"Ready, Ashton?" I ask.

"Just about!"

Today we're going for a walk in the arboretum. It's one of those rare times where the weather in Minnesota is actually tolerable for February. (Thanks climate change...) The snow had melted and for a couple days, it was warm enough to be outside and not hate yourself. We decided to take advantage of that, and Ashton suggested we go on a date. I love photography, so he suggested we walk around and I can take pictures.

"You just don't want to go out to dinner again." I teased when he suggested it a couple days ago.

He stuck his tongue out at me.

"It isn't that, it's just that I can't have you getting all spoiled and not knowing what your duties are."

I glared at him but the effect was ruined by my blush.

"And you'll make me dinner after, since feeding me is one of your duties to me."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes one of many." I scoffed and punched him, and he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Stop it." I scolded and he leaned over and kissed me.

"I'm only teasing, I can make you something special once we get back."

"I'd rather not die of food poisoning."

He scowled and stuck his tongue out at me before going into his room to get ready.

Ashton walks into the living room, all ready now and my breath is knocked from my chest.

He's wearing dark ripped jeans, a white and black striped button up, his black boots, and the jacket I'd gotten him. He has a bunch of sweatshirts and a red and black leather jacket, but I wanted him to have something nice, so I got him this "fancy jacket" which is what he calls it. It came with a matching scarf, which he was also wearing now, and of course he was wearing it incorrectly.

"You still aren't wearing that right." I chastise, getting up off the couch and walking over to him. I pull the scarf off his neck and reposition it so he doesn't look like a goof.

"Oh, I know how to wear it." He says seriously. "I just like it when you dress me. Or undress me."

Right as he says this, Sarah walks into the room with a cup of water and almost chokes on the sip she just took. She then hastily retreats into the kitchen.

I shake my head at him, pulling the scarf tighter than he needed to be.

He coughs a bit, struggling to breathe.

"Whoa, woman. Watch what you're doing, or I'll have to fire you from another duty you love so much." He say arrogantly.

"Oh, you quit it."

He grins boyishly, dimples popping and grabs my hand.

"You ready?"

"I've been ready. I've been waiting on you."

"As it should be."

I groaned. I walked into that one.

We walk outside and I pull on my gloves. It's sunny, but still chilly.

"Should we drive?" Ashton asks.

I nod and we climb into his truck.

"It's so nice out," Ashton says as we arrive on campus.

I nod absently, watching the people around us. I love people watching. Everyone is so quickly hurrying about to class or meetings or wherever they need to be. Even the slow moving people were rushing. It was almost the top of the hour, when classes started and they were probably about to be late.

Ashton circled around the parking lot, searching for a spot. After a minute of waiting, he found one and we got out. I took my camera out of my backpack and found Ashton standing by the entrance to the arboretum. I took the 60 mm lens out of the bag and attached it to the camera.

"You look hot when you're concentrating." He blurts out as he leans against the gate.

I smile, explaining what I'm doing. "I was trying to attach the lens, but it wouldn't click in for a second."

I raise the camera over my head and let the strap fall around my neck.

Ashton pushes himself off the gate, hands in his pockets, and stops in front of me. He meets my eyes and pulls my hair out from under the strap before kissing my nose.

"Well, lead the way, Madame Photography."

"Go back to where you were standing." I command. "I want to get a picture of you standing by the sign."

He purses his lips, then looks at the sky taking a deep breath, a snarky comment ready to go. I can see it in his eyes, he's going to protest this.

"Okay, you caught me," I say quickly. "I'm just making excuses to take pictures of you dressed up so nice. You look positively debonair." I say in a classy, albeit slightly ridiculous accent.

He rolls his eyes, but I see him puff out his chest with pride. All I have to do is tell him he looks good and he'll do whatever I ask. I love his big ego.

He leans back against the sign and looks at me expectantly.

"Left hand out of your pocket. No, keep the right one. Oh, now you messed up the jacket!" I scold, walking over and re-positioning the corner of his jacket. While I'm there, I adjust the scarf, too.

He catches my hand as I turn away.

"I like when you're bossy."

I blush and pull my hand away. He looks at me and smiles. I snap the picture, moving to get a different angle.

"Okay, now look towards the bench on your left over there and don't smile." Ashton obeys my commands. "Part your lips a bit, and look angry."

"You mean smolder." he says, doing just that. I snap picture after picture. I would be totally content to stay here all day and just photograph him.

"Hey, Picasso, don't you want to photograph something else?" He asked after about 2 minutes of different poses.

"First of all, Picasso was a painter, not a photographer."

He shrugs.

"Po-ta-to, po-tah-toh."

"That doesn't even...Fine. Let's go."

He grins at his own foolishness and grabs my hand as we walk inside the arboretum. We duck under the ivy covered archway and I direct us to the path on the left when we have the choice. The path is made up of small blue-grey stones that crunch loudly beneath our feet. I stop and lay down on my stomach, trying to ignore one particularly sharp stone stabbing my rib cage, and take a picture of a small plant that grew through the stones. I set my camera in front of me on the gravel and zoom in.

After snapping a couple of shots, I stand up.

Ashton smiles at me and we keep walking, talking a bit about random stuff. We meander through canopies of trees that have the beginnings of leaves and bushes with buds. I stop almost every few feet to take a picture of something. The single leaf on the tree, a metal table between two trees that glistens in the sunlight, the birds in a nest, the lily pads on the pond.

Ashton waits patiently for me as I take all these pictures.

