by Tania Sparks
“Nah,” I reply with a big grin on my face, “Let’s go on the Giant Dipper!”
Ash laughs, “You’re full of surprises Angel.” We stroll towards the old wooden roller coaster hand in hand and after only a short wait in the queue we’re being buckled into our seats. The ride starts off slowly and moves through a dark tunnel, gradually picking up speed as we start a steep climb. We burst out into the sunlight as the carriages are being pulled up, up and up. It’s exceptionally high and we can see out across the whole boardwalk and beach. Just as we reach the peak, Ash laughs, “Put your hands in the air Angel.” We both put our hands above our heads and suddenly the roller coaster plummets down as I scream at the top of my lungs, my chest burns from lack of oxygen, I gasp for air and then scream wildly again. I turn my head to glance at Ash and he’s laughing hysterically at me. As we swoop and dart around the ride, I don’t know if I’m laughing or screaming – I think it’s probably a combination of both! It seems to go on forever as we catapult around sharp bends and plunge down steep declines only to climb and plunge again. After a few minutes we finally screech to a holt and both Ash and I are still laughing riotously.
“Oh my god that was so much fun!” I screech with my scratchy voice that has screamed way too much.
Ash is still laughing at me holding his belly, “Hell Angel, I don’t know what was funnier – the ride or you!” We unbuckle ourselves and disembark from the carriage. Ash puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in tight, still chuckling at me.
We grab some kettle corn and caramel apples from one of the food vendors and spend the next couple of hours making our way around the boardwalk, going on all the different rides and attractions. We go on some really scary thrill rides like the Double Shot and the Cliff Hanger and also on some of the more sedate rides like the Carousel and Haunted Castle. This is the best time I’ve had in years. We’re so comfortable in each other’s company, chatting and laughing. It feels like we’ve never been apart and we’re both having so much fun. As it’s starting to get dark we decide to head inside. We play a game of air hockey, which Ash thrashes me at.
As we walk past the mini golf I nudge Ash in the ribs, “How about a game Ash?” I ask raising my eyebrows at him in question.
“Nah uh Angel, I fell for that once, I’m not falling for it again!” he exclaims, grabbing me and tickling my ribs. I wriggle out of his grasp and try to dash away from him but before I get more than a few steps away, he catches up with me, grabs me around the waist, lifts me from the ground and twirls me around in circles. He lowers my feet to the ground and holds me on my hips, placing a tender kiss on my lips. We stay there, lips touching, but barely moving. He breaks the trance first, grabbing my hand and exaggeratingly dragging me past the mini golf entrance. I pout my lips at him in mock disappointment, whether I’m pouting at not playing mini golf or pouting that the kiss didn’t turn into something more passionate, I’m not quite sure.
We walk into the game arcade. There must be hundreds of video games in here. We pass one called Terminator Salvation and Ash gasps, “Shit, I love this game, let me have a go on this one!” He slots some coins into the machine and picks up the machine gun. I watch him as the screen comes to life. As the game is reciting the beginning introduction, Ash talks along with the commentary in a low raspy voice … I try and remember the world the way it used to be … but it gets harder every day … so many different stories of defeat, so many faces of death … the screen bursts into gun fire as Ash shoots down the disturbing looking machines flying at him from various hiding places. Ash proceeds through the game with an astonishing level of expertise!
After quite a few minutes the game ends and he’s prompted to enter his name as one of the top ten players. Ash turns to me with a big grin on his face looking at me expectantly for my congratulations. “How’d you manage to get so good at that?” I smirk.
Ash shrugs, “Lots of spare time on the tour bus, we spend shit loads of hours on the PS4 trying to fill in time.” Ash clutches my hand and we continue on our exploration through the arcade. Ash plays on a few more games and I play on a couple of the easier, less violent looking ones.
We turn around a corner and come across a Guitar Hero game. There’s room for two players to compete against each other. I turn to Ash smirking, “You up for a challenge band boy?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me Angel, I’ll fucking thrash you!” he says with a cocky grin on his face.
