Wrong Number- wdw

Chapter 8

Rheana

Sticking my tongue out at Josh, I open my eyes fully and see myself surrounded by trees. 

Turning full circle, confused I look at Josh again. "This is the part where you pull out the gun and tell me that you've been tricking me this entire time and that you're really a murderer." Placing one hand on my hip, I quirk my eyebrow at him, suppressing a chuckle.

It takes Josh a second to register what I just said, and as I watch it sink in, a smile splits his face, and a loud laugh comes out. "Come on" he says, laughing as he gestures for me to come over as he walks around to the other side of a huge oak tree. 

I look up into the tree he went behind, but the branches were so thickly intertwined that I couldn't see anything.

Still confused, I shake my head as walk to where Josh is standing behind the tree, only he's not there. Now even more confused, I look around until I hear faint laughing from above my head. Looking up, I see the faint outline of my boyfriend sitting on one of the many branches in the huge oak. 

I hear his laugh as he climbs further into the tree, disappearing from my view. Giving an exasperated sigh, I grab onto the nearest branch and swing myself up. 

As I climb the tree, I remember how when I was little, I used to love climbing. I would climb every tree I could, conquering the heights so I could look out on the world, and be proud of what I've accomplished. 

Soon I reach a wooden platform. I pull myself up onto it to find my boyfriend grinning at me.

Reaching over and pulling me up, Josh holds me in his arms as I survey our surroundings. We're in the top of the tree, with branches curving perfectly above our heads forming a little cove. The leaves were spaced just perfectly so that light filtered through, and the branches parted in one section of the tree, revealing a beautiful view over the forest, with the city skyline in the background. 

Gazing at this beautiful spot, I let out a sigh of contentment. "It's gorgeous." I say softly.

"I thought you might like it." Josh plants a soft kiss on the top of my head. "I used to come here all the time," he continued, "I would camp out at least once a month every summer."

I hear the question in his voice as he tells me this, and ask "When were you thinking?" 

"Sometime next week maybe?"

Crap. Next week Kylie and I are leaving for LA.

"I can't." Frowning, Josh gives me a questioning look.

"Whyyyy?"

"I'm going with Kylie to visit Jonah in LA." I tell him.

"How long will y'all be gone?" 

"2 weeks."

"Darn. I was really hoping to take you out." 

Giving him a smile, I hug him. "Awh thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

We stay up in the tree for the rest of the day, living off of the snacks Josh had stored in a small crate off to the side of the platform.

Kylie

***Thursday morning***

Beep.

Beeeeep.

Beeeeeeeep.

OHMYGODSHUTUP

Rolling onto my side, I whack at my alarm clock so that it will finally shut the hell UP.

Reading the glowing white numbers I ask myself why the heck I would ever set an alarm for 9am in the summer. I roll back onto my bed and close my eyes again, trying to get back to sleep. I mean, a girl needs her full 10 hours. (I may or may not have been up until 2am watching YouTube...)

After a good minute of tossing and turning, trying to go back to sleep, I bolt up straight in my bed.

Holy fish my date with Ash!!

I can literally feel my wavy dirty blonde hair sticking out in all directions, and when I rush to my mirror to get ready, I find that I was right. My hair was a complete mess.

I pick up my brush and do a 'quick' brush through, but you know, of course I have like 50 knots in my hair. After finally getting my hair to be a nice layer of dirty-blonde waves, I pull my hair into a messy bun with some strands hanging down, which took about 60 tries to get right. Messy buns are hard.

I put on a quick layer of mascara, fill in my eyebrows, and add some natural makeup before deciding that I looked decent.   

I grab some ripped black jeans, a white v-neck tee, and a jean jacket and put them on. I grab my baby blue converse and throw those on too. 

I look at my reflection, and stare at myself from multiple angles, trying to figure out what I could possibly be missing. Shrugging to myself, I think it must not be that important if I'm forgetting it ya know?

I grab my phone and check the time. 11:00. Great. I have an hour until Ash comes to pick me up at noon. 

I spend the next hour scrolling through Instagram and keeping up my streaks on Snap, until my phone pings with a text.

Ash: I'm hereeee

Smiling to myself, I shove my phone into my back pocket and head out of my apartment, locking the door behind me. I don't bother with the elevator and go down the stairs into the lobby, where I see a familiar auburn head, bent down, staring at his phone.

Asher looked up and sees me. Smiling, he puts his phone in his pocket and walks over to me.

"Hey" he says, still smiling. God, he's cute.

"Hi" I reply. I'm 110% sure I'm blushing. I'm so embarrassing my LORD.

We walk to his car, which he parked on the street across from my apartment complex. As we approach the car, a navy blue Chevy, Asher over to the drivers side. Instead, he goes to the passenger side door, where he opens it with an adorable smile and says "M'lady" as he does a mock bow an gestures to the seat. 

"Why thank you kind sir." I say with a slight giggle. We then take the short drive to Chipotle, and on the way, we talk about our families. I learn that Ash has an older brother and younger sister, making him the middle child. I tell him about my older sister, Jess, that I lost touch with when I moved to Minnesota after highschool. 

Once we get to Chipotle, I realize that I forgot to bring some money to pay for my food. Crapppp. 

Even though I'm sure Ash will insist on paying like most guys, I always feel guilty. I should've been more prepared. 

I go and order my burrito, while Ash gets a burrito bowl. I always get a burrito when I go to Chipotle. They're just so goooood. 

Getting to the cash register, I ask for an apple juice from the fridge behind the pay booth. Asher gets an orange juice. Ewww, I hate orange juice. I'm not going to tell him that of course, like why would I??

The lady asks for my money and I act like I'm reaching for money, because I'm not about to tell Ash that I forgot money because then it will just seem like I'm one of those girls who expect the man to pay 24/7. 

Asher shoots me a quick look before saying, "Actually no, the bowl is with the burrito." He smiles at the lady and whispers to me, "I'm paying".

A wave of relief passes over me, as I step back to let Ash pay. 

You really need to remember money next time Ky. Like seriously.

Ash walks over to where I'm leaning against a wall, waiting for him to get done paying.

He holds up the Chipotle bag. "Wanna head over to my place to eat instead?" He asks, quirking his eyebrow.

It takes about 5 seconds of looking around at the semi-crowded tables around us before replying. "Yeah, sure."

Ash grins "Great! Let's go!"

We leave Chipotle, hopping into the Chevy. The smell of my burrito is so good my mouth is literally watering. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ash pulls up to an adorable townhouse. He side glances at me and runs a hand through his hair. "Home sweet home." He says.