Thanks to everyone that left a review, it really is encouraging since half the time I think what I'm writing is utter crap so it's nice to know that at least a few people are enjoying it. And sorry for the wait, work is kicking my butt...literally. Today I ended up walking face first into the door in an effort to avoid being late...good times.

Chapter 5

7am, I've never woken up this early, but sleep just seems useless when you have the most amazing person you've ever met in your house. It's like when you're a kid and you can't wait to wake up and open those Christmas presents, and right now I just can't wait to see her face again.

The kitchen has got to be my favorite part of this house, standing here flipping chocolate chip pancakes and listening to the silence of an early morning. I love my kitchen. I love the way everything is in its exact spot, the way the pictures of my sister's kids on the fridge make it feel like a home.

"Good morning"

I freeze in the middle of a pancake flip at the voice, only to watch half of the pancake flop over the side of the pan ruining the essence of a perfect pancake. Great. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to cooking food, and one wrong move always turns me into a bit of a grouch. But my instant cup of bad mood disappears when I hear her speak again.

"Sorry...I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to know if you needed any help?"

"It's okay, I just wasn't expecting you to be up so early. Have a seat, I'm almost done...Do you want something to drink?"

"Orange juice would be fine, thanks."

She sits on the stool behind the island while I pour a glass of orange juice and hand it to her. I silently go back to flipping pancakes and I have to admit rather than being peaceful, the silence was kind of awkward now. That and the fact that I'm not really much to look at right now, wearing my black framed glasses and a long-sleeved t-shirt with some shorts. It's kind of not fair. Spencer looks adorably tousled, wearing one of my oversized button up shirts that I like to wear for painting, her hair's all mussed but it looks so sexy, like she purposely spent hours in the mirror trying to get it to look like she just woke up with sexy hair.

I slide her a plate of pancakes, taking a seat on the other side of the island directly in front of her, and watch her eat. Smiling to myself at how eager she looks digging into the pancakes.

"Oh my gosh, these are soooo good! Are you not having any?" She mumbles to me through a mouthful of pancake.

I beam with pride. Yeah, that's right. It's my pancakes that have got her ignoring all table manners and smearing chocolate all over her adorable face. Point for Ashley!

"Thanks, I'm glad you like them. I'm never really hungry in the morning, so you just go on and eat as much as you want."

I full out grin when I see her nod happily, chocolate all over her cheek.

"What?" She asks, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing" I laugh. "You've just got some chocolate on your cheek."

She frowns and rubs at her cheek, while I just grin at the expression on her face.

"You know your nose crinkles when you do that," she tells me, giving me that head tilt again.

"When I do what?" I ask, a bit confused.

"When you're really happy and you start grinning...your nose crinkles. It's cute."

I blush red and she just nonchalantly goes back to eating her pancakes. I watch her face closely as she eats, taking in every detail of her face, the tiny scar at her hairline, the smidgen of chocolate at the corner of her mouth. She looks up and our eyes meet. I gulp.

"So um...do you want to do anything today...with me. I mean it doesn't have to be with me...I don't really have any plans for today...I mean if you don't...and maybe uh you'd wanna do something...but you don't have to, I mean."

Somebody shoot me now. I never get nervous. I absolutely never get nervous. What is wrong with me!? I was dropped as a child...that must be it, and my mental incapacity conveniently decided to show up now when I'm about to get rejected for sounding like such a retard.

"Sounds good." She replies simply.

What? That's it. No maybe we can do it another time or sorry I don't hang out with people who can't form full sentences.

"Okay...um where do you wanna go. We could go to the beach, or a coffee shop, or there's this really cool bar slash cafe in town, oh and I think I saw somewhere that there's a fair going on, or the zoo, we could go to the park too if you want?"

"Ashley, wherever you go, I'll go."

She smiles at me and my heart melts. And for some reason I know that it wouldn't matter where we went as long as I was going to that place with her, that's all that would matter.