The Ladies Man

About a month had passed and Ashley and I have been dating for three months now. I can’t actually believe it’s been this long. I had just walked into Ashley’s house when Tokyo and Killer ran at me.
“Hey guys!” I knelt down to give them some attention. These had to be the sweetest dogs ever. It also made me happy that they seemed to like me too. Visiting Ashley would be so much more difficult if they didn’t like me.
“Belle! I’m in my studio!” Ashley called.
I walked through the house until I reached a room similar to Andy’s studio, only smaller and it only had a couple of basses up on the walls. “Hey Ashley.” I gave him a kiss. “How did you know I was here?”
“The dogs were with me. They raced off the second you opened the door.” He laughed.
“Guess they wanted to greet me then.”
“I think they think you’re part of the family, with the amount of time you spend here.” He said.
“Should I take that as a compliment?”
“Yes.” He pulled me into his lap. “Now, I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
That was never good. I hated getting bad news. “Bad news first.” Might as well get it out of the way.
“We’re going on tour in a couple of days.” He said.
“You just found out?” I found that hard to believe, weren’t these things planned months in advance?
“Well, we knew we would be leaving soon, but we didn’t have an official start date until this morning.” He replied.
“How long?”
“Two months.” He sighed.
“Okay, so what’s the good news?” I asked. It had better be really good. I needed something to make me feel better after this news.
“They finally came out with your t-shirt design and will be testing it in select shops around the city. If it goes well then in another couple of months it’ll be put on the site with all of our other merchandise.”
“Well that’s good I guess. Now I don’t feel as if I’m wasting my time drawing pictures of you guys.” I said.
“Good. Are you going to miss me?” He looked away, as if he expected me to say no. It’s moments like this when I remember that this is new for him too. He’s just as insecure as I am. I’m afraid that he could get bored with me. I guess he’s afraid that I might leave him before I let that happen.
“Of course I’m going to miss you.” I said. I put my hand to his cheek and turned him to face me. “You are very important to me Ashley. Besides, without you, there goes my entire social life.”
“Nice to know I’m good for something.” He said.
“Yes you are.”
“Do you want to come help me make dinner?” He asked.
“Sure.” I got off his lap and followed him to the kitchen. I was going to enjoy these next couple of days. It would be so lonely after he was gone.

“He’s doing what?” Madison asked. She looked both shocked at put out. It was like everything that happened in my life was an amazement to her. Maybe it’s because before Ashley, all my life consisted of was work, reading and old movies.
“He’s going on tour with the band. They’ll be gone for two months.” I repeated. I took my coffee and joined her on the couch in our living room.
“And this doesn’t bother you?” She asked.
“Of course it bothers me, I’m going to miss him a lot.” I said defensively.
“I know you’ll miss him, I mean Ashley being on tour again.”
“I don’t follow.” Madison could say things in the subtlest ways; sometimes you could wonder if you were having the same conversation.
“Belle, you know what Ashley’s known for doing while on tour. He’s goes to bars, parties and clubs and sleeps with women.” The look she gave me said, ‘how could you not think of that?’.
“Well he won’t. He hasn’t cheated on me so far, I don’t think he’s going to start just because he goes on tour.” I said with more confidence than I felt.
“Really? You trust him that much?”
“Yes, or at least I’m trying to.” I said.
“You know if he hurts you, I’ll break his arm right?” She made two fists and held them up.
I laughed. “I’d like to see you try. He’s got five inches on you and you have very small muscles.”
She flexed an arm. “I’ll work on that.” She said.
“Good idea.”

It was finally the day that the guys had to leave and the bus had just pulled up at Ashley’s place to pick him up. I hugged him before we made it to the door.
“You’ll check on the dogs?” He asked.
“Yes, I’ll stop by every day and take them on a walk.” I promised.
“Good, I have someone stopping by in the morning to feed them, but I don’t want them left alone with a stranger.” He sounded sad.
“Don’t worry. They’ll be fine.”
Then there was a knock on the door. I opened it to see Andy standing in the doorway.
“Ready?” He asked.
“Almost.” Ashley said. He leaned down and gave me a passionate kiss. “Bye Belle.”
“Good bye Ashley.” I said. I watched as he walked out to the bus with his things. I quickly grabbed Andy’s arm before he could follow him.
“What is it Belle?” He asked.
“Keep an eye on him for me? I don’t think he would but, I don’t want to leave it up to chance.” I said.
“I’ll keep him in line.” He promised.
“Thanks Andy.” I said.
He turned and walked off towards the tour bus. That was the last I would see of Ashley for two months. If this wasn’t a test of the strength of our relationship I don’t know what would be. After they left, I locked up Ashley’s house and headed home.

Notes

Sorry I didn't update yesterday, I had a crazy busy day. Please comment.