"This has been a blast, Ashton." I say after I photograph two male cardinals in the grass. They're my favorite kind of bird.

"Good, I'm glad. I'd say it was a success then."

"I'm sorry you didn't have much fun, though."

He takes me hand.

"Watching you this happy is all I need."

I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. He moves closer and tries to press himself against me, but the camera digs into both our stomachs.

"Oops," I say pulling back. "Hey, did you want to take any pictures?" I quickly change the settings to auto so he doesn't have to worry about changing things.

He shakes his head then looks at me.

"Wait, yes. Don't move." He slips the camera off from around my neck and points it at me.

"No, Ashton, don't." I turn away and cover my face. I don't like having my picture taken unless I initiate the photo.

"No fair. You took like a bajillion pictures of me. Now it's my turn."

"That's not even a number." I grumble, looking back at him—a mistake. He gives me the puppy dog look, a look from him in which I am powerless against. "Fine." I sigh.

At least I'm sort of dressed for a photo shoot. I chose boots and dark jeans, and I'm wearing my fancy jacket, a female version of Ashton's. I had curled my hair slightly too, and I was wearing a red polka dot faux-silk shirt, so I guess I look all right.

Ashton snaps a few pictures, bending down and moving around like I did, but making goofy faces and jumping around like a monkey instead of being serious serious.

I scoff at his mockery.

"Oh, Vi, nice. Sexy, I love it."

I blush and scowl.

"Okay, how about a nice face for once. Can we try that?" He lowers the camera and smirks at me.

I stick my tongue out, then smile brightly. He comes in close and I move back.

"Ashton," I laugh, eyes widening. "Why are you so close?"

"I'm trying to capture your eyes." He murmurs. "They're beautiful today, pale grey."

I blush. I always thought they were dull.

"Well, you still don't need to be so close."

"Fine. Go stand by that tree. Hand on your hip, good. Now look at the branch, there," He points and I follow his hand. "Nice. Now look at it like it didn't just try to kill your puppy."

I give him a bewildered look then burst out laughing.

"Perfect." He smiles and drops the camera, letting it hang off his neck. "You are beautiful, Viola Mathers." he says, stepping close to me and brushing my hair behind my ear.

I look up into his eyes.

"I know." He gets a mischievous look in his eyes and I back away.

"No, no, Ashton!" I start running and he chases after me, wiggling his fingers.

"When I get you, Miss Mathers, you're going to regret your arrogance!"

"You should talk. I learned from you!"

"Oh, no you didn't. You're really going to get it." I glance back and he's right behind me. I keep running, as fast as I can and I run into a thicket of bushes, quickly ducking left, hoping to hide behind it so he can't see me.

Ashton doesn't see my detour and keeps going until he stops in the small clearing. This is actually a really nice, secluded spot. I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't run past here. There's a small circle of bushes about as tall as Ashton. It isn't very large, but once you're inside, there's no other way out.

He turns around, confused and I take his moment of distraction to jump on his back.

"Hey," He yells. "Cheater!"

"No, I'm not. You're just bad at catching."

He turns his head so he can see me, kind of, and gives me a wicked grin. I try to climb down, but his hands are holding my thighs tight.

"No, no no, Ashtoooooooonnnnn!" He starts spinning me around in circles. I squeal in delight and cling on to his neck. He stops pretty soon and I'm still laughing. He lets me down but I stumble from dizziness. He grabs my waist to keep me from falling.

Staring into my eyes, he removes the camera and set it on the ground a few feet from us.

"There are no roommates out here, so no distractions." He says brusquely before crashing his lips onto mine. I slide my hands around his neck and as they make their way into his hair, I realize how in love I am. If he proposed right now, I'd say yes in a heartbeat. I'd do anything and everything he asked of me.

Ashton suddenly pulls away from me. My head spins and I frown. Why did he pull away? He looks over my shoulder. I turn around and a man dressed in dark clothing and a blue cap bursts into the clearing.

"So much for no distractions." Ashton says, gritting his teeth but smiling. He puts his forehead to mine.

"We just can't win." I sigh, then an idea pops into my head. "Hey, excuse me?" I say to the man. He had started to walk away, until I called him back. "Would you mind taking our picture?"

"Vi,"

"What? I want a picture of the two of us."

"All right." Ashton smiles.

The man walks over and grabs the camera Ashton hands him. I look at Ashton and wipe my lip gloss from the corner of his mouth. He blushes.

I place my arms around him and he does the same. I smile up at him for a second and he smiles back, before we turn to the camera.

"Thanks." I say as he brings it back.

"No problem." He says in a deep, gravelly voice. He looks at me from underneath his hat. I flinch and turn back to Ashton. The look he gave me made me uncomfortable. I force my way under Ashton's arm and make him wrap them around me. I always feel safe with his arms around me.

"Can I see the picture, Vi?" He asks.

I turn the camera on so we can look at it.

"Wow." Ashton says breathlessly. The man took two pictures. One was of us looking forward and smiling brightly. He must have known a thing or two about photography, because he didn't center us. We off to the right with the bushes in the background. The other photo was taken in the same position, except we're looking at each other with matching looks of awe and admiration and love. It was taken moments after I'd wiped his face.  Ashton's curls fell over his forehead, and he looked so cute.

Our eyes meet and we both look away and blush.

"I don't think I'll post this one." I say. Ashton looks a little sad. "I want it to be our picture."

He nods.

"I like it." He kisses my forehead. "Ready to go back?"

"Yep."

"Good, I'm starving. It's time for you to feed me."

***

I really fucking love this photo. That is all.