twenty five
I felt my entire body shiver as a cold chill rushed up my spine. It was very clear that winter was on its way.
I felt my arms wrap around my torso as I walked down the street.
Rocks scrambled beneath my feet as I dragged my feet along the pavement.
It had been close to a week since I had seen Ashton.
After our short night together, he had left early that morning and hasn't tried to contact me at all since.
He hadn't been at school, which started to worry me.
Well, here I was, walking along the street in the middle of November. Just thinking about this boy.
A boy who had treated me with nothing but pure disrespect.
A boy who had somehow wiggled his way into my brain and had me worrying for him almost every second of every day.
I had decided that I wanted to see him earlier that morning. Luke had warned me, saying that it wasn't a good idea.
Of course, he was right. Luke was always right.
But I ignored him anyway.
I wanted to see how Jennifer was settling in any way.
So I suppose I was finding myself acting as stupid as ever as I walked up the steps leading to his dingy, bright red door.
"Oh, Shannon!" I heard Jenna's voice call as she opened the door. She had a knit blanket wrapped around her frail body. Her hair was thin, making it evident that the chemotherapy wasn't treating her well. "I saw you walking up the steps, it's so good to see you!" She smiled as she pulled me into a hug.
"I'm glad to see you up and about," I said cheerfully as she pulled me into the house. It looked quite clean. I assume she was just excited to finally clean it up after being in Ashton's hands for the last month and a half.
"Ashton is in his room," She smiled as she sat down on the couch.
"Thank you," I nodded my head and curled up into my knit sweater. I could tell they must have failed to pay the heating bill. It seemed colder inside than it did out.
I found myself walking down the hallway to see Ashton's door shut and locked.
I balled my hand into a fist and brought it to the wooden door. With three quick knocks, I found myself waiting for him to open the door.
Within a few seconds, I watched the door slowly open to reveal him standing before me.
"Hi," he sighed.
"Hi," I replied with a relieved tone. He didn't seem angry for once. We gazed at each other for a few seconds. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of plaid pajama pants.
Our eyes quickly met. After a brief moment, he opened the door for me to come inside.
I felt myself step inside to reveal a complete mess.
Everything was torn.
His sheets.
His posters.
His drumsticks broken.
I quickly spun around to find him staring at me.
"What the hell happened?" I quickly said.
"Nothing," he mumbled in an annoyed tone.
"Okay, sorry," I sighed. I didn't feel like arguing with him.
"What do you need?" He asked quickly. I just shrugged and sat beside him on the bed.
"I wanted to see you," I stuttered. He nodded his head and looked down at his fingers. He never responded. I took that as a sign that he's probably in one of his moods.
"I'm sorry," he quickly sighed. "I've got a lot going on right now."
"Like what?" I asked softly.
"My Mom is coming into town," he rolled his eyes and fell back onto the bed.
"Ashton?" I whispered softly. "Why don't you live with your parents?" I asked. I felt myself lay down on my side, one arm propping up my head as I spoke to him.
"My Dad left when I was ten, and my Mom checked herself into rehab when I was eleven," he chuckled darkly. "She's been in and out of my life ever since then."
"I see." I sighed softly. I felt his large hands wrap around my torso. He slowly pulled me closer to him. I felt his warm skin touch the tips of my fingers as laid next onto of his chest. I tucked my hair behind my ears and he looked up at me.
"She's never cared about me, I swear she loved coke more than her own kid." He joked. I suppose it was better that he was able to laugh about the whole thing rather than dread it right?
"Can I meet her?" I asked softly. He brought a hand to my cheek.
"I suppose if you want to," he smiled.
We continued to gaze at each other for a few seconds. His eyes wandering from my lips to other features of my face. I felt his fingers wrap themselves around the strands of my hair as he pulled me closer. Our lips quickly connected and he began to kiss me slowly. I felt his hands move from my hair to my hips. I felt myself gasp at the touch of his cold fingers.
He took that opportunity to slip his tongue into my mouth.
I didn't hesitate when the two of us rolled over, which left him hovering over me.
He seemed to deepen the kiss, tilting his head slightly as I ran my fingers through his hair, slightly tugging at the roots. His hand would move from my neck to my hips periodically.
Suddenly we heard the sound of his phone ringing. He was quick to ignore it as we continued to kiss.
After a few seconds, we heard the ring once again. He groaned loudly, pulling away from me, and sitting up a grabbing his phone off of the nightstand.
"What the hell do you want?" he growled into the phone. I slowly sat up and tussled my hair as he spoke.
"I don't care, dude," he continued to roll his eyes. "She means nothing to me."
My eyes quickly shot up as I watched him hang up the phone.
"Where were we?" he smirked as he pulled me onto his lap. I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back slightly.
"What was that about?" I quickly asked. He rolled his eyes playfully and smiled.
"You ask way to many questions," He joked. "Apparently Calum is trying to get with Amber at some party downtown, he was calling to 'get my permission'."
"He needs your permission?" I laughed slightly.
"In the past, Amber has been considered, I suppose you could say 'mine', the guys feel the need to ask me if it's okay if they sleep with her," he explained. I nodded my head even though I was confused as ever. "I don't know why they even ask, I don't care about her," he chuckled.
"I suppose that's true," I smiled. He quickly pecked my forehead and stood up as I climbed off of his lap. I watched as he quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a thick flannel.
"Get up," he said quickly.
"Why? I'm so comfortable," I pouted as I curled up in one of his dingy blankets.
He chuckled and grabbed my arm and pulled me up.
"We're doing something productive today."
"Can't we just make out again? That was productive," I giggled playfully.
"Trust me. I wish, but we actually have to get this painting to the museum for tonight's showing," he insisted.
"Oh my god, I completely forgot about that!" I gasped as it hit me.
"Well, then we better get a moving."
---
Idk I originally planned for this book to last like thirty chapters but I kind of want to make it longer?
Maybe, we'll see.
Definite filler, sorry.