How Much I Love You
The sound of a familiar tune playing from her bag brings the blond girl out of her trance. Her hazel eyes slide down to her purse as she reaches her hand in to the purse for her phone. Her eyes spot a familiar name and a huge smile breaks out on her face. But before she can even think of excusing herself from the back of the room her phone stops ringing and she sighs. The one time he decides to call her and she was watching auditions. It was unbelievable for her the ability to be working on Broadway at 15, and even more unbelievable for her was the boy who had just called her. She looks at her boss and as he continues to watch the three people performing on the stage.
“I need to use the rest room,” she says softly.
He nods and she hurries from the room taking her purse with her. Once inside the quiet bathroom she removes her cell phone and puts it to her ear to listen to his message.
“Hey Ash-Bash! I guess you are too busy to talk to some famous rock star. Well when you get this message call me and we can talk. You know I love you. Bye.”
Ashley smiles widely and brushes her hair out of her eyes as she dials his all too familiar number. She waits listening to his voice singing back to her. She could listen to that sound all day. Then she hears something even more heavenly.
“Ashley!”
“Nick. It’s good to hear you again,” Ashley says softly.
“You too! How has Jersey been without me,” Nick asks?
“Um… I really don’t know. I moved to New York a few weeks ago,” Ashley answers.
“No way how did I not know that? Ash…”
“Nick you’ve been gone for so long. I actually have to go I’m at work… I’ll talk to you tomorrow…”
“Alright Ashley. I love you…”
“I love you too.”
“Bye.”
“Bye rock star.”
Most people would think that Ashley and Nick were dating but they weren’t. Its not that they didn’t like on another, they just both knew how stressful it would be if they tried to date. He was traveling the world with his brothers and would be for the next two years probably. While she had stayed back home in Jersey up until about three weeks ago when she got the job as a PA on Broadway and moved to New York City. They talked as often as they could which wasn’t very often but they still talked. She watched the news and saw all the different lies and rumors and let them fly past knowing that if it was true Nick would tell her.
She walks back and continues to watch audition after audition until a familiar face is on the stage, then she leans forward and looks straight at the boy on it. His straight brown hair and big brown eyes along with his quirky fashion sense tell her right away who it is. His sings and his voice almost makes her cry, then she sees someone else just as familiar joining the straight haired boy. Two curly haired boys, one who means everything in the world to her and the other is his older brother. The last person to join them on stage is their little brother. They start to sing a familiar, yet old song and her eyes tear up as she watches them.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“I miss you Ash-Bash… and I thought the song was saying something.”
“You were not just asking me out through a song Nick. Cause if you were I might never forgive you,” Ashley says standing up and walking up to them.
“Um…”
“I was kidding,” Ashley mummers wrapping him in a tight hug.
“So is that a yes,” Joe’s voice asks from the center of the stage?
Ashley sends him a look as Nick pulls away to look her in the eyes.
“Ashley what do you say will you go out with me,” Nick asks softly?
“Yes…”
Their lips touch briefly and then her boss yells at her.
“ASHLEY.”
“Sorry.”
Ashley runs off the stage and sits down in her chair a look of fear in her eyes. The boys all look shocked at Ashley’s reaction and look at her boss. She sighs looking down at the ground and then back up at the boys. She reached down into her purse and pulled her phone out sending Nick a short text message. He gets it and nods leaving the stage, his brothers all in tow. She smiles widely knowing that in two short hours she would be spending time with her new boyfriend and her other best friends.
Faster than ever before the two hours passed and she was released to live her life. With a grin she hailed a cab and got him to drive her to the place that they had all loved. As soon as she steps inside the small coffee shop she notices the four boys who she loved more than anything.
“Kevin, Joe, Nick, Frankie. I missed you guys,” she says taking a seat next to Nick.
“We missed you too Ashley…”
“Yea some of us a bit more than others but still,” Joe says looking straight at Nick.
“Awe I missed you more than them too Nick,” Ashley says sticking her tongue out at Joe.
“Good to know,” Nick smiles leaning over and kissing her cheek.
“So what happened I though we had that whole not gonna date cause you are gonna be gone for two years thing,” Ashley asks him?
“Well we were kind of hoping that you would come on tour and everything with us…”
“You’re kidding right?”
“No Ash I thought you would be really happy,” Nick says looking shocked at her.
The other three boys stand leaving the couple alone as Nick stares at Ashley and Ashley stares right back.
“Nick I just got my dream job! And you seriously want me to give it all up to go on tour with you for two years?”
“Ashley come on. I mean it’s not like it’s your only chance to work on Broadway,” Nick says shaking his head.
“But it might be! And I understand how awesome it would be to go on tour with you guys but I don’t want to give up something I’ve wanted to do my whole life for some boy who might break my heart in the end,” Ashley replies.
“Ashley I won’t break your heart,” Nick starts.
“I don’t know that Nick… I’m fine with dating you. In fact I love that I am dating you. But I can’t go Nick. I’m sorry.”
“Yea me too.”
Ashley watches tears falling from her eyes as the boy of her dreams leaves the coffee shop. His brothers all send her little smiles before following after him. She just sighs and orders a coffee, knowing she either just made the best or the worst decision of her life.
Two years pass a lot quicker when you forget every bad day and move forward with a look of hope. Ashley counted the days since she last heard from Nick. Seven hundred and one days. Almost a full two years. In fact the last thing he had said to her was, ‘I love you but I can’t deal with this. I’m sorry.’ And that’s when she realized that he lied to her. He did break her heart. Her phone played a familiar and never heard tone as she listens to a girl sing a horrible version of The Wizard and I and she ignores it trying to figure out how to tell the girl she wasn’t in the play.
“Okay thanks. Let’s take five guys,” she says rubbing her temples.
She was seventeen, the youngest producer of a Broadway show and this was the first show she had auditioned for by herself. And it wasn’t exactly going as she had planned. Sighing she grabbed her coffee and her phone from the table walking out of the theater. Her eyes drift and she realizes that she has a new voicemail, from who she isn’t quite sure the numbers not in her phone but she puts it up to her ear anyway to listen as she sips her coffee.
“Ash-Bash. We’re in New York. I was wondering if you still were too. But you’re probably not picking up my calls cause I’m a horrible jerk. Well if you get this before Tuesday call me. I still love you.”
His voice was a lot huskier than it had been before but there was no doubt who it was. He was the only one who had ever called her that nickname. She saved his number into her phone promising to call it when she got off that night and walked back into the theater ready to listen to more auditions. Soon she was done and walking back to her small apartment. Biting her lip she dialed his number and waited.
“Ashley.”
“I love you too.”
“Ash.”
“Where do you want to meet jerk?”
“How about our coffee shop. I’ll bring the guys.”
“Come alone.”
“Okay.”
She hangs up her phone and hails a cab, getting ready to face the boy who last broke her heart. She arrives and walks inside looking around for his familiar face. And there he was sitting in a corner. His curly hair cut shorter than it had been before, like when he was around twelve and his big brown eyes staring at her. She made her way over to him and wrapped him into a tight hug. He was taller than she remembered, last time they were together they had been the same height and now he had a few inches on her. She breathed in his scent and couldn’t help but notice that hadn’t changed.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
After a silent moment of holding one another he pulls away slightly looking down at her. She bites her lip looking up at him and he chuckles, knowing it’s a nervous habit of hers.
“Some things will never change.”
“Like…”
“Like how much I love you.”
At that he leans down and touches his lips to her own in a small kiss. When he pulls away she smiles up at him and wraps her arms around his neck. This time she pulls his lips down onto her own in a deep kiss.
“And I love you.”
