hacked title number 4

Maralyn raised an eyebrow.  "Meaning what, exactly?" she asked a touch cooly.

Ashton stalled, realizing he put himself in hot water. "Uhhhh.... well, you're very personable and understanding and pretty.... so I was guessing you were a PR person of sorts?"

Maralyn eased only a little.  "Smooth save.  I suppose you could say that, but I'm in a much higher class than he is.  A much higher class."

Ashton whistled lowly and looked down, now nervous all over again. She was waaaaay out of his league then! He tapped his fingers on the table nervously.

"Don't do that, most girls would take that as being rude," Maralyn said blandly.  "Now it's my turn.  What do you do for work?"

"Uh, I don't anymore." Ashton admitted. "I used to be more of a bodyguard though, I suppose." His eyes flitted about the club nervously. He still felt on edge.

"Not a good answer," Maralyn said.  "There's not much more off turning than an unemployed guy.  Make something up that sounds reasonable, or say you're between jobs but you have a promising offer of some kind.  Like bouncer at a club."

"Make something up?" Ashton asked with a frown, focusing on Maralyn briefly. "But I don't want to lie. I want to be as honest as possible."

Maralyn sighed.  "It's better than your current truth."

Ashton's frown deepened more and he looked away again, watching everyone in the club again. He fidgeted some still, but tried to keep it at a minimum.

"And what do you do as a hobby?" Maralyn prompted.

Ashton again paused to think. "I recently decided to teach myself how to play drums." He said. "Otherwise, just walking around and people watching."

Maralyn smiled.  "The drums?  Really?  That is cool!"

Ashton shrugged. "Can't really do anything with them yet. Just figuring out how to make noises mostly." He looked up as a waitress came over and asked if they wanted to order anything.

Maralyn placed her order then waited, watching Ashton.  He was supposed to ask her what her hobbies were now.

Ashton just asked for water and fell silent. He caught her staring at him. "What?"

Maralyn sighed.  "Nothing."  She shook her head and leaned back, people watching.

When the waitress returned, Ashton played with his water, swirling it in the glass, zoning out and staring at the liquid and frozen chunks of ice dance.

Maralyn frowned.  After about five minutes of dead silence, she finally said, "Um, hello?  I'm still here!"

Ashton jumped. "Oh! Yeah! Hi!" He shifted as he didn't know what else to say.

Maralyn raised her eyebrows.  "Seriously?  Oh, come on!  Surely you can carry on some semblance of a conversation!  What do you talk about with your best friend?"  She asked unaware of the fact that Lex was perfectly happy to spend hours in silence with Ashton.

"Mostly nothing, unless it's important!" Ashton said defensively. "And what does my best friend have anything to do with this? I've known him for years, and you're still practically a stranger!"

"Well, forgive me for trying to help you and give you ideas!" Maralyn growled in frustration.  "We're never going to know anything about each other if you keep up like this!  And if this is how you treat a real date, you'll never get passed the front door!"

Ashton visibly flinched and wilted at that, genuinely hurt at her lashing into him like that. He looked away from Maralyn.

Maralyn huffed and sat back, simmering.  After a while, she grudgingly asked, "So.  Seen any good movies lately?"