I turn to walk away, “Oh well, you’re choice band boy – if you’re too chicken of losing to a girl...”
But before I can finish Ash barks, “You’re on Angel!” Laughing he places some coins in the game and picks up the two guitars, handing one to me. We scroll through the song choices and to my amazement one of Oblivion’s songs is on there. Ash reads it at about the same time as I do and the biggest smug grin covers his face. “I think I’ll choose this one!” he exclaims as he makes the selection. We slide the guitar straps over our shoulders. “Ready to go?” he asks.
“Go for it band boy.” I laugh. The game starts and I manage to keep up for about the first dozen notes, then I’m completely lost so I stop playing and look over to Ash. Of course, he’s hitting every note perfectly, even managing to put in some classic rock star moves as he jumps around playing the song. A couple of teenage boys start hanging around watching Ash as he thrashes his way through the song, never missing a note. I can see the boys whispering to each other as recognition starts to register. They’re both wearing Oblivion concert t-shirts. The song ends and Ash stretches out the last note as he drops to his knees, leaning back in an exaggerated rock star move. The song stops and he stands back up smoothly. He gently places down the guitar grinning at me with his head tilted to the side. “Well?” he asks.
“Pretty damn impressive band boy!” I exclaim.
The two teenage boys saunter over warily, “Hey man, are you Ash Miller from Oblivion?” they ask.
“Yeah man, that’s me.” Ash smiles warmly at them.
“That was amazing dude, you thrashed that game!”
“Thanks.” Ash smiles shrugging his shoulders.
The boys shake Ash’s hand, “We saw you play in San Francisco the other night, it was fucking awesome. I can’t believe you’re here in Santa Cruz. Hey man, can we have your autograph?”
“No problem.” Ash says as he miraculously pulls out a silver vivid from his cargo pants pocket and signs the back of their t-shirts for them. The boys say thanks again and walk away, chatting animatedly, excited that they got to see one of their idols.
“That was really nice of you.” I tell Ash.
“Well, it’s all about the fans Angel. We’re always grateful for their support.” Ash grabs my hand. “But let’s get out of here before those two tell all their mates and we get swamped.”
“Sounds good to me.” I say as we start to head back to the car hand in hand.
We get back to the car and jump in. “You hungry Angel? Shall we grab some dinner?”
“I’m starving!” I reply.
“I think there’s a pretty cool looking diner that we passed on our way in. It’s about fifteen minutes away. How does that sound?”
“Perfect, I’d kill for a cheeseburger, fries and cherry cola!” I say.
“What! no girly salad and diet coke?” Ash laughs.
“No, not for me, but feel free to order a salad if that’s what you feel like eating!” I laugh.
“You really are like no other girl Angel.” Ash chuckles as he mutters under his breath, “You’re fucking perfect.”
We travel for about fifteen minutes listening to music and reminiscing about the fun we’ve had at the boardwalk. We arrive at the diner which looks incredible. It’s an old style diner that’s decked out in fifties décor, all shiny red, black and white. Ash parks the car in the far back corner where there’s not very many cars. “I think maybe we should get changed into our jeans Angel, are you okay changing in the car?”
“Is that a
not-so-subtle way to try and get me to take my clothes off Ash!” I tease.
“No, no, I promise,” Ash chuckles, “You can climb over into the back seat and I’ll stay here in the front, cross my heart.” He makes a cross sign across his chest.
“Okay, but no peeking!” I climb over into the back. I grab my jeans out of my carry bag. “Turn and face the front Ash.” I say waving my hands at him to turn around.
Ash chuckles, “Nothing I haven’t seen before.” he snorts.
“That’s not the point Ash!” I screech. Ash turns around and faces the front. I slide off my shorts and as I go to pull on my jeans my eye catches Ash’s in the rear vision mirror. “Hey!” I squeal. The cheeky bastard’s been watching me the whole time! He has a massive grin on his face. I finish pulling on my jeans and clamber back over to the front and punch him playfully in the shoulder.
