The Ladies Man

I grabbed my sketchbook and headed for the door. Ashley would be here soon to pick me up. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I was both excited and nervous at the same time.
“Make sure you say yes!” Madison said to me.
“I said I want to meet them first.” I repeated for about the twentieth time.
“But why would you say no?” She asked.
“I don’t know. I just don’t want to jump into this too quickly. You know how that’s gone for me in the past.”
She grimaced at the memories. “Well maybe this will be different.”
“Let’s hope so.” I said. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Bye! Good luck!”
I walked down to the lobby to wait for Ashley. I didn’t have to wait very long. About five minutes later he pulled up in what looked like a very expensive car. I didn’t know what it was called, but then I never had much interest in cars anyway.
“Come on!” He opened the passenger’s door from the inside and waited for me to get in.
“So where are we going?” I asked.
“Andy’s house. He’s got the most space and we have a room we use just for writing and working on songs.”
“Cool.”
We drove in silence for about half an hour before we reached what I assumed was Andy’s house. It was huge. I bet my apartment could fit in that house at least ten times. And that was saying a lot; I did not live in a small apartment.
We walked into the house and I was immediately crushed in a bear hug. “CC, get off her, she needs to breath.” I heard Ashley say.
“Sorry.” I was released and could finally see the face of my attacker. So it was true, CC loved to give out hugs.
“It’s okay, just a warning next time would be good.” I said.
“Hey, I’m Jake.”
“And I’m Jinxx.”
I finally noticed them standing behind CC. “Hey guys.”
“So, you’re the infamous Belle.” I turned to see Andy standing in a doorway, smiling at me.
“Infamous? Interesting word. Why?”
“You’re the first girl to turn down Ashley in about five years.” He said.
“Really? Cool.”
“Cool?” Ashley asked. He looked shocked.
“Yeah, that’s something I can be proud of.” I replied.
Andy laughed. “I like her already.”
The guys led me through the house to a room that had couches and was filled with instruments and notebooks. This must be where they do all of their writing.
“So, Belle. Ashley told you that we want to hire you as a designer for our merch right?” Jinxx asked.
“Yeah. I just wanted to meet you guys first and get a more specific idea of what it was you would want me to do.” I said.
“Well it would be basic stuff.” Jake said.
“Yeah, ideas for new posters, designs for t-shirts, necklaces and wrist bands. That kind of stuff.” Andy said.
“So pretty free artistic reign.” I said.
“Yeah, I mean, you’d have to run it by Ashley and me, but that’s about it.” Andy replied.
“Sounds good to me. You guys seem pretty cool so that’s a plus too.”
“Yeah, we’d like to think so.” Jinxx said.
“Now, would you like to stay for a while Belle?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, that would be interesting.” I said. “I’ll get to see Ashley interacting with other people outside a bar.”
They all laughed, except Ashley. “Very funny guys.” He said.
“So what do you guys want to do?” Jake asked.
“Truth or Dare!” CC shouted.
I froze up. I hated this game. I always got asked stupid questions or had to do embarrassing things. But I guess I could give it a try. It could even be fun, I’d get to see them do stupid stuff too.
“Okay, who’s first?” Andy asked.
“Me.” Jake said. “Jinxx, truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
I zoned out after that, I wasn’t really paying too much attention. Jinxx gave his answer, then he asked CC. CC chose dare and had to spin around fifty times. By the time he was finished he fell to the floor and hugged it.
“I love you floor.” He said. After a moment he sat up and looked around at us all. “Belle, truth or dare?”
“Truth.” Those were always easier, not by much, but they were.
“How many guys have you had sex with?”
He did not just ask that. “Is there a way I could not answer the question?” I asked.
“Yeah, you get one freebie, but it means you have to do a dare.” Andy said.
“I’ll take the dare.”
“All right, let me think.” After a moment he got that light bulb moment look on his face. I had a bad feeling about this. “I dare you to kiss Ashley.” CC said triumphantly.
“Seriously?”
“Well you haven’t yet have you?” CC asked.
“No, I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Well cancel those plans.” Andy said, laughing.
“Great, nice one guys.” I walked over to Ashley and stood in front of him. I leaned down and pecked him on the lips quickly. “There, happy?”
“That doesn’t count.” CC said.
“You never specified what type of kiss or how long, so I’m done now.” I said as I walked back over to my seat.
“She’s got you there, man.” Jinxx said.
“My turn.” I looked over at Andy. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth.” He said.
“Do you read fanfiction about the band?”
He got a nervous look in his eyes. “I’m using my out. Give me a dare.”
I got an evil grin on my face. “I dare you to kiss Ashley on the lips and post a picture to Twitter.”
Andy looked scared. “No way! “
I sighed, giving him one saving grace. “You can say that it was for a dare in the post.”
“Fine.” He walked over to Ashley and sat next to him.
“Give me your phone.” I said.
He handed it to me. Then he leaned in and gave Ashley a good hard kiss. I quickly took a picture and then gave him back the phone. “Now post it.”
He sighed as he posted the picture. “Done.” He said.
“Let me see.” I checked his phone and sure enough he had posted it. Next to the picture it read:

