From the episode "First Time", Ashley does a monologue about her first time with a girl. So of course my imagination ran wild with the idea of creating what Ashley's first time was like. This series develops a fictitious character of the girl whose name Ashley mentions in the episode.
The Introduction
"You're a total life saver," Ashley says as she buckles herself in.
The girl from the club pulls her silver RAV4 out of the parking lot towards the highway.
"You don't exactly plan to be ditched during a date when you decide to take only one car," Ashley explains.
"Sorry you had to wait until my shift ended," the girl says.
On the other nights that Ashley had hung out at Grey, she vaguely remembers seeing the girl work the door; the tall, small-boned girl with fine facial features, almond shaped eyes, a barely there nose scattered with a few brown sun-freckles, and thin but perfectly shaped lips. She has straight black hair – Catherine Zeta-Jones black – that falls heavily down her bronzed back; the color of sitting in the sun just long enough to get a healthy glow without turning orange. Barcelona, was the first impression that crossed Ashley's mind as she spoke to her, she looks like the girls in Spain.
She is about two or three inches taller than Ashley who had to look up into the girl's eyes as she explained her predicament, her inability to get home. The girl had looked down at Ashley endearingly, empathetically understanding Ashley's problem.
"Anything's better than having to ask my ex-boyfriend to pick me up," Ashley confesses.
"Don't you have a friend who could come get you?"
Madison's pretty little bitch face materializes in Ashley's mind, "Actually, my ex-friend is the reason why I have an ex-boyfriend and the reason why I was on this pathetic date."
"I can't believe your date just walked out on you with another girl? What happened?"
"I don't know exactly," Ashley says and pauses. "It may have something to do with the fact that I told him to fuck the other girl as hard as he had been staring at her all night."
"That'll do it," the girl laughs. "You're a little firecracker, aren't you? I hate to be on your bad side."
"I've been told. Do you have a cigarette?"
"Glove compartment. The lighter too. Get one for me."
Ashley rifles through the mess in the glove compartment until she locates a pack of cigarettes and a silver flip-top lighter. Ashley skillfully flicks on a flame and lights her cigarette like she's been doing it for years when in fact her fingers tremble and she hasn't smoked since her freshman year at King High two "long' years ago. She steals a glance at the girl's profile: perfectly plucked eyebrows, freshly glossed lips, a bare shoulder freckled by the sun.
Ashley hands the lighter and extra cigarette to the girl. Without taking her eyes off the road, the girl puts her hand on top of the two items making full palm-to-palm contact with Ashley's. The girl first slides away the cigarette, then reaches for the lighter and takes it away as the tips of her fingers slowly stroke the palm of Ashley's hand. Ashley's heart skips a beat and she quickly pulls away her hand. The girl coolly lights her cigarette. They ride in silence past a few exits.
"You don't mind me playing music."
"It's your car, you can do what ever you want," Ashley says impassively. She blows a puff of smoke which fogs up the passenger side window.
"I wasn't asking." The girl hits play on the CD player and Joan Baez's soothing, sultry voice fills the car. The tension in Ashley's shoulders loosens; she stretches out her legs and rests her head back against the seat. Transported on the wings of Joan's voice, Ashley melts into the aura of the music.
"I love her music so much," Ashley says in a low, thoughtful voice to no one in particular. "My dad's a musician and she's like one of his biggest inspiration for his lyrics. He said he'd lend me a couple of her original albums but he's always on the road, touring so I haven't heard them yet."
"She definitely has a way with words," the girl says. "'Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment/Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie'."
A shiver goes up Ashley's spine at the sound of the French R's rolling off the girl's tongue.
"The pain of love really does last longer than its pleasure," the girl mumbles absentmindedly to no one in particular. She continues, "I was a kid when I first heard her songs and had no appreciation for what she was saying. But now that I'm older and wiser," the girl chuckles and rolls her eyes, "I can really take it in."
"And what age makes you so-called wiser?" Ashley snidely asks.
"Twenty one."
"Oh, you're such a sage."
"How old are you?"
"Didn't you check my ID at the door?"
The girl shakes her head, "You were probably already inside before I started my shift."
"Is this what you do for a living?" Ashley asks disdainfully.
"Firecracker. Can you say anything without sounding like a total bitch?"
"It was just a question."
"I do a lot of things. When I was younger, I used to be such regular at Grey that it was just natural to accept the position when it opened up. It gives me a little extra cash, I like the music, the crowd is fun, and I gotta pay my bills. It's a tough job keeping old pervs out of these underage clubs … and protecting little hotties like you."
Ashley takes a long drag from her cigarette and lies, "I'm nineteen."
"So I don't have any of Joan's albums but I do have an amazing collection of her CDs at my place."
Ashley stops breathing and she quickly takes another drag from her cigarette.
"But," the girl continues, "I guess someone is expecting you at a certain time so I better get you home."
"No, like I said my dad's always on tour, my parents are divorced, and my mom, my mom…" Ashley is distracted by the approaching green highway sign that marks the exit toward her house. I guess I should tell her to turn off here. "My mom's so into her new boyfriend that'll be days before she comes up for air long enough to notice that she has a daughter." Looking in the side-view mirror, Ashley watches the gray back of the exit sign get smaller and smaller as it fades in the distance behind them.
The low-density traffic at four in the morning allows the girl to take several brief glances at Ashley who is staring out the window. She takes in Ashley's long slender legs and smooth thighs that stop at the edge of her mini skirt. She observes Ashley's gentle and pretty face that contrasts the attitude that Ashley has been maintaining as a façade throughout the ride. The girl steps on the gas and changes lanes so as not to miss the exit to Beachwood Canyon.
