Before I met Ant I never had a boyfriend before. I had lots of guys hit on me and ask me out, but none of them ever really cared about me. They all made comments about how much they liked my natural red hair or creamy pale skin but none of them were what I wanted.
I was young and in high school when I turned 18 and wanted a car. My parents first suggestion was that I had better get a job if I wanted a car. I went to the steakhouse near my house that had an add in the paper for a busser and was hired on the spot. After a few months of cleaning up peoples dirty plates I became a hostess/cashier and ran the front lobby.
Then Ant came in to fill out an application. The moment I saw him I liked him. He had long black hair, lots of piercing all over his face and the only thing wrong with him was the blonde girl who was obviously his significant other that came in with him to fill out the application. It was more like she filled out the application while he stood next to her nervously and his eyes darted to me a few times and back to the floor. He handed the application in to me as I was the only one at the front lobby and then he left. Not a word spoken between us.
I looked over the application, his real name was Anthony and he lived near by. I put it in my managers office on her desk and put a sticky note with a star drawn on it. Just to hint that I liked him.
A few days later he was wearing a white apron and learning how to run the dishwasher in the back. I was excited that he was hired. Usually during my breaks I would sit in the back seating area and eat. After about four months of working with me and just saying hi and good bye awkwardly in the dishwashers area , Ant finally came to talk to me. He came out and asked if he could sit and talk to me while I ate my dinner later. I said sure.
I had just started to eat my dinner when he came around the corner and slid in the booth and sat across from me. He said Hello and started to tell me about himself and the band he had just started. He was obviously very nervous and I didn't find out many details that I hadn't already heard from gossip around the restaurant. Before I knew it my little break had ended and there were customers waiting on me to pay their bills. Ant disappeared back into the kitchen and I didn't even see him until I was leaving and we said good night to each other.
My friend Anna had also started working at the restaurant and a few days later as we were getting our nails done. She proceeded to tell me that Ant told her that he liked me and wanted to know if I would go out with him. I was shocked. I had to think this over first. I knew that Ant lived a bit more dangerously than me, he did drugs and was 21 so he could drink, he had tattoos. My parents are strict Southern Baptists so I had a feeling that this was not going to go over well at home. Plus in the past I had only been attracted to preppy and clean cut looking guys. I pushed all of that aside and told her to tell him that I liked him too and to have him talk to me about it.
I didn't work for a few days but Anna worked with him the next night and told him that I liked him. She said that he had asked her all sorts of questions about what I had said.
"Did Jayna just say I like him, or did she say something else?"
"Ant, she likes you. She said that she would go out with you."
"Are you serious? Did seem happy?"
"She smiled and just told me to tell you that she does like you and will go out with you."
Now I couldn't wait to go into work but the next time I was scheduled with him was 4 days away. I went to work that day after school and not even 10 minutes into my shift he walked through the front door and came up to me. He asked if he could talk to me outside. My boss said ok and we went out back to talk.
He told me that he broke up with his girlfriend the day before that and she was moving out that very moment and he would love for me to come over after work. I said sure. The rest of my shift flew by and before I knew it I was heading for his home. I called my parents and said I had to work late and walked into his house. He jumped up off the couch where he was sitting and came over to me. He asked if I wanted some soda and told me to go and have a seat in the living room. There were probably 8 other guys in the living room strewn about on various couches and chairs, some on the floor. His mother was wearing a thin nightgown and staring out the window into the dark.
I made my way in and stood at the threshold not knowing where to go. He came up behind me and told me to take his seat on the couch. I sat down and he sat on the arm of the couch next to me. Everyone was engrossed in a new play station game someone had just purchased. Ant introduced me to his mother. She got up and gave me a hug and told me that I looked like such a nice girl and then she went to bed. We sat around for awhile and it got kind of late and I told Ant that I had to go home. He walked me to the door and asked if it was alright to give me a hug. I said alright and he gave me a hug and told me that he had been wanting to hug me for forever. I just smiled not really sure how to respond. I walked out the door into the dark with a huge smile on my face.
A few days later Ant asked me to a movie. Sort of a strange invitation since I was the only with a car, so he sort of asked if I would drive me, him and his brother and a few of their friends to a movie. I said ok. On the way there we got pulled over for speeding. The red and blue lights lit up the car, the cop made everyone pile out of the car and ran their licenses. Ant had a warrant for not paying child support and the next thing I knew he was being arrested. He got arrested on our first real date.
"Jayna, I am really sorry about this." I didn't know what to say, the guy I just started to date was being hauled away by the police.
"I cannot believe you didn't tell me you had a kid."
"I will tell you all about her as soon as I get out." With that the cop shut the door and drove away with Ant in the back of the car.
The next day he called me and said that he had gotten bailed out and invited me to come over and hang out with him when he got off work since I had the night off already. I picked him up at work and we went to his house. I told my parents that I was going out with Anna to a movie. The house was the same as it had been before, full of people and thick with smoke. This time we had room for both of us to sit on the couch. Soon everyone was leaving to go drinking at someone else's party and they asked me for a ride. I said ok and when we got back to Ants we were almost alone. Just us and two of his brothers remained. This is the first time that we had ever spent any amount of time just the two of us together. It was strange.
"So about your daughter?"
"Oh yeah. Her moms name is Melissa and she lives in New Mexico, my daughter is almost 5 and her name is Natalie. I don't keep in contact much with Melissa because she has a pretty bad drug problem. I do send my daughter letters and gifts though."
"Do you have anymore kids?"
"No, just one."
We still had to sit right next to each other on the couch since his brother was laying on the other end. My knee brushed up against his leg and I could feel the sparks just from that. He put his arm around my shoulders and we sat there like that for awhile. Then I decided that I was going to make a move. I told him that I wanted to lay down and lean against him. So I put my head in his lap and snuggled up against him. He had his arm on the back of the couch still and I grabbed it and pulled it down across my chest. He looked down at me in surprise. I am sure that he had not expected that. Then he grabbed my hand and held it for awhile. Gently he slipped his hand up under the bottom of my shirt and stroked my taut stomach with his fingers. I was getting really turned on by all this and quite frankly I wanted more. I pushed his hand towards my jeans and he stopped and moved his hand back up. I was hoping he would finger me but he just kept rubbing my stomach. I wasn't sure exactly what it was that I wanted but I knew I needed something more. Then my phone rang and it was my mom asking when I would be home. I told her I was on my way and Ant walked me to the door where he gave me a big hug and asked me a question.
"Would you like to spend the night next Friday?"
"Of course I would. What time?"
"Well we both have to work how about we just go home together to my house after and stay here?"
"Sounds good."