“Ouch.” he yells as he mockingly clasps his shoulder in pain. “My turn.” he says laughing as he scrambles over into the back seat. “I don’t mind if you watch!” he smirks as he starts to unbutton his shorts. I turn my back on him and I can hear his clothes rustling as he gets changed. I can’t help myself, I turn to have a little peak, but as soon as I do I notice that Ash is watching me intently, “See I knew you’d have to sneak a look!” he laughs. I quickly cover my eyes with my hands as I blush profusely.
When we’re both ready, we make our way into the diner. Once inside we get directed to a small booth at the back of the restaurant. We sit down and the waitress gives us our menus. We place our orders, both ordering cheeseburgers, fries and cherry colas.
We chat easily with each other and after what feels like only a few minutes our food arrives. It looks fantastic so we both dig in enthusiastically, it’s delicious. We’re both quiet as we eat our burgers and fries. Ash stops chewing, looks at me intently and takes a deep breath, “I’m sure we can make this work Angel.” he says seriously. “Look, I know I tour a lot, but I’m at home quite a bit too, and you can come and see me on the road when you’re not working…Scott and Lizzie make it work. I mean ideally I’d like to see you more than what they manage, but we can figure it out. I was thinking…we have one small concert to do in San Francisco tomorrow night and then we have a few days off back in LA. How about we give it a go and see if we can make this work…”
I don’t think he’s even taken a single breath in his whole dialog. He’s obviously given a lot of thought to what he wants to say and he desperately wants my agreement. “I’ve thought about it quite a bit Ash…” I say.
“Please don’t say no Angel.” Ash whispers with such a sad look on his face as he looks down at his almost empty plate.
I reach across the table and grab hold of his hand. “Shush Ash, I wasn’t going to say no.” Ash’s eyes snap up to mine as he looks at me expectantly waiting for me to continue. “As I was saying…I’ve thought about it quite a bit too…I want to make this work Ash. It feels right.” Ash looks at me his smile beaming, so I continue, “Richard comes up tomorrow night...” I hear Ash growl as his smile morphs into a frown. “I promise I’ll break it off with him face-to-face when he gets here.” I say sincerely.
“Thank you Angel, you have no idea how much this means to me.” Ash beams. I squeeze his hand and smile warmly at him. I have another idea that I want to discuss with him, I’m not sure if it’s too much too soon, but I figure it’s worth bringing it up – he can only say no. “There’s one other thing I want to talk to you about Ash…” I say hesitantly.
“Go on Angel, you can say anything to me.”
“Well…when I get back to LA I have one shift scheduled and then have no other contracts arranged. Now Ash, please say no if you don’t think it’s a good idea, I don’t want to pressure you into anything…but I thought that maybe I could have a bit of a holiday. I haven’t had a proper break for almost three years. Maybe I could take some time off for a few weeks or so. We can spend some time together in LA, then I can travel with you on tour for a bit, we can see if we can make this work?”
Ash’s face morphs back into the widest smile I’ve ever seen, I think his face is going to break in half! “You’re incredible Angel! That sounds like a fucking perfect idea, you won’t be sorry, you’ll see, we’ll make this work.” he gushes.
We finish our meals both feeling happy that we’ve made the decision to give this a go. Ash pays the check and we make our way back through the car park and get into the car.
“What are we going to do now Ash?” I ask.
“What would you like to do Angel?” He smirks tilting his head to the side.
“What did you have in mind?” I ask raising my eyebrows in mock expectation.
“Well …” Ash chuckles, “We could head back to San Francisco….”
“Nah, I don’t feel like going back yet. This day is just too perfect to finish yet.” I smile seductively.
Ash looks over to me with an uncertain look, biting his lip, he says, “Umm, I saw a liquor shop a few blocks back. We could grab some beers, sit out at the beach in the car and wait for the sun to come up, just like we used to back at the lake in Oklahoma?” he shrugs with a smirk.
“Sounds perfect!” I squeal enthusiastically. Although I know that all those years ago we used to do a lot more than just wait for the sun to come up!
