The Ladies Man

Ashley had just picked me up and he still hadn’t told me where we were going. I was curious, but kind of enjoyed the idea of it being a surprise. After a little while we pulled up in front of a large house. Ashley started to get out of the car and came over to my side to open my door. That’s when I realized this must be his house.
“Come on.” He held out his hand and I took it. We walked up to the door and he let us in.
“You have a really nice house.” I said, looking around. For a guy, Ashley had really good taste when it came to decorating. I guess it must have something to do with being a designer.
“Thanks.” He said with a smile. Then out of nowhere I heard barking and a white ball of fur and a black ball of fur came racing down the hall. They came up to my feet and started barking excitedly.
I knelt down and laughed. I pet them and one of them gave my hand a lick. “These must be Tokyo and Killer.”
“Yeah, besides the band they are the only constants in my life.” He said.
“That’s sweet and a little sad.” I said.
“Well they seem to like you and that’s a plus. I don’t bring many girls home and they can be a little suspicious of strangers.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment then.”
“Good. Come on into the kitchen. I’ve got dinner going.” He said.
“You’re making dinner?” I asked.
“Yes, is that so much of a surprise?”
“I guess not, I just never would have expected you to be the cooking type.”
“I’m not, not really anyway. I know how to make the basics, and that has been enough to get me by so far.” He replied.
We entered a nice kitchen and I could smell the food cooking in the oven. “Is that lasagna?” I asked.
“Yes it is. I’m going to put some garlic bread in now. There’s some lettuce and vegetables in the fridge. Would you mind mixing it up for a salad?”
“Sure.” I went to the fridge and pulled out the food. I found a large bowl and tossed it all in. I wasn’t very good at mixing these things the normal way, so I put a plate on top of the bowl and just gave it a few shakes.
“Interesting method for mixing salad.” He commented.
I blushed a little. “I was being creative.”
“I could see that.” He started setting the table and I brought over the salad. Then the timer went off on the oven. “Perfect timing.” He took out the lasagna and served up two plates of it for us. Then he got the garlic bread out and added that to the plate.
“That smells delicious.” I said.
“Wait until you actually try it.” He said as he sat down. “Want anything to drink?”
“Water is fine.”
He got up and got us both a glass of water. He raised his glass. “Cheers.” We clinked our glasses and started to eat.
The dinner was amazing. I had never met a man who could cook before. I was very impressed. After helping Ashley clean up we went into his living room where we sat on his couch.
“That was great. I’m impressed.” I said.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled at me. “I impress you now?”
“Your cooking does. The jury’s still out on you.” I said playfully.
He feigned hurt. “All this time and I still don’t have your approval.”
“Ashley, we’ve only had a couple of dates and haven’t seen each other much apart from that. I’m not going to risk making a rushed decision about you.” I said.
“But you don’t think I’m a man whore anymore right?” He asked. He was being very serious.
“I don’t think you’re acting on it anymore, but that side of you is still there. I think it always will be.” I said carefully.
“In other words, you don’t expect this to last and you think that I might cheat on you or something.” He sounded a little angry.
“No! That’s not it. I just don’t want to let myself have high expectations only to be let down. You know that’s happened to me before.” I looked down at my lap, frowning. Those two relationships always came back to haunt me.
“I know, but those are the only two relationships you’ve had right?” He asked.
“Yeah, the first when I was 20 and the second was about two years ago.” I replied.
“So that’s not a lot of dating experience.”
“No it isn’t but I’m two for two. They may have ended slightly differently, but the same thing caused them both. They both got bored with me and wanted someone else.” I sighed. This topic was making me depressed.
“I have one question, how long did you know these guys before you dated and how long did you date them?”
“That’s technically two questions.”
“Just answer them please.”
“All right. I knew the first guy at school. We met in class, after the second week he asked me on a date. That lasted just over two weeks before I found him making out with another girl. The second guy I met through work. We talked for a while one afternoon, we had seen each other around, but had never gotten to know one another. At the end of the conversation he asked me on a date. That lasted three weeks before he dumped me.” A tear rolled down my cheek.
Ashley wiped it away before speaking again. “Well then this bodes well for our relationship. We knew each other for about a month before I asked you out.”
“We only saw each other about five times.” I pointed out.
“Yes, but over the course of four weeks. That let us have time to think about each other before we went on a date.” He had a good point there. God knows I thought about him enough while I was at work during the week. Even after I quit, my hours were spent thinking of him.
“And we’ve only been going out for about a week and a half.” I said. “Not exactly long term.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be.” Yet another good point.
“Where did you learn about all this relationship stuff?” I asked.
“Watching Andy and Juliet and Jinxx and Sammi. Also, just saying what feels right. I really thought I might sound foolish saying all that.” He blushed. I loved it when he blushed; it made him more sympathetic.
“Well you didn’t.” I leaned in and kissed his cheek.
He blushed even more. “Should I drive you home now? It’s getting kind of late.” He said.
I looked at a clock and he was right. It was just past 9:30, and I still had to get home. “Yeah, I completely lost track of time.”

He drove me home and he walked me to the door again. I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips. “Good night Ashley.”
“Good night Belle.”
I walked up to the apartment, and as expected Madison was sitting on the couch waiting for me to come home.
“You are very predictable, do you know that?” I asked.
“I know. So what happened?”
“He made dinner and afterwards we just sat and talked for a while.” I said.
“What did he make?”
“Lasagna with garlic bread and salad. Well, the salad was me, but he did the rest.” I said, remembering that delicious food.
“Is he a good cook?”
“Pretty good.” I commented.
“What did you guys talk about?”
“About our relationship. He made me realize that we actually have a shot at this. At least compared to my past experiences.”
“I like that. He’s smart and playing his cards right.” Madison smiled.
“You would think he’s been in a lot of relationships.” I said.
“Or that he just finally found the right girl.”
“Be realistic please. That is not it.”
“We’ll see.”

Notes

Hey, so I've been doing a lot of writing and have a lot of chapters just sitting here waiting to be posted. So I'm posting an extra one today. Enjoy! And as always, please comment.