Ash's nephew likes to go to the park. Ash likes it too, but only because he'd find this redhead beautiful girl there too, everyday; at the same time. The raven haired always hesitated about speaking to her, but today, faith chose otherwise.

THE REDHEAD IN THE PARK.

By @GingerAndy

Ash sighed. He hated babysitting. He totally hated it. It was the most boring thing he had to endure for the sake of saving some cash. His brother was quite generous, and he could give him millions to keep his son away for a couple of hours so he could take his wife to all the expensive and romantic places. It was for a good cause.

True, Jacob and Miriam loved each other, but Ash had a feeling they weren’t really ready for a kid. They still wanted to make love on the couch and run around naked; spend vacations away and go to bars together. Ash knew his brother too well anyway.

Since little three years old Austin never agreed on spending time with his uncle at home, Ash always took him to the park. Ash didn’t mind going to the park, and especially not at eleven in the morning.

In fact, he loved going to the park.

He’d always find this beautiful red haired girl sitting down on the other bench, watching over some little girls as well. She sat always by the same bench, and Ash always found her by the same park at the same time.

She looked his age. Her skin was fair, and one could clearly tell her outstanding deep ocean eyes from miles. Her body looked toned. She always had a book in hand, and she’d look up now and then at the girls playing in the sand; smile at them and wave.

Today, her hair was magically straight, up in a messy bun, and she wore white ballerinas, a large white see through sweater and black leggings. They outlined her toned legs perfectly.

Ash always watched her from behind. The girl was a total stranger yet she seemed to catch his interest. He’s thought sometimes of talking to her, but never got the guts to. It was too hard for Ash. Getting in a conversation with a stranger wasn’t easy nor evident. And she was probably going to think he was a stalker or a creep if he ever tried to talk to her—and how would he know? Maybe she was taken. Pretty girls were always taken.

Ash turned quickly to look in front of him when she looked up from her book and turned to her right. She probably caught him staring with the corner of her eye. The raven haired kept looking in front of him, look blankly fixed on his nephew, who was playing with two little girls.

Wait, two litt—

“Is that your little brother?”

Ash jumped up. He turned toward the girl, his heart pounding fast now. He was trying hard to act normal. “Uh—n-no, my nephew.”

“Nice. You’re babysitting too?” the girl asked, the sweetest smile on her face. She closed her book and turned her body toward Ash.

“Yeah…”

“Those are my nieces with him. I babysit them too, all the time,” she told Ash with a shrug. The smile never left her face. “They’re my little angels. I love them.”

“Austin’s little sweetheart too,” Ash told the girl, feeling less and less nervous now.

The girl sat on the edge of her bench now, her gaze never leaving her nieces. She waved back at them when they did.

“Aunty Misty! Hellooo!”

“Aunty!”

“Hi sweetie!”

So her name is Misty… beautiful. “Well, I guess, Misty?”

The redhead nodded. She was keeping her smile on.

“If you’d like to… join me,” Ash shifted a bit and gestured to the spot beside him. He shrugged. “If you want-”

“Sure!” Misty grabbed her bag and walked toward Ash. She sat by his left side. “Your nephew seems to appreciate the girls company!”

Ash chuckled. It was true, because Austin looked rather happy. “He’s a ladies’ man, just like his father.”

“He’s the only nephew you have?”

“Yep. He’s our little everything. Mom loves spoiling him—oh, I’m sorry, my name is Ash. Nice talking to you,” Ash extended his hand, and Misty shook it gladly.

“Nice talking to you too, Ash,” Misty replied. She turned her attention to her nieces. “I have a little nephew too, but he’s still a baby. My sister doesn’t trust me with him.”

“My brother doesn’t trust me with anything or anyone, he just has no choice.”

Misty giggled.

“You can say that about me too. My sisters have really no choice either.”

“I taught Austin bad language,” Ash said with a chuckle, then added “and I got him addicted to the games in my phone.”

“Same! My five years old niece is addicted to Kim Kardashian Hollywood!”

“And she knows how to play that?”

“Better than me! We’re not exactly good influence then,” the redhead said with a giggle. Ash already loved her laugh. It was cute.