@AndyBVB: Was playing truth or dare. Now you Andley fans have something to fangirl over.

“Thank you.” I gave the phone back.
We continued to play for about another hour until we all got hungry.
“Who wants pizza?” Jake asked.
“Me!” We all said.
Jake laughed. “Jinxx, CC you’re coming with me to get the pizza. They groaned, but got up to go and get pizza with him.
Now it was just Andy, Ashley and I. “So, Belle, can you tell us why you didn’t answer CC’s question earlier?” Andy asked.
“You wanna tell me why you didn’t answer mine?” I shot back.
“Fair enough, occasionally I read a story or two. I find some of them intriguing.”
“Fair’s fair Belle.” Ashley said.
“All right I’ll tell you.” I said, looking down at my hands. “None.”
“What?” Ashley asked.
“CC asked how many guys I’ve had sex with and the answer is none. I’ve only ever had two boyfriends and neither one of them lasted more than a month.” I said.
“Why’s that?” Andy asked.
“I caught one cheating on me. The other dumped me through a text message.” I said, feeling frustrated.
“That’s terrible. Those guys were idiots.” Ashley said.
“Thanks.”
A short while later the guys arrived with the pizza. I grabbed a couple slices and laughed as CC and Jake fought over the last piece.
“So, Belle. How long have you known Ashley?” Andy asked. “He wasn’t too specific when he told us about you.”
“Well we’ve only actually seen each other about five times if you include today. I guess if you wanted to look at a calendar though, we met about a month ago.”
“Interesting.” Jinxx said. “That makes the whole not sleeping with him thing even more impressive.”
“Thanks.” I looked over at a clock to see that it was 3pm. “I should really be heading home now guys.”
“Do you have to go?” CC asked.
“I have stuff I need to do. That includes brainstorming ideas for you guys.” I said.
“I’ll drive you home.” Ashley said.
I followed him out to his car and we left. “Thanks for the ride.”
“No problem. I’m so glad you took the job.” He said.
“Yeah, me too.”
Pretty soon we pulled up to the apartment building. Before I could get out of the car Ashley grabbed my hand. “Belle.”
“Yeah Ashley?”
“Will you go on a date with me?” He asked.
He actually asked the question. This made it official. I could say yes and see where this went, or I could say no and ruin whatever this was that we already had. “Yes.” I said.
He looked a little shocked, but quickly recovered. “Can I finally have your number then?”
I laughed. “Sure.” I wrote it down for him and got out of the car.
“I’ll call you.” He said as he drove off.
“Yeah right!” I yelled as he drove away. I suddenly burst into hysterics. I was laughing all the way up to the apartment; I was even crying I was laughing so hard.
“Belle? What’s wrong?” Madison asked.
I collapsed on the couch and caught my breath before talking. “I just agreed to go on a date with Ashley Fucking Purdy!” I started laughing again.
“Oh my God! That is so awesome!” Madison squeeled.
What a day this had turned out to be. A new job and date.

Notes

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