really like singing in front of people."

"But you sang in front of me." Ruel smirks.

I send him a look. "That's cause I didn't know you were listening smart one."

He chuckles and runs his hand through his hair. "Well i'm glad you had fun."

I smile. "Definitely."

Ruel then shoves his hands in his front pockets. "Does Tuesday sound good for our next practice?"

I bite my lip. "Yeah, i'm free."

"Cool." He nods and takes a step closer. "You know..." He trails off in a soft voice as he examines my face. "You're really, really beautiful."

My eyes slightly widen and my cheeks turn pink. "Thank you." I whisper.

Ruel is only a few inches away when he reaches out and gently cups my cheek with his left hand while the other tucks my hair behind my ear.

"Would you mind," He pauses, glancing down at my lips. "If I kissed you?" His voice is deep and husky.

Ruel wants to kiss me? I must be dreaming cause there's no way Ruel, a famous singer, would want to kiss me, plain old boring Ava.

I shake my head and whisper a "no", just in case i'm really not dreaming.

Once he hears my answer, he doesn't hesitate to lean down and attach his lips to mine. At first I freeze up, but eventually I kiss back and place my hands on his chest.

His lips are so soft.

I mentally pray to god that i'm not doing too bad, considering the last time I kissed a boy was in first grade while playing truth or dare.

Ruel deepens the kiss and pulls me closer. After a few more seconds we both have to back away for air.

I once again bite my lip, a nervous habit I have, as I stare up at him. The sound of a car pulling in behind me makes me realize other people probably just saw what happened. I look over my shoulder and see Kaylee's white car.

When I turn back around, Ruel opens his mouth to speak but I cut him off. "I-I have to go." He frowns. "See you later." I mumble before turning and hopping into the vehicle.

The first thing I hear is, "No freaking way."