We drive to the liquor store, park the car, jump out and go inside. We grab a couple of six packs and head towards the counter. Ash grabs a bottle of whisky on the way and adds it to our supplies. Ash pays the cashier and we head back to the car. Ash places the drinks on the back seat and we jump in and head down the road to find a suitable place to park. After only a couple of minutes we pull into a deserted car park that’s set back from the road and overlooks the ocean. Ash parks the car so we’re facing the beach. He opens his car door and as he gets out he says, “I’ve got some blankets in the back Angel, I’ll just grab ‘em, it’ll get chilly at night without the heater on.” He jumps out and heads towards the back of the car.
When he comes back he throws some blankets into the back, flips his front seat forward and places an acoustic guitar on the back parcel shelf, he climbs into the back seat, closing the driver’s door as he gets in. He sits sideways with his feet up on the seat and his back against the inside of the door. “Jump on back here Angel.” He pats the seat opposite him and kicks his shoes and socks off onto the floor. I clamber on over and sit with my back against the opposite side, flicking off my shoes and socks too. Our legs entangle together in the middle of the seat. He grabs a couple of beers and passes one to me. He takes a few mouthfuls of his beer and then he hands the bottle to me, “Hold this for me Angel?” he asks as he grabs his guitar, placing the strap over his shoulder. He strums the guitar and quietly sings a slow ballad. He continues to play a few songs as I sit mesmerised listening to him, sipping on my beer. Between songs he takes a few swigs of his beer and has managed to get through a couple of bottles. He sighs happily and places the guitar over onto the front seat. Leaning across he pulls out some portable speakers from the glove box and plugs them into his i-phone and turns it on at a low volume. The music floats through the car. He reaches down and grabs the bottle of whisky, removes the cap and takes a swig. He hands the bottle to me and I take a drink too.
Ash looks over to me and pats the space on the seat between his knees, “C’mere Angel.” He has a sultry look and hooded eyes. I take another drink from the bottle and hand it back to him. I scoot on over placing my back against his front, sitting between his legs, resting my head back on his shoulder and my hands on his knees. He places his arms around me and gently kisses the top of my head, then nestles into my neck. We sit there for a while as he softly strokes my arms. We take turns sipping the whisky while we listen to the soft music and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.
I turn around slightly so I’m leaning against his shoulder, my hand resting against his chest. Looking up into his eyes I see desire burning with an intensity that’s hard to ignore. My body reacts
instantly, my temperature rises and my pulse starts to beat faster.
I drift my hand lower and slip it underneath the hem of his t-shirt. His skin is hard and warm. I can feel his heart beating as fast as mine. I glide my hand across his chiselled abdomen, my fingers tracing each and every line of his muscles. I hear him suck in a gasped intake of breath. Then he places his hand over mine on top of his t-shirt, halting me from moving any further. “Angel, I need to know you’re mine.” he whispers.
I slowly turn to face him, kneeling in front of him. I remove my hands from under his t-shirt and place both hands on either side of his face. Looking determinedly into his eyes I can see his hesitancy. I speak firmly but tenderly, “Ash…listen to me. I may not have told Richard that me and him are over yet, but my heart is with you. There’s no doubt in my mind at all. I’m yours. Always have been. Always will be.”
Our gazes are locked on each other. He pulls me in tightly so I’m straddling his lap and our bodies are pressed against each other. He buries his head in my neck and wraps his arms around me. We’re motionless for a few minutes, then he leans back so there’s a small space between us. The hesitancy that I saw in his eyes earlier has disappeared and is replaced by pure masculine heat and need. In a forceful but heart-felt tone he says to me, “You’re mine, and I’m yours. Always have been. Always will be.” He pauses for a few seconds and then continues, “Angel, I know I said I’d wait but I simply can’t supress this overwhelming craving I have for you any longer.”
He leans into me and our lips meet, hesitantly and softly at first, but our urgency soon increases and our tongues are delving and tasting, tempting us to claim more of each other. Our hands roam, touching and familiarising ourselves with the each other’s bodies. My hands slip back under his t-shirt and I blindly run my fingertips over every line of his abs, outlining the hard contours. Ash’s palms glide firmly over my soft curves triggering unrestrained want and desire.
