Page 11 of Broken Beauty
Ash grabs my hand. “It was fun. Don't be embarrassed. You won't ever see him again.” He pulls me away from the maze and all of the embarrassment I felt washes away.
Ash and I go to where all the games are.
He picks the game where you can shoot balloons with a BB gun. Ash ends up hitting seventeen out of twenty balloons and he wins a brown stuffed bear which he gives to me.
After we play a few more games and he wins a bunch more prizes we leave the fair and start driving home.
I won a small pink panther for Ash and I told him that I want him to keep it. He lets me keep all of the other stuffed animals I won and he won.
As we ride back home, I hold the stuffed animals close to my chest as I hold onto Ash while he drives.
When Ash drops me off home, he walks me towards my door and then I turn around and look at him. “Thank you for tonight. I had fun. I haven't had that much fun in a while.”
“We are going to be having a lot of fun together. I can tell,” Ash says with that lust filled gaze.
Again my cheeks start to heat up. “I have to go.”
Ash laughs softly. “I'll see you soon, Ariella.”
“I'll see you soon, Ash.”
Five
Ariella
Present
“I told you this assignment was going to be stupid,” Bridgette claims, as we walk inside Crowded Rooms. “He always gives us stupid assignments that never make any sense. Why is he even a teacher? He could be a model if he wanted to, so why a teacher?”
Bridgette continues to complain about Mr. Locke as we walk to our regular table. Crowded Rooms is a small diner that Bridgette and I found right when we started college. They have the best burgers, parmesan fries, Texas toast, milkshakes, and chicken tenders. In the mornings they serve breakfast but Bridgette and I always come during lunch or dinner because their chicken and parmesan fries are the best. We can never stay away from their food.
“If you think all of his assignments are stupid, then why are you in his class?”
“Because I need it for journalism. I want to be able to read people,” Bridgette explains. “But also because Mr. Locke is definitely the hottest professor on campus and how can I say no to a hot teacher?”
I roll my eyes at her and shake my head lightly.
She is crazy.
“You can look at my notes if you want to,” I offer.
“Thanks. Can we also talk about how hot that one guy who came in late was? I swear I would drop on my knees for him.”
Ash Jones.
During the class he didn't talk at all. I would see him look at me a few times and when our eyes met I quickly averted my gaze.
Every time I would look at him I would remember the way his hands felt on my skin and the way his lips caressed mine.
What is he even doing here? Isn't he supposed to be in New York?
“Can you not be dramatic for once?” I raise an eyebrow at her, trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.
I really don't feel like talking about Ash. I don't want to remember any of the things Ash said or did to me this last summer. Even though it was possibly one of the best summers I had in a while, in the end, I only got hurt.
“I'm being dead serious, Ariella. He was so hot. You never see guys like that in California. I wish we had more guys like him.”
“Guys like who?” a voice says at the same time I see a familiar person slide next to Bridgette and wrap an arm around her.
