The Ladies Man

“Belle!” Madison yelled from the kitchen.
“Yeah!?” I shouted back.
“We’re out of coffee!” She yelled.
I walked into the kitchen to see her standing in front of the coffee machine with a sad look on her face. “Madison, it’s,” I checked my watch. “4pm. Why do you need coffee?”
“I was running late this morning and forgot to have some. Now I’m tired and my body needs caffeine.”
“Okay, so maybe we could go to Starbucks since there’s no coffee here.” I suggested.
“Great idea!” She ran to grab her purse and was back in front of the door in 30 seconds flat.
I grabbed my purse and keys from the front table and followed her out the door.
Once we got to Starbucks she ordered a grande latte and I just got myself a hot chocolate. Unlike her, I didn’t need a caffeine fix every day. After we finished our drinks we started walking back to the apartment.
“So, any luck finding a place to apply for a job?” Madison asked.
“Not really. Not too many places are hiring right now.” I said. “I had that one interview on Wednesday, but the guy who runs the company is a total pervert. He was staring at my chest and ass through the entire interview.”
“Gross, what a pig.”
“I know. I can’t stand it when a guy looks at a girl like she’s an object. Or worse, when he thinks all she’s good for is sex.” I sighed. “I swear, they may not realize it, but without us men would still be living in the Dark Ages.”
Madison laughed, “You’ve got that right.” We came around the corner to our building. “Speaking of, there’s one blocking the door to our apartment.” She pointed towards the apartment steps.
“Oh my God!” I said.
“What?”
“It’s him!”
“Who?”
“Ashley!”
“Oooo! This is gonna be good!”
“Please don’t freak out!”
“Fine, but you have to introduce me.”
“Fine.” I relented. We continued over to the steps.
“Belle.” He stood up and grinned at me. “And who might this be?” He asked, as he looked Madison up and down.
“This is my roommate Madison.” Great, if I was lucky the two of them could head upstairs and I could sneak off for a few hours and have dinner on my own.
“Nice to meet you.” He smiled as he shook her hand.
Madison was blushing like crazy. Good, she deserved the attention, even if it was from him. “Nice to meet you too.” She looked back and forth between us a couple of times. “Well, I have some things I need to sort out for work on Monday, so I’ll be heading up now.”
In an instant she was gone and I was left alone with Ashley. Why did this keep happening to me? I looked up to see him smirking at me. God! He could be so full of himself! “Is this going to become a regular habit? Showing up in front of my apartment every weekend?”
“Only until I get your number. Then I can call you and tell you when I’m coming.” He replied.
“Don’t hold your breath.” I said. “So, any real reason for your being here? Or is it just to annoy me?”
“I wanted to take you out to dinner. I have a proposition for you.”
“We talked about that. The answer is still no.”
“I didn’t mean sex.” He said. “I was talking about a job offer.”
“Oh. Well in that case, dinner sounds fine. Just wondering, is this supposed to be a date?”
“Sure, you could call it that.” He answered.
I mumbled under my breath, “Damn.” I owed Madison $10. She bet me that after our drinks last week Ashley would ask me on another date. I should never have taken that bet.

We got to the restaurant and ordered our dinner. I wanted to avoid small talk so I cut to the chase. “You said you wanted to talk to me about a job offer.”
“Yes, well I was telling the band about you.” He said.
I raised an eyebrow. “Really. I had no idea I was so interesting.”
He chuckled. “Well you are. I told them a bit about you, including the fact that you’re a graphic designer.”
“Yes, currently an unemployed graphic designer. Very interesting.” I said dryly.
“Quite interesting actually. Our most recent designer had to leave without much notice and we don’t have anyone to design our merchandise.” He said.
“I thought there was already a bunch of stuff that you guys sold. Why would you need new stuff?”
“To change it up a bit. Plus we like to do stuff for special occasions and different tours.”
I nodded my head. That made sense. “Couldn’t you do it? I mean you have the skills right?”
“You do know a lot. Yes I do, but I don’t have the time to commit to it. I have the band to worry about, plus I have my own fashion line that I’m working on.”
That intrigued me, I had no idea he had a fashion line. Probably really sexy and slightly slutty, but still. “So just to clarify. You want me to design clothes and other merchandise for your band.”
“Yeah, the guys think it’s a great idea and they’re all looking forward to meeting you. Especially Andy.” He said.
“Really? Why’s that?”
“He can’t wait to meet the one girl who turned me down.” He said, looking at his hands.
Was that embarrassment I saw there? Maybe Ashley was deeper than I gave him credit for. “Okay, I’ll meet with the band.” I said.
“Really? Great. That means we can spend more time together.” He smirked again. Damn, just when I thought I was getting somewhere with him the man whore came out to play again.
Dinner was over and Ashley walked me back to my apartment again. I couldn’t believe this. Were we dating? What was this thing going on between us? I couldn’t ask him. What if I was wrong and I just made a fool of myself? Most. Confusing. Relationship. Ever.
“So I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning to meet with the guys?” He asked.
“Yeah. I’ll be waiting.”
“I bet you will.” Again with the smirk. Did that thing ever leave his face?
I gave him a good swat. “Quit it. Learn how to talk and not flirt, also, find a facial expression that isn’t smirking.” I walked into the building and up to the apartment.

“How was it?” Madison asked the second I walked through the door.
“Interesting, here’s your $10 by the way.” I handed her the bill and flopped onto the couch.
“So it was a date? I knew it!” She said.
“He said I could think of it as a date, so I’m not sure if it was an official one or not. I still don’t think last weekend was a date either.”
“Right. So what happened?”
“He offered me a job designing merchandise for the band. I’m going to meet with them tomorrow.” I said.
“That is so cool! You have to take the job!” She said.
“I’ll meet with the band first. Then I’ll decide. Hopefully they’ll be easier to tolerate. I swear Ashley never stops flirting.” I sighed, exasperated.
“Maybe he doesn’t know how. Maybe you could teach him.” Madison said.
“Yeah right.” The day I could teach Ashley Purdy something was the day pigs could fly.

Notes

Sorry for not updating yesterday. So I'm posting two chapters now to make up for it. Please comment.