Olivia's POV:

For the next two weeks Ashley haunted my mind. I was curious about him, where he was, what he was doing, if he ever thought of me. I longed to be rid of him, but my brain had other ideas.

My dreams were filled with him, visions of us together, and some of only him. The worst part was, whenever I would inevitably wake from my slumber, I would find myself craving him even more, wishing for those dreams to either last longer, or simply be reality.

I wasn't falling for Ashley Purdy.
No, I'd already fallen for him, hard.

The hours I spent at work were slow and uneventful. I ignored any private requests from clients, and kept my stripping hours to a minimum. The time I spent at home I would do anything possible to get my mind off of the bassist, but nothing seemed to work.

Lizzie by now was suspicious of my new attitude, noting every time I would daze off and question me whenever she got the chance. So I kept my distance from my best friend.

Instead, I googled information about Black Veil Brides. A secret I'm not too proud of. But they intrigued me, and there music was my favourite, though I tried hard to pretend I hated them. They helped me through terrible times, and brought joy to my seemingly full life. Everytime I wanted to end it, to disappear from the world permanently, I listened to them, and all feelings of anguish were washed away.


I sighed, today was my day off, something I usually didn't take. It was a bit after 7pm, and I was growing somewhat hungry. I considered staying in for what felt like the thousandth time since I'd run into him, but fought against the urge and went out, alone.

New York is amazing both during the day, and during nighttime, but personally, I prefer the nightlife. It's most likely because of how scarce I actually spend hitting the streets of downtown in the evening, due to work. Which isn't often.

I decided on Japanese. One of my personal favourites. It wasn't that busy, since it was still fairly early for New Yorkers. I easily got a booth, and quickly ordered some vegetarian udon noodles, a miso soup, and some cold saki.

I hummed quietly to Shadow's Die (the current BVB song stuck in my head), while aimlessly scrolling through my phone. Just then, my humming turned into lyrics, only I wasn't singing. I snapped my head up and towards the owner of the voice. The booth behind me, held the owner of the lovely voice.

Ashley Purdy was sitting behind me.

I began to panic, my chest heaving unevenly. Why was he here? Was he following me?

Ashley stood up, and sat directly in front of me, a smirk masking his handsome face. Wait, handsome!? What was wrong with me?

"Funny meeting you here. So you also enjoy the delicacy that is Japanese food?" Sarcasm dropped from his tongue.

I rolled my eyes, "of course. Who doesn't like sushi?"

Ashley chuckled lightly, "so you aren't working tonight then?"

I nodded, "and what about you? Aren't you and your band supposed to be like, on tour or whatever rock stars do?"

"Tour finished last week. But I haven't been to New York in ages, so me and the guys decided to visit," he shrugged.

"Well, here the city never sleeps, so you could simply stay a day and get through all of New York."

Ashley smiled, a real smile, which was actually quite lovely, and complimented his handsome face. Ugh! What was happening to me?

"New York kicks ass! I would defiantly move here if my career would let me.

I smile, I wonder what that would be like. Would we become friends? Oh my god, was I actually considering a friendship between myself and the man who stole my innocence!?

The waitress who was wearing a partially short skirt, set down a bottle of saki and two cups, I guess she noticed that I wasn't alone anymore. Ash poured himself one and then one for me, which came somewhat of a shock, who would think the manwhore could be a gentlemen?

"Alright, so I've got to ask, and please don't like, throw a drink in my face or shit like that." I nodded, telling him to go on, "why do you hate me so much?"

I looked down at my lap, I knew he was going to ask that eventually. It only made sense, but I mean, did he really not remember?

"Alright Ashley. But I'm somewhat drunk as of right now, so that's why i'm telling you this. If you ever, and I mean ever, ask me to retell this again, when I'm sober, then I will not hesitate to kick your ass. Got it?" He nodded eagerly, (a little to eagerly if you ask me) seeming excited to hear why I loathed him so much.

"We've met before," at that he frowns. "A couple years ago, I went to see you and your band at warped tour. I loved your band do much, you were my life. I took my little sister with me, and we were so excited to see you perform live."

I can almost see the gears turning in his head, trying to put two and two together.

"You flirted with me. And well, I guess we hit it off. You took me back to your bus, and well..." I trail off there, tears threatening to spill if I finish the sentence.

Ashley's mouth drops open, his eyes widening immensely.

"I-I, w-we had sex?" He manages to choke out through his shocked state.

"Yeah," I mumble, my voice barely inaudible.

Ashley takes my hands in his from across the table. I'm tempted to pull them away, but for some reason can't find myself to. He tilts my chin upwards, so that he can look into my eyes, he smiles softly, guilt and sadness filling his eyes.

"I'm so sorry Olivia. I was, a complete dick back then, like honestly, I slept around, and drank every night. That's not me anymore, I swear."

I furrow my brows and glance towards him, my eyes watering.
"And you've changed since then?"

"Yes." He answers without any hesitation.

I raised an eyebrow, "how are you so sure?"

He sighed, "can you let me make it up to you? Can you let me show you I've changed?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because-because I haven't stopped thinking about since I last saw you. I don't know what I feel, but I know that I do have feelings for you."

"Ashley-" I began.

"No, let me finish. I'd like to think that maybe, we could start over, and make something, a relationship if you'd consider it. But I will spend the time in between that, making it up to you. And I promise, I will."

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, a headache growing. The waitress returned with the check, (I guess I didn't even notice that I'd eaten and that Ash had signalled her over). I reached for my pursue, fumbling for my wallet, but Ashley stopped me. He paid without even glancing at the bill, surely leaving a huge tip.

"Ready?"

"Where are we going?" I asked, confused.

"Why I'm walking you home, silly. A guy always walkso there date to the door," he offered his arm, to which I hesitantly took it, still unsure of his actions.

"No funny business, I promise. Unless of course, you ask for it," he winked at the end, causing for me to smack his chest.

We were actually getting along, much to mg surprise. Maybe Ashley was more than I thought he was.

---

He mesmerized me, enchanting my thoughts with fairy tale endings. I wanted to believe that he could and would change for me, but sadly my dreams were plagued with the real him. The one who refused to change for my love.

Notes

Long chapter! I actually really like this chapter and I'm super excited for this story!

Q: do you think Liv is falling to quickly for Ash?