9. FIRST ASK

School was dragging for the rest of the week as I was still planning on going to the mall with Jack during the weekend. I invited Mya and Brendan to come with me but they said that they already had plans. I wanted them to come so that they would meet Jack so I didn’t tell them about him. When the time came, they would get to know him.

On that Friday, during lunch time, Ashton called me, mentally. I didn’t look up but he knew that I heard him.

Lina, he called.

Yeah? I answered.

There’s something I want to ask you, but I’d rather do it verbally, he said.

What is it?

Can’t say. Meet me by the parking lot in two minutes, in my car, he ended.

Sure.

I didn’t know what he wanted to ask me but I couldn’t help trying to guess what it would be about. So, I excused myself from my table as soon as I saw Ashton leaving Michael by their table.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to the ladies’ room”, I said to my friends.

“Sure. You want me to come with you?” Mya asked.

“No, it’s cool. If you go with me, that means leaving Brendan alone and that is not so great now, is it?”

“Yeah Mya, you can’t all go and leave me here all alone”, Brendan said with a serious face.

“Ok, ok. Go on then”, Mya said.

I stood up from my seat and left my bag with Mya. I knew that even if I took long and ended up running late for class, Mya would take my bag to class with her.

I walked off in the direction of the parking lot. Since most students were in the cafeteria for the lunch period, I didn’t spot anyone staring at me. I saw his car parked a couple of cars away from mine so I walked straight towards it. The door opened before I laid my hand on the handle. I got in and closed the door. It was a bit dark in it because of the darkly tinted windows.

After a few seconds I looked at him and I found him looking at his phone busy typing something in it. I gave him a few more seconds and then he was done with what he was doing. He looked at me and flashed that smile of his that made my heart flatter.

“Hi”, he said.

“Hi.”

“How’s Jack?” he asked with a smile.

“He’s crazy as ever, but other than that, he’s ok.”

“That’s good to hear”, he said in a quiet tone.

I didn’t say anything to that and he kept quiet as well. Every time when I was around him, I had these feelings that I’d never had before. I didn’t even know what term to give them but they made me feel like I could spend more time with him than just a few minutes of talking. I didn’t let them show though, because I’m good at hiding emotions and feelings.

“You didn’t call me out here to ask about Jack, or did you?” I asked after an awkward silence.

“No, but he was a part of it. I couldn’t help hearing from your thoughts that you were going to spend the weekend with him”, he said.

“Oh, umm, yeah. That’s the plan.”

“Well, I wanted to ask if you would mind me joining you and Jack for the movie you’re going to watch?” he asked with a serious face.

I couldn’t help but stare at him. Did he really want to spend the weekend with me and Jack? At the movies? I blinked and looked away. I couldn’t think straight whenever he was looking at me like that. I took a deep breath to steady myself and then answered him.

“You want to spend the weekend with me and Jack?”

“Yes, if that’s no problem”, he answered.

“Umm, sure. I mean, the more the merrier, right?”

He laughed and then said, “Right.”

“Ok then.” I looked at the clock on his dashboard and I saw that lunch time was almost over. “We’ve got to get to class.”

I didn’t look at him but I felt him move facing me. His hand reached out and touched me under my chin. He lifted my head to look at him and I looked up to his eyes. He then took both his hands and removed my hoodie to see me without it. He gasped a bit and I felt hotness on my cheeks as his eyes made a sparkle.

“Why do you hide under that hoodie when you’re so beautiful?” he asked.

I couldn’t answer him because I felt the heat on my cheeks becoming tense. So I looked away and he understood that. He moved back to his side and I felt the blush decrease. I thought of going back to class and with that, I had my hand on the door handle.

Before I opened it, he took my phone from my pocket and he punched in some numbers and pressed the send button. I heard his phone vibrate and then he placed my phone back into my pocket. He then looked up and smiled.

“I’ll talk to you later then”, he said.

“Sure”, I said, eager to move away from him for some time. My head was spinning with the compliment that he gave me.

No one had ever termed me that before, except my dad and Jack. I opened the door and climbed out. I put my hoodie on and then walked off to the lockers because that’s where I could hear Mya’s thoughts from. She was worrying about where I had wandered off to. She recovered from that thought when she saw me coming towards her from the direction of the cafeteria.

“Hey, where did you wander off to?” she asked.

“I just went outside to my car. I got a phone call so I had to answer it.”

“Well, at least you answered it outside, otherwise they would have confiscated it immediately after seeing you carrying it”, she said.

“Yeah. Where’s Brendan?”

“He went over to his next class with some other guys he’s attending with”, she answered.

“Oh, ok. Let’s get to class then.”

We then hurried down the hall to our next class after lunch period. I found Ashton already seated in the class. The teacher hadn’t pitched yet so we settled into our seats and took out the books from the bags.

I saw Isabel walking over to Ashton and sit on his desk. She already had this huge smile on her face that had me feeling sick to my stomach. I heard Ashton sigh but he appeared like he didn’t want to be rude to her, so he put on a half-smile on his face. I looked down to my iPod and chose a song from my playlist that I would listen to if the duration of the lesson remained the same as now.

I didn’t pay much attention to their conversation but I couldn’t help overhearing that Isabel was asking him out for movies on the weekend. I don’t know the term to that feeling that erupted in me, but it was in between hate and anger. I was feeling a little bitter towards Isabel for what she was doing and I couldn’t contain myself from it. I remembered the term being jealousy.

“Sorry, but I already have plans for the weekend”, Ashton said to her.

“Well, can’t you postpone to the other weekend?” Isabel asked.

“No, sorry.”

“Ok. How about next weekend then?” she asked in a hopeful tone.

“I won’t be in town so, I don’t think I’ll make it either.”

“Right. Umm, ok then. See you around”, she said in a sad tone.

“Sure.”

Isabel walked off to her desk and she looked embarrassed. I couldn’t help but feel pity for her, even though I didn’t like her much.

I was wondering why I felt bitter when Isabel was asking Ashton out. I had never felt like this before, about any guy in particular. It was different from what I felt for my dad, or any other male person that I knew. With Ashton, the feeling seemed different. Stronger.

But still, I’d hide those feelings and not let him see just how much affection he had on me.