Take Me Home Tonight

"God damn it, Maddie," Ashley hollered from about a foot or so behind me. The two of us were walking down the street just outside the tattoo shop so we could go get breakfast.
I planned on taking him to a local diner that was only about a block away from where we were now, but with the pace he was going at, we'd be lucky if the walk took us under 15 minutes.
"Hurry the fuck up, Purdy" I shouted back to him with a hint of laughter playing in my voice. Groaning loudly in response, I could hear his footsteps speed up slightly behind me. "How the hell do those tiny little legs move so goddamn fast?" he asked as I turned around to face him.
Ashley had this thing for cracking lame jokes about my height all the time and thinking that it was funny. Ever since we'd met about three years ago, that's how it'd been. I was only 5'1 which was excruciatingly short. I knew it, he knew it, hell, the whole damn world knew it.
But to be honest, I never really minded the fact and I was pretty sure that Ash did either. He mostly just used it to poke fun, or god forbid flirt with me. When he first started doing it, it was kind of amusing– endearing, even. But now? It was just old news.
"Oh shut up, Ash" I answered, rolling my eyes as he chuckled in response, "You've only got 7 inches on me anyways!" I remark, referring to his height.
He smirked, coming up on my side and snaking an arm around my waist before leaning in closely so that his lips were at my ear, "Mmm babe, you know I've got more than just 7 inches" he purred, before pulling his face away to wink exaggeratedly at me while I cringed at his unsurprisingly vulgar comment.
"Ashley Purdy!" I exclaimed, playfully shoving him away. "You and I both know that I do not KNOW that!" I choked out through my sudden fit of laughter.
"I mean..." he mused, looking at me smugly while we crossed the street towards the diner, "Did you want to?" he asked, as a crooked smile broke out across his lips.
I rolled my eyes at him and prayed that I wasn't visibly blushing. I could feel my cheeks suddenly getting hot and I knew he'd call me out on it if he could see it.
"Once again, Ash" I said, trying to avoid eye contact, it wasn't like I hadn't thought of him in that way before. For fuck's sake, I'd had a crush on him since before Kina did when she'd first met him.
"I'll have to politely decline your offer," I chuckled, looking up to see him jutting out his lower lip out in a fake pout. "Maybe another time," I winked just as we began approaching the front doors of the diner.
Yanking open the door, Ashley held it ajar and motioned for me to walk inside. "Ladies first" he said, as I stepped through the door, thinking about how ridiculous of a contradiction Ashley could be at times.
First shamelessly vulgar flirting and then chivalry? I wasn't going to lie, I was definitely attracted to the juxtaposition. It made Ash, well, Ash. And that was part of what I loved about him. Ugh, gross? Did I just think the "L" word? I mentally kicked myself for it as Ashley made his way through the doors and came back up behind me.
"Hi there!" a short pixie-like girl with cropped jet black hair greeted us once we'd walked inside. "Would ya'll like a booth or a table this morning?" she asked politely, glancing between Ashley and I, I shrugged my shoulders.
"Whatever's easiest for you, babe" he grinned, shooting his signature crooked smile at her and causing her to seem a bit flustered while she grabbed two menus and chirped a small, "You got it!"
Turning on her heel, she led the two of us over to a small window-side booth and handed us the menus before quickly walking away.
"Do you really always have to do that?" I asked, smirking over at him as he took off his hat and placed it down on the table next to him. "Do what?" he asked, looking over to me with confused eyes, which made me laugh. Of course he didn't even realize what he'd done. After all, it was practically second nature for Ashley to flirt with every female in sight. I sighed.
"Flirt with every chick you see," I said matter-of-factly and rolling my eyes at him. He looked at me, still perplexed. "The waitress!" I whisper-screamed with quiet urgency. "You totally flustered her," I l half laughed as he side glanced around the diner, looking for the waitress who was now nowhere in sight. "I did?" he asked, totally unaware of the effect he had on her. It made me chuckle– he really thought he was that innocent.
"Yes, you did" I said smugly, "Dazzling people like that with your cute smile is hardly fair" I said, flipping a strand of hair from my face before tensing up as my own word choice sunk in. Did I just call Ash cute to his face? God damnit.
Slowly making eye contact with him, he smirked over at me looking pleased. "Aw, Mads, did you just call me cute?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "I.." I started to say just as the waitress came back to check on us. Whew. Close one. At least now it'd buy me a minute or two to regain my composure.
"Could I get you two started with something to drink?" the waitress, whose name was Kat according to her name tag, asked with a polite smile. "I'll just have coffee," I told her as she nodded in response, before looking over to Ashley. "I'll have coffee as well" he smirked.
"Alrighty. I'll be right back with that for you two," Kat said before turning and making her way back around to the corner towards what I assumed was the kitchen area.
"So.." I started to say, in a vain attempt to avoid Ashley's previous accusation, but it was way too late for that. "Don't try and change the subject on me now" he said, looking over to me with a smug expression. I sighed.
"So you think I'm cute?" he asked, prying for an answer as I refused to make eye contact with him. No shit I thought he was cute. I'd thought that since the day Kina introduced us.
"I meant..I was implying that she thought that..not me," I say lamely, causing Ash to chuckle. "Uh-huh, sure Mads," he replies, causing me to shift uncomfortably in my seat before forcing myself to look up at him. He had a slight smile playing on his lips and his deep chocolate eyes stared over at me intently.
"It's okay," he said, looking over to me while I picked up a sugar packet from the dish to my left and started playing with it. "I think you're pretty cute too," he winked, causing me to blush slightly as Kat made her way back over to our table, I quickly looked away from him so he wouldn't see the pale scarlet color flooding my cheeks.
"Here's your coffee, guys" she said, setting down a stainless steel carafe in the middle of the table along with a small pitcher of cream and 2 ceramic coffee mugs. "Have ya'll decided what you'd like to order yet, or do you need a few more minutes?"
"Could we get a few?" Ash asked, looking up at her through his dark lashes and shooting her a polite smile, she simply nodded in response and managed to choke out a slightly nervous, "Sure thing!" before scurrying away.
"There it is again," I said, giggling as I looked back over to Ash who seemed genuinely confused by the effect he was having on this poor girl. "What did I even do that time?!" he exclaimed, making me laugh even harder.
"Maybe next time try not to look at her like you're about to suck out her soul through eye contact," I answer, causing him to roll his eyes as I chuckle. "Seriously Ash, it's just impolite."

Notes