“It’s not a big deal, I guess…” Ash was thinking pretty quickly of something that could keep their conversation going. Misty saved him the pain and asked,

“So, where do you live here?”

“I don’t live here; I live in Pallet town. My brother and his wife live in Cerulean though. I come to visit them all the time.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Pallet is boring. I stopped enjoying being home after my brother married and my two sisters went to college. I love having people around so being alone doesn’t suit me at all.”

Ash wasn’t sure why he was telling a complete stranger this, but the girl felt so familiar, and she looked interested. She was listening to him.

“I understand. I have four older sisters. Suddenly they were gone. It was hard.”

“Well damn. This sucks.”

She laughed again. “Yeah.”

Ash smiled at her and turned to make sure Austin was still around. At the same time, Misty was taking a good glance at him.

Misty has never seen such beautiful chocolate brown eyes on any guy before. They were so catchy and tasty. They were too different from the usual dull plain brown eyes other person has.

He smelled good—like fresh cologne. His black vans and black shorts matched. His hoodie was royal blue.

“Hello? Misty?”

Misty jerked. She smiled nervously. Ash was waving his hand in front of her face. “Sorry, you were saying?”

“I was… well, never mind. It was no big deal.”

If it wasn’t for that question she asked about Austin, she’d have never got the guts to speak to him.

Of course; Misty noticed him coming all the time. He always came to the same park at the same time. He’d sit down by himself and keep messing with his phone. He called his nephew sometimes to give him a little treat, like a chocolate bar, and candy. Misty thought it was cute.

And she just kept watching him from behind. It was weird for the redhead, to have such sudden interest in a stranger. She couldn’t stop going to the same park at the same time. She loved it when she saw him there. She secretly adored it when he’d look toward her and look away quickly. Misty would squeal hard inside.

And plus, his fashion sense wasn’t bad at all, and the way his hair was messy was adorable.

“Hey, can—can I have you phone number?” Misty finally asked. She was tired of waiting for something to happen.

“Oh—sure, sure.”

Right after they exchanged phone numbers, Austin came running. He bumped into Ash’s legs and hugged them. He gave Misty a long, odd look. “Unca Ash.”

“Yes, Uncle Ash is here.” Ash ruffled his hair as he saved Misty’s phone number. Austin pouted. “I wanna go home!”

“Already?”

Austin nodded.

“If we go home, you won’t tell me that you want to go back and all that crappy shit you do every time, riiiight?” Ash grinned and patted his nephew’s head. Austin stood silent for a moment. He looked pretty confused and it made both teenagers chuckle.

“Speak slower, Ash.”

Austin pulled at Ash’s shorts. He let some whining voices. “Fine! No more park after going home, right?”

“No!”

“What does no means? Does no means yes and that you won’t tell me to take you to the park afterwards? Or no means no and that you’ll tell me to take you to the park after we get home?”

Austin looked like he wanted to cry. Misty cooed and rubbed the little boy’s cheek. “Awwww poor little one! Ash, you’re confusing him!”

“I love doing that.”

“I wanna go home!” Austin pulled more at his uncle’s clothes. He had little tears forming in the corner of his deep blue eyes.

“Relax, Austin, we’ll leave soon,” Ash took out a napkin and rubbed off the sand off of Austin’s clothes. He then picked him up and sat him down to his left. “Now let me try my luck with this lovely lady will you?”

Misty giggled. She blushed hard.

Austin clung to Ash’s arm and the pout never left his face. Ash turned toward Misty. “He doesn’t like it when my attention isn’t one hundred percent on him. He gets jealous.”

“It’s okay I guess!”

“So if you’d like to hang out sometime… I mean, if you’d like, of course-”

“Sure Ash! I’d like to see you again!”

“Awesome—great, I mean, yeah, that’d be nice—you know what I mean right?” Ash was slightly freaking out. He chuckled nervously.

Misty said with a giggle, “yes.”

“Okay—great.  I’ll call you.”

“I’ll be waiting!”

“Good.” Ash beamed, got up and put down Austin. He was getting ready for leaving. “Bye Misty.”

“Bye Ash!”

Ash guessed he no longer needed to babysit his nephew now.

THE END.