[T.Broomsticks] A New Age Dawns [Ash/Open]

[zachbig]

[[ sweet inspiration. hope you don’t mind, I ran with this idea a bit ]]

Ashton declined Zachariah’s offer but to his great joy Jennifer accepted. Nodding his head with a coy smile on his face, Zach made his way to the bar and, leaning on his elbow on the bar, called Pete over. The old barman came over, waddling like a penguin, and took the mug to be refilled … well, the twenty-nine year old hoped not. It was only as the bartender disappeared from view that he thought to ask for new mugs, considering the yuck that had been at the bottom of the mugs when he’d finished.

Taking a deep breath as be began to worry about it, Zach ran a hand nervously through his hair, shaking it up a bit, as he looked behind him and spied on Jen and Ashton for a second. He’d have thought they were talking about him from all his experiences of being out with some of his female friends to clubs and such but for the pictures that Jennifer was looking at. Letting out the breathed he’d been holding in, Zach turned back to the bar, holding onto it with both of his big hands.

There was a man sitting at the bar in the stool next to him who was looking at him rather oddly and Zach being Zach turned and smiled at the wrinkly old man. “What can I do you for, friend?” he asked in a friendly tone. The man said nothing but hunched his shoulders further over his drink and gave Zach the cold shoulder. Pete returned with the two new mugs of coffee just in time. Zach thanked him, patted the man on the shoulder and wished him all the best, before moving back to the table where Ashton and Jennifer were huddled around some photographs.

“Someone into photography?” Zach asked curiously. Through his father he’d met a number of photographers and they all seemed rather quirky to him so the idea of Ashton being an aspiring photographer didn’t surprise him in the least. Zach pushed Jennifer’s coffee mug towards her slowly, keeping his dark brown eyes on hers. He waited for her to reach for the mug before retracting his hand just so that his hand would brush against his. He gave her a small smile before lifting his own mug to his lips and taking a sip.

Zach couldn’t keep it in any more. This was a problem because he was trying so hard but with Jennifer sitting that close and her being as beautiful as she was it was hard to resist. “Jen?” he said suddenly, putting his mug back on the table. “Could you give me your hand for a moment?” he asked, holding out his hand to her, while standing up himself. His eyes were on her the entire time but as she was reaching for his hand he quickly added, “and standing up for just a second?”

He helped her to her feet, holding her soft hand the entire time. After a moment, he held her hand as he extended his arm. Rather quickly then he brought the arm back to him, spinning her around on the spot, making sure to catch her around the waist as he dipped her. Looking into her eyes as their faces were inches apart, Zach blinked once, his heart beating in his ears. The words that followed were whispered, only meant for this beautiful woman’s ears. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” he asked, smiling broadly.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash looked up as Zach returned. "Modeling actually." he replied with a small smile in response to the older man's inquiry. "I actually used to model for Jen here, before I left for France. And these are just some of the pictures that I took there."

He smiled as he watched Zach suddenly take Jen by the hand and twirl her around before dipping her back to whisper something in her ear. He couldn't stop a pang of sadness from shooting through him. That could've been him and Cris. If things had gone according to plan, they would've already been married for about two maybe three months by now.

But no, things just didn't work out. As much as Ash knew that he couldn't change the past, and he should just accept it and move on, he couldn't stop the few tears from running down his face. He quickly wiped away the others so Jen wouldn't see. She had enough to deal with.

Of course, he hadn't counted on the fact that there were still tears in his eyes, even if they hadn't fallen. But that didn't matter, Jen had been there for him, and now it was his turn to be there for her.