15. Jay

CHAPTER 15

JAY

It was dark by the time dinner ended. We'd probably outstayed our welcome at the restaurant, taking our time to eat and chat, but time always flew by when I was with Ash. Though, the owners of the restaurant—that cute kid Ash wasacquainted with—didn't seem to mind us enjoying our date.

Ash's hand quickly found mine as he said a quick goodbye to the kid and told him to say hi to his sister for him on our way out of the restaurant. Our hands found each other again once we were inside his car.

"So you finally gonna tell me where this mysterious place is we're going to now?" I asked when he pulled out of the parking lot.

He stopped at the red light, turned to me with a huge grin, then said, "Nope."

"You're a menace," I shot back in reply, which only had him laughing as he faced the front again.

"Will it kill you to be patient and enjoy the surprise? "

"It might," I deadpanned.

He shot me an indulging glance just before the light turned green. "We'll be there soon, darlin'."

That had me shutting my mouth but also glaring at him because I had a very high suspicion that he'd realized just how much I liked the pet name and was using it to pacify me. That was way too much power in his hands, and I vowed to never react to that word again.

While I was absorbed in my thoughts, Ash was already pulling into a relatively empty parking lot. "We're here, darlin'."

My heart squeezed again. Gosh darn it.

I'll get used to the endearment…eventually!

Ash led me to a building that looked completely dark. Even the sign was too dark to read, so I had no clue what kind of place this was—I would have expected it to be closed already. That wouldn't have been surprising considering stores tended to close early around these parts, though not this one, it seemed.

The inside of the building was as deserted as the outside, with only a single man waiting inside.

"Welcome, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Cobb. I've been expecting you," the smartly dressed older man greeted us.

I wanted to ask Ash how the man knew our name or why he was expecting us, but the stranger told us to follow him before I could. By the amused smile Ash shot my way, he totally knew I had a hundred and one questions running through my head, but he chose to continue keeping me in suspense.

When my curiosity reached its peak, the stranger stopped outside of the double doors. "Take your time and enjoy," he said professionally. He opened the doors, then turned to go back the way we came.

The inside of the room was completely dark, giving me no hint as to where the hell we were. I looked at Ash for some answers, but he wanted to keep playing this game of mystery.

"Well? Ready for your surprise?" he asked, holding his hand out in an " after you " gesture. The dim lights were bright enough to reveal the amused glint in his eyes.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" I accused. He didn't even need to answer for me to tell how much fun he was having at my expense. "Fine, I'll play your little game, but only because I'm dying to know what's inside."

I huffed and entered the mysterious room. Ash closed the doors behind us and followed me in. It was completely dark save for the small, dim lights embedded into the floor. There was just enough light for me to see that this was an auditorium of sorts. Rows of empty chairs took up most of the space inside the room, and we were at the top.

"C'mon, let's go down," Ash said from a step lower than me and held out his hand. I accepted it and followed him down to the bottom where it opened up into a circle shaped floor.

There was a blanket laid down in the middle of the floor, and that was where Ash led me to. I followed him to kick off our shoes and sit on the blanket.

"What is this place? A movie theater? And where is everyone else?" The questions came out in quick succession as I looked around our surroundings, still confused as hell. It was dark and laid out like a movie theater, but I didn't see the typical large screen at the front where the movie would play. Plus, we were the only ones in the room.

"We're not in a movie theater, but I guess it's something similar? And they're letting us in here after hours as a favor. I gotta use my street cred for something, right?" He shot me a wink before lying down and spreading his right arm out in the space next to him. "Here, come lie down next to me," he said, patting his arm. I gave him a curious glance but complied and snuggled into his side.

Just as I opened my mouth to question him further, the once dark room suddenly lit up with countless stars above us.

"Wow!" I exclaimed, sitting up in my surprise. I'd heard about planetariums before but had never been inside one. I hadn't even known there was one near us. Most of all, I hadn't expected how beautiful the projected scene would be.

Ash laughed at my shock, then tugged me back into his arms. "You're busy with the studio these days, so we can't travel anywhere far, and I thought, why not travel to space? I know it's not exactly the same, but hopefully this will satisfy a bit of your wanderlust until we have more time for our road trip," he said, shooting me a toothy grin.

My mouth hung open, not sure how to reply. Hell, I didn't even know which part to wrap my head around first: the fact he'd planned all this for me, or that he'd been serious about the road trip. I thought it was just one of those things people said to cheer someone up.

I didn't know why I'd even doubted him in the first place. Ash had always been genuine with me. He was a man of his word, and fuck , he was doing all of this for me .

There was no way I could hold myself back after that. I lunged at him, holding him tight as I kissed him and tried to convey all the emotions I was too afraid to say aloud.

He listened to my fears, and instead of letting me wallow in them, he wanted to help me overcome them. And hell if that didn't make me fall harder for this man.

I was all ready to take the kiss deeper, but Ash pulled at the back of my shirt. He was out of breath, like I was, and I could feel his semi pressing against my own, but he used a fortitude of willpower to keep our lips apart.

"Wait, you have to at least let me show off what I learned," he grumbled. I laughed, took another deep breath to calm myself, then nestled back into his side.

He wrapped his arm tighter around me in a one-armed hug, then raised his other arm to point above us. The little stars twinkled so brightly as they slowly moved across the ceiling.

"You see the three bright stars almost in a straight line close together? That's Orion's belt. And the two larger, bright stars above that are his shoulders. The two below the belt are his feet. And all of that together makes Orion," he recited, sounding as if he'd practiced this littlespiel.

I shifted to rest my ear against his chest and listened to his heartbeat as he showed off his knowledge of the sky. Surprisingly, he knew a lot more than I'd anticipated, so I lay there in wonder, humming in reply to each new constellation he showed me.

"And of course we can't forget the Big Dipper," he said, pointing out a constellation that looked like a kite in the sky.

"How do you even know all of this? Don't tell me you're secretly a space enthusiast," I propped myself on his chest to look at him and asked in amazement.

"Nah, I just looked it up in preparation for today," he said casually, as if that was the most logical thing in the world. I'd had my fair share of dates in the past, and none of my partners ever put in this much effort on a date before. To be fair, I was ashamed to admit that neither had I.

That was going to change, because Ash fucking deserved the effort.